a.d. V Kal. Nov.
October 28 in Ancient Rome
Battle of the Milvian Bridge
A sign on the shields and a broken bridge
militaryAD 312
Julian date · ≈ Oct 29 on our calendar
Constantine defeated Maxentius outside Rome; Lactantius says he had a sign of Christ painted on his soldiers’ shields after a dream.
Imminebat dies quo Maxentius imperium ceperat, qui est a.d. sextum Kalendas Novembres, et quinquennalia terminabantur.
The day was approaching on which Maxentius had taken power, which is the sixth day before the Kalends of November, and his fifth year of rule was ending.
Background
In 312 Constantine marched on Rome against Maxentius, who held the city. Lactantius, a Christian teacher writing within a few years, says Maxentius stayed inside Rome because soothsayers had warned that he would perish if he went out. Constantine camped near the Milvian Bridge on the Tiber, as the anniversary of Maxentius' accession approached, which Lactantius gives as the sixth day before the Kalends of November (strictly 27 October; the Calendar of 354 marks the victory on the 28th disputed).
Lactantius writes that Constantine was told in a dream to mark the heavenly sign of God on his soldiers' shields, and had them painted with a monogram of Christ per Lactantius. Meanwhile, in the city, Maxentius was holding circus games for his anniversary when the crowd shouted with one voice that Constantine could not be beaten. Alarmed, he had the Sibylline books consulted. They said that on that day the enemy of the Romans would perish. Taking this as a promise of victory, he went out to fight.
The bridge behind his army had been broken. Maxentius' forces were routed, and as he fled toward the bridge the crush of men drove him headlong into the Tiber. The senate then gave Constantine the title Maximus, the Greatest.
Ancient source: Calendar of 354 (V Kal. Nov. = 28 Oct.: EVICTIO TYRANNI); Lactantius, On the Deaths of the Persecutors 44 · Reference
Sources
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Rome in OctoberOctober ended the vintage and the olive harvest began.
Columella
Wintry, with cold and frost. (De Re Rust. 11.2)
Fields & crops
End of the vintage and start of the olive harvest; autumn ploughing and the first sowing of grain began after the rains per Columella 11.2. Cato lists rations for a farm's enslaved workers: more bread when they dig or tend vines, less in winter per Cato, Agr. 56.
Courts & law
Courts busy again after the summer; many wealthy Romans returned to the city. In the late Republic, trials resumed in force after the summer and autumn games, and many famous speeches were given in these months late Republic.
Senate & politics
Under the empire, Domitian briefly renamed October 'Domitianus' after himself; the name vanished after his murder per Suetonius, Dom. 13.
Military
The campaign season closed. The Armilustrium (19 Oct.) purified the army's weapons, and the October Horse sacrifice (15 Oct.) was dedicated to Mars per Varro and Festus.
Festivals & religion
Meditrinalia (11 Oct.), tasting the new wine as medicine; Fontinalia (13 Oct.), garlanding springs and wells; October Horse; Armilustrium per Varro, De Lingua Latina 6.21–22. The October Horse: after a race on the Campus Martius, the right-hand horse of the winning chariot was sacrificed to Mars, and residents of the Sacred Way and the Subura fought over its head per Festus.
Daily life
October ended the vintage and the olive harvest began. On farms, enslaved workers and hired day labourers pressed grapes and stored wine; Cato lists the rations of bread and cheap wine (lora) given to a farm's enslaved workforce per Cato, Agr. 56–57. In the city, the sailing season was closing, so grain had to be stockpiled before winter storms made sea transport dangerous.
Sources: Varro, De Lingua Latina 6 · Columella 11.2 · Cato, De Agri Cultura 56–57
All days in October →
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)
