a.d. XVII Kal. Feb.
January 16 in Ancient Rome
Octavian becomes 'Augustus'
politics27 BC
Julian date · ≈ Jan 14 on our calendar
The Senate gave Octavian the honorary name Augustus.
Augustus
Background
In January 27 BC Octavian made his show of handing the provinces back to the Senate and People. Days later the grateful Senate voted him honours: a laurel at his door, an oak-leaf civic crown "for saving citizens", a golden shield recording his virtues, and a new name.
Some senators suggested "Romulus", but the founder's name carried the taint of kingship and fratricide per Suetonius and Dio. Lucius Munatius Plancus proposed "Augustus" instead per Suetonius, a word with religious overtones, linked to augury and to things "august", hallowed and increased by the gods. The date is disputed: Ovid ties the honour to the Ides, 13 January, while the Fasti Praenestini put it on 16 January disputed.
The name stuck to him so firmly that it became the title of every later emperor. It also renamed a month: Sextilis became August in 8 BC. For most Romans the new name signalled what the settlement meant: a man set above ordinary politics, but presented as the restorer of old ways rather than a king.
Approximate: leap years were misapplied in 45 BC–AD 8, so the exact day may shift by one or two days. Why?
⚠ Uncertain date
Ancient source: Ovid, Fasti 1.587–616; Fasti Praenestini · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 12°/3°C (54°/37°F) · rain 29% of days
Rome in JanuaryThe Kalends of January opened the civil year, with new consuls, vows for the…
Columella
The sun enters Aquarius; south-west wind; sometimes south wind with rain. (De Re Rust. 11.2)
Fields & crops
Little field work: Columella says pious farmers rested before the Kalends and restarted every task on 1 January for luck; after the Ides, pruning and weeding of autumn-sown grain resumed per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Courts reopened after the Saturnalia. New magistrates took up their duties, and the praetor's edict, the rules for his year in office, was posted late Republic.
Senate & politics
From 153 BC the consuls took office on 1 January, sacrificing on the Capitol; the year was named after them. In the empire, officials and soldiers renewed vows for the emperor's safety on 3 January varies by era.
Military
Armies sat in winter quarters; campaigning in snow was rare and feared. Soldiers on the frontiers renewed their oath to the emperor at the start of the year imperial era.
Festivals & religion
Janus, god of doorways and beginnings, was honoured on the Kalends; the Agonalia (9 Jan.), the Carmentalia for the birth-goddess Carmenta (11 and 15 Jan.) and the movable Compitalia at crossroads shrines followed per Ovid, Fasti 1.
Daily life
The Kalends of January opened the civil year, with new consuls, vows for the emperor's safety and small gifts (strenae) of dates, figs and coins for good luck per Ovid, Fasti 1. The Kalends of every month was also when interest fell due, so for debtors the first of the month could be dreaded; the account book itself was called the kalendarium per Seneca and the Digest.
Winter was the hungry season for many. Rome's free monthly grain ration helped only registered male citizens (about 200,000 under Augustus) per Suetonius, Aug. 40, and Res Gestae 15; others bought at market prices. Columella says pious farmers did no field work in the days before the Kalends and restarted every kind of work on 1 January for good omen per Columella 11.2.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 1 · Columella 11.2 · Suetonius, Augustus 40–42
All days in January →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere quare.
“I do not love you, Sabidius, and I cannot say why.”
Martial, Epigrams 1.32 · translation ours (literal)
