Editing Saturnalia (section)

===King of the Saturnalia===
[[File:Lawrence Alma-Tadema 06.jpeg|thumb|upright=1.5|''Ave, Caesar! Io, Saturnalia!'' (1880) by [[Lawrence Alma-Tadema]]. The painting's title draws a comparison between the spontaneous declaration of [[Claudius]] as the new emperor by the [[Praetorian Guard]] after the assassination of [[Caligula]] and the election of a ''Saturnalicius princeps''.<ref>The painting represents a scene recorded by [[Josephus]], ''Antiquitates Iudiacae'' 19; and [[Cassius Dio]] [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/60*.html#1 60.1.3.]</ref>]]
[[Roman Empire|Imperial]] sources refer to a ''Saturnalicius princeps'' ("Ruler of the Saturnalia"), who ruled as master of ceremonies for the proceedings. He was appointed by lot, and has been compared to the medieval [[Lord of Misrule]] at the [[Feast of Fools]]. His capricious commands, such as "Sing naked!" or "Throw him into cold water!", had to be obeyed by the other guests at the ''convivium'': he creates and (mis)rules a chaotic and absurd world. The future emperor [[Nero]] is recorded as playing the role in his youth.<ref>By [[Tacitus]], ''Annales'' 13.15.</ref>

Since this figure does not appear in accounts from the [[Roman Republic|Republican period]], the ''princeps'' of the Saturnalia may have developed as a satiric response to the new era of rule by a ''[[princeps]]'', the title assumed by the first emperor [[Augustus]] to avoid the hated connotations of the word "king" ''(rex)''. Art and [[Augustan literature (ancient Rome)|literature under Augustus]] celebrated his reign as a new Golden Age, but the Saturnalia makes a mockery of a world in which law is determined by one man and the traditional social and political networks are reduced to the power of the emperor over his subjects.{{sfn|Versnel|1992|pages=206–208}} In a poem about a lavish Saturnalia under [[Domitian]], [[Statius]] makes it clear that the emperor, like [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], still reigns during the temporary return of Saturn.<ref>[[Statius]], ''Silvae'' 1.6; Nauta, ''Poetry for Patrons'', p. 400.</ref>