Martius (month)

In the Imperial period, March was also a time for public celebration of syncretic or international deities whose cultus was spread throughout the empire, including Isis and Cybele.

The menologia rustica told farmers to expect 12 hours of daylight and 12 of night in March.

[2] Festivals for Mars as the month's namesake deity date from the time of the kings and the early Republic.

The season of Mars was felt to close in October, when most farming and military activities ceased, and the god has a second round of festivals clustered then.

On the calendar of the Roman Republic and early Principate, each day was marked with a letter to denote its religiously lawful status.

During the Imperial period, some of the traditional festivals localized at Rome became less important, and the birthdays and anniversaries of the emperor and his family gained prominence as Roman holidays.

[12] Unless otherwise noted, the dating and observances on the following table are from H. H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (Cornell University Press, 1981), pp.