a.d. III Id. Mart.
March 13 in Ancient Rome
Law forbids marriage between Jews and Christians
When love became a crime
religionAD 388
Julian date · ≈ Mar 14 on our calendar
A law of Theodosius I, issued at Thessalonica, declared that a marriage between a Jew and a Christian would be treated as adultery and open to public accusation.
Theodosius I · Valentinian II
Background
Jewish communities had lived across the Roman world for centuries, from Rome itself to Alexandria and Antioch, with their own synagogues and laws, often side by side with pagan and Christian neighbours. Mixed families and friendships were part of ordinary city life. By the late fourth century, however, the emperors had made Christianity the favoured religion of the state, and law began to draw harder lines between communities.
This law of Theodosius I, Valentinian II and Arcadius was sent to Cynegius, praetorian prefect of the East, and issued at Thessalonica. It states that no Jew may take a Christian woman in marriage, and no Christian may marry a Jewish woman. Anyone who did so would be treated as having committed adultery, and anyone, not only the family, was allowed to bring the accusation. A later Latin "interpretation" attached to the text repeats the rule in plainer words.
Adultery was a serious crime under Roman law, so the threat was real. The law is a stark example of how religious difference was being written into family life, limiting whom people could love and marry. It was preserved in the Theodosian Code and later repeated in other law collections.
Ancient source: Codex Theodosianus 9.7.5 (= 3.7.2) · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 15°/5°C (59°/41°F) · rain 20% of days
Rome in MarchMarch, once the first month of the year, reopened the seasons of war and…
Columella
North winds. (De Re Rust. 11.2)
Fields & crops
Columella calls March the best time for pruning vines and the first digging of vineyards; spring crops like millet were readied per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Legal and public business resumed in full after winter. At the Liberalia (17 Mar.) many boys put on the plain toga of manhood and were enrolled as adult citizens, with a family procession to the Forum per Ovid, Fasti 3.771–88.
Senate & politics
From c. 222 to 153 BC the consuls entered office on the Ides of March; Livy records it for 217 BC, and the starting year is a modern reconstruction per Livy 22.1.4. From 153 BC they took office on the Kalends of January per Livy, Per. 47. Caesar was killed at a Senate meeting on the Ides of March 44 BC per Suetonius, Velleius.
Military
The month of Mars opened the campaign season. The Salii carried the sacred shields, and the Tubilustrium (23 Mar.) purified the war trumpets per Varro and Ovid.
Festivals & religion
Matronalia (1 Mar.), Liberalia (17 Mar.), when boys often took the man's toga, and the Quinquatrus of Minerva (19–23 Mar.), a holiday for craftsmen, teachers and doctors per Ovid, Fasti 3.
Daily life
March, once the first month of the year, reopened the seasons of war and sailing. The Salii, Mars' leaping priests, danced through the city. On the Kalends (Matronalia), married women received gifts and in turn served a meal to the household's enslaved people per Macrobius 1.12.7; Ovid, Fasti 3. Columella treats March as prime time for pruning vines and digging per Columella 11.2.
For soldiers, the campaign season began; for traders, sea routes reopened and grain ships from Egypt and Africa could sail again, easing city food supplies.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 3 · Varro, De Lingua Latina 6 · Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12 · Livy 22.1.4 (Latin) · Livy, Periochae 47 (Latin) · Livy, Periochae 116 (Latin) · Suetonius, Divus Iulius 80–81 (Latin) · Velleius Paterculus 2.56 (Latin)
All days in March →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Lasciva est nobis pagina, vita proba.
“My page is playful; my life is upright.”
Martial, Epigrams 1.4 · translation ours (literal)
