preparation of war. However, not only did the extraordinary games for the sake of
the state experience a remarkable upswing, but new ludi publici stati(vi)were also
put alongside the only hitherto regularly celebrated games, the ludi Romani. In the
space of less than 50 years, the nobility were to incorporate five further annual games
into the festival calendar of the res publica Romana.
The ludi plebeiiand the ludi Cerialeswere not established in the early republic,
but on the eve of the Hannibalic war (218 –201 bc). The plebeian aediles, the old
heads of the sanctuary to the plebeian deity Ceres on the Aventine, did not exercise
a cura ludorum publicorum(“care for public games”) either before or after the settle-
ment of the “Conflict of the Orders” of 367/6 bc. For the time being, they were
to play a secondary role to the curule aediles in this respect. It seemed necessary, in
view of the impending confrontation with Carthage, to propitiate Iuppiter Optimus
Maximus with further games and to prepare the population of the city of Rome for
the coming exertions. The ludi plebeiithus established essentially followed the
“liturgy” of the ludi Romaniand were staged from 220 bc onward in the Circus
Flaminius, in the grounds newly laid out by the censor C. Flaminius on the Campus
Martius (Varro, Ling.5.154; Livy, Per.20). Similar policy considerations probably
caused the nobility to also expand the old cult of Ceres in 220 or 219 bcby adding
games, particularly as a famine made the worship of the deity of vegetation indis-
pensable, and breakdowns in supplies through the war were to be expected. So the
new games, which were apparently limited to dramatic plays, were linked to the Cerialia
that had been celebrated since the archaic period (Pseudo-Cyprianus, De spectaculis
4.4). Admittedly, by doing so, Rome trod a new path. The change in cult initiated
with the introduction of the scenic rite in 364 bcbecame narrowed down in the
case of the new games of the following decades to these Greek forms.
The ludi Apollinaresrecommended by the Xviri sacris faciundisand celebrated
in the years 212–209 bcas extraordinary votive games did certainly contribute toward
countering a widespread religious uncertainty. Incidentally, these were the only games
among the early ones that were held not by aediles, but by the praetor urbanus.
Already in 208 bc, this spectacle under Delphic influence was made permanent (Livy
27.23.6 –7). Above all, however, these scenic games for Apollo were intended to demon-
strate Rome’s affiliation to the Greek cultural community, a matter of concern that
must have appeared urgent in view of the ominous course of the war. For this reason,
the nobility had already brought the cult of the Mater Magna to Rome in 204 bc.
The domiciling of the tutelary deity of the Trojans and their descendants flanked
Rome’s policy of alliances in the Greek east. However, when, during the armed conflict
with Antiochus III of Syria (192–188 bc), anti-Roman prophecies called that affilia-
tion into question, the senate replied to this, as it were, psychological warfare by
instituting the permanent ludi Megalenses(Valerius Antias, FRH^2 15 frg. 41 =Livy
36.36.3– 4). For the ritus Graecusof these games held since 191 bcbefore the Palatine
sanctuary of the Great Mother of the Gods, the scaeniciand also the sellisternium,
copied from a specific variant of the Greek theoxenias, proved Rome’s profound reli-
gious and cultural rooting in the Greek world. And if we can conclude that it was
considered possible to ward off a bad harvest and pestilence with the establishment
226 Frank Bernstein