One sourced day of ancient Roman history at a time.https://todayinancientrome.com/en-ushttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/1/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/1/Cicero told the Senate that Catiline had counted on seizing the colony of Praeneste in a night attack on the Kalends of November, only to find it already guarded on the consul's orders. Source: Cicero, In Catilinam 1.8.Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/1/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/1/The calendar of 354 marks the Kalends of November with the Isia, the Roman festival of the Egyptian goddess Isis. Source: Chronography of 354, calendar (Kal. Nov.: ISIA).Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/october/31/https://todayinancientrome.com/october/31/His father Orestes, then in control of Italy, raised the young Romulus as Western emperor. He was the last Western emperor; Odoacer deposed him in 476. Source: Fasti Vindobonenses priores 617 (prid. kl. Nov.); Anonymus Valesianus 8.37.Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/october/28/https://todayinancientrome.com/october/28/Constantine defeated Maxentius outside Rome; Lactantius says he had a sign of Christ painted on his soldiers’ shields after a dream. Source: Calendar of 354 (V Kal. Nov. = 28 Oct.: EVICTIO TYRANNI); Lactantius, On the Deaths of the Persecutors 44.Wed, 28 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/october/24/https://todayinancientrome.com/october/24/The future emperor Domitian was born at the Pomegranate on the Quirinal while his father Vespasian was consul-elect; Suetonius says he grew up poor. Source: Suetonius, Domitian 1.Sat, 24 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/october/23/https://todayinancientrome.com/october/23/Octavian and Antony defeated Brutus at Philippi; Plutarch describes Brutus’ last night under the stars and his death on his own sword. Source: Fasti Praenestini (23 October); Plutarch, Brutus 51–53.Fri, 23 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/october/15/https://todayinancientrome.com/october/15/Rome’s great poet was born on the Ides of October in a village near Mantua; his ancient biographer tells of portents at his birth. Source: Donatus (after Suetonius), Life of Virgil 2–6.Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/october/13/https://todayinancientrome.com/october/13/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. Source: Suetonius, Claudius 44–46.Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/october/12/https://todayinancientrome.com/october/12/Augustus returned from the East, and the senate built an altar to Fortune Who Brings Home; the anniversary became the Augustalia. Source: Res Gestae 11–12; Fasti Amiternini (12 October).Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/october/6/https://todayinancientrome.com/october/6/Told not to fight on the anniversary of the disaster at Arausio, Lucullus said he would make it a happy day for Rome, and crushed King Tigranes of Armenia. Source: Plutarch, Lucullus 27–28; Camillus 19.Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/september/29/https://todayinancientrome.com/september/29/Pompey celebrated his triumph over the pirates, Asia and Pontus on his birthday; Pliny lists from the official record a gaming board made of two gems and a golden mountain. Source: Pliny, Natural History 37.13–14.Tue, 29 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/september/28/https://todayinancientrome.com/september/28/Fleeing after Pharsalus, Pompey was stabbed as he stepped ashore in Egypt; Velleius says he died the day before his birthday. Source: Velleius Paterculus 2.53; Pliny, Natural History 37.13; Plutarch, Pompey 79–80.Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/september/23/https://todayinancientrome.com/september/23/Gaius Octavius, the future Augustus, was born just before sunrise on the Palatine; Italian calendars kept the day as a holiday with games and sacrifices. Source: Suetonius, Augustus 5; Fasti Arvales, Maffeiani, Cumanum (23 September).Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/september/18/https://todayinancientrome.com/september/18/Domitian was stabbed in his bedroom by the steward Stephanus and palace conspirators; Suetonius says he had dreaded the fifth hour of that day. Source: Suetonius, Domitian 16–17.Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/september/17/https://todayinancientrome.com/september/17/A month after Augustus died, the senate voted him the honours of a god; the Fasti Amiternini made 17 September a public holiday for it. Source: Fasti Amiternini (17 September); Suetonius, Augustus 100.Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/september/13/https://todayinancientrome.com/september/13/By tradition the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol was dedicated on the Ides of September; Livy cites an old law that the chief magistrate drive a nail there on this day. Source: Livy 7.3; Plutarch, Publicola 14.Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/september/13/https://todayinancientrome.com/september/13/Titus died on the Ides of September at the Sabine villa where his father had died, after just over two years as emperor; the senate praised him as never before. Source: Suetonius, Titus 10–11.Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/september/9/https://todayinancientrome.com/september/9/Theodosius I's second son Honorius, later Western emperor, was born. Source: Socrates Scholasticus, Church History 5.12.Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/september/3/https://todayinancientrome.com/september/3/Two calendars mark 3 September for Octavian’s naval victory in Sicily; Suetonius says he fell so deeply asleep at the start that friends had to wake him. Source: Fasti Arvales and Amiternini (3 September); Suetonius, Augustus 16.Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/september/2/https://todayinancientrome.com/september/2/Octavian’s fleet under Agrippa defeated Antony and Cleopatra off Actium; Cassius Dio says he names the day because Octavian’s sole rule was reckoned from it. Source: Cassius Dio 51.1; Fasti Arvales and Amiternini (2 September).Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/september/1/https://todayinancientrome.com/september/1/The Fasti Praenestini mark 1 September for Jupiter the Thunderer on the Capitol, a temple Augustus vowed after lightning killed a slave beside his litter. Source: Fasti Praenestini (1 September); Suetonius, Augustus 29, 91.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/august/31/https://todayinancientrome.com/august/31/Suetonius dates the birth of Gaius “Caligula” to the day before the Kalends of September, AD 12, then weighs rival claims for his birthplace before settling on Antium. Source: Suetonius, Caligula 8.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/august/24/https://todayinancientrome.com/august/24/Pliny the Younger says that on the ninth day before the Kalends of September his uncle at Misenum saw a huge pine-shaped cloud rise from Vesuvius and sailed to help. Source: Pliny the Younger, Letters 6.16.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/august/24/https://todayinancientrome.com/august/24/Ammianus describes how at dawn on 24 August a sudden darkness, storm and earthquake flattened Nicomedia, the mother city of Bithynia, and fire then consumed what was left. Source: Ammianus Marcellinus 17.7.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/august/24/https://todayinancientrome.com/august/24/The Visigoths under Alaric entered Rome and plundered it, the first capture of the city by a foreign enemy in about eight hundred years. Orosius says they left of their own accord on the third day. Source: Prosper of Aquitaine, Chronicle 1240 (a. 410); Orosius 7.39.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/august/23/https://todayinancientrome.com/august/23/At the Volcanalia, Varro says, people threw animals into the fire on their own behalf to Vulcan; the Calendar of 354 still marks the day with 24 circus races. Source: Varro, De lingua Latina 6.20; Calendar of 354 (23 August: VVLCANALICI).Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/august/19/https://todayinancientrome.com/august/19/Varro says the rural Vinalia fell on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of September, when a temple and gardens were dedicated to Venus and market gardeners took the day off. Source: Varro, De lingua Latina 6.16, 6.20.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/august/19/https://todayinancientrome.com/august/19/Augustus died at Nola on 19 August AD 14, in the same room as his father, after asking his friends whether he had played his part in life’s comedy well. Source: Suetonius, Augustus 99–100.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/august/18/https://todayinancientrome.com/august/18/Plutarch dates the seizure of the Sabine women by Romulus’ men to the eighteenth of Sextilis, the day of the Consualia games, and links Roman wedding customs to it. Source: Plutarch, Romulus 14–15; Varro, LL 6.20.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/august/13/https://todayinancientrome.com/august/13/Over three days Octavian celebrated triumphs for Illyricum, Actium and Egypt; the Fasti Barberini date the first to 13 August and the Egyptian one to 15 August. Source: Fasti triumphales Barberini; Fasti Antiates; Cassius Dio 51.21.Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/august/9/https://todayinancientrome.com/august/9/On 9 August 378 the Goths destroyed the eastern Roman army near Adrianople; the emperor Valens died, his body never found, and only a third of the army escaped. Source: Ammianus Marcellinus 31.12–13.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/august/9/https://todayinancientrome.com/august/9/Two Roman stone calendars mark 9 August as a holiday because on that day Caesar won at Pharsalus; Caesar says Pompey’s camp was found full of silver and ivy-covered tents. Source: Fasti Amiternini and Fasti Allifani (9 August); Caesar, Civil War 3.88–99.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/august/2/https://todayinancientrome.com/august/2/At Cannae in Apulia Hannibal encircled and destroyed a huge Roman army; the consul Aemilius Paullus died, and Livy reports 45,500 foot soldiers killed. Source: Gellius 5.17.5 (quoting Claudius Quadrigarius); Livy 22.44–50.Sun, 02 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/august/1/https://todayinancientrome.com/august/1/Suetonius says the future emperor Claudius was born at Lugdunum on the Kalends of August, the very day an altar to Augustus was first dedicated there. Source: Suetonius, Claudius 2.1.Sat, 01 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/july/25/https://todayinancientrome.com/july/25/The Calendar of 354 marks 25 July as the imperial anniversary of the deified Constantine, the day in 306 when his dying father’s army made him emperor. Source: Calendar of 354 (25 July: N D CONSTANTINI); Lactantius, DMP 24.Sat, 25 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/july/21/https://todayinancientrome.com/july/21/Ammianus describes how on 21 July 365 an earthquake drew the sea back from the shore, then a huge wave smashed coasts and threw ships onto rooftops at Alexandria. Source: Ammianus Marcellinus 26.10.15–19.Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/july/19/https://todayinancientrome.com/july/19/The great fire under Nero began among the shops at the Circus Maximus on 19 July 64, burned for days and left only four of Rome’s fourteen districts untouched. Source: Tacitus, Annals 15.38–41.Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/july/18/https://todayinancientrome.com/july/18/The Romans marked a. d. XV Kal. Sextiles as the Day of the Allia, anniversary of the defeat by the Gauls that led to the sack of Rome, and banned all business on it. Source: Livy 6.1.11; Tacitus, Histories 2.91.Sat, 18 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/july/15/https://todayinancientrome.com/july/15/The Ides of July honoured Castor and Pollux, said to have brought news of the victory at Lake Regillus; their temple was dedicated that day, and the knights paraded. Source: Livy 2.42.5; Plutarch, Coriolanus 3; Calendar of 354 (15 July: EQVIT RO PROB).Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/july/12/https://todayinancientrome.com/july/12/Macrobius says the month Quintilis was renamed July because Julius Caesar was born in it, on the fourth day before the Ides, 12 July; Cassius Dio’s account has led some to argue for the 13th. Source: Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12.34; Cassius Dio 47.18.5–6; Feriale Duranum.Sun, 12 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/july/11/https://todayinancientrome.com/july/11/Livy records that on 11 July 190 BC, as the consul left for war during the Ludi Apollinares, the daylight was darkened at midday as the moon passed under the sun. Source: Livy 37.4.4.Sat, 11 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/july/7/https://todayinancientrome.com/july/7/On the Nones of July, Plutarch says, slave women ran about in fine clothes, play-fought and feasted under wild fig branches, remembering a maid who once saved Rome. Source: Plutarch, Camillus 33; Numa 2; Romulus 27.Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/july/7/https://todayinancientrome.com/july/7/Plutarch says Romulus disappeared on the Nones of Quintilis, leaving no body behind; some blamed the senators, others told of a sudden storm near the Goat’s Marsh. Source: Plutarch, Romulus 27.Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/july/6/https://todayinancientrome.com/july/6/Plutarch says the temple on the Capitol burned on the sixth day of Quintilis in 83 BC, the very day a possessed slave had warned Sulla it would. Source: Plutarch, Sulla 27.Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/july/5/https://todayinancientrome.com/july/5/During a pestilence in 208 BC, the urban praetor vowed the Ludi Apollinares for a fixed day forever and held them on the third day before the Nones of July. Source: Livy 27.23.5–7.Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/july/1/https://todayinancientrome.com/july/1/On 1 July 69 Tiberius Alexander, prefect of Egypt, had his legions swear allegiance to Vespasian; the day was kept ever after as the start of his reign. Source: Suetonius, Vespasian 6; Tacitus, Histories 2.79.Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/june/27/https://todayinancientrome.com/june/27/The morning after Julian’s death, with Persians all around, the army’s commanders argued over a successor; after Sallustius refused, Jovian was hastily proclaimed. Source: Ammianus Marcellinus 25.5.Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/june/26/https://todayinancientrome.com/june/26/During his retreat from Persia, the emperor Julian was struck by a cavalry spear and died that night; Socrates dates his death to 26 June 363. Source: Socrates, Church History 3.21; Ammianus Marcellinus 25.3.Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/june/24/https://todayinancientrome.com/june/24/Ovid invites Romans to the festival of Fors Fortuna, walking or in garlanded boats on the Tiber, adding that it is no shame to come home tipsy. Source: Ovid, Fasti 6.773–790; Calendar of 354 (24 June: FORTIS FORTVNAE).Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/june/23/https://todayinancientrome.com/june/23/Suetonius says Vespasian, sick with fever and diarrhoea, tried to rise saying an emperor should die standing, and died in the arms of those helping him on 23 June 79. Source: Suetonius, Vespasian 24.Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/june/22/https://todayinancientrome.com/june/22/Hannibal ambushed the consul Flaminius in fog on the shore of Lake Trasimene; Ovid places the disaster in late June, and Livy counts fifteen thousand Romans dead. Source: Ovid, Fasti 6.765–768; Livy 22.4–7.Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/june/21/https://todayinancientrome.com/june/21/Tacitus describes how, on 21 June 70, priests, Vestals, magistrates and crowds laid the foundation stone of the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, burned the year before. Source: Tacitus, Histories 4.53.Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/june/15/https://todayinancientrome.com/june/15/Ovid marks 15 June as the day when the sweepings of Vesta’s temple were sent down the Tiber to the sea; the Calendar of 354 notes “Vesta closes”. Source: Ovid, Fasti 6.713–714; Calendar of 354 (15 June: VESTA CLVDITVR).Mon, 15 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/june/13/https://todayinancientrome.com/june/13/On the Ides, flute-players roamed Rome in masks and long robes, recalling how their guild once went on strike to Tibur and was carted back drunk to the Forum. Source: Ovid, Fasti 6.651–692; Livy 9.30.Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/june/13/https://todayinancientrome.com/june/13/Lactantius says that on the Ides of June 313 Licinius had the letter agreed with Constantine at Milan posted in Nicomedia, granting Christians and everyone else freedom of worship. Source: Lactantius, On the Deaths of the Persecutors 48.Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/june/11/https://todayinancientrome.com/june/11/At the Matralia good mothers brought golden cakes to Mater Matuta, whose temple Ovid says King Servius dedicated on this day in the Forum Boarium. Source: Ovid, Fasti 6.473–636; Calendar of 354 (11 June: MATRALIA).Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/june/9/https://todayinancientrome.com/june/9/At the Vestalia, Ovid writes, loaves hung from garlanded donkeys and millstones were wreathed with flowers, as bakers honoured Vesta, goddess of the hearth. Source: Ovid, Fasti 6.249–468; Calendar of 354 (7 June: VESTA APERIT; 9 June: VESTALIA).Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/june/9/https://todayinancientrome.com/june/9/Ovid sets the disaster of Crassus in Mesopotamia on the day of the Vestalia: near the Euphrates he lost the legionary eagles, his son, his men and finally his own life. Source: Ovid, Fasti 6.465–468.Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/june/9/https://todayinancientrome.com/june/9/Declared a public enemy by the Senate, Nero killed himself with a servant’s help at his freedman Phaon’s villa outside Rome. The day is reconstructed: Suetonius says he died on the anniversary of Octavia’s murder, and his age at death in Dio’s epitomators points to 9 June. Source: Suetonius, Nero 47–49, 57; Cassius Dio 63.27–29 (epitome).Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/june/3/https://todayinancientrome.com/june/3/Ovid records that the temple of Bellona, the war goddess, was dedicated on this day, and describes the small column near it from which Romans hurled a spear to declare war. Source: Ovid, Fasti 6.199–208.Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/june/1/https://todayinancientrome.com/june/1/Ovid dedicates the first of June to Carna, goddess of door hinges, and explains why Romans ate fatty bacon with beans and spelt on this day. Source: Ovid, Fasti 6.101–182; Calendar of 354 (1 June: FABARICI).Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/may/29/https://todayinancientrome.com/may/29/After thirty days in Rome, where he stood amazed before the Forum of Trajan, the emperor Constantius II left the city for the Danube frontier. Source: Ammianus Marcellinus 16.10.13–20.Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/may/28/https://todayinancientrome.com/may/28/Valentinian I and Valens forbade provincials of any rank to marry barbarian wives, or provincial women to marry foreigners, under pain of death. Source: Codex Theodosianus 3.14.1.Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/may/26/https://todayinancientrome.com/may/26/Germanicus paraded through Rome in triumph for his campaigns beyond the Rhine, with spoils, captives and his five children riding in his chariot. Source: Tacitus, Annals 2.41.Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/may/23/https://todayinancientrome.com/may/23/Ovid marks the day when Vulcan’s trumpets were purified; four centuries later the Calendar of 354 notes for the same day that the market “takes the rose”. Source: Ovid, Fasti 5.725–726; Calendar of 354 (X KAL. IVN.: MACELLVS ROSA SVMAT).Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/may/23/https://todayinancientrome.com/may/23/A law of Constantine punished harmful magic severely but declared that remedies for the sick and rural charms against rain and hail were not crimes. Source: Codex Theodosianus 9.16.3.Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/may/22/https://todayinancientrome.com/may/22/Constantine, the first Christian emperor, died near Nicomedia shortly after being baptized, having left the empire to his three sons, with shares for two nephews. Source: Socrates Scholasticus, Church History 1.39–40.Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/may/20/https://todayinancientrome.com/may/20/Bishops summoned by Constantine met at Nicaea in Bithynia to settle the Arian controversy and the date of Easter; a later expanded form of their creed is still recited today. Source: Socrates Scholasticus, Church History 1.8–13.Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/may/15/https://todayinancientrome.com/may/15/On the Ides of May, the anniversary of Mercury’s temple by the Circus, traders sprinkled themselves and their goods with water from Mercury’s spring and prayed for profit. Source: Ovid, Fasti 5.663–692; Livy 2.21.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/may/14/https://todayinancientrome.com/may/14/From the old wooden bridge, the Vestal Virgins threw rush puppets shaped like old men into the Tiber, a rite whose meaning even Ovid could not settle. Source: Ovid, Fasti 5.603–662.Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/may/12/https://todayinancientrome.com/may/12/Ovid describes Mars Ultor descending from the sky to view his temple in the Forum of Augustus, vowed to avenge Caesar’s murder; the day was kept with games in the Circus. Source: Ovid, Fasti 5.545–598; Calendar of 354 (IIII ID. MAI.: MARTIALICI CM XXIIII).Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/may/9/https://todayinancientrome.com/may/9/On the Lemuria the head of the house rose at midnight, threw black beans behind him for the ghosts and nine times asked the ancestral spirits to leave. Source: Ovid, Fasti 5.419–492.Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/may/1/https://todayinancientrome.com/may/1/Ovid marks the Kalends of May with the altar of the Lares Praestites, the city’s guardian spirits, and the Aventine temple of the Bona Dea, closed to men’s eyes. Source: Ovid, Fasti 5.129–158.Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/may/1/https://todayinancientrome.com/may/1/Near Nicomedia the ailing Diocletian resigned in tears before his troops, named two new Caesars and, to everyone’s surprise, passed over the young Constantine. Source: Lactantius, On the Deaths of the Persecutors 19; 46.8.Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/30/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/30/A one-sentence law of Valentinian II, Theodosius and Arcadius ruled that anyone who locked an accused person in a private prison would be treated as guilty of treason. Source: Codex Theodosianus 9.11.1.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/30/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/30/Dying of a terrible illness, the emperor Galerius, a chief persecutor of the Christians, issued an edict at Nicomedia allowing them to be Christians again and to rebuild their meeting places. Source: Lactantius, On the Deaths of the Persecutors 34–35.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/28/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/28/The games of Flora opened, running into early May, with garlands, colourful clothes, torches and a famously free-and-easy stage. Source: Ovid, Fasti 4.943–948, 5.183–378; Calendar of 354 (PRIDIE KAL. MAI.: LVDI FLORALES).Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/28/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/28/After becoming pontifex maximus, Augustus dedicated a shrine of Vesta inside his house on the Palatine, so that one house held Apollo, Vesta and Caesar. Source: Ovid, Fasti 4.949–954.Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/26/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/26/The future philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius was born in Rome, in a family garden house on the Caelian Hill. Source: Historia Augusta, Marcus 1.5; Calendar of 354 (VI KAL. MAI.: N. M. ANTONINI).Sun, 26 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/25/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/25/The priest of Quirinus sacrificed a dog and a sheep in the grove of Robigo, praying that the rust disease would spare the young wheat. Source: Ovid, Fasti 4.905–942; Calendar of 354 (VII KAL. MAI.: SERAPIA).Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/24/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/24/Gratian, Valentinian II and Theodosius ruled that women bound to perform in public shows could not be forced back to the stage once they had become Christians. Source: Codex Theodosianus 15.7.4.Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/23/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/23/At the Vinalia the previous year’s wine was offered to Jupiter, while working women crowded the temple of Venus Erycina by the Colline Gate. Source: Ovid, Fasti 4.863–900.Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/21/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/21/At the festival of Pales, goddess of flocks, shepherds purified their sheep and themselves with smoke and water, prayed for healthy herds and leapt over burning straw. Source: Ovid, Fasti 4.721–806.Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/21/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/21/By tradition, Romulus ploughed the first furrow of Rome’s walls on the day of the Parilia, and the city kept 21 April as its birthday. Source: Ovid, Fasti 4.807–862; Plutarch, Romulus 12; Calendar of 354 (XI KAL. MAI.: N. VRBIS).Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/19/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/19/At the climax of the games of Ceres, foxes with burning torches tied to their backs were let loose in the Circus Maximus, a rite Ovid traced to a farm fire. Source: Ovid, Fasti 4.393–416, 679–712; Calendar of 354 (XIII KAL. MAI.: CEREALICI CM XXIIII).Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/16/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/16/After the fighting near Mutina, the nineteen-year-old Octavian was hailed imperator by his soldiers for the first time, a day Ovid’s calendar later honoured. Source: Ovid, Fasti 4.673–676.Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/15/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/15/Priests sacrificed pregnant cows to Tellus, the Earth, and the oldest Vestal burned the unborn calves to make ashes for purifying the people at the Parilia. Source: Ovid, Fasti 4.629–672.Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/14/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/14/Near Mutina in northern Italy, Mark Antony defeated the consul Pansa, then was beaten back by the other consul, Hirtius, in a day of fighting Ovid remembered for its hail. Source: Ovid, Fasti 4.625–628; Cicero, Ad Familiares 10.30.Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/12/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/12/After a prophecy in the Sibylline Books, the sacred stone of Cybele was brought from Pessinus in Asia Minor and carried by Roman matrons into the temple of Victory on the Palatine. Source: Livy 29.14; Ovid, Fasti 4.247–348.Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/11/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/11/Septimius Severus, the first Roman emperor born in Africa, was born at Lepcis Magna; Rome still celebrated his birthday on this day two centuries later. Source: Calendar of 354 (III ID. APR.: N. DIVI SEVERI); Historia Augusta, Severus 1.Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/10/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/10/On the last day of the Great Mother’s games, a procession of gods entered the Circus Maximus and chariot teams raced for the first prize of the season. Source: Ovid, Fasti 4.389–392; Calendar of 354 (IIII ID. APR.: MEGALESIACI CM XXIIII).Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/6/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/6/In North Africa Julius Caesar defeated the republican army of Metellus Scipio and King Juba of Numidia, a battle a veteran still remembered decades later at the games. Source: Ovid, Fasti 4.377–386; Plutarch, Caesar 53.Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/4/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/4/The Ludi Megalenses for Cybele, the Great Mother, opened with drums, cymbals and her eunuch priests carrying her image through the streets. Source: Ovid, Fasti 4.179–372; Calendar of 354 (PRIDIE NON. APR.: LVDI MEGALESIACI).Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/3/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/3/Sixteen months before his death, Augustus completed the will later read in the senate, along with rolls that included the record of his achievements now known as the Res Gestae. Source: Suetonius, Augustus 101.Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/april/1/https://todayinancientrome.com/april/1/On the Kalends of April Roman women bathed and garlanded the statue of Venus, then bathed themselves and offered incense to Fortuna Virilis. Source: Ovid, Fasti 4.133–162; Calendar of 354 (KAL. APR.: VENERALIA).Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/31/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/31/Titus Pomponius Atticus, Cicero’s closest friend and correspondent, died at 77 after refusing food during a painful illness. Source: Cornelius Nepos, Atticus 21–22.Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/31/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/31/After the Latin Festival, the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus left Rome to command the war against King Perseus of Macedon, warning armchair generals to keep quiet. Source: Livy 44.22.Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/30/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/30/Ovid’s calendar sets 30 March for the worship of Janus, Concord, the Safety of Rome and the altar of Peace. Source: Ovid, Fasti 3.879–882.Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/28/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/28/After less than three months as emperor, the strict Pertinax was killed in the palace by mutinous Praetorians; the throne was then sold to the highest bidder. Source: Historia Augusta, Pertinax 11, 15.6.Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/27/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/27/The Calendar of 354 marks 27 March as the Lavatio, the ritual washing of the Great Mother’s image in the little river Almo outside Rome. Source: Calendar of 354 (VI Kal. Apr.: LAVATIO); Ovid, Fasti 4.337–340.Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/26/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/26/Ovid’s calendar places the spring equinox, when day and night are equal, on 26 March. Source: Ovid, Fasti 3.877–878.Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/25/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/25/After the mourning for Attis came the Hilaria, the Great Mother’s day of joy, marked in the Calendar of 354 on 25 March. Source: Calendar of 354 (VIII Kal. Apr.: HILARIA).Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/24/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/24/On the Day of Blood of the Great Mother in 180, Tertullian says, her chief priest offered his own blood for the health of Marcus Aurelius, who had already died a week earlier. Source: Tertullian, Apologeticum 25.5; Calendar of 354 (IX Kal. Apr.: SANGVEM).Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/23/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/23/On the last day of Minerva’s festival, Rome purified the sacred trumpets used in ritual and war and sacrificed to Mars. Source: Ovid, Fasti 3.849–850; Calendar of 354 (X Kal. Apr.: TVBILVSTRIVM).Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/22/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/22/The Calendar of 354 marks 22 March as "the tree enters", when a pine, symbol of Attis, was carried into the sanctuary of the Great Mother. Source: Calendar of 354 (XI Kal. Apr.: ARBOR INTRAT); Ovid, Fasti 4.221–244 (Attis myth).Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/21/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/21/A law of Constantine ordered that people condemned to the gladiatorial schools or the mines be marked on the hands or calves, not on the face. Source: Codex Theodosianus 9.40.2.Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/20/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/20/Publius Ovidius Naso was born at Sulmo in central Italy, in the year both consuls died at Mutina, on the second day of Minerva’s festival. Source: Ovid, Tristia 4.10.1–14.Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/19/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/19/The five-day Quinquatrus of Minerva began, a holiday for the goddess of crafts, wisdom and war, honoured by weavers, fullers, shoemakers, doctors and schoolchildren. Source: Ovid, Fasti 3.809–848; Calendar of 354 (XIV Kal. Apr.: QVINQVATRIA).Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/17/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/17/At the festival of Liber, god of wine and freedom, old women sold honey cakes and Roman boys often received the toga virilis, the gown of adulthood. Source: Ovid, Fasti 3.713–790.Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/17/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/17/Near Munda in southern Spain, Caesar defeated the army of Pompey’s sons in a desperate battle fought on the feast of Liber. Source: Plutarch, Caesar 56.Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/16/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/16/The emperor Tiberius died, aged 77, at a former villa of Lucullus on the promontory of Misenum; Caligula succeeded him. Source: Tacitus, Annals 6.50; Suetonius, Tiberius 73.Mon, 16 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/15/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/15/On the Ides of March, Caesar was stabbed to death by a group of senators led by Cassius and Marcus and Decimus Brutus at a meeting in Pompey’s senate house. Source: Suetonius, Divus Iulius 80–82.Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/15/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/15/On the Ides of March Romans picnicked and drank by the Tiber for Anna Perenna, praying for as many years as cups they drank. Source: Ovid, Fasti 3.523–696.Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/14/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/14/Horse races were run for Mars on the Campus Martius; the Calendar of 354 calls the day Mamuralia after the legendary smith of the sacred shields. Source: Ovid, Fasti 3.517–522; Calendar of 354 (Prid. Id. Mart.: MAMVRALIA).Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/13/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/13/A law of Theodosius I, issued at Thessalonica, declared that a marriage between a Jew and a Christian would be treated as adultery and open to public accusation. Source: Codex Theodosianus 9.7.5 (= 3.7.2).Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/9/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/9/The Calendar of 354 notes that on this day "the arms, the ancilia, are moved": the leaping priests of Mars paraded the sacred shields through Rome. Source: Calendar of 354 (VII Id. Mart.: ARMA ANCILIA MOVENT); Ovid, Fasti 3.259–392.Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/7/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/7/Ovid records that the temple of Veiovis, a youthful Jupiter without thunderbolts, was consecrated on the Nones of March between the two groves of the Capitol. Source: Ovid, Fasti 3.429–448.Sat, 07 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/7/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/7/Antoninus Pius died at his estate at Lorium, giving the palace guard the watchword "equanimity" and handing the state to Marcus Aurelius. Source: Historia Augusta, Antoninus Pius 12.4–7.Sat, 07 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/6/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/6/Augustus took Rome’s highest priesthood after the death of Lepidus, linking his household to the cult of Vesta. Source: Ovid, Fasti 3.415–428; Res Gestae 10.2.Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/5/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/5/The Calendar of 354 marks 5 March as the "Ship of Isis", when a decorated ship was dedicated to the goddess and launched as the sea reopened after winter. Source: Calendar of 354 (III Non. Mart.: ISIDIS NAVIGIVM); Apuleius, Metamorphoses 11.16–17.Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/2/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/2/A law sent from Trier to the prefect of Rome ordered heavy fines for Manichaean teachers, disgrace for their hearers and confiscation of their meeting houses. Source: Codex Theodosianus 16.5.3.Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/march/1/https://todayinancientrome.com/march/1/On the Kalends of March married women brought flowers to Juno Lucina, goddess of childbirth, whose Esquiline temple was founded on this day. Source: Ovid, Fasti 3.167–258.Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/28/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/28/Pressed by the laity, who admired his care for the poor, the church of Constantinople ordained the priest Sisinnius as bishop. Source: Socrates Scholasticus, Church History 7.26.Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/27/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/27/In an edict addressed to the people of Constantinople, Theodosius, with Gratian and Valentinian II, ordered all peoples under their rule to follow the faith of Bishop Damasus of Rome and Peter of Alexandria, calling all others heretics. Source: Theodosian Code 16.1.2.Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/27/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/27/With two nights left in February, horse races for Mars were held on his Field, the Campus Martius. Source: Ovid, Fasti 2.857–862.Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/26/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/26/Brought from Antioch, John Chrysostom was consecrated bishop of Constantinople; Theophilus of Alexandria, who opposed him, was pressured into performing the ordination. Source: Socrates Scholasticus, Church History 6.2.Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/25/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/25/After Jovian's death the army marched to Nicaea and chose the Pannonian officer Valentinian. Ammianus says he would not appear on the day before, the leap day, which he thought unlucky. Source: Socrates Scholasticus, Church History 4.1; Ammianus Marcellinus 26.1.7.Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/24/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/24/The 'Flight of the King', which Romans linked to the expulsion of Tarquin. Source: Ovid, Fasti 2.685–852.Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/23/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/23/Neighbours honoured Terminus, god of boundary stones, at the stones dividing their fields. Source: Ovid, Fasti 2.639–684.Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/22/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/22/The day after the Feralia, families gathered for the Caristia, a meal of reconciliation among living relatives, with offerings to the household gods. Source: Ovid, Fasti 2.617–638.Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/22/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/22/Rome's list of Christian feasts in 354 marks 22 February as the 'natale Petri de cathedra', the feast of Peter's chair. Source: Chronography of 354, Depositio martyrum (VIII kal. Mart.).Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/21/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/21/Public day for appeasing the spirits of the dead (manes), closing the Parentalia. Source: Ovid, Fasti 2.569–570.Sat, 21 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/19/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/19/Constantius II and his Caesar Julian decreed death for anyone proved to have offered sacrifice or worshipped images. Source: Theodosian Code 16.10.6.Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/17/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/17/Festival of Quirinus, identified with the deified Romulus. Source: Ovid, Fasti 2.475–512.Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/15/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/15/The Luperci ran around the Palatine striking onlookers with goatskin thongs in an old purification rite. Source: Ovid, Fasti 2.267–452.Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/13/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/13/Nine days for honouring dead family members, beginning on the Ides of February and ending with the public Feralia. Source: Ovid, Fasti 2.533–570.Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/12/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/12/Honorius decreed that there be 'one catholic worship' and outlawed the Donatists of North Africa, banning rebaptism and threatening those who stirred up crowds. Source: Theodosian Code 16.5.38; 16.6.3–5.Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/11/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/11/The calendar of 354 marks 11 February with 24 chariot races for the Ludi Genialici, which continued the next day. Source: Chronography of 354, calendar (III Id. Feb.: GENIALICI CM XXIIII).Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/10/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/10/A judge unsure how to rule should consult the emperor before giving judgment, and must not hold out the threat of a referral afterwards to scare litigants away from appeal. Source: Theodosian Code 11.29.2.Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/9/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/9/The calendar of 354 ends the Ludi Gothici on 9 February with 24 chariot races in the Circus. Source: Chronography of 354, calendar (V Id. Feb.: GOTTICI CM XXIIII).Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/8/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/8/Honorius demanded recruits, valued at 30 solidi each, from Africa, Sardinia, Sicily and Corsica, but excused notables who had been driven from Italy or Rome by barbarian devastation. Source: Theodosian Code 7.13.20.Sun, 08 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/6/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/6/The emperors confirmed the equestrian rank that Constantine and Julian had granted to the guild of shipowners who carried state grain, and threatened anyone who assaulted them. Source: Theodosian Code 13.5.16.Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/5/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/5/Ovid calls the Nones of February the greatest honour in the calendar: the day the Senate, the equestrians and the people hailed Augustus as Pater Patriae. Source: Ovid, Fasti 2.119–144.Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/4/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/4/The calendar of 354 opens the Ludi Gothici, games for victories over the Goths, on 4 February; they ended with chariot races on 9 February. Source: Chronography of 354, calendar (prid. Non. Feb.: LVDI GOTTICI).Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/3/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/3/The parabalani, church attendants who cared for the sick in Alexandria, were increased from 500 to 600 and placed under the bishop's control. Source: Theodosian Code 16.2.43.Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/2/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/2/Gratian, Valentinian II and Theodosius ordered that messengers announcing victories, peace or new consuls could not charge the provinces a fee for the good news. Source: Theodosian Code 8.11.4.Mon, 02 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/1/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/1/Ovid opens February with the Kalends feast of Juno Sospita, 'the Saviour', whose temple stood beside that of the Phrygian Mother; by his day the old temple had collapsed. Source: Ovid, Fasti 2.55–58.Sun, 01 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/february/1/https://todayinancientrome.com/february/1/Regillus, who had beaten Antiochus III's fleet at Myonnesus, celebrated a naval triumph on the Kalends of February with 49 gold crowns carried in the procession. Source: Livy 37.58.3–4.Sun, 01 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/31/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/31/Constantine freed unmarried and childless men and women from the legal penalties Augustus' marriage laws had imposed, though spouses still could not freely inherit from each other. Source: Theodosian Code 8.16.1.Sat, 31 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/30/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/30/Livia Drusilla, wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius, was born. Source: Fasti Verulani; Suetonius, Tiberius 4.Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/29/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/29/Honorius wrote to officials in Spain and Gaul that although sacrifices were forbidden, the ornaments of public buildings must be preserved, and no rescript or law could be cited as cover for tearing them down. Source: Theodosian Code 16.10.15.Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/28/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/28/A law in the names of Honorius and Theodosius II, sent to Constans, commander in Thrace, set the Danube patrol fleets: 90 new and 10 repaired boats (lusoriae) for the Moesian stretch, and 110 new and 15 restored for the Scythian stretch, with a set number renewed every year. Source: Theodosian Code 7.17.1.Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/27/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/27/Nerva died of natural causes after about fifteen months as emperor, and Trajan succeeded him. Source: Cassius Dio 68.4; Epitome de Caesaribus 12.Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/24/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/24/Hadrian was born on 24 January 76. The Historia Augusta says in Rome; many modern scholars favour Italica in Spain. Source: Historia Augusta, Hadrian 1.3 ('Natus est Romae VIIII kl. Feb.').Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/24/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/24/Praetorian officers led by Cassius Chaerea killed Caligula at the Palatine games, the day before he was due to leave for Alexandria. Source: Suetonius, Caligula 58 ('VIIII Kal. Febr.').Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/24/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/24/Rural festival for Tellus and the sowing season, held from 24 to 26 January. Source: Ovid, Fasti 1.657–704; Varro, De Lingua Latina 6.26.Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/23/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/23/Issued at Milan in the name of the young Valentinian II, the law let those holding the creed of the Council of Ariminum meet freely and threatened death to anyone who disturbed them. It set the stage for the clash with Bishop Ambrose. Source: Theodosian Code 16.1.4.Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/22/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/22/Constantine ordered that travellers who seized plough oxen for the imperial post be arrested; they had to wait until proper post animals were supplied. The law was received at Caralis (Cagliari) on this day. Source: Theodosian Code 8.5.1.Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/21/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/21/The Roman martyrs' calendar of 354 commemorates the young martyr Agnes on 21 January at her tomb on the Via Nomentana. Source: Chronography of 354, Depositio martyrum (XII kal. Feb.).Wed, 21 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/20/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/20/Rome's list of martyrs' feasts commemorates Bishop Fabian at the catacomb of Callixtus and Sebastian at the Catacombs on the Appian Way on 20 January. Source: Chronography of 354, Depositio martyrum (XIII kal. Feb.).Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/19/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/19/A council of officials at Sirmium formally invested Theodosius with the purple. Source: Consularia Constantinopolitana; Chronicon Paschale.Mon, 19 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/18/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/18/Milo was travelling to Lanuvium for a religious duty when his party met Publius Clodius on the Appian Way near Bovillae. Clodius was killed, and Rome erupted in riots. Source: Cicero, Pro Milone 27.Sun, 18 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/17/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/17/Theodosius I died at Milan, and the empire passed to his sons Arcadius in the East and Honorius in the West. Source: Socrates Scholasticus, Church History 5.26; Ambrose, De obitu Theodosii.Sat, 17 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/16/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/16/The Senate gave Octavian the honorary name Augustus. Source: Ovid, Fasti 1.587–616; Fasti Praenestini.Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/15/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/15/Galba was killed in the Forum by Praetorian Guards backing Otho, after seven months as emperor. Source: Tacitus, Histories 1.41.Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/15/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/15/Second feast day of Carmenta. Source: Ovid, Fasti 1.617–636.Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/14/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/14/Marcus Antonius was born in Rome. Source: Fasti Verulani (dies vitiosus); Cassius Dio 51.19.Wed, 14 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/13/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/13/On the Ides of January, Ovid writes, 'every province was returned to our people', the settlement of 27 BC that led to Octavian's new name, Augustus. Source: Ovid, Fasti 1.587–590.Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/12/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/12/Within Rome's walls, senators were forbidden to wear the military cloak and told to wear civilian clothes, and the toga at Senate meetings and in court. Source: Theodosian Code 14.10.1.Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/11/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/11/First of the two feast days of Carmenta, goddess of childbirth and prophecy. The second was 15 January. Source: Ovid, Fasti 1.461–586.Sun, 11 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/11/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/11/Theodosius, the last emperor to rule both halves of the empire, was born in Hispania; the year (usually 347) is disputed. Source: Consularia Constantinopolitana.Sun, 11 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/10/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/10/Caesar led the 13th Legion across the Rubicon into Italy and started the civil war. The exact day is inferred. Source: Suetonius, Julius 31–32.Sat, 10 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/9/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/9/The first Agonalia of the year appears on 9 January in the Fasti Praenestini. Source: Ovid, Fasti 1.317–318.Fri, 09 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/8/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/8/Sons of Rome's bakers left orphaned young were excused from the bakery guild until age 20; the guild had to provide substitute bakers in the meantime. Source: Theodosian Code 14.3.5.Thu, 08 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/7/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/7/The 19-year-old Octavian first took up official imperium, a date he later marked as the beginning of his public career. Source: Feriale Cumanum (VII Id. Ian.: primum fasces sumpsit); Res Gestae 1.Wed, 07 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/6/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/6/A law ruled that in civil cases a vicar (civil governor of a diocese) ranks above a military count, and in military cases the count ranks above the vicar. Source: Theodosian Code 1.15.7.Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/4/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/4/Six days after landing in Africa, Caesar's outnumbered army fought Labienus' cavalry and light troops on the open plain near Ruspina from late morning until sunset. Source: Bellum Africum 19 (battle: 12–18).Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/4/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/4/Caesar set sail from Brundisium with seven legions, landing in Epirus the next day to carry the civil war to Pompey in Greece. Source: Caesar, Civil War 3.6.Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/3/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/3/The day after Vitellius was hailed emperor at Cologne, the legions of Upper Germany dropped their oath to 'the Senate and People' and joined him. Source: Tacitus, Histories 1.57.Sat, 03 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/2/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/2/Cicero mentions the Compitalia, the crossroads festival of the Lares, falling on 2 January. It was a movable feast with no fixed date. Source: Cicero, Ad Atticum 7.7.3 ('iiii Non. Ian. compitalicius dies').Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/1/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/1/From 153 BC Rome's consuls took office on 1 January, which made it the start of the civil year. Source: Livy, Periochae 47; Fasti Praenestini.Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/1/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/1/On the day Galba and Vinius became consuls, the legions in Germania Superior refused to renew their oath to Galba. It was the start of the Year of the Four Emperors. Source: Tacitus, Histories 1.55–56.Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/january/1/https://todayinancientrome.com/january/1/Hadrian's adopted heir Lucius Aelius died, and Hadrian then chose Antoninus Pius. Source: Historia Augusta, Aelius 4.7 ('kalendis ipsis Ianuariis perit').Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/31/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/31/Commodus survived poison from his mistress Marcia and was strangled in his bath by the wrestler Narcissus. Source: Herodian 1.16.1–1.17; Historia Augusta, Pertinax 4.5–8; Cassius Dio 73.22.Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/30/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/30/Titus, later emperor (79–81), was born in Rome, the eldest son of Vespasian. Source: Suetonius, Titus 1.Tue, 30 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/29/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/29/Engaged to Claudius' daughter Octavia but slandered by Agrippina's allies, Lucius Silanus was made to resign his praetorship; he killed himself on the day Claudius married Agrippina. Source: Suetonius, Claudius 29.2; Tacitus, Annals 12.4, 12.8.Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/28/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/28/Three commissioners settled 3,000 colonists at the Latin colony of Bononia, on land taken from the Boii; cavalrymen received 70 iugera each, other settlers 50. Source: Livy 37.57.7–8.Sun, 28 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/27/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/27/The Roman church's list of bishops' feast days in the Chronography of 354 commemorates Dionysius, bishop of Rome in the 260s, on 27 December at the catacomb of Callixtus. Source: Chronography of 354, Depositio episcoporum (VI kal. Ian.).Sat, 27 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/26/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/26/Constantine ruled that petitions and imperial rescripts could not reopen a case already decided without appeal, and that those who obtained them be turned away from the courts. Source: Theodosian Code 4.16.1.Fri, 26 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/25/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/25/The Calendar of 354 marks 25 December as the 'birthday of the Unconquered Sun'. Aurelian's temple of Sol dates to 274, but the 25 December festival is attested only in this calendar. Source: Chronography of 354, calendar (VIII Kal. Ian.: N. INVICTI CM XXX).Thu, 25 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/24/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/24/Galba, emperor in 68–69, was born near Tarracina. Source: Suetonius, Galba 4.Wed, 24 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/23/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/23/Festival for Acca Larentia, legendary foster-mother of Romulus and Remus, with offerings at her tomb. Source: Varro, De Lingua Latina 6.23; Ovid, Fasti 3.55.Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/23/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/23/Marcus Aurelius and Commodus celebrated a joint triumph for the German wars. Source: Historia Augusta, Commodus 2.4.Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/22/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/22/Diocletian's birthday was officially kept on 22 December; his birth year is uncertain. Source: Chronicon Paschale; Lactantius.Mon, 22 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/21/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/21/Festival of the goddess Angerona, held near the winter solstice. Source: Varro, De Lingua Latina 6.23.Sun, 21 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/21/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/21/The day after Vitellius died, the Senate recognised Vespasian as emperor, later formalised as the Lex de imperio Vespasiani. Source: Tacitus, Histories 4.3; CIL VI 930 (bronze tablet).Sun, 21 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/20/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/20/As Vespasian's troops took Rome, Vitellius was dragged out and killed by soldiers. Source: Tacitus, Histories 3.84–85; Suetonius, Vitellius 17.Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/19/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/19/The festival of Ops, goddess of abundance, fell during the Saturnalia. Source: Varro, De Lingua Latina 6.22 ('post diem tertium Opalia').Fri, 19 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/18/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/18/Hearing that his troops at Narnia had surrendered, Vitellius left the Palace in mourning clothes with his small son and tried to give up power before the people. Source: Tacitus, Histories 3.67–68.Thu, 18 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/17/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/17/Rome's festival of Saturn began with a public banquet and the cry 'io Saturnalia'. It later stretched to 23 December. Source: Catullus 14.15 ('Saturnalibus, optimo dierum').Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/16/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/16/Valentinian and Valens forbade officials to make poor people pay a 'gratuity' when the new consuls were announced; only former officials and town councillors could give, and as they chose. Source: Theodosian Code 8.11.1.Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/15/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/15/Nero was born at Antium to Agrippina the Younger and Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus. Source: Suetonius, Nero 6.Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/15/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/15/Lucius Verus, co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius from 161, was born. Source: Historia Augusta, Verus 1.8 ('XVIII kal. Ianuariarum').Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/15/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/15/The second festival of Consus, god of stored grain, was held on 15 December. Source: Varro, De Lingua Latina 6.20.Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/13/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/13/Gravely ill at Nicomedia, Diocletian sank so low that on the Ides of December the palace went into mourning and the city fell silent. The next morning word spread that he was alive. Source: Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 17.5–6.Sat, 13 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/12/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/12/The calendar of 354 opens the Ludi Lancionici on 12 December; these games ended with chariot races on 18 December. Source: Chronography of 354, calendar (prid. Id. Dec.: LVDI LANCIONICI).Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/11/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/11/Rome's Agonalia rites and the Septimontium, a festival of the 'seven hills', fell on the same day. Source: Varro, De Lingua Latina 6.12, 6.24.Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/11/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/11/Julian entered Constantinople as sole emperor and led Constantius' Christian funeral procession. Source: Ammianus Marcellinus 22.2.Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/10/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/10/Months after Stilicho's execution, Honorius called him a 'public enemy' and lifted the guards he had placed on the coasts and ports, so travel and trade with the East could resume. Source: Theodosian Code 7.16.1.Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/9/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/9/Constantius II and Constans ruled that those convicted of murder, poisoning, sorcery, adultery or rape by evidence, witnesses and their own confession could not appeal. Source: Theodosian Code 11.36.7.Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/8/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/8/Quintus Horatius Flaccus was born at Venusia, son of a freedman. Source: Suetonius, Vita Horati ('natus est VI Idus Decembris'); Horace, Odes 3.21.1.Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/7/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/7/Proscribed at Antony's demand, Cicero was caught and killed near Formiae. Source: Tacitus, Dialogus 17.2 (citing Tiro); Plutarch, Cicero 48.Sun, 07 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/6/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/6/Constantius II, writing to Bishop Felix, freed clergy from unjust levies and menial public duties, and protected the earnings of clerics in trade when used for the poor. Source: Theodosian Code 16.2.14.Sat, 06 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/5/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/5/Country people honoured Faunus with offerings and dancing on the Nones of December. Source: Horace, Odes 3.18.10 ('Nonae redeunt Decembres').Fri, 05 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/4/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/4/An edict to the people declared that those who used magic to disturb the elements, harm the innocent or summon spirits against their enemies should be destroyed as 'strangers to nature'. Source: Theodosian Code 9.16.5.Thu, 04 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/3/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/3/With evidence from Allobroges envoys, Cicero had Lentulus, Cethegus and three others arrested in Rome. Source: Sallust, Catiline 46–47; Cicero, In Catilinam 3.Wed, 03 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/2/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/2/The calendar of 354 marks 2 December as the start of the munus, the season of gladiatorial shows that ran on set days until 24 December. Source: Chronography of 354, calendar (IIII Non. Dec.: INITIVM MVNERIS).Tue, 02 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/december/1/https://todayinancientrome.com/december/1/The day after his daughter's birth, Antoninus Pius gave Marcus the tribunician power and imperium. Source: Historia Augusta, Marcus 6.6.Mon, 01 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/30/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/30/Faustina the Younger gave birth to a daughter, Marcus Aurelius' first child. Source: Fasti Ostienses.Sun, 30 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/29/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/29/Rome's list of martyrs' feasts in the Chronography of 354 commemorates Saturninus on 29 November at the cemetery of Thraso. Source: Chronography of 354, Depositio martyrum (III kal. Dec.).Sat, 29 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/28/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/28/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. Source: Theodosian Code 15.1.48.Fri, 28 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/27/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/27/The poet Horace died at 56, soon after his patron Maecenas, and was buried near him on the Esquiline. Source: Suetonius, Vita Horati ('decessit V Kal. Decembris').Thu, 27 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/27/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/27/The Lex Titia formally gave Antony, Octavian and Lepidus five years of power, and the proscriptions followed. Source: Fasti Colotiani (a.d. V Kal. Dec.); Appian, Civil Wars 4.2–7; Cassius Dio 47.2.Thu, 27 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/26/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/26/When the Arian bishop Demophilus refused Theodosius' demand to accept the Nicene Creed, he was ordered to give up the churches and led his followers to worship outside the city walls, ending forty years of Arian control. Source: Socrates Scholasticus, Church History 5.7.Wed, 26 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/25/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/25/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. Source: Chronography of 354, calendar (a.d. VII Kal. Dec.: LVDI SARMATICI).Tue, 25 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/24/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/24/Theodosius I formally entered Constantinople, which became his main seat. Source: Socrates Scholasticus, Church History 5.6; Consularia Constantinopolitana.Mon, 24 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/24/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/24/The Calendar of 354 marks BRVMA on 24 November, the start of the Brumalia: a winter season of about thirty days leading up to the bruma, the winter solstice. Source: Chronography of 354, calendar (VIII Kal. Dec.: BRVMA); John Lydus, De Mensibus 4.158.Mon, 24 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/23/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/23/Writing to the prefect of Rome, Constantius II abolished the nocturnal sacrifices that the usurper Magnentius had allowed. Source: Theodosian Code 16.10.5.Sun, 23 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/22/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/22/Five days after Valentinian I died, the army at Aquincum proclaimed his four-year-old son Valentinian II emperor. Source: Ammianus Marcellinus 30.10.Sat, 22 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/21/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/21/On 20–21 November Hadrian visited the 'singing' Colossi of Memnon at Thebes. The visit was recorded in poems Julia Balbilla carved on the statue. Source: Julia Balbilla's epigrams (inscribed on the Colossus).Fri, 21 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/20/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/20/The eastern army met near Nicomedia and acclaimed Diocles, commander of the guard, as emperor. Source: Aurelius Victor, De Caesaribus 39.1; Lactantius, DMP 17.1.Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/20/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/20/Diocletian and Maximian celebrated in Rome the twentieth year of his reign, the Tetrarchy's tenth and a triumph over Persia. Source: Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 17.1 (a.d. XII Kal. Dec.).Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/18/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/18/After John Chrysostom's exile, a law told governors to stop the separate meetings of Christians who refused communion with his successor Arsacius and with Theophilus and Porphyrius, and to expel them from the church. Source: Theodosian Code 16.4.6.Tue, 18 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/17/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/17/Vespasian, founder of the Flavian dynasty and builder of the Colosseum, was born near Reate. Source: Suetonius, Vespasian 2.Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/17/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/17/Valentinian I died of a stroke at Brigetio after losing his temper with envoys of the Quadi. His sons Gratian and Valentinian II succeeded him. Source: Ammianus Marcellinus 30.5–6.Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/16/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/16/The future second emperor was born in Rome to Livia and Tiberius Claudius Nero. Source: Suetonius, Tiberius 5.Sun, 16 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/14/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/14/A law of Theodosius II and Valentinian III banned pagan sacrifice and ordered any shrines still intact to be pulled down and purified with the sign of the cross. Source: Theodosian Code 16.10.25.Fri, 14 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/13/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/13/During the Plebeian Games a sacred banquet for Jupiter was held on the Ides of November. Source: Calendar inscriptions (Fasti Maffeiani etc., Inscr. Ital. XIII.2: Id. Nov.); Livy 25.2.10.Thu, 13 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/13/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/13/Augustine was born at Thagaste in Roman North Africa. He became the most influential Latin Church Father. Source: Augustine, De Beata Vita 1.6.Thu, 13 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/11/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/11/Galerius called a meeting with Diocletian and Maximian at Carnuntum to repair the Tetrarchy; Licinius was made Augustus. Source: Consularia Constantinopolitana (s.a. 308); Zosimus, New History 2.Tue, 11 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/10/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/10/After settling affairs in Rome and leaving Valentinian II in the West, Theodosius returned with his son Honorius and entered Constantinople on 10 November. Source: Socrates Scholasticus, Church History 5.18.Mon, 10 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/9/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/9/Church tradition holds that the Lateran Basilica, Constantine's cathedral for the bishop of Rome built on the site of the disbanded Horse Guard's base, was dedicated on 9 November. Source: Liber Pontificalis (Silvester).Sun, 09 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/8/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/8/Marcus Cocceius Nerva, later emperor (96–98), was born at Narni. Source: Chronography of 354, calendar (VI Id. Nov.: N. NERVAE).Sat, 08 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/8/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/8/Constantine the Great gave his 7-year-old son Constantius the rank of Caesar. Source: Chronography of 354, calendar (VI Id. Nov.: N. NERVAE ET CONSTANTII); Consularia Constantinopolitana.Sat, 08 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/6/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/6/At Milan, Constantius II made his cousin Julian Caesar and sent him to defend Gaul. Source: Ammianus Marcellinus 15.8.Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/4/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/4/The Plebeian Games filled two weeks of mid-November with theatre, a cavalry parade on the 14th and chariot races on the 15th–17th. Source: Fasti Maffeiani (Inscr. Ital. XIII.2: ludi plebeii 4–17 Nov.); Chronography of 354 (LVDI PLEBEI 12–15 Nov.); Livy 25.2.10.Tue, 04 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://todayinancientrome.com/november/3/https://todayinancientrome.com/november/3/Constantius II died of fever in Cilicia while marching against Julian, leaving Julian sole emperor. Source: Ammianus Marcellinus 21.15.Mon, 03 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT