This Day in Ancient History: ante diem xiii kalendas novembres

ante diem xiii kalendas novembres

  • 480 B.C. — Battle of Salamis (one reckoning; seems a bit late)
  • 127 A.D. — ludi votivi decennales pro salute Augusti
  • c. 250 A.D. — martyrdom of Maximus of Aquila
  • 1524 — death of Thomas Linacre … “the best Greek and Latin scholar of his age”
  • 1952 — death of Michael Rostovtzeff (author of The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire and the Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World among other things)

This Day in Ancient History: ante diem xiv kalendas novembres

ante diem xiv kalendas novembres

  • Armilustrium — a festival in honour of Mars which officially (it seems) brought the campaigning season to an end. The Salii (the dancing priests of Mars) were likely heavily involved with their characteristic dance and with the storage of their figure eight shields. A lustratio (purification ritual) also took place on the Aventine, with the goal of removing the ‘blood guilt’ the army had taken on that year.
  • 202 B.C. — Scipio Africanus defeats Hannibal at Zama
  • 125 B.C. — beginning of the ‘era of Tyre’
  • 1769 — Vesuvius erupts