 In ancient Rome, here's a great view of something that is amazing. This time of year, we had the wisteria that are blossoming and it is beautiful. I wish you could smell it. So we're going to talk about the month of April, what happens in history, what happens in the religious calendar, what happens in the imperial family. So April, succeeding Mars month, which is March, is now the time of an opening. This is full on into spring and we're going to be focusing on a lot of female deities, primarily Venus. This is her month. So we start off the 1st of April with the veneralia that's particularly focused on Venus verticordia, the Venus that can turn men's hearts is the idea. So you're going to her, you're praying to her, you're offering to her as well as Fortuna virilis and these goddesses are oftentimes paired together, Venus and Fortuna. And it's a great way then to start this month and to hopefully obtain what it is you wish for. On the third, we have the temple of queerness, celebrating its foundation. It's also on the third famously the state funeral of Tiberius. So he's dying outside of Rome in Myxenum, succeeded by Caligula, but then it takes him a while to get him into his body back into Rome to have that state funeral in the Roman Forum. Now the weather is getting good in Rome today. It was getting good in antiquity. So you have two ludi, two big games that are being celebrated. The ludi megalensis from the 4th to the 10th and the cheryalia, the ludi cheryalis from the 12th to the 18th. So as the weather gets better, you're going to have more games. And of course those games are primarily going to be focused in what location? The Circus Maximus, because it's the largest venue in the city of Rome. Incidentally, on the 4th as well, the day of the kickoff of the megalensis, it's the birth of Caracalla. He's born in Lyon. And then it's going to be followed on the 5th with the Festival of Fortuna Publiga. So the public version of the Fortuna that can be always associated with fertility, but also with luck. So you always want fortune on your side. She's quite a popular deity. On the 8th, you have the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Forum. Its foundation is celebrated. Also on the 8th, you have the assassination of Caracalla in southern Turkey. He's out fighting more aparthean wars in the footsteps of his father. Doesn't go so well from him. He's assassinated by one of his troops. And during the time in which he'd actually gotten off his horse and was urinating. So not a good way to go, but definitely recorded as such in the history books. Here he is with his famous scowl. And so two big moments, big events in the life of Caracalla. On the 10th, of course, we're in the midst of that Ludi Megalenses. You have the actual foundation of the Temple on the Palatine Hill. Brought over the Colt statue of Magna Matera. Kibbele was brought over from Mount Aida in Turkey during the Second Punic War. On the 11th, it's the birthday of Septimius Severus and leftist magna. And of course, that is the father of Caracalla who had a very important dynasty. And this is after the demise of the Antonines, the assassination, excuse me, of Caracalla. Then on the 12th, you begin the Keryalia, the Ludi Keryalis. So we're thinking about Ceres, Libera, and Libra, their triad temple on the Aventine Hill. So nearby the Circus Maximus. And then on 238, you have Gordian II dying also on the 12th. So this is the Circus Maximus. This is all dealing with the celebration of the birthday of Rome. So they have these things going on in normal circumstances. What we would normally see would be parades and cherry races and animal hunts. And not so much the gladiator games and the Circus Maximus. Of course, the main venue for that is going to be the Coliseum. But I thought it would be fun to show you to give you a sense of that excitement and drama that takes place when we do celebrate in the Circus Maximus still today, though typically and traditionally at this point on the birthday of Rome in April 21st. And we're going to get to April 21st in just a moment. So from the 15th to the 18th, we have on the 16th, Masada falling in 73 and in the Jewish war and 1669 there on the 16th of April 69 C.E. is the beginning of the Teletes reign, one of the four emperors the year the four emperors ultimately to be superseded by the Spasian who does win the Jewish war. And then we have this gentlemen gratin whom you might not be so familiar with. Here's a statue attributed to him in Trier. And he's one of these emperors at a really tough time in the empire. He's going to co-rule with his brother, his half-brother Valentinian III, having initially co-ruled with his father Valentinian I. And he'll spend a lot of his time fighting along the Rhine and the Danube. And he's not, you know, we're not talking about emperors anymore that are based in Rome. He's in Trier. He's in Mediolanum, which is Milan and that's ultimately where he will be buried. And if we want to look for gratin in the city of Rome, we want to go to, let's say, the last rebuilding of the Pons Castius, which has his name on the dedicatory inscription. 21st, then is the birthday of Rome. Romulus and Remus are obviously associated with the foundation myth and it's, of course, Rome, Rome that's founded by Romulus. When he goes to the Palatine Hill and gets the sign, takes his augury and gets the sign from the gods with the number of vultures that pass overhead. It's also the time, say, the Romans of the Parilia Festival honoring the goddess Palaeus that lives on the Palatine Hill. And when we look at Ovid, who's a great source of the religious festivals in Rome for the first several months, he didn't complete his epic poem calendar because he's exiled out to the Black Sea. But we do have April and we do have a description of the Parilia and it's really about fumigating and cleaning out the stalls and treating your animals well. As much as, of course, it also is a time of founding the city. And when we talk about the life of Romulus and Remus before they found the city, they're shepherds, so they're tending their flocks, they're taking care of them. So you see how this all nicely ties in and it's all associated with the Palatine Hill where ultimately Romulus is going to be founding the city of Rome according to Roman tradition. When? 753 BC, April 21st. So here's a fun view of something that sometimes happens in the Roman Forum. We see women dressed up as Roman matrons. We see some Vestal Virgins. We see some Praetorian guards. We're actually in the Atrium Vestai, the home of the Vestal Virgins. And no human sacrifice, no animal sacrifice, but we're burning some incense. So it's a lot of fun. This is Gruppo Storeco Romano. And we look forward to a time of which this can happen again in the near future. Okay, moving on to April 23rd. We have the Vinalia and the Robigalia. And they're both recorded, as we can see here, on this panel, which is the famous marble calendar recorded now preserved in a Plaza Massimo for which we have a great video on H from Rome Live. Vinalia is also celebrating Venus, but it's all about wine harvest, attending the vineyards. And the 25th is Robigalia. And you can make out the Latin here. It's happening where? On the fifth milestone of the Via Claudia. And it is a veneration of Robigus. And Robigus is the God that you appeal to to ward off any kind of pestilence on your crops. The 26th is the birthday of Marcus Aurelius in 121. The 27th and 28th, the Romans celebrate the Ludiflorae, which is focused on the Temple of Flora on the Aventine Hill, overlooking the Circus Maximus. So where's most of the activity taking place in the Circus Maximus? It's going to be extended to six days in the imperial period. On the 28th and 357, Constantius II famously arrives in Rome for his only visit. And there's a great description of that and how he's in awe of the pantheon and in awe of the form of Trajan and the Colosseum and so forth. But interestingly enough, it's his only visit and it's a short stay. And more of his time actually is spent in years really, is spent in Mediolano, which is a Milan. So it's not that far and you think that the guy would have come much more frequently because it's such an amazing city, but ultimately, you know, Rome is just less and less important. And it just is underlined by the fact that the big deal is that Constantius II makes his short trip down there, but it's a one-time event, one-time affair. Also on the 28th, it's in 32. It's the birthday of Otto, who was born in Ferentium. And on the 30th, so we're getting to the end of April, is the official end of the great persecution of Christians that had been begun by Diocletian many, many years before. So at this point, Diocletians long since deceased and we have then the official end of this activity.