Something specifically Roman was linked with the Greek elements in all these pro-
cession participants’ presentation. The appearance of the Satyrs who now followed
after the choirs of dancers in uniform, mimicking their dance in armor by the
so-called sikinnis, did admittedly underline Rome’s deep rootedness in the Greek
cultural community. On the other hand, a group of musicians followed them, before
censers and other implements were carried past. These heralded the central element
and concluding climax of the pompa: the parade of the gods who were also borne
along as statues in the procession. Actually, a Greek pageant is described by Fabius
or Dionysius, because the line of images of deities is opened by the Twelve Greek
Gods. Undoubtedly, the invitation, in particular, of the Twelve Gods to the public
games proved Rome’s religious and cultural relationship with the Greek world.
The opening rite of the ludi publici was intended to emphasize “Roman
Greekness,” precisely because foreigners were received at Rome’s public games, as
Fabius and Dionysius expressly prefaced their report. The reorganization of the pompa
in accordance with Greek models during the Second Punic War underlines the fact
that, exactly in those years, there was an attempt to achieve even deeper rootedness
in the Greek cultural community. A self-confident representation of the res publica
Romanalinked with the Greek shaping of the procession was emphasized by the
conspicuous presence of the Satyrs and the Twelve Gods. The characteristic com-
ponents of Greek processions were interlinked with emphatically Roman elements,
as the hierarchical order of the procession proves. The youth represented the populus
Romanusand at the same time its military potency, something that was addition-
ally emphasized by the inclusion of the dancers in armor following. However, the
deciding factor in involving the youth and the dancers was probably much more the
intention of involving the populusin the happenings.
Precisely the parade of the pyrrhichists supports this view, as they were recruited
from the lower propertied classes and thus represented hoi polloi. So the pompamust
have had an integrating effect to a particular extent in terms of internal politics
and community cohesion. Just so the games were already regarded as a central civic
event which the civis Romanusattended, lining the route the procession took, thus
recalling, so to speak, the Roman state as a whole and creating an area in which the
community assembled. The res publica Romanaalso included, most importantly, the
gods when they determined the procession as pompa deorum. They stood, so to speak,
above the state; however, they protected it, in return for being invited to the games.
Thus the games were, to use Livy’s words, a coetus quodam modo hominum deorumque
(2.37.9). The ritual of bloody animal sacrifice that followed the procession and pre-
ceded the chariot races in the circus or the dramatic performances in the theater
confirms the perception of the gods being present at the games in the form of their
statues (Q. Fabius Pictor, FRH^2 1 frg. 20 =Dion. H. 7.72.15).
The “Greek” games undoubtedly promoted the formation of Roman identity
on a broad level. The reservation of additional days for the ludi scaeniciand the
establishment of new permanent games, in which dramatic performances predom-
inated, prove that the nobility attached extraordinary religious and cultural political
importance to the ludi publici– despite all the difficulties which an extension of
the festival calendar entailed for public life. The development of the length of the
Complex Rituals 229