pr. Non. Feb.
February 4 in Ancient Rome
Gothic Games begin
festivalListed AD 354
Roman calendar date
The calendar of 354 opens the Ludi Gothici, games for victories over the Goths, on 4 February; they ended with chariot races on 9 February.
Ludi Gothici (Gothic Games)
Background
In the fourth century the Roman calendar filled with games celebrating imperial victories. The Calendar of 354, an illustrated almanac prepared for a wealthy Roman named Valentinus, lists the Ludi Gothici, the Gothic Games, from 4 to 9 February.
They commemorated victories over the Goths, most likely Constantine's campaigns on the Danube in 332 disputed; earlier victories by Claudius II have also been suggested. The calendar marks the opening day on the day before the Nones of February; the closing day had chariot races in the Circus Maximus.
Games like these were a major part of city life: the Calendar lists well over a hundred days of shows a year. Spectators from every class, including the poor and freedmen, filled the circus and theatres, cheering for the chariot factions, the Blues, Greens, Reds and Whites. Free entertainment, like free bread, tied the urban population to the emperor and reminded them, through the games' very names, of his victories on distant frontiers.
Ancient source: Chronography of 354, calendar (prid. Non. Feb.: LVDI GOTTICI) · Reference
Sources
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Rome in FebruaryFebruary was Rome's month of purification and of the dead.
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
Non est vivere, sed valere vita est.
“Life is not just being alive, but being well.”
Martial, Epigrams 6.70 · translation ours (literal)
