a.d. III Non. Nov.
November 3 in Ancient Rome
Death of Constantius II
deathAD 361
Julian date · ≈ Nov 4 on our calendar
Constantius II died of fever in Cilicia while marching against Julian, leaving Julian sole emperor.
Constantius II · Julian
Background
Constantius II, the last surviving son of Constantine, had ruled the whole empire since 353. In 360 his cousin Julian, whom he had made Caesar in Gaul, was proclaimed Augustus by his troops at Paris. Civil war seemed certain. Constantius, campaigning against Persia in the East, turned west to face him in 361.
On the march through Cilicia he fell ill with fever and died at Mopsucrenae on 3 November, aged 44 per Ammianus; Socrates gives the same day. Before dying he reportedly named Julian as his successor per Ammianus, who admired Julian; some modern historians doubt it.
His death spared the empire a war. Julian entered Constantinople unopposed in December and buried Constantius with full honours. Ammianus, an officer who served under him, judged Constantius harshly as suspicious and swayed by courtiers, but also credited his careful administration and personal discipline.
Ancient source: Ammianus Marcellinus 21.15 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 19°/12°C (66°/54°F) · rain 44% of days
Rome in NovemberFor farmers, the weeks of ploughing and sowing were long and wet.
Columella
Wintry and rainy. (De Re Rust. 11.2)
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
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