The Romans celebrated the Lucaria between the 19th and 21st of July. The meaning, details — even the deity they dedicated the rites to — are lost to us. All we do know is, the Romans celebrated the festival in a sacred grove, somewhere between the River Tiber and the Via Salaria — the ancient salt route connecting Rome with the marshes at the Tiber’s mouth. 

Even though the Roman calendar recorded the festival, it’s meaning perplexed the Romans themselves as to the meaning. As with the Poplifugia, which was celebrated earlier in July, some later Roman writers connected the Lucaria with Rome’s conflict with the Gauls. But like the Poplifugia, it seems that the explanation for the Lucaria may lie in archaic Roman agricultural rites — and its name.

The Lucaria and the Battle of Allia

Verrius Flaccus was a grammarian of the first century BC who set up a Fasti or calendar in Praeneste. He claimed the Romans celebrated the Lucaria in a sacred grove on the Pincian Hill. This grove was the place where defeated Roman troops sought refuge from the Gauls after the Battle of Allia in the fourth century BC. According to Flaccus, while the Gauls looted Rome, the Roman forces hid amongst the trees outside the city.

The whole episode is one of the worst in Roman history — not least because the Gauls only left when the Romans paid them off with gold. So, it is hard to see why the Romans would want to mark the occasion.

But it is not the battle, but the grove that is the significant factor in the celebration of this obscure festival. 

“Lucus”—The Grove

The name of the Lucaria could derive from the word “lucar” — the name for the forest tax or “sacred receipts of the groves” that Warde Fowler believes the Romans used to pay for the games of the festival.  The name “Lucar” is also closely associated with the word for grove itself: lucus.

Either way, the etymology suggests that the sacred grove was the vital element to the Lucaria. Archaic Romans regarded groves or woodlands as sacred places. They were the wild, unclaimed places — the places where the spirits dwelt.

Recorded surviving agricultural rites from the historic Roman era preserve this archaic roman attitude to the spirits and their dwelling places.

“Whether Thou be God or Goddess” —Honouring the Spirits

Cato, in his “On Agriculture,” describes how it was essential to respect and  “keep on the right side” of these spirits when farming the land nearby. Logically, the Romans recognised that the local sprites might not have been too happy to have their native homeland cleared away by Roman farmers. Therefore, it was essential to accompany any land clearance with the proper reverence– and appropriate gifts.

“The following is the Roman formula to be observed in thinning a grove,” explains Cato.“[A] pig is to be sacrificed and the following prayer uttered: ‘whether thou be god or goddess to whom this grove is dedicated, as it is thy right to receive a sacrifice of a pig for the thinning of this sacred grove, and to this intent, whether I or one at my bidding do it, may it be rightly done. To this end, in offering this pig to thee, I humbly beg that thou wilt be gracious and merciful to me, to my house and household and to my children. Wilt thou deign to receive this pig which I offer to this end.’”

Nor did the observances end there. For once the farmers cleared the land and absorbed it into the farm, it was still necessary to “keep the neighbours happy”:

“If you wish to till the ground,” Cato continues, “offer a second sacrifice in the same way, with the addition of the words: ‘for the sake of doing this work.’ So long as the work continues, the ritual must be performed in some part of the land every day; and if you miss a day, or if public or domestic feast days intervene, a new offering must be made.” 

A Festival for the Pincian Grove

It is possible that the Lucaria stems from ritual practices — similar to the ones described by Cato —practised during the clearance of the Pincian Hill. 

The Pincian was not one of the original Seven Hills of Rome. It only became part of the city in the third century AD when Emperor Aurelian extended the city’s walls around it. Even before this happened, the Pincian was a popular location with Rome’s nobility. It was the perfect spot for an out of town retreat, and various villas and private gardens began to spring up  — including the famous Gardens of Lucullus, Pompeius and Sallust. 

But to build these villas and gardens, the Romans first had to clear the sacred grove. So it is not inconceivable that the Romans instigated the Lucaria to compensate the spirits of the grove for its loss, not to farming  — but the pleasure gardens of the Roman rich.

Sources

Cato On Agriculture, Loeb Classical Library

Price and Kearns, (2003) The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion. Oxford University Press

W Warde Fowler, The Roman Festivals at the Period of the Republic, Macmillan and co, 1899.

Verus Flaccus De Verborum Significatione