a.d. VI Id. Nov.
November 8 in Ancient Rome
Birth of Nerva
birthAD 30 (year disputed)
Julian date · ≈ Nov 6 on our calendar
Marcus Cocceius Nerva, later emperor (96–98), was born at Narni.
Nerva
Background
Marcus Cocceius Nerva came from a distinguished senatorial family; his great-grandfather had been consul, and his grandfather was a legal expert and friend of Tiberius. He was born at Narnia in Umbria per the Epitome de Caesaribus. The day, 8 November, was still kept as his birthday in the official calendar in 354; the year is disputed between AD 30 and 35 disputed: Dio and the Epitome give his age at death differently.
Nerva rose quietly under Nero and the Flavians. He helped Nero expose the Pisonian conspiracy in 65 and was honoured for it, and he was consul twice. When Domitian was murdered in September 96, the Senate chose the elderly, childless Nerva as emperor, perhaps because he was acceptable to the plotters and unlikely to found a dynasty.
His short reign (96–98) was remembered as a time of relief after Domitian. Under pressure from the Praetorian Guard he adopted the general Trajan in 97, beginning the custom of choosing heirs by adoption that produced the "Five Good Emperors".
⚠ Uncertain date: Wikipedia notes the 8 November day is given but the exact year is disputed (AD 30 or 35).
Ancient source: Chronography of 354, calendar (VI Id. Nov.: N. NERVAE) · Reference
Sources
Read moreConstantius II made Caesar
Constantius II made Caesar
politicsAD 324
Julian date · ≈ Nov 9 on our calendar
Constantine the Great gave his 7-year-old son Constantius the rank of Caesar.
Constantine · Constantius II
Background
Constantine the Great planned his succession around his sons. The eldest, Crispus, was already Caesar; in 324, after Constantine defeated his last rival Licinius and became sole ruler of the empire, he raised his seven-year-old son Constantius to the rank of Caesar as well. The anniversary was kept on 8 November in the official calendar of 354 the calendar records only "N(atalis) ... Constantii"; that this marks his elevation rather than his birth, 7 August, is the usual modern reading.
The title gave a child a share in imperial prestige: coins, statues and inscriptions bore his name, and officials swore loyalty to him. Real power stayed with his father.
The plan unravelled. Crispus was executed in 326 on his father's orders, for reasons the sources hide disputed. After Constantine's death in 337 his relatives were massacred, and the empire was split between Constantius and his brothers Constantine II and Constans. Constantius outlived both and ruled alone from 353.
Ancient source: Chronography of 354, calendar (VI Id. Nov.: N. NERVAE ET CONSTANTII); Consularia Constantinopolitana · Reference
Sources
Read moreLudi Plebeii (Plebeian Games), Nov 4–17
Ludi Plebeii (Plebeian Games), Nov 4–17
festivalRepublic & Empire (annual)
Roman calendar date
The Plebeian Games filled two weeks of mid-November with theatre, a cavalry parade on the 14th and chariot races on the 15th–17th.
Ludi Plebeii (Plebeian Games)
Background
The Plebeian Games were the second great festival of games in the Roman year after the Ludi Romani of September. They were run by the plebeian aediles, junior magistrates who used them to win popularity before seeking higher office. Livy first mentions them in 216 BC; by the late Republic they filled roughly two weeks of November.
The programme mixed theatre, a sacred banquet for Jupiter (the Epulum Iovis, on the Ides), a parade of the cavalry and chariot races in the Circus Maximus at the end. Plautus' play Stichus was staged at these games in 200 BC, according to its production notice.
For ordinary Romans, games days were public holidays when shops and courts closed. Entry to the theatre and circus was free, though seating was arranged by rank. A family could spend a day watching comedies and races, but a day not working also meant a day without wages for labourers who depended on daily hire.
Ancient source: Fasti Maffeiani (Inscr. Ital. XIII.2: ludi plebeii 4–17 Nov.); Chronography of 354 (LVDI PLEBEI 12–15 Nov.); Livy 25.2.10 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 17°/10°C (63°/50°F) · rain 46% of days
Rome in NovemberFor farmers, the weeks of ploughing and sowing were long and wet.
Columella
Signals a storm; 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
Cras te victurum, cras dicis, Postume, semper.
“You say you'll live tomorrow, Postumus, always tomorrow.”
Martial, Epigrams 5.58 · translation ours (literal)
