In 17 bce, during a week-long celebration around the ludi saeculares, numerous members of Roman society ritually enacted the social renewal brought about by the Augustan period. The new saeculum introduced by the ludi in actual fact delivered a new era: that of the rule of emperors and that of a new position, next to the emperor, for the Roman senate and its members. The involvement of the senatorial priesthood of quindecemviri sacris faciundis in the ludi, along with the associated role played by an oracle from the Sibylline Books, was said to be traditional, yet, in fact, their participation was probably invented for the ritual celebration of 17 bce. While the Sibylline Books allowed the emperor a claim to set this time for the festivity, which was more Greek and “knowledge”-based than the traditional portent-based system, the involvement of senators allowed them to take a principal and charismatic role in the event, as would not have been the case with the Etruscan, and non-senatorial, haruspices. The names of the senatorial priests participating were carefully listed in the detailed commentarium of the ludi, which was inscribed, at least in part, to set the model for future ludi saeculares. Involving the senatorial priests partially enabled the (specious) claim that the ritual was traditional, as a connection between past and future, and it was symbolically inscribed, along with the names of senators and the emperor, into the collective sense of renewal that the new saeculum represented.