This Day in Ancient History: idus decembres

idus decembres

  • Rites in honour of Tellus, the earth goddess which perhaps included a lectisternium (a ‘dinner party’ at which images of the god(s) would ‘dine’ with participants) in honour of Ceres.
  • 405 B.C. — battle of Aegospotami (by one reckoning)
  • 304 A.D. — martyrdom of Lucy of Syracuse
  • 1783 — Death of Samuel Johnson

This Day in Ancient History: ante diem iii idus decembres

ante diem iii idus decembres

  • Agonalia — the fourth and final occurrence of this festival in the Roman calendar; like all instances, the Rex Sacrorum would sacrifice a ram in the Regia, but on this occasion, the sacrifice was apparently in honour of Sol Indiges.
  • Septimontium — a somewhat obscure festival apparently originally only celebrated by the ‘montani’ (i.e. the ‘hill-dwellers’) which involved sacrifices on each of Rome’s seven hills.
  • 287 — martyrdom of Fuscian (and others)
  • 302 — martyrdom of Pontian

This Day in Ancient History: ante diem iv idus decembres

ante diem iv idus decembres

  • The tribunes of the plebs would enter their office on this day during the Roman Republic.
  • ca 300 A.D. — martyrdom of Carpophorus

This Day in Ancient History: ante diem vi idus decembres

ante diem vi idus decembres

B&W reproduction of an imaginary portrait of H...
B&W reproduction of an imaginary portrait of Horace. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

  • Rites in honour of Tiberinus and Gaia — not a lot is known about these rites; Tiberinus had a temple on the Tiber island and presided over the Tiber (of course); Gaia seems to have originally given the Campus Martius (a.k.a. Campus Tiberinus) to the Roman people.
  • 65 B.C. — birth of the poet Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)