- The Capitoline Games were an annual Roman Festival that started on October 16th and lasted 16 days to celebrate the failure of the Gauls to take Rome in 387 BCE.
- The original Capitoline Games, the ‘Ludi Capitolini’, were begun by Camillus in 387 BCE. They then fell into decline until Domitian reinstituted the Games in 86 CE.
The Games Under Domitian (from 86-96 CE)
- Domitian remodeled the Capitoline Games after the Olympic Games in Greece.
- They were now held every four years, in the Campus Martius, with contestants coming from every Province in the Roman Empire.
- Domitian built the Stadium on the Campus Martius, (the Piazza Navona), to house the contestants during the Games.
- The Games consisted of Javelin throwing, Long Jump, Discus, Wrestling and Boxing.
- The Games appear to have ended after Domitian’s reign in 96 CE.
Piazza Navona (Domitian’s Stadium), Rome