ante diem vi kalendas novembres

• 97 A.D. – The emperor Nerva adopts the future emperor Trajan
• 312 A.D – Battle of the Milvian Bridge; Constantine I has a vision and defeats Maxentius to become sole emperor

 

[n.b. oddly, in all my years of doing This Day in Ancient History in one form or another (at least 10), I have never had anything for October 28! I haven’t had a chance to double check these items for sources]

ante diem vii kalendas novembres

• ludi Victoriae Sullanae (day 1) — games held in honour of Victoria commemorating Sulla’s defeat of the Samnites in 82 B.C.
• 1656 B.C. — Noah enters the ark (this must be Bishop Ussher again)
• 31 A.D. — suicide of Apicata, wife of the disgraced Praetorian Praefect Sejanus
• ca 250 A.D. — martyrdom of Lucian and Marcian
• 1852 — during a “violent storm” at Athens, one of the columns of the “Temple of Jupiter Olympus” was toppled (perhaps portrayed here?)

 

idus octobres

• festival of Jupiter — all ides were sacred to Jupiter
• Rite of the ‘October Horse’ — one of the many rituals which makes the study of Roman religion so fascinating. On this day a race between two-horse chariots would be held in the Campus Martius, and the right hand horse of the victorious pair would be sacrificed by the flamen of Mars on an altar (in the Campus Martius, of course). After the sacrifice, people who lived in the Via Sacra neighbourhood would fight the people who lived in the Suburra for the right to the head. If the ‘via sacranites’ won, they’d display it on the Regia; if the Suburranites won, it would be displayed at the Turris Mamilia. Meanwhile, the cauda (tail – genitals) would be rushed to the Regia so the blood would drip on the sacred hearth; the Vestal Virgins also probably kept some of the blood for use at the Parilia on April 21.
• ludi Capitolini — a somewhat obscure day of games which was unique in its not being ‘public’ (in the sense of being put on by a magistrate) but rather the ballywick of a collegium of ‘Capitolini’. Not much is known about what went on at these games save that an old man wearing the bulla of of a young boy was paraded about and mocked; there were possibly competitions in boxing and running as well.
• 55 B.C. — death of Lucretius
• 70 B.C. — birth of Publius Vergilius Maro, a.k.a. Vergil, a.k.a Virgil
• 1999 — death of Don Fowler, fellow of Jesus College, Oxford and frequent contributor to the Classics list almost from its inception, among other things, of course