a.d. III Kal. Iul.
June 29 in Ancient Rome
Peter and Paul honoured at the catacombs
religionAD 258
Julian date · ≈ Jun 29 on our calendar
III kal. Iul. · as written (pre-Julian calendar)
Rome's oldest calendar of martyrs keeps 29 June for the apostles Peter and Paul, with a consular date of 258, the year their memory began to be kept on the Appian Way.
Background
The entry names two places: Peter "in Catacumbas", the site under the later church of San Sebastiano on the Appian Way, and Paul on the road to Ostia. The consuls Tuscus and Bassus held office in 258, during the persecution of Valerian.
The year is not that of the apostles' deaths, which tradition places under Nero, but probably the start of a joint commemoration at the catacombs, where graffiti invoking both apostles survive. The same day was also, according to Ovid, the anniversary of the temple of Quirinus.
Ancient source: Chronography of 354, Depositio martyrum (III kal. Iul.) · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 30°/18°C (86°/64°F) · rain 11% of days
Rome in JuneHarvest meant long days for gangs of hired reapers, often seasonal migrant…
Columella
Windy weather. (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
All days in June →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Olfacere haec malo pocula quam bibere.
“I would rather smell these cups than drink them.”
Martial, Epigrams 3.49.2 · translation ours (literal)
