a.d. IV Kal. Dec.
November 28 in Ancient Rome
Rome's old monuments get their funding back
politicsAD 411
Julian date · ≈ Nov 29 on our calendar
Honorius ordered that nothing set aside since ancient times for the repair and decoration of Rome's buildings be diverted, and restored those city revenues in full, a year after Alaric's sack.
Honorius
Background
In August 410 Alaric's Goths sacked Rome for three days, the first capture of the city by a foreign enemy in about 800 years. Damage to buildings seems to have been limited, but the shock was immense, and the imperial government at Ravenna was short of money.
This law of 28 November 411, sent by Honorius to the prefect of Rome, ordered that whatever had been assigned since ancient times to the repair and decoration of the city's public buildings should not be diverted to other uses, and restored those revenues to the city in full.
For Romans this was practical: public money kept aqueducts, baths, porticoes and roofs in repair, which affected water supply, hygiene and work for builders and craftsmen. The law also reflects a late Roman pride in the city's old monuments as heritage worth protecting, even as many temples stood closed.
Ancient source: Theodosian Code 15.1.48 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 14°/7°C (57°/45°F) · rain 36% of days
Rome in NovemberFor farmers, the weeks of ploughing and sowing were long and wet.
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
Quod sis esse velis nihilque malis.
“Wish to be what you are, and prefer nothing else.”
Martial, Epigrams 10.47 · translation ours (literal)
