a.d. IV Id. Aug.
August 10 in Ancient Rome
Altars to Ceres and Ops Augusta
religionAD 7
Julian date · ≈ Aug 8 on our calendar
Altars to Mother Ceres and Ops Augusta, goddesses of grain and plenty, were set up in the Vicus Iugarius in Rome, fulfilling a vow.
Background
AD 6–7 were years of famine in Rome, and Augustus took emergency measures over the grain supply per Dio 55.26. The calendars do not say who made the vow, but a vow to the goddesses of grain and plenty fits those years.
Three separate calendars mark the day, which shows how widely imperial anniversaries were copied in Italian towns.
Ancient source: Fasti Amiternini, Vallenses and Antiates (IV Id. Aug.) · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 31°/20°C (88°/68°F) · rain 12% of days
Rome in AugustThe hottest weeks raised the risk of fire in the dense city, especially in…
Fields & crops
Columella marks autumn beginning around 12 August; straw and stubble were gathered, figs and early fruit picked, and vineyards readied for the vintage per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
A quieter legal month; many elite Romans were in the countryside. Under the empire, the imperial household's slaves and freedmen kept administration running.
Senate & politics
Renamed from Sextilis in 8 BC for Augustus, who had won his greatest successes in this month, including the capture of Alexandria in 30 BC per Macrobius 1.12.35.
Military
Armies stayed in the field; disease in hot camps was often as dangerous as battle modern view based on ancient accounts.
Festivals & religion
Portunalia (17 Aug.), Vinalia Rustica (19 Aug.), Consualia (21 Aug.), Vulcanalia (23 Aug.), when small fish were offered to Vulcan to ward off fire, and Opiconsivia (25 Aug.) per Varro and Festus. On the Ides, Diana's day, enslaved people had a holiday per Festus and Plutarch.
Daily life
The hottest weeks raised the risk of fire in the dense city, especially in timber-framed insulae; Augustus set up the vigiles, a fire brigade of freedmen, in AD 6 per Suetonius and Dio. Fevers peaked in late summer and early autumn; the sick poor relied on home remedies and shrines more than on doctors modern view.
Sources: Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12 · Columella 11.2
All days in August →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Nec tecum possum vivere, nec sine te.
“I can't live with you, nor without you.”
Martial, Epigrams 12.46 · translation ours (literal)
