a.d. XIII Kal. Ian.
December 20 in Ancient Rome
Death of Vitellius
deathAD 69
Julian date · ≈ Dec 18 on our calendar
As Vespasian's troops took Rome, Vitellius was dragged out and killed by soldiers.
Vitellius
Background
On 20 December 69 Vespasian's troops fought their way into Rome. Tacitus describes the city's crowds watching the street battles as if they were games, cheering one side or the other, while taverns and brothels stayed open per Tacitus, who stresses the moral horror of the scene.
Vitellius had himself carried to his wife's house on the Aventine, intending to flee to his brother's troops at Tarracina, but changed his mind and returned to the empty Palace. Finding it deserted, he hid in the doorkeeper's lodge, reportedly behind a door blocked with a bed per Suetonius. Soldiers dragged him out, bound his hands behind his back, and led him half-naked along the Sacred Way while the crowd threw dung and abuse. He was killed at the Gemonian Stairs, and his body was thrown into the Tiber per Tacitus and Suetonius; details differ. He was 54 or 56 disputed: the birth year Suetonius gives (AD 15) makes him 54, but both Suetonius and Tacitus say he died in his fifty-seventh year.
His death ended the "year of the four emperors". The next day the Senate conferred imperial powers on Vespasian, who arrived in Rome in 70.
Ancient source: Tacitus, Histories 3.84–85; Suetonius, Vitellius 17 · Reference
Sources
Read moreSaturnalia begins
Saturnalia begins
festivalAnnual
Roman calendar date
Rome's festival of Saturn began with a public banquet and the cry 'io Saturnalia'. It later stretched to 23 December.
Saturnalia
Background
The Saturnalia, honouring the old god Saturn, was Rome's most loved festival. It began on 17 December with a sacrifice at the temple of Saturn in the Forum, followed by a public banquet; the woollen bonds on the feet of Saturn's statue were loosened for the festival per Macrobius and Statius. Originally one day, it later stretched to several; Augustus set three days and Caligula added a fifth, and by the late empire it ran to 23 December per Macrobius 1.10.
During the festival, business and courts stopped, people swapped the toga for casual dress and the felt cap of freedmen (pilleus), gambled openly, and gave gifts: wax candles (cerei) and small pottery figurines (sigillaria). Catullus called it "the best of days" (14.15). Households let enslaved people eat with, or be served by, their owners, and speak freely per Macrobius, Accius quoted by him, and Seneca.
These reversals were real but temporary; the enslaved returned to their condition when the holiday ended. Seneca, writing in December, notes that the whole city seemed to go wild while he debated whether a wise man should join in per Seneca, Ep. 18. Many Saturnalia customs—feasting, gifts and candles—later fed into Christmas and New Year traditions modern view; the exact links are debated.
Ancient source: Catullus 14.15 ('Saturnalibus, optimo dierum') · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 12°/4°C (54°/39°F) · rain 30% 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
Cras te victurum, cras dicis, Postume, semper.
“You say you'll live tomorrow, Postumus, always tomorrow.”
Martial, Epigrams 5.58 · translation ours (literal)
