Brill’s New Pauly

Get access

Equus October
(262 words)

[German version]

(October equus). A chariot race was held every year on the Ides of October on the  Campus Martius in Rome (Fest. 190 L.; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 97), and the right-hand horse of the victorious team (but cf. [2]) killed. The horse's head was (previously?) wrapped in bread (panibus) or ─ if we follow the conjecture in [5] ─ with cloths (pannibus). After the animal had been killed with spears, the inhabitants of the Roman quarters of Via Sacra and Subura fought for the head, which was then either carried to the  Regia (Via Sacra) or hung from the turris Mamilia (Subura), while the tail…

Cite this page
Siebert, Anne Viola (Hannover), “Equus October”, in: Brill’s New Pauly, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and , Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry. Consulted online on 25 September 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e829670>
First published online: 2006
First print edition: 9789004122598, 20110510



▲   Back to top   ▲