View source for Saeculum

{{Italic title}}
{{short description|Unit of time roughly equal to the potential lifetime of a person}}
{{for|another use|Saeculum (journal)}}
A '''{{lang|la|saeculum}}''' (plural {{lang|la|saecula}}) is a length of time roughly equal to the potential lifetime of a person or, equivalently, the complete renewal of a human population.<ref>{{wiktionary-inline|saeculum}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Dunning|first1=Susan Bilynskyj|title=Saeculum|volume=1|encyclopedia=Oxford Classical Dictionary|date=November 2017|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.8233|isbn=978-0-19-938113-5|url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:abd6baef-1ce3-46c5-9c54-2b174353967f|url-access=subscription}}</ref> 

==Background==
Originally it meant the time from the moment that something happened (for example the founding of a city) until the point in time that all people who had lived at the first moment had died. At that point a new {{lang|la|saeculum}} would start. According to [[legend]], the gods had allotted a certain number of {{lang|la|saecula}} to every people or civilization; the [[Etruscans]], for example, had been given ten saecula.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = University of California Press| isbn = 978-0-520-25119-9| last = Feeney| first = Denis| title = Caesar's calendar: ancient time and the beginnings of history| location = Berkeley| date = 2007| doi = 10.1525/california/9780520251199.001.0001| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/caesarscalendara0000feen}}</ref>

By the 2nd century BC, Roman historians were using the {{lang|la|saeculum}} to periodize their chronicles and track wars.<ref>{{Cite journal| issn = 0035-449X| volume = 83| issue = 3| pages = 255–272| last = Diehl| first = Ernst| title = Das saeculum, seine Riten und Gebete: Teil I. Bedeutung und Quellen des saeculum. Die älteren saecula| journal = Rheinisches Museum für Philologie| series = n.s.| date = 1934| jstor = 23078470}}</ref> At the time of the reign of emperor [[Augustus]], the [[Classical Rome|Romans]] decided that a {{lang|la|saeculum}} was 110 years. In 17 BC, Caesar Augustus organized ''[[Secular Games|Ludi saeculares]]'' ("saecular games") for the first time to celebrate the "fifth saeculum of Rome".<ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1093/cq/46.2.434| issn = 0009-8388| volume = 46| issue = 2| pages = 434–446| last = Barker| first = Duncan| title = 'The Golden Age Is Proclaimed'? The Carmen Saeculare and the Renascence of the Golden Race| journal = The Classical Quarterly| series = n.s.| date = 1996| jstor = 639800}}</ref> Augustus aimed to link the {{lang|la|saeculum}} with imperial authority.<ref name="Bilynskyj2022">{{Cite book |last=Dunning |first=Susan Bilynskyj |title=Conceptions of time in Greek and Roman antiquity |date=2022-06-06 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-073607-6 |editor-last=Faure |editor-first=Richard |publication-place=Berlin |language=en |chapter=The transformation of the {{lang|la|saeculum}} and its rhetoric in the construction and rejection of Roman imperial power |doi=10.1515/9783110736076-008 |editor-last2=Valli |editor-first2=Simon-Pierre |editor-last3=Zucker |editor-first3=Arnaud |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Emperors such as [[Claudius]] and [[Septimius Severus]] celebrated the passing of {{lang|la|saecula}} with games at irregular intervals. In 248, [[Philip the Arab]] combined Ludi saeculares with the [[ab urbe condita|1,000th anniversary]] of the [[founding of Rome]]. The new [[millennium]] that Rome entered was called the ''saeculum novum'',<ref>{{Cite book| volume = 2| issue = 16.3| pages = 2564–2589| last = Hall| first = John. F. III| editor-first1 = Wolfgang| editor-last1 = Haase| title = The ''Saeculum novum'' of Augustus and its Etruscan Antecedents| chapter = The Saeculum Novum of Augustus and its Etruscan Antecedents| journal = Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt| date = 1986| doi = 10.1515/9783110841671-016| isbn = 978-3-11-084167-1}}</ref> a term that received a [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] connotation in [[Christianity]], referring to the worldly age (hence "[[secularity|secular]]").<ref>{{Cite journal| issn = 0035-449X| volume = 83| issue = 4| pages = 348–372| last = Diehl| first = Ernst| title = Das ʻsaeculumʼ, seine Riten und Gebete: Teil II. Die ʻsaeculaʼ der Kaiserzeit. Ritual und Gebet der Feiern der Jahre 17 v. Chr., 88 und 204 n. Chr.| journal = Rheinisches Museum für Philologie| series = n.s.| date = 1934| jstor = 23079245}}</ref>

Roman emperors legitimised their political authority by referring to the {{lang|la|saeculum}} in various media, linked to a golden age of imperial glory. In response, Christian writers began to define the {{lang|la|saeculum}} as referring to 'this present world', as opposed to the expectation of eternal life in the 'world to come'.<ref name="Bilynskyj2022"/> This results in the modern sense of 'secular' as 'belonging to the world and its affairs'.<ref name="mw">{{Cite Merriam-Webster|secular|accessdate=2022-03-25}}</ref>

The English word ''secular'', an adjective meaning something happening once in an eon, is derived from the Latin ''saeculum''.<ref name="mw"/> The descendants of Latin ''saeculum'' in the Romance languages generally mean "century" (i.e., 100 years): [[French language|French]] {{lang|fr|siècle}}, [[Spanish language|Spanish]] {{lang|es|siglo}}, [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] {{lang|pt|século}}, [[Italian language|Italian]] {{lang|it|secolo}}, [[Romanian language|Romanian]] {{lang|ro|secol}}, etc.

==See also ==
{{Wiktionary}}
*[[Aeon]], comparable Greek concept 
*[[Century]]
*[[Generation]]
*''[[In saecula saeculorum]]''
* [[New world order (politics)]]
*[[Social cycle theory]]
*[[Strauss–Howe generational theory]]
*''[[Saeculum obscurum]]''

==References==
<references/>

{{Time measurement and standards}}

[[Category:Units of time]]
[[Category:Ageing]]
[[Category:Latin words and phrases]]