Roman Calendar
by: M. Moravius Horatius Piscinus

OCTOBER

Now Ceres Your feast is come, … Bountiful and munificent, people the world round esteem You, …Ceres first taught the seed to ripen, wheat and barley set for Her grove, first scythed the golden wheat stalks, the oxen yoked, She drove the plowshare through virgin earth, furrows in the soil She rowed (Ovid Amores 3.10.1-13).

 

1 KALENDS N: Fides Publica c. 250-4, flamines Dialis, Martialis, and Quirinalis make sacrifices to Fides Publica on the Capitoline. Goddess more ancient than Jupiter, virtuous glory of gods and men, without whom there is no peace on earth, nor on the seas, sister of Justicia, Fides, silent divinity within the hearts of men and women (Silius Italicus Punica 2.484-87). Rustic rites make to Ceres. Offer to Juno Sororio on behalf of girls entering puberty. Gens Horatia purification rite of the Tigillus Sororius at the Compitium Acili. Birth of Alexander Severus, 208 CE.

2 VI Non F: Dies Ater The Senate restored to Cicero his villas on the Palatine, Tusculum and Formias, 57 BCE

3 V Non C: Wine leads even old men to dance, even if unwilling (Eriphus).

4 IV Non C: Ieiunium Cereris: Fast of Ceres decreed in 191 BCE held in mourning for Proserpina’s passing, was held every five years (Livy 36.37.4) but became an annual event under Augustus.

5 III Non C: Mundus of Ceres opened (Fest. p. 126, 4). Venus Caelestis (Dea Syria): May Venus hear all my prayers. Take one who would serve You through long years, accept one who knows how to love with a pure heart (Ovid Amores1.3.4-6). First taurobolia held in Rome, 134 CE.

6 Prid Non C: Jupiter laughs at the lies lovers make (Lygdamus 6.49-50)

7 F: NONAE F: Jupiter Fulgurin, 3rd cent. Juno Curitis in the Campus Martius. Thanksgiving to Vesta.

8 VIII Idus F: Dies Ater Battle of Cibalae, Constantine defeat of Licinius, 316 CE.

9 VII Idus C: Genius Publicus on the Clivis Capitolinus. Fausta and Felicitatis at temple built 1 June 49. Venus Victrix on the Capitoline. Apollo on the Palatine.

10 VI Idus C: Juno Moneta at temple built 1 Jun 344 BCE. Death of Germanicus in Antioch, 19 CE.

11 V Idus NP: MEDITRINALIA New wine offered to Jupiter at feast of Meditrina, goddess of health. New and old wine I drink; from illnesses new and old may I be cured. [Varro De Lingua Latina 6.21]

12 IV Idus C: Fortuna Redux goddess of happy return from successful and prosperous travel.

13 III Idus NP: FORTINALIA festival of Fons held outside the Porta Fontinalis, 231 BCE. Thirteen wells decorated with wreaths, and springs with flowers (Varro L. L. 6.22). Fons is husband to Juturna, daughter of Volturnus (Arnob. 3.29). Death of Claudius, ascension of Nero, 54 CE.

14 Pridie Idus EN: Penates on the Velia 3rd century BCE. Come, Dii Penates, come Apollo and Neptunus and all You Gods, and by Your powers may You mercifully turn aside this ill disease that violently twists, scorches and burns our city with fever (Arnobius Adv. Nat. 3.43).

15 NP: IDIBUS Feriae Jovi, Ludi Capitolini celebrated with horse races on the Campus Martius

16 XVII Kal Nov F: Dies Ater When the skies are equally bright through their whole expanse… the ensuing autumn will be fine and cool (Pliny Nat. Hist. 18.80) Rise of the Suculae at evening.

17 XVI Kal Nov C: Grape Harvest festival at Lake Acerosa, Campania.

18 XV Kal Nov C: Thanksgiving to Spes and Juventus. Death of Agrippina, 33 BCE.

19 XIV Kal Nov NP: ARMILUSTRUM Dancing procession of the Salii as the ancillae are purified and stored. Military arms ritually purified and stored for winter. Sacrifices made at the sound of trumpets (Fest. p. 17, 28 ff) were offered to Mars on the Aventine at the tomb of Titus Tatius (Plut. Rom. 23.3)

20 XIII Kal Nov C: Wine, 0 the blood of life, they were accustomed to often sip (Fasti Praenestini)

21 XII Kal Nov C: From little things are things of great importance often dependent (Livy 27.9.1)

22 XI Kal Nov C: O Pales of the Highlands, O Apollo of the Shepherds, and powerful Silvanus of the Groves, and our Venus, daughter of Dione, … Reward indeed our gifts that I have given (Nemesianus Alcon 1-6).

23 X Kal Nov C: When the south wind blows, never fell wood or touch the vine (Pliny 18. 76)

24 IX Kal Nov C: Antonius Primus and Legio VI from the Danube legions meet Vitellius in the Second Battle of Cremona, 69 CE. Birth of Domitian, 51 CE. If done well enough, it is done soon enough (Caesar Augustus).

25 VIII Kal Nov C: Crispin and Crispinianus (Castor and Pollux) as patron deities of shoemakers in the Atrium Sutoium. Cornelius Fuscus from Illyricum joins with Antonius Primus to defeat Vitellius on the second day of the Second Battle of Cremona, leaving Vespasian unchallenged as emperor, 69 CE.

26 VII Kal Nov C: In wine there is truth, in beer happiness, in mead inspiration.

27 VI Kal Nov C: Manure should never be touched except when the Moon is on the wane and land must be manured more particularly while the Moon is new, or before its First Quarter (Pliny Nat. Hist. 18.75).

28 V Kal Nov C: Ascension of Maxentius, 306 CE. Constantine’s victory at the Battle of Milvian Bridge overthrows Maxentius, who drowns in the river, 312 CE.

29 IV Kal Nov C: Marius said, I learned from my father and other righteous men that elegance is proper to women but toil to men, that all virtuous men and women ought to have more fame than riches, and that arms, not furniture, confer honour (Sallust Jugurtha 85.40).

30 III Kal Nov C: The sailor talks of winds and the plowman about bulls, the soldier counts his wounds and the shepherd counts his sheep (Propertius 2.1.43-44)

31 Prid Kal Nov C: If, when a west wind prevails, the Moon does not make Her reappearance before Her fourth day there will be a prevalence of stormy weather throughout the month (of November) (Pliny 18.79).

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