Editing Saturnalia (section)

==Origins==
{{stack|[[File:Giocatrici-di-astragali.JPG|thumb|[[Ancient Greek painting]] signed by "Alexander of Athens", discovered in [[Herculaneum]], showing five women playing [[knucklebones]], a game which was played during the Attic holiday of [[Kronia]]<ref name="Hansen2002"/>]]}}
In [[Roman mythology]], Saturn was an agricultural deity who was said to have reigned over the world in the [[Golden Age]], when humans enjoyed the spontaneous bounty of the earth without labour in a state of [[innocence]]. The revelries of Saturnalia were supposed to reflect the conditions of the lost mythical age. The Greek equivalent was the [[Kronia]],<ref name="Hansen2002">{{cite book |last=Hansen |first=William F. |title=Ariadne's Thread: A Guide to International Tales Found in Classical Literature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ezDlXl7gP9oC |location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |date=2002 |page=385 |isbn=978-0801475726 }}</ref> which was celebrated on the twelfth day of the month of Hekatombaion,<ref name="Bremmer">{{cite book |last=Bremmer |first=Jan M. |title=Greek Religion and Culture, the Bible and the Ancient Near East |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YTfxZH4QnqgC |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |publisher=Brill |date=2008 |page=82 |isbn= 978-9004164734 }}</ref><ref name="Hansen2002"/> which occurred from around mid-July to mid-August on the [[Attic calendar]].<ref name="Hansen2002"/><ref name="Bremmer"/>

The Greek writer [[Athenaeus]] cites numerous other examples of similar festivals celebrated throughout the [[Greco-Roman world]],<ref name="Parker">{{cite book |last=Parker |first=Robert |date=2011 |title=On Greek Religion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dfS-nh2WM9wC&q=Saturnalia |location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-7735-5 |page=211 }}</ref> including the [[Crete|Cretan]] festival of [[Hermaea (festival)|Hermaia]] in honor of [[Hermes]], an unnamed festival from [[Troezen]] in honor of [[Poseidon]], the [[Thessaly|Thessalian]] festival of [[Peloria (festival)|Peloria]] in honor of [[Epithets in Homer|Zeus Pelorios]], and an unnamed festival from [[Babylon]].<ref name="Parker"/> He also mentions that the custom of masters dining with their slaves was associated with the Athenian festival of [[Anthesteria]] and the Spartan festival of [[Hyacinthia]].<ref name="Parker"/> The Argive festival of [[Hybristica]], though not directly related to the Saturnalia, involved a similar reversal of roles in which women would dress as men and men would dress as women.<ref name="Parker"/>

The ancient Roman historian [[Justin (historian)|Justinus]] credits Saturn with being a historical king of the [[Aborigines (mythology)|pre-Roman inhabitants of Italy]]:

{{quote|"The first inhabitants of Italy were the Aborigines, whose king, Saturnus, is said to have been a man of such extraordinary justice, that no one was a slave in his reign, or had any private property, but all things were common to all, and undivided, as one estate for the use of every one; in memory of which way of life, it has been ordered that at the Saturnalia slaves should everywhere sit down with their masters at the entertainments, the rank of all being made equal." |[[Justin (historian)|Justinus]], ''Epitome of Pompeius Trogus'' 43.3<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.attalus.org/translate/justin7.html#42.1 |title=Justinus: Epitome of Pompeius Trogus (7) |last=Smith |first=Andrew |website=www.attalus.org |access-date=2017-09-07}}</ref>}}

{{stack|[[File:0 Autel dédié au dieu Malakbêl et aux dieux de Palmyra - Musei Capitolini (1b).JPG|thumb|2nd-century CE Roman bas-relief depicting the god Saturn, in whose honor the Saturnalia was celebrated, holding a scythe.]]}}
Although probably the best-known Roman holiday, Saturnalia as a whole is not described from beginning to end in any single ancient source. Modern understanding of the festival is pieced together from several accounts dealing with various aspects.{{sfn|Dolansky|2011|page=484}} The Saturnalia was the dramatic setting of the multivolume work of that name by [[Macrobius]], a Latin writer from [[late antiquity]] who is the major source for information about the holiday. Macrobius describes the reign of Justinus's "king Saturn" as "a time of great happiness, both on account of the universal plenty that prevailed and because as yet there was no division into bond and free – as one may gather from the complete license enjoyed by slaves at the Saturnalia."<ref>{{cite book |last=Standhartinger |first=Angela |title=Saturnalia in Greco-Roman Culture |page=184}}</ref> In [[Lucian]]'s ''Saturnalia'' it is [[Chronos]] himself who proclaims a "festive season, when 'tis lawful to be drunken, and slaves have license to revile their lords".<ref>{{cite book |last=Roth |first=Marty |title=Drunk the Night Before: An Anatomy of Intoxication |publisher=[[University of Minnesota Press]]}}</ref>

In one of the interpretations in Macrobius's work, Saturnalia is a festival of light leading to the [[winter solstice]], with the abundant presence of candles symbolizing the quest for knowledge and truth.<ref>[[Macrobius]], ''Saturnalia'' 1.1.8–9; Jane Chance, ''Medieval Mythography: From Roman North Africa to the School of Chartres, A.D. 433–1177'' ([[University Press of Florida]], 1994), p. 71.</ref> The renewal of light and the coming of the [[new year]] was celebrated in the later [[Roman Empire]] at the ''[[Sol Invictus|Dies Natalis Solis Invicti]]'', the "Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun", on 25 December.<ref>Robert A. Kaster, ''[[Macrobius]]: Saturnalia, Books 1–2'' ([[Loeb Classical Library]], 2011), note on p. 16.</ref>

The popularity of Saturnalia continued into the [[3rd century|3rd]] and [[4th century|4th centuries]] CE, and as the [[Roman Empire]] came under Christian rule, many of its customs were recast into or at least influenced the seasonal celebrations surrounding [[Christmas]] and the [[New Year's Day|New Year]].<ref>Williams, Craig A., ''[[Martial]]: Epigrams Book Two'' (Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 259 (on the custom of gift-giving). Many observers schooled in the [[classical tradition]] have noted similarities between the Saturnalia and historical revelry during the [[Twelve Days of Christmas]] and the [[Feast of Fools]]</ref><ref name="GraftonMostSettis">{{cite book |last1=Grafton |first1=Anthony |url=https://archive.org/details/classicaltraditi0000unse_l4k4/page/116/mode/2up |title=The Classical Tradition |last2=Most |first2=Glenn W. |last3=Settis |first3=Salvatore |date=2010 |publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-03572-0 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England |page=116 |article=Bacchanalia and Saturnalia |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>"The reciprocal influences of the Saturnalia, [[Yule|Germanic solstitial festivals]], Christmas, and [[Chanukkah]] are familiar," notes C. Bennet Pascal, "October Horse", ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'' 85 (1981), p. 289.</ref>