Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Lupercalia (The games)

    Calpurnia was the wife of Julius Caesar, who lived around 100 B.C. She was his third wife and they were married in 59 B.C. Calpurnia was a beautiful woman and the daughter of Piso Caesonius. In Act I scene II of Julius Caesar, it tells us that Calpurnia is unable to have children. Caesar tells Antony that when he runs in the Lupercalia (games), to not focus on speed but to touch Calpurnia with his holy chase. (As part of the festival the men ran naked through the streets of Rome, striking bystanders with a leather thong. It was said that if a woman that could not have children was struck by this thong, she would become fertile.) She never did have children but she was a faithful wife that always looked after Caesar.