Roman National Anthem

• The Nathional Anthem of Ancient Rome was called the Carmen saeculare meaning ‘Secular Hymn’.
•  It wa a celebration of the greatness of Rome and the Emperor, and was a prayer to the Gods that Rome would remain an eternal city.

Description

• In 17 BCE, the Roman Emperor Augustus commissioned the Roman Poet Horace to write an Ode celebrating the New Golden Age of Rome.
• The song was called the ‘Carmen saeculare’ (secular hymn) meaning the ‘song of the ages’.
•  A special Festival was held in 17 BCE, called the ‘Ludi Seculares’.
• The Ode was sung by a choir of 27 girls and 27 boys on the Capitolium and the event recorded in an inscription.

The Anthem (Carmen saeculare)

• It has 78 lines, below is an excerpt of one stanza:
  • Alme Sol, curru nitido diem qui
  • Promis et celas aliusque et idem
  • Nasceris, possis nihil urbe Roma
  • Visere maius.
• Which roughly translates as:
• • O Sun, in your shining chariot
  •  Who brings forth the day, then hides it,
  • To be Born again, may you, the city of Rome,
  • Be able to see nothing greater.

Source

• The Ode was recorded by the 6th century CE Greek historian, Zosimus.