Carmen Saeculare
Encyclopedia
The Carmen Saeculare is a hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...

 in Sapphic
Sapphic
Sapphic can refer to:* Related to Sappho, a 7th century BC poetess** Sapphic stanza, a four line poetic form* Sapphic love, related to female homosexuality...

 meter written by the Roman poet Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...

. It was commissioned by the Roman emperor Augustus in 17 BC
17 BC
Year 17 BCE was either a common year starting on Sunday or Monday or a leap year starting on Saturday, Sunday or Monday of the Julian calendar and a leap year starting on Friday of the Proleptic Julian calendar...

. The hymn was sung by a chorus of twenty-seven maidens and the same number of youths on the occasion of the Ludi Saeculares (Secular Games), which celebrated the end of one saeculum
Saeculum
A saeculum is a length of time roughly equal to the potential lifetime of a person or the equivalent of the complete renewal of a human population. The term was first used by the Etruscans. Originally it meant the period of time from the moment that something happened until the point in time that...

(typically 100 years in length) and the beginning of another. The mythological
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...

 and religious song
Religious music
Religious music is music performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence.A lot of music has been composed to complement religion, and many composers have derived inspiration from their own religion. Many forms of traditional music have been adapted to fit religions'...

 is in the form of a prayer addressed to Phoebus (Apollo) and Diana and represents a return to the tradition of glorifying the Roman Pantheon; it especially brings to prominence the patron god of Augustus, Apollo, to whom a new temple on the Palatine
Temple of Apollo Palatinus
The Temple of Apollo Palatinus was a temple on the Palatine Hill of ancient Rome, which was first dedicated by Augustus to his patron god Apollo. It was only the second temple in Rome dedicated to the god, after the Temple of Apollo Sosianus...

had recently been consecrated.
A marble inscription recording the ceremony and the part played by Horace still survives. It is the earliest lyric poem about which we have definite information regarding the circumstances of its performance, and is the only one of Horace's we know for certain was performed orally.
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