a.d. VIII Id. Feb.
February 6 in Ancient Rome
Shipowners keep their equestrian rank
politicsAD 380
Julian date · ≈ Feb 7 on our calendar
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.
Background
Rome and Constantinople were fed by grain shipped from Egypt and Africa. The navicularii, shipowners organised in a hereditary guild, were obliged to carry the state's grain, in return for privileges and exemptions.
This law of 380, addressed to the guild itself, confirmed the equestrian rank granted to them by Constantine and Julian. Anyone who dared to strike them would pay a heavy penalty, and the offender's staff of attendants would face the death penalty too. They were also freed from being dragged into service as town councillors, a costly burden, and judges were told to look after their trading interests.
Behind the shipowners stood sailors and dock labourers, and urban crowds who rioted when the grain fleet was late.
Ancient source: Theodosian Code 13.5.16 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 12°/3°C (54°/37°F) · rain 34% of days
Rome in FebruaryFebruary was Rome's month of purification and of the dead.
Fields & crops
The west wind (Favonius) brought the first signs of spring around 7 February per Columella 11.2: vines were pruned, trees grafted, and meadows cleared and manured.
Courts & law
February was when the Senate traditionally heard foreign embassies late Republic, per the lex Gabinia and Cicero's letters. Ordinary law courts kept sitting except on festival days.
Senate & politics
As the last month of the old year, February was used for the intercalary month when the pre-Julian calendar needed correcting, inserted after the Terminalia (23 Feb.), a source of political manipulation pre-Julian.
Military
Still the closed season; armies prepared for spring, recruits trained, and supplies were gathered at frontier bases.
Festivals & religion
The month's name comes from februa, means of purification. The Lupercalia (15 Feb.), the Parentalia for the family dead (13–21 Feb.) ending with the Feralia, the Caristia family reunion (22 Feb.) and the Terminalia for boundary stones (23 Feb.) filled it per Ovid, Fasti 2.
Daily life
February was Rome's month of purification and of the dead. During the Parentalia (13–21 February) families brought simple offerings—wreaths, grain, salt, bread soaked in wine, violets—to their ancestors' tombs per Ovid, Fasti 2.533–42. Death was close: perhaps a quarter or more of infants died in their first year, and tombstones for young children are common modern demographic estimate; disputed in detail.
On farms Columella says the west wind (Favonius) starts about 7 February, signalling pruning, grafting and the first spring work per Columella 11.2. The Lupercalia (15 February) saw young men run through the streets striking women with goatskin strips, believed to help fertility and childbirth per Ovid and Plutarch.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 2 · Columella 11.2
All days in February →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Hominem pagina nostra sapit.
“My page tastes of humanity.”
Martial, Epigrams 10.4 · translation ours (literal)
