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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Anthony, post: 2717456, member: 42773&quot;]April 21 was a date on which the Romans threw a festival called the <i>Parilia</i>, for the goddess of shepherds, Pales. Ovid describes the festival in an elegaic poem, the <i>Fasti</i>, implying that it existed before the founding of Rome. In the poem, he describes Romulus reaching Rome on the day of the <i>Parilia</i>, taking a stick and defining the boundaries of the new city, praying to the gods for its protection. His brother Remus, however, in an act of mockery, stepped past the boundaries, and was struck down by Romulus&#039;s henchman Celer, who was fortifying the walls.</p><p><br /></p><p>Over time, the <i>Parilia</i> became the celebration of the founding of Rome. Julius Caesar added games to the ceremony, Caligula added a procession of priests, noblemen and children singing the emperor&#039;s praises while escorting the Golden Shield. In AD 121, Hadrian changed the festival&#039;s name to Romaea, and built a new temple of Venus and Roma (which sadly has not survived to modern times).</p><p><br /></p><p>Of course, none of this answers the question as to <b>why</b> April 21 was chosen - that knowledge is apparently lost to prehistory. But the evolution of the festival is an interesting insight into the evolution of a pastoral society into a city-state, and eventually an empire. It moves from the worship of a very minor deity and the ritual purification and sacrifice of livestock, to the building of auspicious temples in honor of major deities, and games and processions glorifying the edifice of civilization which was Eternal Rome.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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