1 Earliest Rome

3.5 A military calendar (A.D. 223-227)
[IUI Ides May] [On this day the temple of Mats was dedicated??]
SuppUcatio to Mars' Moles .
[Villi Kal. June] [Birthday of Germanicus Caesar.] SuppUcatio to Vesta.
[ . . . ] [ . . . SuppUcatio to ???], Mars Ultor, Venus [Genetrix
] . 4
[ . . . ] [ . . . ] SuppUcatio to Jupiter.
< . . . >
1. The starting-point of this calendar is uncertain: evidently nor 1 January, but some time
in July or August.
2. Sacrifice directly 'to' the living emperor, rather than 'on his behalf or 'for his well being",
would have implied his divinity and would thus have been unacceptable in the official
religious practices of the city or Rome: Vol. 1, 208-10.
3. It was an ancient Roman practice for troops to acclaim a victorious general as
'Imperator'. In addition, the word became established as part of imperial nomenclature,
4. The date does not correspond to the dates for sacrifices to Mars Ultor or Venus Cenetrix
at Rome, but could be the birthday of Julius Caesar (12 July). See Vol. 1, 199-200.
3.5 A military calendar from Dura Europus (A.D. 223-227)
This papyrus calendar of an auxiliary cohort of the Roman army, stationed on
the eastern frontier, consists mainly of records of imperial anniversaries, from
Julius Caesar to the reigning emperor Severus Alexander. Many of these are the
same anniversaries as are recorded on official Roman calendars (3.3) or are celebrated
in the written records of the Arval Brothers at Rome (4.5; 6.2) — suggesting
that this calendar was dependent on a central Roman source. We give
the dates of the imperial birthdays and accessions in diamond brackets, though
the birthdays normally entered the calendar only once the person acceded to
the throne.
See further: Vol. 1, 324-8; Fink, Hoey and Snyder (1940) give a detailed
commentary.
Fink, Hoey and Snyder (1940); Dura Final Reports no.54; R. O. Fink, Roman Military
Records on Papyrus (American Philological Association, 1971) no.l 17.
Kal. Jan. [...]
III Nones Jan. Since vows are fulfilled and undertaken both for the
welfare of our Lord Marcus Aurelius Severus
Alexander Augustus and for the eternity of the empire
of the Roman people, [to Jupiter Optimus Maximus
an ox, to Juno Regina a cow, to Minerva a cow, to
Jupiter Victor] an ox, [to Juno Sospes? a cow, ... to
Mars Pater a bull, to Mars Victor] a bull, to Victoria a
cow [ . . . ]
VII Ides Jan. [Because honourable discharge with the enjoyment of
71