a.d. VI Id. Ian.
January 8 in Ancient Rome
Bakers' orphans spared until age 20
politicsAD 364
Julian date · ≈ Jan 9 on our calendar
Sons of Rome's bakers left orphaned young were excused from the bakery guild until age 20; the guild had to provide substitute bakers in the meantime.
Background
Feeding the city of Rome depended on a hereditary guild of bakers (pistores) who turned state grain into the free and cheap bread handed out to citizens. By the fourth century the job was a legal obligation passed from father to son, and the guild's property was tied to the work.
This law of 364 dealt with sons who lost their fathers young. Such orphans were excused from the bakery until they reached 20; in the meantime the guild had to supply substitute bakers to do their share.
It gave the boys time to grow up, but not freedom: at 20 they would still be bound to the ovens. The law shows how the late empire kept essential services running by tying families to trades for generations.
Ancient source: Theodosian Code 14.3.5 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 12°/4°C (54°/39°F) · rain 24% of days
Rome in JanuaryThe Kalends of January opened the civil year, with new consuls, vows for the…
Columella
South wind; sometimes west wind. (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)
