a.d. X Kal. Ian.
December 23 in Ancient Rome
Larentalia
festivalAnnual
Roman calendar date
Festival for Acca Larentia, legendary foster-mother of Romulus and Remus, with offerings at her tomb.
Background
The Larentalia, on 23 December, honoured Acca Larentia. Romans told two different stories about her. In one, she was the wife of the shepherd Faustulus and foster-mother of Romulus and Remus tradition. In another, she was a wealthy courtesan in the time of the kings who left her property to the Roman people tradition, per Macrobius and Plutarch. Some writers merged these by saying that "lupa", she-wolf, was also slang for a prostitute per Livy, who reports this rationalising view.
On the festival day the priests, including the flamen of Quirinus, made offerings for the dead at her supposed tomb in the Velabrum, outside the old Porta Romanula per Varro and Gellius. It was a parentatio, a rite for the dead, like the family offerings of the Parentalia in February.
The double legend shows how Romans read their early history through moral and practical lenses: a nurturing mother of the founders, or a woman of low status whose gift enriched the whole people.
Ancient source: Varro, De Lingua Latina 6.23; Ovid, Fasti 3.55 · Reference
Sources
Read moreTriumph of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus
Triumph of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus
politicsAD 176
Julian date · ≈ Dec 22 on our calendar
Marcus Aurelius and Commodus celebrated a joint triumph for the German wars.
Marcus Aurelius · Commodus
Background
From 166 Rome fought long, exhausting wars on the Danube against the Marcomanni, Quadi, Iazyges and others, who had broken into the empire and even reached northern Italy. Marcus Aurelius spent most of the 170s at the front, where he wrote much of his Meditations. The wars came on top of the Antonine Plague, which struck the empire from 165 modern estimates of deaths vary widely.
In 175 the revolt of Avidius Cassius in the East interrupted the campaign. After touring the eastern provinces, Marcus returned to Rome in 176. On 23 December he and his son Commodus, aged 15, celebrated a joint triumph over the Germans and Sarmatians per the Historia Augusta, a late and unreliable source; the date is generally accepted. Commodus ran beside his father's chariot, and he was made consul for 177 and soon co-Augustus.
The triumph was the last great celebration of Marcus' reign. The wars resumed in 177, and Marcus died on campaign in 180, leaving Commodus as sole emperor. The column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome shows scenes from these wars, including the suffering of civilians, women and children taken captive.
⚠ Uncertain date
Ancient source: Historia Augusta, Commodus 2.4 · Reference
Sources
Read moreSaturnalia begins
Saturnalia begins
festivalAnnual
Roman calendar date
Rome's festival of Saturn began with a public banquet and the cry 'io Saturnalia'. It later stretched to 23 December.
Saturnalia
Background
The Saturnalia, honouring the old god Saturn, was Rome's most loved festival. It began on 17 December with a sacrifice at the temple of Saturn in the Forum, followed by a public banquet; the woollen bonds on the feet of Saturn's statue were loosened for the festival per Macrobius and Statius. Originally one day, it later stretched to several; Augustus set three days and Caligula added a fifth, and by the late empire it ran to 23 December per Macrobius 1.10.
During the festival, business and courts stopped, people swapped the toga for casual dress and the felt cap of freedmen (pilleus), gambled openly, and gave gifts: wax candles (cerei) and small pottery figurines (sigillaria). Catullus called it "the best of days" (14.15). Households let enslaved people eat with, or be served by, their owners, and speak freely per Macrobius, Accius quoted by him, and Seneca.
These reversals were real but temporary; the enslaved returned to their condition when the holiday ended. Seneca, writing in December, notes that the whole city seemed to go wild while he debated whether a wise man should join in per Seneca, Ep. 18. Many Saturnalia customs—feasting, gifts and candles—later fed into Christmas and New Year traditions modern view; the exact links are debated.
Ancient source: Catullus 14.15 ('Saturnalibus, optimo dierum') · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 12°/5°C (54°/41°F) · rain 36% of days
Rome in DecemberDecember's highlight was the Saturnalia (from 17 December).
Columella
Signals a storm. (De Re Rust. 11.2)
Fields & crops
Olive picking and pressing, wood-cutting, and indoor work on rainy days; sowing ideally finished by the Kalends per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Courts closed for the Saturnalia; quaestors gave gladiatorial shows in December in late antiquity per the Chronography of 354.
Senate & politics
New tribunes of the plebs entered office on 10 December; outgoing magistrates closed their accounts before the year ended Republic.
Military
Winter quarters. Soldiers too kept the Saturnalia, choosing a mock 'king' per the Acts of Dasius, a late and disputed martyr text.
Festivals & religion
Faunalia (5 Dec.), Agonalia and Septimontium (11 Dec.), Consualia (15 Dec.), Saturnalia (from 17 Dec.), Opalia (19 Dec.), Divalia (21 Dec.), Larentalia (23 Dec.), and later the birthday of Sol Invictus (25 Dec.).
Daily life
December's highlight was the Saturnalia (from 17 December). Business stopped, people wore the casual pilleus cap and gave small gifts, and households let enslaved people eat with, or even be served by, their owners per Macrobius 1.7, Seneca Ep. 47. Seneca, though, notes that the inversion lasted only days; the rest of the year enslaved people stood silent and hungry while masters dined, and could be beaten for a cough per Seneca, Ep. 47. Seneca himself grumbled that the whole city "sweats" with feasting Seneca, Ep. 18.
On farms, olives were picked and pressed, and enslaved workers repaired tools and baskets on rainy days per Columella 11.2.
Sources: Varro, De Lingua Latina 6 · Chronography of 354 · Seneca, Epistles 18 and 47 · Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.7–10
All days in December →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Rumpitur invidia quidam, carissime Iuli, quod me Roma legit.
“Someone is bursting with envy, dearest Julius, because Rome reads me.”
Martial, Epigrams 9.97 · translation ours (literal)
