pr. Id. Dec.
December 12 in Ancient Rome
Ludi Lancionici begin
festivalListed AD 354
Roman calendar date
The calendar of 354 opens the Ludi Lancionici on 12 December; these games ended with chariot races on 18 December.
Background
The calendar of 354 lists Ludi Lancionici from 12 to 18 December, ending with chariot races. Their name and origin are obscure: no ancient writer explains them, and modern suggestions linking them to a particular victory remain guesses disputed: the name is otherwise unattested.
What is clear is the overall rhythm of public entertainment in fourth-century Rome. December alone held the Lancionici, the gladiatorial munus days, and the Saturnalia. Each set of games was funded by the state and by senators holding offices like the praetorship and quaestorship, who could spend fortunes on them; the historian Olympiodorus reports senators spending thousands of pounds of gold per Olympiodorus, fragments, for the early fifth century.
For the urban population, races were the most popular spectacle. The Circus Maximus could hold perhaps 150,000 spectators modern estimate, and the racing factions offered a sense of belonging to people from every walk of life.
⚠ Uncertain date: The name is obscure; it may honour a victory of Constantius II.
Ancient source: Chronography of 354, calendar (prid. Id. Dec.: LVDI LANCIONICI) · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 13°/5°C (55°/41°F) · rain 35% of days
Rome in DecemberDecember's highlight was the Saturnalia (from 17 December).
Fields & crops
Olive picking and pressing, wood-cutting, and indoor work on rainy days; sowing ideally finished by the Kalends per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Courts closed for the Saturnalia; quaestors gave gladiatorial shows in December in late antiquity per the Chronography of 354.
Senate & politics
New tribunes of the plebs entered office on 10 December; outgoing magistrates closed their accounts before the year ended Republic.
Military
Winter quarters. Soldiers too kept the Saturnalia, choosing a mock 'king' per the Acts of Dasius, a late and disputed martyr text.
Festivals & religion
Faunalia (5 Dec.), Agonalia and Septimontium (11 Dec.), Consualia (15 Dec.), Saturnalia (from 17 Dec.), Opalia (19 Dec.), Divalia (21 Dec.), Larentalia (23 Dec.), and later the birthday of Sol Invictus (25 Dec.).
Daily life
December's highlight was the Saturnalia (from 17 December). Business stopped, people wore the casual pilleus cap and gave small gifts, and households let enslaved people eat with, or even be served by, their owners per Macrobius 1.7, Seneca Ep. 47. Seneca, though, notes that the inversion lasted only days; the rest of the year enslaved people stood silent and hungry while masters dined, and could be beaten for a cough per Seneca, Ep. 47. Seneca himself grumbled that the whole city "sweats" with feasting Seneca, Ep. 18.
On farms, olives were picked and pressed, and enslaved workers repaired tools and baskets on rainy days per Columella 11.2.
Sources: Varro, De Lingua Latina 6 · Chronography of 354 · Seneca, Epistles 18 and 47 · Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.7–10
All days in December →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Quod sis esse velis nihilque malis.
“Wish to be what you are, and prefer nothing else.”
Martial, Epigrams 10.47 · translation ours (literal)
