a.d. V Kal. Aug.
July 28 in Ancient Rome
Execution of the usurper Magnus Maximus
politicsAD 388
Julian date · ≈ Jul 29 on our calendar
Magnus Maximus, who had seized the West in 383, was captured by Theodosius near Aquileia and put to death. The day is [disputed] between the chronicles.
Background
disputed Maximus, a general in Britain, rebelled in 383, killed the emperor Gratian and ruled Gaul, Spain and Britain. In 387 he invaded Italy, and Theodosius marched west against him.
After defeats in Pannonia, Maximus was taken at Aquileia, "stripped of his imperial robes" and condemned at the third milestone from the city, according to the chronicles Mommsen collated. The Consularia and Hydatius put this on 28 July; other sources give 21 July or 28 August.
⚠ Uncertain date
Ancient source: Consularia Constantinopolitana and Hydatius s.a. 388 (V k. Aug.); Theophanes (XII kal. Aug.) · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 31°/20°C (88°/68°F) · rain 14% 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
All days in July →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Mutare dominum non potest liber notus.
“A known book cannot change its master.”
Martial, Epigrams 1.66.9 · translation ours (literal)
