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Whilst few dates in ChristвЂ™s life (especially his early life) can be established with any certainty, one that is clearly determinable is the date of the crucifixion, which according to the gospels occurs on the feast of Passover, a Jewish religious holiday held on the first full moon after the spring equinox.ДЄ tradition dating to at least the early third century AD (and quite possibly going back much further) identifies Passover, or the Spring equinox just before it, as being also the date of the annunciation when Christ was conceived. The significance of Christians using this date does not, however, derive from the pagan festivals held on or around the solstice, but rather has its origins with the dating of ChristвЂ™s conception. The dating is, of course, not a coincidence, they both occur on the Roman winter solstice. Somewhat more plausibly, it also put forwards that Christmas was invented to supplant the festival of Sol Invictus, which was held on the 25th of December. Saturnalia itself, rather inconveniently for this claim, occurred on 17 December (not the 25th) and ended on the 23rd, while Christmas occurs on 25 December and ends on 6 January. I will try to set the record briefly straight in this article, but I think we need to think more deeply about why these claims donвЂ™t go away, why apparently well-educated people make them, and just why so few people understand the real story of the relationship between Christianity and pagan Rome.ДЇirst off, the myth: Christmas is a midwinter festival invented by a fourth century Pope to supplant the rowdy pagan festivities of (variously) Saturnalia, or that of Sol Invictus.

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One of the less joyous of these new additions is the near-liturgical round of articles, blogs and social media posts, many of them in serious newspapers and by respectable journalists and academics, repeating the same series of dubious claims about how Christmas is nothing but a sort of less than jolly deception, a feast stolen from some ancient, and more enjoyable pagan winter rite, by cunning Christians.ДЇighting this disinformation can feel like a never-ending struggle for religious journalists, and it can feel pointless to debunk the same claims every Christmas. Christmas, he blithely suggested, вЂњwas a pagan holiday called Saturnalia appropriated by ChristiansвЂќ.ДЄs we know, Christmas has accumulated many modern secular customs over the years, from the turning on of town lights to the Doctor Who Christmas special. It was the debate's framing by the programmeвЂ™s host Michael Buerk.

But for once it wasnвЂ™t the sometimes tepid debate that annoyed me. Six of Martial's books lay claim, all in different ways, to being вЂSaturnalianвЂ™ (as well as 13 and 14, the Xenia and Apophoreta, we have books 7, 11 and probably also 4 and 5).A recent episode of BBC Radio FourвЂ™s The Moral Maze was irritating as ever.

The main holiday of the year by the early empire, and the focus of this chapter, was the Saturnalia (вЂthe best of daysвЂ™ according to Catullus, at 14.15). 15вЂ“16) aimed at those who also enjoy Floralia's games. The De Spectaculis is a munus (вЂgiftвЂ™, вЂshowвЂ™) that is small enough to be carried to the games themselves, enjoyed in parallel with, before or after, or in place of the real spectacles, while Epigrams 1 is a display of theatre ( theatrum meum, Pref.

In Book 5, for example, the libellus is itself a вЂdinner guest or revellerвЂ™ ( conviva est comissatorque libellus, 5.16.9), is consumed while the drinks are being mixed in 2.1, and comes giggling, naughty and drunk at 11.15. The Epigrams are holiday poems вЂ“ sweet and bitter titbits to enjoy when the sun goes down, when candles and torches are lit, at parties, at the theatre and amphitheatre, with friends, food and wine. Martial's association of his work with festivals, especially the Saturnalia and Floralia, the games and the convivium, is one of the most immediate ways in which epigram inhabits and sinks into the world of Rome, a turba amongst turbae.

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Quos tibi pro caelo filius ipse dedit? Ep.

Sed quid agam potius madidis, Saturne, diebus,

Saturnalia 2015