a.d. V Kal. Ian.
December 28 in Ancient Rome
Colony of Bononia (Bologna) founded
politics189 BC
Pre-reform Roman calendar
a.d. III Kal. Ian. · as written (pre-Julian calendar)
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.
Background
In the early second century BC Rome fought hard to control the Po valley in northern Italy, home of Gallic peoples such as the Boii and Insubres. After years of war, the Boii were defeated in 191 BC and lost about half their land per Livy.
On 28 December 189 BC (three days before the Kalends of January), three commissioners founded a Latin colony at Bononia, on territory taken from the Boii per Livy. They settled 3,000 men; cavalrymen received 70 iugera of land each, and other colonists 50 iugera (about 12.5 hectares) per Livy. Latin colonists gave up Roman citizenship in exchange for land and local self-government.
For poor Roman and Italian farmers, colonies offered a way to own land, but they also displaced the earlier inhabitants and served as military outposts. Bononia, later linked to Rome by the Via Aemilia (187 BC), grew into a major city, today's Bologna. The 50 iugera allotment was generous; ordinary peasant farms in central Italy were often much smaller modern comparison.
Before Caesar's reform (45 BC) the calendar had drifted from the seasons, so the real seasonal date was different; we don't give a modern equivalent. Why?
Ancient source: Livy 37.57.7–8 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 11°/4°C (52°/39°F) · rain 36% of days
Rome in DecemberDecember's highlight was the Saturnalia (from 17 December).
Fields & crops
Olive picking and pressing, wood-cutting, and indoor work on rainy days; sowing ideally finished by the Kalends per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Courts closed for the Saturnalia; quaestors gave gladiatorial shows in December in late antiquity per the Chronography of 354.
Senate & politics
New tribunes of the plebs entered office on 10 December; outgoing magistrates closed their accounts before the year ended Republic.
Military
Winter quarters. Soldiers too kept the Saturnalia, choosing a mock 'king' per the Acts of Dasius, a late and disputed martyr text.
Festivals & religion
Faunalia (5 Dec.), Agonalia and Septimontium (11 Dec.), Consualia (15 Dec.), Saturnalia (from 17 Dec.), Opalia (19 Dec.), Divalia (21 Dec.), Larentalia (23 Dec.), and later the birthday of Sol Invictus (25 Dec.).
Daily life
December's highlight was the Saturnalia (from 17 December). Business stopped, people wore the casual pilleus cap and gave small gifts, and households let enslaved people eat with, or even be served by, their owners per Macrobius 1.7, Seneca Ep. 47. Seneca, though, notes that the inversion lasted only days; the rest of the year enslaved people stood silent and hungry while masters dined, and could be beaten for a cough per Seneca, Ep. 47. Seneca himself grumbled that the whole city "sweats" with feasting Seneca, Ep. 18.
On farms, olives were picked and pressed, and enslaved workers repaired tools and baskets on rainy days per Columella 11.2.
Sources: Varro, De Lingua Latina 6 · Chronography of 354 · Seneca, Epistles 18 and 47 · Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.7–10
All days in December →
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)
