a.d. XII Kal. Feb.
January 21 in Ancient Rome
Feast of Saint Agnes
religionListed AD 354
Roman calendar date
The Roman martyrs' calendar of 354 commemorates the young martyr Agnes on 21 January at her tomb on the Via Nomentana.
Background
Agnes was among the most celebrated martyrs of Rome. The calendar of 354 marks her feast on 21 January at her tomb on the Via Nomentana, northeast of the city, where Constantine's daughter Constantina built a great basilica beside her grave in the 4th century.
Little is known for certain about her. She was a young girl, perhaps about twelve or thirteen, executed for her faith, probably in the persecution of Diocletian around 304 or an earlier one disputed. Bishop Ambrose and Pope Damasus wrote about her later in the 4th century, but their accounts differ on how she died, and later legends added more detail tradition.
Her story mattered to women and girls in particular: a child who, in the stories, refused marriage and stood firm before the magistrates. Her cult spread widely. In the hard reality behind it, Roman law allowed girls to be married at twelve, and persecution fell on the weak as well as the strong.
Ancient source: Chronography of 354, Depositio martyrum (XII kal. Feb.) · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 12°/4°C (54°/39°F) · rain 32% of days
Rome in JanuaryThe Kalends of January opened the civil year, with new consuls, vows for the…
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 est vivere, sed valere vita est.
“Life is not just being alive, but being well.”
Martial, Epigrams 6.70 · translation ours (literal)
