Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
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Why Is New Year Today ...?
Why does our year actually start on January 1st ...?
In it are - who else? - of course the ancient Romans are to blame!
During the time of the Roman Republic, the year actually always started on March 1st. That was the day on which the two newly elected consuls took office.
That day was accompanied by a solemn ceremony at the Capitol, where the new consuls made their vows for the upcoming term of office. To become a consul you had to be at least 43 years old and - of course! - be a Roman citizen!
A representative of the Senate then spoke the traditional inauguration formula “Videant consules ne quid respublica detrimenti capiat!” (“Now let the consuls see that the republic is not harmed!”) and the two consuls were in office.
By 367 BC only patricians (members of the upper class / the nobility) were eligible, after that at least one of the consuls should also be plebeians (member of the working class).
In 172 BC were two plebeian consuls for the first time in the history of Rome!
Consuls were immediately recognizable by their robes, the red-lined toga praetexta that only they wore!
If they were also of "senatorial nobility", i.e. patricians, they also wore two vertical purple stripes on the tunica underneath.
Her school, the "senator's boots" (calcei senatorii) were red, the other senators wore black. (Incidentally, the red shoes of the Pope go back to this tradition!)
At the time of the republic the toga was still a very practical piece of clothing ...:
In the imperial era the thing got larger and larger and one could practically no longer put it on without help ...:
The last inauguration of the consuls on March 1st was in 152 BC, when consuls P. Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus and L. Valerius Flaccus officiated.
Since 153 BC Consuls took office on January 1st, which has since been considered the beginning of the year, because the consuls were the eponymous (Greek: "eponymous") officials of Rome, after whom the years were named.
The reason for bringing the term of office forward had something to do with the expansion of the Roman Empire and the military:
Spring and summer time were considered the appropriate time to wage war. And since one of the consuls (in difficult times even both!) Was with the army and commanded it, taking office as before on March 1st would have meant arriving too late with the troops (mostly far away).
If the consuls took office on January 1st, there was no danger!
We even know the names of the two consuls to whom we owe January 1st as New Year's Day!
They were called Publius Popillius Laenas and Publius Rupilius.
In Roman historiography one spoke of "the year in which P. Publius Popillius Laenas and P. Rupilius were consuls".
The "calculation of time" after the - fictional or legendary - founding date of Rome in 753 BC. u. Z., which one with a. u. c. abbreviated (ad urbe condita / after the city was founded) played no role in this context.
So it is thanks to Roman pragmatism that we have a holiday today!
Why does our year actually start on January 1st ...?
In it are - who else? - of course the ancient Romans are to blame!
During the time of the Roman Republic, the year actually always started on March 1st. That was the day on which the two newly elected consuls took office.
That day was accompanied by a solemn ceremony at the Capitol, where the new consuls made their vows for the upcoming term of office. To become a consul you had to be at least 43 years old and - of course! - be a Roman citizen!
A representative of the Senate then spoke the traditional inauguration formula “Videant consules ne quid respublica detrimenti capiat!” (“Now let the consuls see that the republic is not harmed!”) and the two consuls were in office.
By 367 BC only patricians (members of the upper class / the nobility) were eligible, after that at least one of the consuls should also be plebeians (member of the working class).
In 172 BC were two plebeian consuls for the first time in the history of Rome!
Consuls were immediately recognizable by their robes, the red-lined toga praetexta that only they wore!
If they were also of "senatorial nobility", i.e. patricians, they also wore two vertical purple stripes on the tunica underneath.
Her school, the "senator's boots" (calcei senatorii) were red, the other senators wore black. (Incidentally, the red shoes of the Pope go back to this tradition!)
At the time of the republic the toga was still a very practical piece of clothing ...:
In the imperial era the thing got larger and larger and one could practically no longer put it on without help ...:
The last inauguration of the consuls on March 1st was in 152 BC, when consuls P. Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus and L. Valerius Flaccus officiated.
Since 153 BC Consuls took office on January 1st, which has since been considered the beginning of the year, because the consuls were the eponymous (Greek: "eponymous") officials of Rome, after whom the years were named.
The reason for bringing the term of office forward had something to do with the expansion of the Roman Empire and the military:
Spring and summer time were considered the appropriate time to wage war. And since one of the consuls (in difficult times even both!) Was with the army and commanded it, taking office as before on March 1st would have meant arriving too late with the troops (mostly far away).
If the consuls took office on January 1st, there was no danger!
We even know the names of the two consuls to whom we owe January 1st as New Year's Day!
They were called Publius Popillius Laenas and Publius Rupilius.
In Roman historiography one spoke of "the year in which P. Publius Popillius Laenas and P. Rupilius were consuls".
The "calculation of time" after the - fictional or legendary - founding date of Rome in 753 BC. u. Z., which one with a. u. c. abbreviated (ad urbe condita / after the city was founded) played no role in this context.
So it is thanks to Roman pragmatism that we have a holiday today!
