pr. Id. Iul.
July 14 in Ancient Rome
Carrinas triumphs over the Gauls
military28 BC
Julian date · ≈ Jul 12 on our calendar
Gaius Carrinas, a general of Octavian, celebrated a triumph in Rome over the Gauls, one of the last triumphs held by anyone outside the imperial family.
Background
In the years after Actium several of Octavian's generals were still allowed to celebrate triumphs. The list of triumphs painted in a Roman building (the Fasti Barberiniani) records that Carrinas triumphed over the Gauls on 14 July and "donated a palm", that is, dedicated a victor's palm branch.
Soon afterwards the full triumph became a privilege of the emperor and his family; other generals received only the "triumphal ornaments".
Ancient source: Fasti Triumphales Barberiniani (prid. Id. Quinct./Iul.) · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 30°/19°C (86°/66°F) · rain 11% of days
Rome in JulyWater was precious: Rome's aqueducts fed public fountains, from which most…
Fields & crops
Harvest finished in the uplands; threshing and storage, stubble burned or grazed, and the first ploughing of fallow per Columella 11.2. Cato advises that olive groves be hoed and vines tied in summer, and that the threshing floor be ready before grain is brought in per Cato, Agr. 2, 91.
Courts & law
Courts sat less during the Ludi Apollinares (6–13 July); much elite business paused as senators left the hot city late Republic.
Senate & politics
Renamed from Quintilis in 44 BC for Julius Caesar, born in this month. Republican consular elections were often held in July late Republic. Caesar was born on 12 or 13 July disputed: sources differ on the day; after his death the month was renamed in his honour by a law of Mark Antony in 44 BC per Macrobius 1.12.34.
Military
Peak campaign season. On 15 July the equites paraded through Rome (transvectio equitum), revived by Augustus per Suetonius, Aug. 38.
Festivals & religion
Ludi Apollinares (6–13 July), founded during the war with Hannibal; the Poplifugia (5 July); the Lucaria in sacred groves (19 and 21 July); Neptunalia (23 July) with leafy shelters against the heat per Varro and Festus.
Daily life
Water was precious: Rome's aqueducts fed public fountains, from which most people carried water up the stairs of their apartment blocks per Frontinus, De aquis. Food spoiled quickly; those without kitchens bought cooked food at taverns and street stalls. Graffiti at Pompeii record prices for bread, wine and oil, and rents for rooms per Pompeian inscriptions. Martial jokes that he lives up three tall flights of stairs, a common lot for renters satire, Martial 1.117. The well-off escaped to villas; the poor had no such option.
Sources: Frontinus, De aquis · Suetonius, Augustus 38
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LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Sic tonat ille deus cum sine nube tonat.
“So that god thunders when he thunders without a cloud.”
Martial, Epigrams 9.24.4 · translation ours (literal)
