a.d. XI Kal. Feb.
January 22 in Ancient Rome
Constantine protects plough oxen
politicsAD 315
Julian date · ≈ Jan 23 on our calendar
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.
Constantine
Background
The imperial post (cursus publicus) moved officials, messages and supplies along the roads, using animals kept at relay stations. Travellers with a warrant could demand fresh animals, and when the station had none, they were tempted to grab whatever was at hand, including a farmer's plough oxen.
This law of Constantine, received at Caralis (Cagliari) in Sardinia, ordered that anyone who took an ox used for ploughing rather than one assigned to the post be seized by the station staff and brought before a judge or the town magistrates; a man of high rank would be reported to the emperor instead. A traveller who found no oxen at a station had to wait until the post supplied them.
For small farmers it mattered enormously: losing an ox at sowing time could mean a lost harvest and debt.
Ancient source: Theodosian Code 8.5.1 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 12°/4°C (54°/39°F) · rain 30% of days
Rome in JanuaryThe Kalends of January opened the civil year, with new consuls, vows for the…
Columella
A rainy day. (De Re Rust. 11.2)
Fields & crops
Little field work: Columella says pious farmers rested before the Kalends and restarted every task on 1 January for luck; after the Ides, pruning and weeding of autumn-sown grain resumed per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Courts reopened after the Saturnalia. New magistrates took up their duties, and the praetor's edict, the rules for his year in office, was posted late Republic.
Senate & politics
From 153 BC the consuls took office on 1 January, sacrificing on the Capitol; the year was named after them. In the empire, officials and soldiers renewed vows for the emperor's safety on 3 January varies by era.
Military
Armies sat in winter quarters; campaigning in snow was rare and feared. Soldiers on the frontiers renewed their oath to the emperor at the start of the year imperial era.
Festivals & religion
Janus, god of doorways and beginnings, was honoured on the Kalends; the Agonalia (9 Jan.), the Carmentalia for the birth-goddess Carmenta (11 and 15 Jan.) and the movable Compitalia at crossroads shrines followed per Ovid, Fasti 1.
Daily life
The Kalends of January opened the civil year, with new consuls, vows for the emperor's safety and small gifts (strenae) of dates, figs and coins for good luck per Ovid, Fasti 1. The Kalends of every month was also when interest fell due, so for debtors the first of the month could be dreaded; the account book itself was called the kalendarium per Seneca and the Digest.
Winter was the hungry season for many. Rome's free monthly grain ration helped only registered male citizens (about 200,000 under Augustus) per Suetonius, Aug. 40, and Res Gestae 15; others bought at market prices. Columella says pious farmers did no field work in the days before the Kalends and restarted every kind of work on 1 January for good omen per Columella 11.2.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 1 · Columella 11.2 · Suetonius, Augustus 40–42
All days in January →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Rumpitur invidia quidam, carissime Iuli, quod me Roma legit.
“Someone is bursting with envy, dearest Julius, because Rome reads me.”
Martial, Epigrams 9.97 · translation ours (literal)
