September (from Latin septem, "seven") was originally the seventh of ten months on the ancient Roman calendar that began with March (Martius, "Mars' month"). It had 29 days. After the reforms that resulted in a 12-month year, September became the ninth month, but retained its name. September followed what was originally Sextilis, the "sixth" month, renamed Augustus in honor of the first Roman emperor, and preceded October, the "eighth" month that like September was not renamed. A day was added to September in the mid-40s BC as part of the Julian calendar reform.
September has none of the archaic festivals that are marked in large letters for other months in extant Roman fasti. Instead, about half the month is devoted to the Ludi Romani, "Roman Games", which developed as votive games for Jupiter Optimus Maximus ("Jupiter Best and Greatest"). The Ludi Romani are the oldest games instituted by the Romans, dating from 509 BC. On the Ides of September (the 13th), Jupiter was honored with a public banquet, the Epulum Jovis.[1] September has a concentration of imperial birthdays (dies natales) in the latter half of the month: Trajan on the 18th, Antoninus Pius on the 19th, and Augustus on the 23rd.
Dates
The Romans did not number days of a month sequentially from the 1st through the last day. Instead, they counted back from the three fixed points of the month: the Nones (5th or 7th, depending on the length of the month), the Ides (13th or 15th), and the Kalends (1st) of the following month. The Nones of September was the 5th, and the Ides the 13th. The last day of September was the pridie Kalendas Octobris,[2] "day before the Kalends of October". Roman counting was inclusive; September 9 was ante diem V Idūs Septembris, "the 5th day before the Ides of September," usually abbreviated a.d. V Id. Sept. (or with the a.d. omitted altogether); September 23 was IX Kal. Oct., "the 9th day before the Kalends of October," on the Julian calendar (VIII Kal. Oct. on the pre-Julian calendar).
On the calendar of the Roman Republic and early Principate, each day was marked with a letter to denote its religiously lawful status. In September, these were:
- F for dies fasti, days when it was legal to initiate action in the courts of civil law;
- C for dies comitalis, a day on which the Roman people could hold assemblies (comitia), elections, and certain kinds of judicial proceedings;
- N for dies nefasti, when these political activities and the administration of justice were prohibited;
- NP, the meaning of which remains elusive, but which marked feriae, public holidays.
By the late 2nd century AD, extant calendars no longer show days marked with these letters, probably in part as a result of calendar reforms undertaken by Marcus Aurelius.[3] Days were also marked with nundinal letters in cycles of A B C D E F G H, to mark the "market week"[4] (these are omitted in the table below).
On a dies religiosus, individuals were not to undertake any new activity, nor do anything other than tend to the most basic necessities. A dies natalis was an anniversary such as a temple founding or rededication, sometimes thought of as the "birthday" of a deity. During the Imperial period, some of the traditional festivals localized at Rome became less important, and the birthdays and anniversaries of the emperor and his family gained prominence as Roman holidays. On the calendar of military religious observances known as the Feriale Duranum, sacrifices pertaining to Imperial cult outnumber the older festivals. After the mid-1st century AD, a number of dates are added to calendars for spectacles and games (ludi) held in honor of various deities in the venue called a "circus" (ludi circenses).[5]
Unless otherwise noted, the dating and observances on the following table are from H.H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (Cornell University Press, 1981), pp. 96–115. After the Ides, dates are given for the 30-day month of the Julian calendar; pre-Julian dates of festivals are noted parenthetically.
Modern date |
Roman date | status | Observances |
---|---|---|---|
September 1 |
Kalendae Septembris | F | • dies natalis for the Temple of Juno Regina ("Juno the Queen"), from 392 BC • dies natalis for the temples of Jupiter the Thunderer on the Capitoline and Jove the Free, from early in the reign of Augustus |
2 | a.d. IV Non. Sept.[6] | F | |
3 | III Non. Sept. [7] | C | |
4 | pridie Nonas Septembris (abbrev. prid. Non. Sept.) |
C | |
5 | Nonae Septembris | F | • dies natalis of the Temple of Jupiter Stator • Ludi Romani begin • Mammes vindemia, a festival of the vintage for Dionysus (Roman Liber), after the mid-1st century AD[8] |
6 | VIII Id. Sept. | F | • Ludi Romani continue |
7 | VII Id. Sept. | C | • Ludi Romani continue |
8 | VI Id. Sept.[9] | C | • Ludi Romani continue |
9 | V Id. Sept. | C | • Ludi Romani continue • dies natalis of Aurelian, with circus games[10] |
10 | IV Id. Sept. | C | • Ludi Romani continue |
11 | III Id. Sept. | C | • Ludi Romani continue • dies natalis for a temple of Asclepius |
12 | pridie Idūs Septembris (abbrev. prid. Id. Sept.) |
N | • Ludi Romani continue |
13 | Idūs Septembris | NP | • sacrifice of the Ides sheep (ovis idulis) for Jupiter Optimus Maximus • Epulum Jovis, banquet for Jove along with Juno and Minerva, the Capitoline Triad |
14 | XVIII Kal. Oct. | F dies religiosus |
• Ludi Romani continue • probatio equorum (pre-Julian XVII Kal. Oct.), an equestrian procession of the knights |
15 | XVII Kal. Oct. | N | • Ludi Romani continue |
16 | XVI Kal. Oct.[11] | C | • Ludi Romani continue |
17 | XV Kal. Oct. | C | • Ludi Romani continue |
18 | XIV Kal. Oct. | N | • Ludi Romani continue •dies natalis of Trajan •beginning of the Ludi Triumphales for Constantine after 324 AD[12] |
19 | XIII Kal. Oct. | C | • Ludi Romani conclude • Ludi Triumphales continue • dies natalis of Antoninus Pius[13] |
20 | XII Kal. Oct. | C | • mercatus, market or fair days • Ludi Triumphales continue |
21 | XI Kal. Oct. | C | • mercatus continue • Ludi Triumphales continue |
22 | X Kal. Oct. | C | • mercatus continue * Ludi Triumphales conclude |
23 | IX Kal. Oct. | C | • dies natalis for the Temple of Apollo and Latona at the Theater of Marcellus (pre-Julian VIII Kal. Oct.) • dies natalis of Divus Augustus, with circus games[14] • mercatus conclude |
24 | VIII Kal. Oct. | C | |
25 | VII Kal. Oct. | C | |
26 | VI Kal. Oct. | C | • dies natalis for the Temple of Venus Genetrix in the Forum of Caesar (pre-Julian V Kal. Oct.) |
27 | V Kal. Oct. | C | • Profectio Divi ("The Setting Forth of the Divine"), with circus games, recorded in the Calendar of Filocalus (354 AD)[15] |
28 | IV Kal. Oct. | C | |
29 | III Kal. Oct. | C | • Ludi Fatales, games for the Fates, after the mid-1st century AD[16] |
30 | prid. Kal. Oct. | C | • Ludi Fatales |
References
- ^ H.H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (Cornell University Press, 1981), pp. 182–183.
- ^ The month name is construed as an adjective modifying the feminine plural Kalendae, Nonae or Idūs.
- ^ Michele Renee Salzman, On Roman Time: The Codex Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity (University of California Press, 1990), pp. 17, 122.
- ^ Jörg Rüpke, The Roman Calendar from Numa to Constantine: Time, History, and the Fasti, translated by David M.B. Richardson (Blackwell, 2011, originally published 1995 in German), p. 6.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 118ff.
- ^ Abbreviated form of ante diem IV Nonas Septembris.
- ^ Abbreviated form of ante diem III Nonas Septembris.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, pp. 105, 125, 240.
- ^ Abbreviated form of ante diem VI Idūs Septembris, with the ante diem omitted altogether from this point.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 134.
- ^ Abbreviated form of ante diem XVII Kalendas Octobris/-es with the ante diem omitted altogether, as in the rest of the month following.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 134.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 134.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 134.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 135.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 123, conjecturing about what fatales indicates.