This Day in Ancient History: ante diem iii nonas decembres

ante diem iii nonas decembres

  • Possible date for rites in honour of the bona dea: essentially private rituals for Roman women only held in the house of a consul or praetor and attended by the Vestal Virgins and assorted upper class types. The actual date does not appear to have been ‘fixed’ and, of course, this ritual was ‘crashed’ by P. Clodius (dressed as a woman) in 62 B.C. with all sorts of nasty spinoffs, not least of which was the Julius Caesar’s divorce from his wife Pompeia.
  • 313 A.D. — death of the retired emperor Diocletian

This Day in Ancient History: kalendas decembres

kalendas decembres

  • rites in honour of Neptune (connected with an altar rededication or a temple dedication?)
  • rites in honour of Pietas near the Circus Flaminius (not much known about this one, apparently)
  • 147 A.D. — Annia Galeria Faustina, wife of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, is given the title of Augusta

This Day in Ancient History: pridie kalendas decembres

pridie kalendas decembres

  • 406 B.C. — death of Euripides (by one reckoning)
  • 147 A.D. — birth of Annia Galeria Faustina, the daughter of the emperor-to-be Marcus Aurelius
  • 1817 — birth of Theodor Mommsen, Nobel prize winning ancient historian