Id. Nov.
November 13 in Ancient Rome
Epulum Iovis
festivalRepublic & Empire (annual)
Roman calendar date
During the Plebeian Games a sacred banquet for Jupiter was held on the Ides of November.
Ludi Plebeii (Plebeian Games)
Background
On the Ides of November, in the middle of the Plebeian Games, Rome's officials held a sacred banquet for Jupiter on the Capitol. Images of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva were placed on couches as if they were guests, while senators and magistrates dined in their presence. A similar banquet was held on the Ides of September during the Roman Games. Livy mentions an Epulum Iovis held for the Plebeian Games already in 213 BC.
The meal was managed by a special priestly college, the epulones, created in 196 BC to take this duty off the pontiffs. Membership became a prized honour for senators.
The feast was for the elite: it displayed the bond between the gods and Rome's governing class. Ordinary people experienced the day as part of the games' holiday, and sometimes as a chance at free food when officials distributed meat after sacrifices, though such handouts were irregular and depended on a magistrate's generosity.
Ancient source: Calendar inscriptions (Fasti Maffeiani etc., Inscr. Ital. XIII.2: Id. Nov.); Livy 25.2.10 · Reference
Sources
Read moreBirth of Augustine of Hippo
Birth of Augustine of Hippo
birthAD 354
Julian date · ≈ Nov 14 on our calendar
Augustine was born at Thagaste in Roman North Africa. He became the most influential Latin Church Father.
Background
Augustine was born on 13 November 354 at Thagaste (modern Souk Ahras, Algeria), a small town in Roman North Africa. He tells us the day himself: "the Ides of November was my birthday" (De Beata Vita 1.6). His father Patricius was a modest landowner and town councillor who was not yet a Christian; his mother Monica was a devout Christian.
His family scraped together money for his education, which shows how a provincial boy could rise through rhetoric. Augustine studied at Madauros and Carthage, taught rhetoric in Carthage, Rome and Milan, and spent years among the Manichaeans. In 386 he converted to Christianity in Milan, under the influence of Bishop Ambrose, and was baptised in 387.
He returned to Africa, became bishop of Hippo Regius in 395/6, and wrote the Confessions and The City of God, among many other works. He died in 430 while the Vandals besieged Hippo. His writings shaped Western Christian thought for over a thousand years.
Ancient source: Augustine, De Beata Vita 1.6 · Reference
Sources
Read moreLudi Plebeii (Plebeian Games), Nov 4–17
Ludi Plebeii (Plebeian Games), Nov 4–17
festivalRepublic & Empire (annual)
Roman calendar date
The Plebeian Games filled two weeks of mid-November with theatre, a cavalry parade on the 14th and chariot races on the 15th–17th.
Ludi Plebeii (Plebeian Games)
Background
The Plebeian Games were the second great festival of games in the Roman year after the Ludi Romani of September. They were run by the plebeian aediles, junior magistrates who used them to win popularity before seeking higher office. Livy first mentions them in 216 BC; by the late Republic they filled roughly two weeks of November.
The programme mixed theatre, a sacred banquet for Jupiter (the Epulum Iovis, on the Ides), a parade of the cavalry and chariot races in the Circus Maximus at the end. Plautus' play Stichus was staged at these games in 200 BC, according to its production notice.
For ordinary Romans, games days were public holidays when shops and courts closed. Entry to the theatre and circus was free, though seating was arranged by rank. A family could spend a day watching comedies and races, but a day not working also meant a day without wages for labourers who depended on daily hire.
Ancient source: Fasti Maffeiani (Inscr. Ital. XIII.2: ludi plebeii 4–17 Nov.); Chronography of 354 (LVDI PLEBEI 12–15 Nov.); Livy 25.2.10 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 17°/10°C (63°/50°F) · rain 41% of days
Rome in NovemberFor farmers, the weeks of ploughing and sowing were long and wet.
Fields & crops
Main sowing of wheat and beans; Columella marks winter's start around 10 November and advises finishing sowing by the Kalends of December per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
The Plebeian Games (4–17 Nov.) closed courts on many days; legal business resumed in late November late Republic.
Senate & politics
Elections for the next year's magistrates were sometimes delayed into autumn in troubled years; Cicero's First Catilinarian was delivered in November 63 BC.
Military
Sailing largely stopped from around 11 November per Vegetius, a late source; armies moved into winter quarters.
Festivals & religion
Ludi Plebeii with the Epulum Iovis on the Ides; in late antiquity the Isia of Isis (28 Oct.–1 Nov.) and the start of the Brumalia (24 Nov.) per the Chronography of 354.
Daily life
For farmers, the weeks of ploughing and sowing were long and wet. In Rome, the Plebeian Games brought free shows, but a holiday meant no pay for day labourers. With sea traffic stopped, city grain prices depended on what had been stored before winter.
The poor lived in crowded apartment blocks (insulae), where upper floors had no water or heating and braziers caused fires; Juvenal mocks the risk of collapse and fire satire, Juvenal 3.
Sources: Columella 11.2 · Chronography of 354 · Juvenal, Satire 3
All days in November →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Hoc est vivere bis, vita posse priore frui.
“To be able to enjoy one's past life is to live twice.”
Martial, Epigrams 10.23 · translation ours (literal)
