pr. Non. Oct.
October 6 in Ancient Rome
Lucullus routs Tigranes on a “black day”
“I will make it a happy day”
military69 BC
Pre-reform Roman calendar
pr. Non. Oct. · Roman date in the pre-Julian calendar (day inferred, not written in the source)
Told not to fight on the anniversary of the disaster at Arausio, Lucullus said he would make it a happy day for Rome, and crushed King Tigranes of Armenia.
Background
In 69 BC Lucius Lucullus was besieging Tigranocerta, the new capital of King Tigranes of Armenia, when the king came over the Taurus with an enormous army. Leaving six thousand men at the siege, Lucullus marched out with about ten thousand legionaries plus cavalry and archers. Tigranes joked that the Romans were too many for ambassadors and too few for soldiers per Plutarch.
Some officers urged Lucullus not to cross the river that day: it was one of Rome's "black days", the anniversary of the destruction of Caepio's army by the Cimbri at Arausio in 105 BC. Lucullus answered, "I will make it a happy day to the Romans." Plutarch adds that it was the day before the Nones of October.
Lucullus led in person, in a coat of shining steel scales and a fringed cloak. He sent cavalry against the flanks of the armoured horsemen and told his infantry to hack at their unprotected shins and thighs. The armoured cavalry broke without waiting and crashed into their own infantry. Tigranes fled, handing his diadem to his son; it was captured. Plutarch says over a hundred thousand of the enemy died, against five Romans killed and a hundred wounded per Plutarch.
Before Caesar's reform (45 BC) the calendar had drifted from the seasons, so the real seasonal date was different; we don't give a modern equivalent. Why?
Ancient source: Plutarch, Lucullus 27–28; Camillus 19 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 22°/14°C (72°/57°F) · rain 35% of days
Rome in OctoberOctober ended the vintage and the olive harvest began.
Columella
North-east wind. (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 →
