a.d. XIX Kal. Sept.
August 14 in Ancient Rome
Octavian’s triple triumph begins
Three days of triumph and Cleopatra’s effigy
politics29 BC
Julian date · ≈ Aug 11 on our calendar
Over three days Octavian celebrated triumphs for Illyricum, Actium and Egypt; the Fasti Barberini date the first to 13 August and the Egyptian one to 15 August.
CUM IMPERATOR CAESAR AUGUSTUS MENSE SEXTILI ET PRIMUM CONSULATUM INIERIT. ET TRIUMPHOS TRES IN URBEM INTULERIT.
Whereas Imperator Caesar Augustus in the month Sextilis both entered his first consulship and brought three triumphs into the city…
Background
After defeating Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in 31 BC and taking Egypt the next year, Octavian returned to Rome in the summer of 29 BC as the sole master of the Roman world. Cassius Dio says the consul himself sacrificed for his safe arrival, and that the soldiers and citizens received rich gifts per Cassius Dio.
Then came three days of triumph. On the first, Dio writes, Octavian celebrated his victories over the Pannonians, Dalmatians and their neighbours; on the second, the naval victory at Actium; on the third, the conquest of Egypt. The spoils from Egypt were so vast that they were enough for all three processions, and the Egyptian day surpassed the others in costliness. An effigy of the dead Cleopatra on a couch was carried through the streets, along with her children Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene as captives per Cassius Dio. Dio adds that so much money flowed into the city that interest rates fell from twelve to four percent.
The stone triumphal calendar found at the Barberini palace dates the Dalmatian triumph to 13 August and the Egyptian to 15 August. The Senate later renamed the month Sextilis "Augustus", partly because he had brought three triumphs into the city in this month.
Ancient source: Fasti triumphales Barberini; Fasti Antiates; Cassius Dio 51.21 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 31°/20°C (88°/68°F) · rain 11% of days
Rome in AugustThe hottest weeks raised the risk of fire in the dense city, especially in…
Fields & crops
Columella marks autumn beginning around 12 August; straw and stubble were gathered, figs and early fruit picked, and vineyards readied for the vintage per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
A quieter legal month; many elite Romans were in the countryside. Under the empire, the imperial household's slaves and freedmen kept administration running.
Senate & politics
Renamed from Sextilis in 8 BC for Augustus, who had won his greatest successes in this month, including the capture of Alexandria in 30 BC per Macrobius 1.12.35.
Military
Armies stayed in the field; disease in hot camps was often as dangerous as battle modern view based on ancient accounts.
Festivals & religion
Portunalia (17 Aug.), Vinalia Rustica (19 Aug.), Consualia (21 Aug.), Vulcanalia (23 Aug.), when small fish were offered to Vulcan to ward off fire, and Opiconsivia (25 Aug.) per Varro and Festus. On the Ides, Diana's day, enslaved people had a holiday per Festus and Plutarch.
Daily life
The hottest weeks raised the risk of fire in the dense city, especially in timber-framed insulae; Augustus set up the vigiles, a fire brigade of freedmen, in AD 6 per Suetonius and Dio. Fevers peaked in late summer and early autumn; the sick poor relied on home remedies and shrines more than on doctors modern view.
Sources: Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12 · Columella 11.2
All days in August →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Lasciva est nobis pagina, vita proba.
“My page is playful; my life is upright.”
Martial, Epigrams 1.4 · translation ours (literal)
