The Roman Military Feriale

Abstract

In a major study, “The Roman Army and the Roman Religious Year,” recently published in this journal (XLV [1952] 187–252), Professor Nock has presented a new interpretation of the character and purpose of the Feriale Duranum. It is hardly necessary at this short interval to repeat his conclusions, which seem to me quite convincing, but as a postscript to Nock's study, I should like to do three things. The first is to discuss the purpose of the military Feriale when it was established, as it probably was, by Augustus. The second is to consider the distribution of the occasions in the Feriale and hence to some extent their value as breaks in the soldier's routine. Finally, I shall examine three sections of the text which for one reason or another deserve close study.