a.d. III Id. Oct.
October 13 in Ancient Rome
Death of Claudius
Mushrooms, a taster and a secret death
deathAD 54
Julian date · ≈ Oct 11 on our calendar
Claudius died, most sources agreed, of poison; Suetonius says some blamed a dish of mushrooms served by Agrippina, and his death was hidden until Nero’s succession was arranged.
Excessit III. Id. Octob. Asinio Marcello Acilio Auiola coss. sexagesimo quarto aetatis, imperii quarto decimo anno
He died on the third day before the Ides of October, in the consulship of Asinius Marcellus and Acilius Aviola, in the sixty-fourth year of his age and the fourteenth of his reign.
Background
Suetonius says it was generally agreed that Claudius was poisoned, but not where or by whom. Some said the eunuch Halotus, his food taster, gave it to him at a feast with the priests on the Capitol. Others said his wife Agrippina served it at his own table in mushrooms, a dish he loved disputed. Accounts of his last hours differed too: either he lost his speech and died in pain at daybreak, or he slept, vomited, and was given a second dose.
His death was kept secret until everything was settled for his successor, Agrippina's son Nero. Vows were made for his recovery, and comic actors were brought in, as if he had asked to be amused. He died in his sixty-fourth year and the fourteenth of his reign.
Suetonius lists omens: a comet, lightning striking his father's tomb, and the deaths of many magistrates that year. Claudius seemed to sense the end: he named no consuls beyond the month he died, and in his last case in court declared he had reached the end of mortal life. He was given an imperial funeral and declared a god; Nero later took the honour away, and Vespasian restored it.
Ancient source: Suetonius, Claudius 44–46 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 22°/13°C (72°/55°F) · rain 35% of days
Rome in OctoberOctober ended the vintage and the olive harvest began.
Fields & crops
End of the vintage and start of the olive harvest; autumn ploughing and the first sowing of grain began after the rains per Columella 11.2. Cato lists rations for a farm's enslaved workers: more bread when they dig or tend vines, less in winter per Cato, Agr. 56.
Courts & law
Courts busy again after the summer; many wealthy Romans returned to the city. In the late Republic, trials resumed in force after the summer and autumn games, and many famous speeches were given in these months late Republic.
Senate & politics
Under the empire, Domitian briefly renamed October 'Domitianus' after himself; the name vanished after his murder per Suetonius, Dom. 13.
Military
The campaign season closed. The Armilustrium (19 Oct.) purified the army's weapons, and the October Horse sacrifice (15 Oct.) was dedicated to Mars per Varro and Festus.
Festivals & religion
Meditrinalia (11 Oct.), tasting the new wine as medicine; Fontinalia (13 Oct.), garlanding springs and wells; October Horse; Armilustrium per Varro, De Lingua Latina 6.21–22. The October Horse: after a race on the Campus Martius, the right-hand horse of the winning chariot was sacrificed to Mars, and residents of the Sacred Way and the Subura fought over its head per Festus.
Daily life
October ended the vintage and the olive harvest began. On farms, enslaved workers and hired day labourers pressed grapes and stored wine; Cato lists the rations of bread and cheap wine (lora) given to a farm's enslaved workforce per Cato, Agr. 56–57. In the city, the sailing season was closing, so grain had to be stockpiled before winter storms made sea transport dangerous.
Sources: Varro, De Lingua Latina 6 · Columella 11.2 · Cato, De Agri Cultura 56–57
All days in October →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Non est vivere, sed valere vita est.
“Life is not just being alive, but being well.”
Martial, Epigrams 6.70 · translation ours (literal)
