a.d. VI Kal. Mai.
April 26 in Ancient Rome
Birth of Marcus Aurelius
A philosopher born on the Caelian
birthAD 121
Julian date · ≈ Apr 25 on our calendar
The future philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius was born in Rome, in a family garden house on the Caelian Hill.
Natus est Marcus Romae VI. kl. Maias in monte Caelio in hortis
Marcus was born in Rome on the sixth day before the Kalends of May, on the Caelian Hill, in the gardens.
Marcus Aurelius
Background
Marcus Aurelius is remembered today as the emperor who wrote the Meditations, private notes of Stoic philosophy written partly on campaign. He was born into a rich senatorial family whose roots, like those of the emperors Trajan and Hadrian, lay partly in Spain.
The Historia Augusta gives his birth precisely: Marcus was born in Rome on the sixth day before the Kalends of May, on the Caelian Hill, in the gardens, when his grandfather was consul for the second time together with Augur per the Historia Augusta. His father, Annius Verus, died while praetor, and the boy was raised in his grandfather's house near the residence of the Laterani. His great-grandfather had come from the town of Ucubi in Spain and become a senator. He had a younger sister, Annia Cornificia.
The same biography says he was enrolled in the Salian priests at eight, loved boxing, wrestling, running, hunting and ball games, and took painting lessons, before philosophy made him "serious and grave", though never cold to his friends. Over two centuries later, the Calendar of 354 still marked 26 April as his birthday, with 24 races in the Circus, a sign of how firmly he stayed in Roman memory as a model emperor.
Ancient source: Historia Augusta, Marcus 1.5; Calendar of 354 (VI KAL. MAI.: N. M. ANTONINI) · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 20°/10°C (68°/50°F) · rain 35% of days
Rome in AprilApril was full of agricultural festivals at a tense time: last year's grain…
Fields & crops
Spring sowing of millet and panic grass around the Ides; vines dug and vegetables planted out. Mildew on the young grain was the great fear per Columella 11.2; Ovid, Fasti 4.
Courts & law
Many days were taken up by games (Megalesia, Cerealia, Floralia), when courts did not sit; legal business squeezed into the gaps late Republic.
Senate & politics
Aediles who ran the April games used them to win votes; lavish shows could make a political career late Republic.
Military
Armies marched out to campaign; the sea lanes were open, so troops and grain ships moved again.
Festivals & religion
Veneralia (1 Apr.), Megalesia for the Great Mother (4–10 Apr.), Fordicidia (15 Apr.), Cerealia (12–19 Apr.), Parilia, Rome's birthday (21 Apr.), Vinalia (23 Apr.), Robigalia (25 Apr.) and the Floralia from 28 April per Ovid, Fasti 4.
Daily life
April was full of agricultural festivals at a tense time: last year's grain was running low and the new harvest was still weeks away. The Cerealia honoured Ceres, goddess of grain; the Robigalia (25 April) sacrificed a dog to keep mildew (robigo) off the crops per Ovid, Fasti 4.905–42. At the Parilia (21 April), Rome's birthday, shepherds purified flocks and leaped over bonfires per Ovid, Fasti 4.721–82.
Women of different ranks worshipped Venus and Fortuna Virilis on 1 April; Ovid says women of lower status bathed in the men's baths that day per Ovid, Fasti 4.133–50.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 4 · Columella 11.2
All days in April →
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)
