a.d. XVII Kal. Apr.
March 16 in Ancient Rome
Death of Tiberius at Misenum
The emperor who died twice
deathAD 37
Julian date · ≈ Mar 14 on our calendar
The emperor Tiberius died, aged 77, at a former villa of Lucullus on the promontory of Misenum; Caligula succeeded him.
Background
Tiberius had ruled for more than twenty-two years, the last decade mostly from the island of Capri, leaving Rome to his prefects. He was old and ill when he began a slow journey around Campania. Tacitus says he settled at last at Misenum, in a country house that had once belonged to the general Lucullus, still trying to hide his weakness behind stiff politeness.
Tacitus tells the end as a scene of tension per Tacitus, who disliked Tiberius. A doctor named Charicles, taking his leave, managed to touch the emperor's pulse and told the praetorian prefect Macro that he would not last two days. On 16 March Tiberius seemed to have stopped breathing, and the young Gaius, called Caligula, went out to receive congratulations as the new emperor. Then word came that the old man had recovered his voice and was asking for food. Panic followed. Macro, Tacitus writes, had him smothered under a heap of bedclothes.
Suetonius gives the same day, but several rumours: slow poison from Caligula, food refused during a fever, or a pillow over the face per Suetonius, explicitly reporting rumours. What is certain is that Rome greeted the news with relief, and Caligula's reign began with high hopes.
Ancient source: Tacitus, Annals 6.50; Suetonius, Tiberius 73 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 16°/6°C (61°/43°F) · rain 21% of days
Rome in MarchMarch, once the first month of the year, reopened the seasons of war and…
Columella
Wintry weather. (De Re Rust. 11.2)
Fields & crops
Columella calls March the best time for pruning vines and the first digging of vineyards; spring crops like millet were readied per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Legal and public business resumed in full after winter. At the Liberalia (17 Mar.) many boys put on the plain toga of manhood and were enrolled as adult citizens, with a family procession to the Forum per Ovid, Fasti 3.771–88.
Senate & politics
From c. 222 to 153 BC the consuls entered office on the Ides of March; Livy records it for 217 BC, and the starting year is a modern reconstruction per Livy 22.1.4. From 153 BC they took office on the Kalends of January per Livy, Per. 47. Caesar was killed at a Senate meeting on the Ides of March 44 BC per Suetonius, Velleius.
Military
The month of Mars opened the campaign season. The Salii carried the sacred shields, and the Tubilustrium (23 Mar.) purified the war trumpets per Varro and Ovid.
Festivals & religion
Matronalia (1 Mar.), Liberalia (17 Mar.), when boys often took the man's toga, and the Quinquatrus of Minerva (19–23 Mar.), a holiday for craftsmen, teachers and doctors per Ovid, Fasti 3.
Daily life
March, once the first month of the year, reopened the seasons of war and sailing. The Salii, Mars' leaping priests, danced through the city. On the Kalends (Matronalia), married women received gifts and in turn served a meal to the household's enslaved people per Macrobius 1.12.7; Ovid, Fasti 3. Columella treats March as prime time for pruning vines and digging per Columella 11.2.
For soldiers, the campaign season began; for traders, sea routes reopened and grain ships from Egypt and Africa could sail again, easing city food supplies.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 3 · Varro, De Lingua Latina 6 · Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12 · Livy 22.1.4 (Latin) · Livy, Periochae 47 (Latin) · Livy, Periochae 116 (Latin) · Suetonius, Divus Iulius 80–81 (Latin) · Velleius Paterculus 2.56 (Latin)
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LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Ille sapit quisquis, Postume, vixit heri.
“The wise man, Postumus, is whoever lived yesterday.”
Martial, Epigrams 5.58 · translation ours (literal)
