Ancient Texts
Suetonius, Domitian 7.1 — Gold and Purple Factions
Suetonius records Domitian's addition of Gold and Purple to the four traditional racing factions.
Context
Suetonius, writing in the early second century CE, presents this fact in a list of Domitian's changes to public life. The context is the Circus under Domitian (81–96 CE), rather than a description of a particular contest. The four established colours were Green, Blue, Red and White.
Original Latin — Domitian 7.1
38th Scroll Translation
“He added two factions of Circus teams, marked by gold and purple cloth, to the four that had existed before.”
Translation Notes
duas ... factiones — “two factions,” indicating additional organized racing groups.
aurati purpureique panni — the gold and purple cloth distinguishing those new factions.
ad quattuor pristinas — “to the previous four,” establishing that Domitian added rather than replaced colours.
The Emperor and the Circus
Racing factions were organizations involving horses, drivers, stables and staff. Their colours created durable identities for spectators. Suetonius' concise notice shows imperial intervention in that system, but cannot establish Domitian's motives, the length of time Gold and Purple endured, or the outcome of any individual race.
The familiar four-colour system should therefore not be projected without qualification onto every moment of Roman racing history.
From Suetonius to Prasina
The song chooses this exceptional six-faction setting and invents a Green partisan, his curse, the rival crowds and the result of the race. Suetonius supports its unusual colour scheme, not those narrative inventions. The celebrated Scorpus belongs to a different evidentiary strand: Martial's poetry.
Text and Further Reading
- Suetonius, Domitian 7.1; Latin text.
- Cassius Dio, Roman History 67.4.
- Pliny the Younger, Letters 9.6.
- Alan Cameron, Circus Factions (1976).
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