Editing Saturnalia (section)

==Private festivities==
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|quote="Meanwhile, the head of the slave household, whose responsibility it was to offer sacrifice to the [[Penates]], to manage the provisions and to direct the activities of the domestic servants, came to tell his master that the household had feasted according to the annual ritual custom. For at this festival, in houses that keep to proper religious usage, they first of all honor the slaves with a dinner prepared as if for the master; and only afterwards is the table set again for the head of the household. So, then, the chief slave came in to announce the time of dinner and to summon the masters to the table."{{sfn|Beard|North|Price|1998b|page=124}}
|source=[[Macrobius]], ''Saturnalia'' 1.24.22–23
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===Role reversal===
Saturnalia was characterized by role reversals and behavioral license.<ref name="Parker"/> Slaves were treated to a banquet of the kind usually enjoyed by their masters.<ref name="Parker"/> Ancient sources differ on the circumstances: some suggest that master and slave dined together,<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Epistulae'' 47.14; Carlin A. Barton, ''The Sorrows of the Ancient Romans: The Gladiator and the Monster'' (Princeton University Press, 1993), p. 498.</ref> while others indicate that the slaves feasted first, or that the masters actually served the food. The practice might have varied over time.{{sfn|Dolansky|2011|page=484}}

Saturnalian license also permitted slaves to disrespect their masters without the threat of a punishment. It was a time for [[Marsyas#Prophecy and free speech at Rome|free speech]]: the [[Augustan literature (ancient Rome)|Augustan]] poet [[Horace]] calls it "December liberty".<ref>[[Horace]], ''Satires'' 2.7.4, ''libertas Decembri''; {{harvnb|Mueller|2010|pages=221–222}}</ref> In two [[Satires (Horace)|satires]] set during the Saturnalia, Horace has a slave offer sharp criticism to his master.<ref>[[Horace]], ''Satires'', Book 2, poems 3 and 7; Catherine Keane, ''Figuring Genre in Roman Satire'' (Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 90; Maria Plaza, ''The Function of Humour in Roman Verse Satire: Laughing and Lying'' (Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 298–300 ''et passim.''</ref> Everyone knew, however, that the leveling of the [[social class in ancient Rome|social hierarchy]] was temporary and had limits; no social norms were ultimately threatened, because the holiday would end.<ref>Barton, ''The Sorrows of the Ancient Romans'', ''passim''.</ref>

The [[toga]], the characteristic garment of the male Roman citizen, was set aside in favor of the Greek ''[[Synthesis (clothing)|synthesis]]'', colourful "dinner clothes" otherwise considered in poor taste for daytime wear.<ref>{{harvnb|Versnel|1992|page=147}} (especially note 59).</ref> Romans of citizen status normally went about bare-headed, but for the Saturnalia donned the ''[[Pileus (hat)|pilleus]]'', the conical felt cap that was the usual mark of a freedman. Slaves, who ordinarily were not entitled to wear the ''pilleus'', wore it as well, so that everyone was "pilleated" without distinction.{{sfn|Versnel|1992|page=147}}{{sfn|Dolansky|2011|page=492}}

The participation of [[Women in ancient Rome|freeborn Roman women]] is implied by sources that name gifts for women, but their presence at banquets may have depended on the custom of their time; from the late Republic onward, women mingled socially with men more freely than they had in earlier times. Female entertainers were certainly present at some otherwise all-male gatherings.{{sfn|Dolansky|2011|pages=492–494}} Role-playing was implicit in the Saturnalia's status reversals, and there are hints of mask-wearing or "[[guising]]".<ref>At the beginning of [[Horace]]'s ''Satire'' 2.3, and the mask in the Saturnalia imagery of the [[Calendar of Philocalus]], and [[Martial]]'s inclusion of masks as Saturnalia gifts</ref>{{sfn|Beard|North|Price|1998b|page=125}} No theatrical events are mentioned in connection with the festivities, but the classicist [[Erich Segal]] saw [[Roman comedy]], with its cast of impudent, free-wheeling slaves and libertine seniors, as imbued with the Saturnalian spirit.<ref>[[Erich Segal|Segal, Erich]], ''Roman Laughter: The Comedy of Plautus'' (Oxford University Press, 1968, 2nd ed. 1987), pp. 8–9, 32–33, 103 ''et passim''.</ref>

===Gambling===
[[File:Pompeii - Osteria della Via di Mercurio - Dice Players.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Dice players in a wall painting from [[Pompeii]]]]
Gambling and dice-playing, normally prohibited or at least frowned upon, were permitted for all, even slaves. Coins and nuts were the [[gambling|stakes]]. On the [[Calendar of Philocalus]], the Saturnalia is represented by a man wearing a fur-trimmed coat next to a table with dice, and a caption reading: "Now you have license, slave, to game with your master."<ref>{{harvnb|Versnel|1992|page=148}} citing [[Suetonius]], ''Life of Augustus'' 71; Martial 1.14.7, 5.84, 7.91.2, 11.6, 13.1.7; 14.1; Lucian, [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/wl4/wl422.htm ''Saturnalia'' 1.]</ref><ref>See [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/chronography_of_354_06_calendar.htm a copy of the actual calendar]</ref> Rampant overeating and drunkenness became the rule, and a sober person the exception.<ref>{{harvnb|Versnel|1992|page=147}}, citing [[Cato the Elder]], ''De agricultura'' 57; [[Aulus Gellius]] 2.24.3; Martial 14.70.1 and 14.1.9; [[Horace]], ''Satire'' 2.3.5; [[Lucian]], ''Saturnalia'' 13; ''Scriptores Historiae Augustae'', Alexander Severus 37.6.</ref>

[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] looked forward to the holiday, if somewhat tentatively, in a letter to a friend:

<blockquote>"It is now the month of December, when the greatest part of the city is in a bustle. Loose reins are given to public dissipation; everywhere you may hear the sound of great preparations, as if there were some real difference between the days devoted to Saturn and those for transacting business.&nbsp;... Were you here, I would willingly confer with you as to the plan of our conduct; whether we should eve in our usual way, or, to avoid singularity, both take a better supper and throw off the toga."<ref>[[Seneca the Younger]], ''Epistulae'' 18.1–2.</ref></blockquote>

Some Romans found it all a bit much. [[Pliny the Younger|Pliny]] describes a secluded suite of rooms in his [[Laurentum|Laurentine]] [[Roman villa|villa]], which he used as a retreat: "... especially during the Saturnalia when the rest of the house is noisy with the licence of the holiday and festive cries. This way I don't hamper the games of my people and they don't hinder my work or studies."<ref>[[Pliny the Younger]], ''Letters'' 2.17.24. [[Horace]] similarly sets ''Satire'' 2.3 during the Saturnalia but in the countryside, where he has fled the frenzied pace.</ref>

===Gift-giving===
{{main|Sigillaria (ancient Rome)}}
The Sigillaria on 19 December was a day of gift-giving.<ref>{{harvnb|Dolansky|2011|pages=492, 502}} [[Macrobius]], ''Saturnalia'' 1.10.24, seems to indicate that the Sigillaria was a market that occurred at the end of Saturnalia, but the [[Gallo-Roman]] scholar-poet [[Ausonius]] (''Eclogues'' 16.32) refers to it as a religious occasion ''(sacra sigillorum,'' "rites of the ''sigillaria''").</ref> Because gifts of value would mark social status contrary to the spirit of the season, these were often the [[ancient Roman pottery|pottery]] or wax figurines called ''[[Sigillaria (ancient Rome)|sigillaria]]'' made specially for the day, candles, or "[[gag gift]]s", of which [[Augustus]] was particularly fond.<ref>[[Suetonius]], ''Life of Augustus'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html#75 75]; {{harvnb|Versnel|1992|page=148}}, pointing to the ''[http://lucianofsamosata.info/Cronosolon.html Cronosolon]'' of Lucian on the problem of unequal gift-giving.</ref> Children received toys as gifts.<ref>Beryl Rawson, "Adult-Child Relationships in Ancient Rome," in ''Marriage, Divorce, and Children in Ancient Rome'' (Oxford University Press, 1991), p. 19.</ref> In his many poems about the Saturnalia, [[Martial]] names both expensive and quite cheap gifts, including writing tablets, dice, [[knucklebones]], moneyboxes, combs, toothpicks, a hat, a hunting knife, an axe, various lamps, balls, [[perfume]]s, pipes, a pig, a sausage, a [[parrot]], tables, cups, spoons, items of clothing, statues, masks, books, and pets.<ref>[[Martial]], ''Epigrams'' 13 and 14, the ''Xenia'' and the ''Apophoreta'', published 84–85 AD.</ref> Gifts might be as costly as a slave or exotic animal,<ref>{{harvnb|Dolansky|2011|page=492}} citing [[Martial]] 5.18, 7.53, 14; Suetonius, ''Life of Augustus'' 75 and ''Life of Vespasian'' 19 on the range of gifts.</ref> but Martial suggests that token gifts of low intrinsic value inversely measure the high quality of a friendship.<ref>Ruurd R. Nauta, ''Poetry for Patrons: Literary Communication in the Age of Domitian'' (Brill, 2002), pp. 78–79.</ref> [[Patronage in ancient Rome|Patrons]] or "bosses" might pass along a gratuity ''(sigillaricium)'' to their poorer clients or dependents to help them buy gifts. Some [[Roman emperor|emperors]] were noted for their devoted observance of the Sigillaria.<ref>{{harvnb|Versnel|1992|pages=148–149}}, citing Macrobius, ''Saturnalia'' 1.10.24 and 1.11.49; [[Suetonius]], ''Life of Claudius'' 5; ''[[Scriptores Historiae Augustae]]'' Hadrian [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Hadrian/2*.html#17.3 17.3], Caracalla [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Caracalla*.html#1.8 1.8] and Aurelian [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Aurelian/3*.html#ref184 50.3.] See also {{harvnb|Dolansky|2011|page=492}}</ref>

In a practice that might be compared to modern [[greeting card]]s, verses sometimes accompanied the gifts. Martial has a collection of poems written as if to be attached to gifts.<ref>Martial, Book 14 ''(Apophoreta)''; Williams, ''Martial: Epigrams'', p. 259; Nauta, ''Poetry for Patrons,'' p. 79 ''et [https://books.google.com/books?id=EelGbtB7ppsC&q=saturnalia passim.]''</ref>{{sfn|Versnel|1992|page=148}} Catullus received a book of bad poems by "the worst poet of all time" as a joke from a friend.<ref>[[Catullus]], ''Carmen'' 14; Robinson Ellis, ''A Commentary on Catullus'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1876), pp. 38–39.</ref>

Gift-giving was not confined to the day of the Sigillaria. In some households, guests and family members received gifts after the feast in which slaves had shared.{{sfn|Dolansky|2011|page=492}}

===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>

===''Io Saturnalia''===
The phrase ''io Saturnalia'' was the characteristic shout or salutation of the festival, originally commencing after the public banquet on the single day of 17 December.{{sfn|Versnel|1992|page=141}}{{sfn|Palmer|1997|page=63}} The [[interjection]] ''io'' (Greek ''ἰώ'', ''ǐō'') is pronounced either with two [[syllable]]s (a short ''i'' and a long ''o'') or as a single syllable (with the ''i'' becoming the Latin [[consonant]]al ''j'' and pronounced ''yō''). It was a strongly emotive ritual exclamation or invocation, used for instance in announcing [[Roman triumph|triumph]] or celebrating [[Bacchus]], but also to punctuate a joke.<ref>Entry on ''io,'' ''[[Oxford Latin Dictionary]]'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982, 1985 reprinting), p. 963.</ref>