Consualia

• 1. Introduction

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  The Consualia, also called the Consuales Ludi, was the name of two ancient Roman festivals held in honor of a god named Consus. Consus had a shrine that stayed buried. Roman worshippers covered it with earth and left it that way for the whole year. Only on the day of his festival was the soil cleared away and the shrine opened to the light. Who was Consus, and why did Romans keep his home underground? Why were horses, mules, and asses given a holiday in the middle of the city? And what did a legend about the founder of Rome have to do with a harvest celebration?

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• 2. God of Stored Grain

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  Consus was a tutelary deity, meaning a guardian, and his charge was the harvest and the grain kept in storage. His festivals fell on the 21st of August and again on the 15th of December, both tied to the business of putting grain away. The August date came at harvest time, and the December date came once the grain was in store. Consus did not stand alone on his festival days. Mars, the god of war, was honored too, because Romans saw him as a protector of the harvest. The Lares, the household gods that each family held sacred, also shared the occasion. A harvest festival therefore reached from the state gods of Rome down to the hearth of a single home.

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• 3. A Holiday for Animals

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  On the days of the Consualia, horses, mules, and asses were released from all labour. Working animals that normally hauled loads through the city were instead led through the streets wearing garlands and flowers. The celebration also drew crowds to the Circus Maximus, where chariot races were held. One race was considered odd, because the chariots were pulled by mules rather than the horses that usually drew them. Mules were not racing animals in the ordinary sense, so this contest must have been a curiosity for the spectators.

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• 4. Romulus and the Sabines

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  Roman mythology credited Romulus with founding the Consualia, and it gave the festival a darker origin than a harvest thanks. According to the legend, Romulus wanted a way to gather his Sabine neighbors in one place. The Sabines came together and fell into a drunken festivity. At that moment Romulus's men seized the daughters of the Sabines and took them as brides. This episode is known as the Rape of the Sabine Women, and it has its own famous telling in Roman tradition.

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• 5. Neighboring Feasts

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  On the 7th of July, Romans offered sacrifices to Consus, which gave him a third date on the calendar beyond the two main festivals. His feasts were followed closely by those of a related goddess named Ops. The Opiconsivia fell on the 25th of August, four days after the summer Consualia. The Opalia came on the 19th of December, four days after the winter one. Not every ancient writer agreed about who was being honored. Livy held that the festival honors Neptune, a god of the sea rather than the harvest.

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