Origins
These games (the chief Roman festival) were in honour of Jupiter, and are said to have been established by Tarquinius Priscus on the occasion of his conquest of the Latin Apiolae; though Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Cicero refer the establishment to the victory over the Latins at Lake Regillus.
At first they lasted only one day. A second day was added on the expulsion of the kings in 509 BC (Dionys. vi. 95), a third after the first secession of the plebs in 494 BC. From the year 191 to 171 they lasted ten days, and shortly before Caesar's death they apparently lasted fifteen days, September 5 to September 19. After Caesar's death a day was added. This day must have been September 4, because Cicero says that there were 45 days from the ludi Romani to the Ludi Victoriae Sullanae on October 26, so September 19 in the time the Verrines were composed must have been the last day of the Ludi Romani.
And so it appears in the Calendars of the Augustan time, the days of the games being September 4 to September 19. There was the Epulum Jovis on the 13th, and the Equorum probatio on the 14th. Circus games lasted from the 15th to the 19th. In the Calendar of Philocalus (year 354) they run from September 12 to 15. The celebration was in the hands at first of the consuls, later of the curule aediles.
Read more about this topic: Ludi Romani
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