a.d. III Kal. Apr.
March 30 in Ancient Rome
Janus, Concord, Safety and Peace honoured
A day for peace and harmony
festivalRepublic & Empire (annual)
Roman calendar date
Ovid’s calendar sets 30 March for the worship of Janus, Concord, the Safety of Rome and the altar of Peace.
Augustus
Background
Roman religion gave temples and altars not only to gods with myths but also to ideas the state wanted to keep: Concordia (harmony between citizens), Salus (the safety and well-being of the people) and Pax (peace). Each had shrines in the city, and their dedication days were remembered in the calendar.
Ovid groups four of them on 30 March. After counting four days from the equinox, he writes, "Janus must be adored, and with him gentle Concord, and the Safety of Rome, and the altar of Peace." Janus, the two-faced god of doorways and beginnings, was closely tied to war and peace: the doors of his shrine in the Forum were closed only when Rome was at peace everywhere, which Augustus boasted had happened three times in his reign per Augustus' Res Gestae. Which altar of Peace Ovid meant on this day is not certain disputed, since the great Ara Pacis of Augustus was dedicated on 30 January.
The cluster reads like a short prayer for civic calm after the noisy, martial rites of March. For Romans who had lived through decades of civil war before Augustus, harmony, safety and peace were not abstractions.
Ancient source: Ovid, Fasti 3.879–882 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 17°/7°C (63°/45°F) · rain 34% of days
Rome in MarchMarch, once the first month of the year, reopened the seasons of war and…
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)
All days in March →
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)
