The Lusus Troiae, also as Ludus Troiae and ludicrum Troiae ("Troy Game" or "Game of Troy") was an equestrian event held in ancient Rome. It was among the ludi ("games"), celebrated at imperial funerals, temple foundings, or in honor of a military victory. The lusus was occasionally presented at the Saecular Games, but was not attached regularly to a particular religious festival.[1]
Participation was a privilege for boys of the nobility (nobiles).[2] It was a display of communal skill, not a contest.[3]
- ^ Daniel P. Harmon, "The Religious Significance of Games in the Roman Age," in The Archaeology of the Olympics (University of Wisconsin Press, 1988), p. 250.
- ^ John Scheid and Jesper Svenbro, The Craft of Zeus: Myths of Weaving and Fabric (Penn State Press, 1996), p. 41.
- ^ Francis Cairns, Virgil's Augustan Epic (Cambridge University Press, 1989, 1990), pp. 226 and 246 online.