pr. Non. Iun.
June 4 in Ancient Rome
Hercules the Guardian at the Circus
festivalAnnual
Roman calendar date
Ovid marks the day before the Nones of June as the dedication day of the temple of Hercules Custos by the Circus Flaminius, a building he says Sulla approved.
Background
Right after the temple of Bellona (3 June), Ovid turns to "the other side of the Circus", guarded by Hercules Custos, and gives the anniversary as "the morning star before the Nones".
The temple stood near the Circus Flaminius in the Campus Martius. Ovid says Sulla "approved the work"; the building itself has not been securely identified on the ground.
Ancient source: Ovid, Fasti 6.209–212 (4 June) · 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
Odisse, quam donare, vilius constat.
“To hate costs less than to give.”
Martial, Epigrams 12.13.2 · translation ours (literal)
