a.d. VI Kal. Iul.
June 26 in Ancient Rome
Julian dies of a spear wound in Persia
A spear, an oracle, and a last conversation
militaryAD 363
Julian date · ≈ Jun 27 on our calendar
During his retreat from Persia, the emperor Julian was struck by a cavalry spear and died that night; Socrates dates his death to 26 June 363.
Background
Julian, the last pagan emperor, invaded the Persian empire in spring 363 with a large army. He reached the capital Ctesiphon but could not take it, burned his fleet, and began a hard retreat through hostile land in the heat of summer, harassed constantly by Persian cavalry.
Ammianus, who was in the army, describes the end per Ammianus. When the Persians attacked, Julian rushed into the fight without stopping to put on his breastplate. His guards shouted to him to beware of the fleeing enemy, but suddenly a cavalry spear grazed his arm, pierced his side and lodged in his liver. Trying to pull it out, he cut the sinews of his fingers on its edges, fell from his horse and was carried to his tent. Learning that the place was called Phrygia, he lost hope, because an oracle had said he would die in Phrygia. He spent his last hours discussing the nature of the soul with the philosophers Maximus and Priscus, and died quietly about midnight, aged thirty-one.
Who threw the spear was never settled; Christian writers later told stories of divine punishment disputed. His death ended the last attempt to restore the old gods.
Ancient source: Socrates, Church History 3.21; Ammianus Marcellinus 25.3 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 29°/18°C (84°/64°F) · rain 9% of days
Rome in JuneHarvest meant long days for gangs of hired reapers, often seasonal migrant…
Columella
Summer solstice; west wind and heat. (De Re Rust. 11.2)
Fields & crops
Grain harvest began in the lowlands: wheat was reaped, threshed on the threshing floor and stored. Columella advises clearing the floor and preparing granaries per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Normal court business. As on every Kalends, interest on loans fell due on 1 June, also the day of Carna, goddess of the body's vital organs, honoured with bean porridge and bacon per Ovid, Fasti 6.101–82.
Senate & politics
No fixed political dates, but in the Republic elections were often held in summer, with candidates canvassing in whitened togas late Republic; often July.
Military
Campaigns continued; harvests in enemy territory were sometimes burned or seized to feed armies.
Festivals & religion
The Vestalia (9 June), when bakers and millers garlanded their donkeys and mill-stones and women walked barefoot to Vesta's temple; the temple was cleaned on 15 June per Ovid, Fasti 6. Fishermen's games were held across the Tiber on 7 June.
Daily life
Harvest meant long days for gangs of hired reapers, often seasonal migrant labourers, alongside enslaved workers per Varro, Rust. 1.17, on hiring free labourers for harvests. Summer heat in Rome brought fevers, probably malaria in low, marshy districts; the wealthy left for hill or seaside villas per Horace and Celsus; malaria identification modern. The poor stayed in hot, crowded insulae.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 6 · Varro, Res Rusticae 1.17
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LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Sed frustra metuis cupisque frustra.
“But you fear in vain and wish in vain.”
Martial, Epigrams 12.61.4 · translation ours (literal)
