a.d. III Non. Iun.
June 3 in Ancient Rome
Bellona’s temple and the column of war
A spear thrown to start a war
religionRepublic & Empire (annual)
Roman calendar date
Ovid records that the temple of Bellona, the war goddess, was dedicated on this day, and describes the small column near it from which Romans hurled a spear to declare war.
hac sacrata die Tusco Bellona duello / dicitur, et Latio prospera semper adest.
On this day, they say, Bellona was consecrated in the Tuscan war, and she always stands by Latium with success.
Background
Bellona was Rome's goddess of war, and her temple stood outside the sacred boundary of the city, near the Circus Flaminius. Because it lay outside, the senate could meet there with generals who were not allowed to enter the city while holding their command, and with foreign envoys disputed.
Ovid says that on this day the shrine was consecrated during the Etruscan war, vowed by Appius Claudius, the man who refused peace to Pyrrhus and "saw clearly with his mind, though deprived of sight" per Ovid. He was Appius Claudius Caecus, "the Blind", remembered also for the Via Appia and Rome's first great aqueduct.
The most memorable part is a small detail. In front of the temple, Ovid explains, was a little open space with a small column "of no mean importance". From there the custom was to hurl a spear when Rome decided to take up arms against kings and peoples. It was a symbolic version of the old rite in which a priest threw a spear into enemy land; once Rome's enemies lived far away, a patch of ground by the column stood in for enemy territory tradition. For Roman passers-by, it was an ordinary stone pillar that marked the start of wars.
Ancient source: Ovid, Fasti 6.199–208 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 25°/15°C (77°/59°F) · rain 24% of days
Rome in JuneHarvest meant long days for gangs of hired reapers, often seasonal migrant…
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
Parva rogas magnos; sed non dant haec quoque magni.
“You ask small things of great men; but great men do not give these either.”
Martial, Epigrams 11.68.1 · translation ours (literal)
