a.d. VIII Id. Ian.
January 6 in Ancient Rome
Who outranks whom: civil vicars and military counts
politicsAD 377
Julian date · ≈ Jan 7 on our calendar
A law ruled that in civil cases a vicar (civil governor of a diocese) ranks above a military count, and in military cases the count ranks above the vicar.
Background
By the late fourth century the empire had separated civil and military careers. Civil vicars ran groups of provinces called dioceses, handling courts and taxes, while military counts (comites) commanded troops in a region. When both men were in the same city, questions of who greeted whom first, who sat higher and who could give orders mattered a great deal.
This law of 377 settled it practically: in civil matters the vicar took precedence over the count, and in military matters the count over the vicar. Each was senior in his own sphere.
It sounds like court etiquette, but for ordinary provincials it decided whose office they went to with a complaint or lawsuit, and whose officials could requisition supplies or quarter soldiers on them.
Ancient source: Theodosian Code 1.15.7 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 12°/4°C (54°/39°F) · rain 26% 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
Ille sapit quisquis, Postume, vixit heri.
“The wise man, Postumus, is whoever lived yesterday.”
Martial, Epigrams 5.58 · translation ours (literal)
