a.d. XIX Kal. Feb.
January 14 in Ancient Rome
Birth of Mark Antony
birth83 BC
Pre-reform Roman calendar
Marcus Antonius was born in Rome.
Mark Antony
Background
Marcus Antonius was born into a noble but troubled plebeian family. His grandfather, a famous orator, was killed in Marius' purges of 87 BC; his father, Marcus Antonius Creticus, died after a failed command against the pirates. His mother, Julia, was a distant relative of Julius Caesar, and after his father's death she married Publius Lentulus Sura, whom Cicero had executed in 63 BC as a Catilinarian conspirator.
The birthday 14 January is preserved because later it became an unlucky day (dies vitiosus) in calendar inscriptions after his fall per the Fasti Verulani, as reported by modern scholars; not checked. As a young man Antony was known for debt and drinking per Cicero's hostile Philippics and Plutarch. He served as a cavalry officer in the East, then joined Caesar in Gaul and became his right-hand man.
After Caesar's murder he was the leading Caesarian, then rival and partner of Octavian in the Second Triumvirate, and lover and ally of Cleopatra. Defeated at Actium, he died by suicide in Alexandria in 30 BC. His descendants through his daughters included the emperors Caligula, Claudius and Nero.
Before Caesar's reform (45 BC) the calendar had drifted from the seasons, so the real seasonal date was different; we don't give a modern equivalent. Why?
⚠ Uncertain date: The day comes from a calendar of the Julian era (XIX Kal. Feb.); the day in the pre-Julian calendar he was born under is uncertain.
Ancient source: Fasti Verulani (dies vitiosus); Cassius Dio 51.19 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 12°/4°C (54°/39°F) · rain 24% 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
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