The Budapest Sun Online: "IT looked like a scene from The Gladiator, as thousands of spectators joined with the colorful, authentically costumed Roman citizens marching in procession, through the streets of ancient Aquincum, some three kilometers north of Obuda, on the morning of May 6.
The occasion for the gathering was to celebrate the 1,900th anniversary of the Emperor Trajan's elevation, in 106 AD, of the ancient Roman settlement of Aquincum to the rank of capital of the colony of Pannonia.
With its strategic location on the east-west and north-south trajectory, and its rich natural resources, the colony flourished to such an extent that Trajan's successor, the Emperor Hadrian soon decreed Aquincum the Capital of 'Lower Pannonia, Colonia Splendidissima.'
As was wont in ancient times, the celebrants gathered in the Roman Forum of Aquincum, around the tall, distinguished patrician figure of the Macro Magister Budorum, the Highest Governor of Buda the master of ceremonies, played by an actor of the Vidám Színpad (Comedy Theater). He looked perfect in the part, in his purple toga, thonged leather sandals, and a freshly braided laurel wreath on his head.
He set the scene perfectly, literally becoming the personage he was playing, as did the three squadrons of gladiators (including two females), the belligerent Celts - a group of tall, slim, blond young men, their faces painted with blue war paint, their hair streaked with clay, all wearing plaid homespun.
Other peoples of the Empire - Thracians, Parthians, Scythians, and Germans - gathered for the inaugural rites offered by the 'high priest and vestal virgins.' A horse-drawn chariot carrying the gods Jupiter, Hera, Pallas Athena, Cupid, and Bacchus, along with singers and comedians, reenacted the ancient rituals celebrating the coming of spring, from the days when Aquincum was a living, throbbing Roman provincial capital.
After the required sacrificial offerings had been made, the crowd, led by the governor general, proceeded from the forum, following an ancient pathway along the remains of the aqueducts, through freshly sprouted green underbrush and woods, the verdant greenery hiding the 20th century's ugly concrete high-rise houses between which our path led, to the Civic Amphitheater for the high point of the celebrations, the gladiatorial games.
The spectacularly clad gladiators of the "Familia Gladitoria Pannonia" set the pace of the procession, marching to the stern voice of their towering Commander: "uno, duo, tres, kvatro, uno, duo, tres, kvatro," the only thing to bring one back to our 21st century was this slight Hungarian twist to the Latin pronunciation of quattro. The credibility of the setting, characters, and sounds plunged us back into the first century AD, into the living reality of ancient Pannonia."