a.d. VII Kal. Dec.
November 25 in Ancient Rome
Sarmatian Games begin
festivalListed AD 354
Roman calendar date
The calendar of 354 opens the Ludi Sarmatici, games for victories over the Sarmatians, on 25 November; they ran until chariot races on 1 December.
Background
The Sarmatians were Iranian-speaking horse peoples living north of the Danube and the Black Sea. Rome fought them repeatedly, from Marcus Aurelius' wars in the 170s to the campaigns of Constantine and Constantius II in the fourth century. Emperors took the victory title "Sarmaticus", and new games could be created to celebrate such wins.
The calendar of 354 lists Ludi Sarmatici from 25 November to 1 December, ending with circus races. Which victory they first celebrated is unknown; a Constantinian or later fourth-century victory is often suggested modern conjecture.
Late Roman Rome had well over a hundred days of public games each year. For city people these were free entertainment and holidays, paid for by the state and by senators holding offices like the praetorship, which in this period mainly meant funding expensive games. Racing factions—the Greens, Blues, Reds and Whites—drew passionate fans from every social level.
Ancient source: Chronography of 354, calendar (a.d. VII Kal. Dec.: LVDI SARMATICI) · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 15°/7°C (59°/45°F) · rain 34% of days
Rome in NovemberFor farmers, the weeks of ploughing and sowing were long and wet.
Columella
Wintry weather. (De Re Rust. 11.2)
Fields & crops
Main sowing of wheat and beans; Columella marks winter's start around 10 November and advises finishing sowing by the Kalends of December per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
The Plebeian Games (4–17 Nov.) closed courts on many days; legal business resumed in late November late Republic.
Senate & politics
Elections for the next year's magistrates were sometimes delayed into autumn in troubled years; Cicero's First Catilinarian was delivered in November 63 BC.
Military
Sailing largely stopped from around 11 November per Vegetius, a late source; armies moved into winter quarters.
Festivals & religion
Ludi Plebeii with the Epulum Iovis on the Ides; in late antiquity the Isia of Isis (28 Oct.–1 Nov.) and the start of the Brumalia (24 Nov.) per the Chronography of 354.
Daily life
For farmers, the weeks of ploughing and sowing were long and wet. In Rome, the Plebeian Games brought free shows, but a holiday meant no pay for day labourers. With sea traffic stopped, city grain prices depended on what had been stored before winter.
The poor lived in crowded apartment blocks (insulae), where upper floors had no water or heating and braziers caused fires; Juvenal mocks the risk of collapse and fire satire, Juvenal 3.
Sources: Columella 11.2 · Chronography of 354 · Juvenal, Satire 3
All days in November →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Rumpitur invidia quidam, carissime Iuli, quod me Roma legit.
“Someone is bursting with envy, dearest Julius, because Rome reads me.”
Martial, Epigrams 9.97 · translation ours (literal)
