pr. Non. Mart.
March 6 in Ancient Rome
Augustus becomes pontifex maximus
Augustus takes the keys of heaven
religion12 BC
Julian date · ≈ Mar 4 on our calendar
Augustus took Rome’s highest priesthood after the death of Lepidus, linking his household to the cult of Vesta.
ignibus aeternis aeterni numina praesunt Caesaris
Caesar's eternal godhead protects the eternal fire.
Augustus
Background
The pontifex maximus headed Rome's college of priests and oversaw the state's religious law, the calendar and the Vestal Virgins. Julius Caesar had held the post; after his murder it went to Marcus Lepidus, the third member of the Second Triumvirate. When Lepidus fell from power in 36 BC he was stripped of his army but kept the priesthood, which was held for life. Augustus waited.
Augustus later wrote that he had refused to take the office while its holder was alive, and accepted it only after Lepidus' death, when a crowd "from all Italy" came to Rome for the election, larger than ever before per Augustus' own Res Gestae, a self-portrait. Ovid celebrates the day in the Fasti: worshippers of Vesta should give thanks, because "to the countless titles Caesar chose to earn, the honour of the High Priesthood was added", and now a priest of Aeneas' line guarded the eternal fire brought from Troy.
The new pontifex did not move into the official residence in the Forum. Instead, Ovid says, Vesta was given a shrine in Augustus' own house on the Palatine per Ovid. Religion, family and power were now under one roof.
Ancient source: Ovid, Fasti 3.415–428; Res Gestae 10.2 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 14°/5°C (57°/41°F) · rain 35% of days
Rome in MarchMarch, once the first month of the year, reopened the seasons of war and…
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
Hoc est vivere bis, vita posse priore frui.
“To be able to enjoy one's past life is to live twice.”
Martial, Epigrams 10.23 · translation ours (literal)
