Origin Commissioned and first performed 17 BCE
The Carmen Saeculare was commissioned by Augustus from the poet Horace for the Ludi Saeculares of 17 BCE and sung in Sapphic meter by a chorus of twenty seven boys and twenty seven girls, addressed as a prayer to Apollo and Diana. Unlike its anonymous, archaic siblings on this list, it is the first fully preserved Latin hymn whose original occasion of performance is independently documented, and its prominence given to Apollo doubled as poetic homage to Augustus, for whom a new Palatine temple to the god had recently been consecrated.
Facts
Practice
Who Performs ItTrained or authorised specialists 1 FrequencyAs the occasion requires 1 Solitary or CommunalPerformed by a gathered group 1 Origins
Origin PeriodCommissioned and first performed 17 BCE 1 Attributed Author / Compiler Use
What It Is Used For Form
Form of the Text Connections
Addressed To
Source Religions of Rome, Volume 1: A HistoryMary Beard, John North and Simon Price
Diana, Deities Source Religions of Rome, Volume 1: A HistoryMary Beard, John North and Simon Price
Belongs to Tradition
Source Religions of Rome, Volume 1: A HistoryMary Beard, John North and Simon Price
Originates in Language
Matches its own already-established language enum value (latin); commissioned in 17 BCE with no archaism claimed, unlike its sibling Carmen Saliare.
Source Religions of Rome, Volume 1: A HistoryMary Beard, John North and Simon Price
Related To
Sources
1. Religions of Rome, Volume 1: A History
Mary Beard, John North and Simon Price, Cambridge University Press, 1998on the Ludi Saeculares and the Carmen SaeculareView the Source The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
John Bowker (ed.), Oxford University Press, 1997s.v. Carmen SaeculareView the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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