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January 9 in Ancient Rome

Agonalia (January)

festivalAnnual

Roman calendar date

The first Agonalia of the year appears on 9 January in the Fasti Praenestini.

Agonalia

Background

The Roman religious calendar was dotted with very old festivals whose meaning had faded even for the Romans. The Agonalia was one: it appears four times a year in the calendars (9 January, 17 March, 21 May and 11 December), and the January one belonged to Janus, god of doorways and beginnings, whose month it was.

On this day the rex sacrorum, the priest who inherited the religious duties of the old kings, sacrificed a ram in the Regia. Ovid spends lines wondering what "Agonalia" even meant, offering several explanations: from the priest's question "agone?" ("shall I strike?") before killing the victim, from the word for a sheep, or from games (agones) per Ovid, who admits nobody knew for sure. Varro also derived it from "agon", the priest's cue to strike per Varro.

That a festival could survive centuries after anyone remembered its origin says much about Roman religion: correct performance mattered more than belief or explanation. For most people in the city the day passed without much notice, a reminder that state cult was run by priests on behalf of everyone.

Ancient source: Ovid, Fasti 1.317–318 · Reference

Sources

Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 12°/4°C (54°/39°F) · rain 20% of days

Rome in JanuaryThe Kalends of January opened the civil year, with new consuls, vows for the…

Columella
South wind; sometimes a shower. (De Re Rust. 11.2)

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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LATIN LINE OF THE DAY

Hominem pagina nostra sapit.

“My page tastes of humanity.”

Martial, Epigrams 10.4 · translation ours (literal)