a.d. III Non. Feb.
February 3 in Ancient Rome
Alexandria's parabalani raised to 600
religionAD 418
Julian date · ≈ Feb 4 on our calendar
The parabalani, church attendants who cared for the sick in Alexandria, were increased from 500 to 600 and placed under the bishop's control.
Background
The parabalani were men attached to the church of Alexandria who cared for the sick, carrying the ill to hospital and nursing them, work that exposed them to disease. They also became a feared crowd force in the city's violent religious politics; they were linked in the sources to the turmoil around the murder of the philosopher Hypatia in 415 per Socrates, who does not name them; the link is a modern inference.
An earlier law of 416 had capped them at 500 and put them under the city prefect. This law of 418, sent to the praetorian prefect Monaxius, raised the number to 600 because 500 were not enough, and placed their selection and command under the bishop of Alexandria. Men of rank and town councillors were excluded. The earlier rules banning them from public shows and courts stayed in force.
For Alexandria's sick poor, more parabalani meant more care; for the government, the issue was controlling an organised body of men.
Ancient source: Theodosian Code 16.2.43 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 12°/4°C (54°/39°F) · rain 34% of days
Rome in FebruaryFebruary was Rome's month of purification and of the dead.
Columella
North-west wind or north wind; sometimes west wind. (De Re Rust. 11.2)
Fields & crops
The west wind (Favonius) brought the first signs of spring around 7 February per Columella 11.2: vines were pruned, trees grafted, and meadows cleared and manured.
Courts & law
February was when the Senate traditionally heard foreign embassies late Republic, per the lex Gabinia and Cicero's letters. Ordinary law courts kept sitting except on festival days.
Senate & politics
As the last month of the old year, February was used for the intercalary month when the pre-Julian calendar needed correcting, inserted after the Terminalia (23 Feb.), a source of political manipulation pre-Julian.
Military
Still the closed season; armies prepared for spring, recruits trained, and supplies were gathered at frontier bases.
Festivals & religion
The month's name comes from februa, means of purification. The Lupercalia (15 Feb.), the Parentalia for the family dead (13–21 Feb.) ending with the Feralia, the Caristia family reunion (22 Feb.) and the Terminalia for boundary stones (23 Feb.) filled it per Ovid, Fasti 2.
Daily life
February was Rome's month of purification and of the dead. During the Parentalia (13–21 February) families brought simple offerings—wreaths, grain, salt, bread soaked in wine, violets—to their ancestors' tombs per Ovid, Fasti 2.533–42. Death was close: perhaps a quarter or more of infants died in their first year, and tombstones for young children are common modern demographic estimate; disputed in detail.
On farms Columella says the west wind (Favonius) starts about 7 February, signalling pruning, grafting and the first spring work per Columella 11.2. The Lupercalia (15 February) saw young men run through the streets striking women with goatskin strips, believed to help fertility and childbirth per Ovid and Plutarch.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 2 · Columella 11.2
All days in February →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Ille sapit quisquis, Postume, vixit heri.
“The wise man, Postumus, is whoever lived yesterday.”
Martial, Epigrams 5.58 · translation ours (literal)
