The Lupercalia.
The Lupercalia was literally run on on the 15th February in ancient Rome. Apart from the nudity, running and goathide thongs there's a lot going on here. Indeed the Roman writers seem unsure of how it all started and in this episode I play detective in trying to work out how it started and what this tells us about Rome. I also talk about the festival itself and how it manifested as well as one famous instance involving the Lupercalia. Episode notes at www.ancientblogger.com Music by Brakhage (Le Vrai Instrumental).