in january, ancient rome left 7 dated events: why your year begins today and not in spring · they tore out his tongue for his speeches · the only king the roman empire allowed to live. here is what happened, day by day.
1 january is not a natural or astronomical date: it is a roman military formality. the day the consuls took office and the people honoured janus, the two-faced god who looks to the past and the future at once.
read the full entry →the birth of marcus tullius cicero, the man who climbed to the top of rome without lifting a sword, only with words. that is why, when they killed him, beheading was not enough: they pierced his tongue with needles.
read the full entry →rome hated its kings with a visceral terror, but its religion required that certain rites be officiated by one. the solution was a gilded cage: a priest with the title of king and forbidden by law from touching power.
read the full entry →the roman republic did not fall to an invasion or a catastrophe: it collapsed because a general decided to cross a ridiculously small stream with his army. by crossing the rubicon, julius caesar committed high treason and signed the death warrant of the state.
read the full entry →the greatest autocratic system of antiquity was not imposed at swordpoint, but in a senate meeting drowned in applause. octavian pretended to give back the republic and they begged him to stay. he walked out with a new title: augustus.
read the full entry →in the middle of a palace massacre, claudius hid behind a curtain convinced he was next. a soldier saw his feet poking out. instead of killing him, he knelt and saluted him as emperor. that is how the court "fool" came to the throne.
read the full entry →rome raised the most beautiful altar ever dedicated to peace. legend says it paid for it with gold torn from the peoples it had just crushed in war. the ara pacis is a marble masterpiece and, underneath, a perfectly polite military threat.
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