Compitalia festival:



          This is the celebration that goes on after the agricultural year is over.  It is usually held on the third or fifth of January.  This also honors the lares compitales, the household gods of the neighboring areas.  Slaves sacrificed honey-cakes (pevlanoi), and boys were sacrificed to Mania, the lares' mother.  The people assisted as ministering servants at the festival were not free men, but slaves, because the lares took pleasure in the service of slaves.  However, after Tarquinius Superbus was expelled, the boys were replaced by garlic and poppies.  The Magistri vici looked over the festival, and it included public games.  Augustus revived this holiday after the civil wars and appointed the Augustales to worship the lares.  They were selected the day of the festival.  The Compitalia is celebrated a few days after Saturnalia with great splendor.

           During the celebration, each family placed a statue of Maira, the underworld goddess, at the door of their house.  They also hung up difures of wool representing mena and women at their door.  They accompanied them with humble requests that the lares and Mania would be contented with those figures and spare the people of the house.  Slaves, however, offered balls or fleeces of wool instead of human figures.

 

 

Invention of Rome's first true coinage:



           There has been much debate about the sheep and cattle bronze bars.  The bars were dated to about Servius' time.  However, one of the blocks, from 300BCE, wasn't Servius', which is kind of weird.  They were called Aes Signatum.  The Latin word for money, pecunia, probably came from the nota pecumdum (cattle for wealth).