a.d. III Id. Ian.
January 11 in Ancient Rome
Carmentalia (first day)
festivalAnnual
Roman calendar date
First of the two feast days of Carmenta, goddess of childbirth and prophecy. The second was 15 January.
Carmentalia
Background
Carmenta was one of Rome's oldest goddesses, linked to prophecy and childbirth. Legend made her the mother of Evander, the Arcadian who settled on the Palatine before Rome existed tradition. She had a shrine near the Porta Carmentalis at the foot of the Capitol and her own minor flamen, a priest assigned only to her.
Her festival had two days, 11 and 15 January. Ovid tells a story explaining it: when the Senate forbade Roman women to ride in carriages, the matrons refused to bear children until the right was restored, and the second day was added in thanks per Ovid; Plutarch gives a similar version. Women were the main worshippers. Leather, the hide of slaughtered animals, was not allowed into her shrine per Ovid.
Childbirth was among the greatest dangers in a Roman woman's life, and many infants did not survive their first year. Midwives, mothers and pregnant women looked to goddesses like Carmenta for protection. Some later writers connected the two Carmentes, Prorsa (or Porrima) and Postverta, with a baby born head first or feet first per Varro, quoted by Gellius.
Ancient source: Ovid, Fasti 1.461–586 · Reference
Sources
Read moreBirth of Theodosius I
Birth of Theodosius I
birthAD 347 (year probable)
Julian date · ≈ Jan 12 on our calendar
Theodosius, the last emperor to rule both halves of the empire, was born in Hispania; the year (usually 347) is disputed.
Theodosius I
Background
Theodosius came from a landowning family in Hispania, probably Cauca in the northwest of the peninsula. His father, also named Theodosius, was one of Valentinian I's top generals, who restored order in Britain after the crises of 367–368 and later fought in Africa.
The birthday of 11 January comes from a later chronicle tradition, and the year 347 is the usual modern reckoning disputed. The church historian Socrates says he lived sixty years, which would imply a birth around 335, so the year is not settled. The young Theodosius served under his father; when the elder Theodosius was suddenly executed in Carthage in 375 or 376 in court intrigue, the son retired to his estates in Spain.
His fortunes turned after the disaster at Adrianople in 378, when the Goths killed the emperor Valens and much of his army. Gratian summoned Theodosius and made him emperor of the East in January 379. He went on to make Nicene Christianity the state religion and, briefly in 394–395, ruled the whole empire, the last man ever to do so.
⚠ Uncertain date: Year disputed: 347 is the usual modern date, but Socrates says he lived 60 years (implying c. 335).
Ancient source: Consularia Constantinopolitana · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 12°/4°C (54°/39°F) · rain 22% of days
Rome in JanuaryThe Kalends of January opened the civil year, with new consuls, vows for the…
Fields & crops
Little field work: Columella says pious farmers rested before the Kalends and restarted every task on 1 January for luck; after the Ides, pruning and weeding of autumn-sown grain resumed per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Courts reopened after the Saturnalia. New magistrates took up their duties, and the praetor's edict, the rules for his year in office, was posted late Republic.
Senate & politics
From 153 BC the consuls took office on 1 January, sacrificing on the Capitol; the year was named after them. In the empire, officials and soldiers renewed vows for the emperor's safety on 3 January varies by era.
Military
Armies sat in winter quarters; campaigning in snow was rare and feared. Soldiers on the frontiers renewed their oath to the emperor at the start of the year imperial era.
Festivals & religion
Janus, god of doorways and beginnings, was honoured on the Kalends; the Agonalia (9 Jan.), the Carmentalia for the birth-goddess Carmenta (11 and 15 Jan.) and the movable Compitalia at crossroads shrines followed per Ovid, Fasti 1.
Daily life
The Kalends of January opened the civil year, with new consuls, vows for the emperor's safety and small gifts (strenae) of dates, figs and coins for good luck per Ovid, Fasti 1. The Kalends of every month was also when interest fell due, so for debtors the first of the month could be dreaded; the account book itself was called the kalendarium per Seneca and the Digest.
Winter was the hungry season for many. Rome's free monthly grain ration helped only registered male citizens (about 200,000 under Augustus) per Suetonius, Aug. 40, and Res Gestae 15; others bought at market prices. Columella says pious farmers did no field work in the days before the Kalends and restarted every kind of work on 1 January for good omen per Columella 11.2.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 1 · Columella 11.2 · Suetonius, Augustus 40–42
All days in January →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Quod sis esse velis nihilque malis.
“Wish to be what you are, and prefer nothing else.”
Martial, Epigrams 10.47 · translation ours (literal)
