or FLORALIA, in Roman Antiquity, a festival in honour of Flora, which lasted for five days, from April 28 to May 2. It is said to have been instituted in the year 238 B.C., and to have been afterwards discontinued in consequence of the license and immorality to which it gave occasion. In the year 173 B.C., however, it was restored at the command of the senate, as the blossoms had suffered very severely in the spring of that year from the severity of the weather. The nobles, as usual, presided over these games, which consisted chiefly in the exhibition of mimic fights and indecent dances performed by women of loose character, who used also to throw beans and chickpeas among the crowd. Instead of wild beasts, hares and rabbits were let into the arena, and chased about for the public amusement. The spot where the Floralia were held is still called the Campo di Fiori, and at this day forms one of the squares of Rome, and is used as a market-place.

Festivals very like the floralia are still celebrated throughout Italy, where they have always been very popular. Floral games, or jeux floraux, was the name given to the reunions held in the south of France, especially at Toulouse, where garlands of flowers were awarded as prizes to successful competitors in the poetical contests.