November (Roman month)


November or mensis November was originally the ninth of ten months on the Roman calendar, following October and preceding December. It had 29 days. In the reform that resulted in a 12-month year, November became the eleventh month, but retained its name, as did the other months from September through December. A day was added to November during the Julian calendar reform in the mid-40s BC.
The outstanding event during November was the Plebeian Games from the 4th through the 17th. The month had few other festivals. It was under the guardianship of Diana.

In the agricultural year

The ancient farmers' almanacs instruct farmers to sow wheat and barley, and to attend to scribatio, trenching around trees.

Iconography of the month

When the months are represented by agricultural activities, a man with a four-prong drag hoe can sometimes appear as November. In the Imperial period, the deity who often represents November in Roman art is Isis. The festival of Isis, which began October 28, continued through November 3. The Isia is first recorded on the menologia rustica, which date to the reign of either Caligula or Claudius. Both emperors favored the cult of Isis.

Dates

The Romans did not number days of a month sequentially from the first day through the last. Instead, they counted back from the three fixed points of the month: the Nones, the Ides, and the Kalends of the following month. The Nones of November was the 5th, and the Ides the 13th. The last day of November was the pridie Kalendas Decembrīs, "day before the Kalends of December". Roman counting was inclusive; November 9 was ante diem V Idūs Novembrīs, "the 5th day before the Ides of November," usually abbreviated a.d. V Id. Nov. ; November 23 was IX Kal. Dec., "the 9th day before the Kalends of December," on the 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 November, these were:
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. Days were also marked with nundinal letters in cycles of A B C D E F G H, to mark the "market week". The letter G never coincides with the Nones, and November is the only month when F occurs on a Nones.
On a dies religiosus, one of which appears November 14, 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 ' held in honor of various deities in the venue called a "circus" . Festivals marked in large letters on extant fasti, represented by festival names in all capital letters on the table, are thought to have been the most ancient holidays, becoming part of the calendar before 509 BC.
Unless otherwise noted, the dating and observances on the following table are from H.H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic, pp. 196–198. After the Ides, dates for the Julian calendar are given; pre-Julian dates for particular events, when April had one less day, are noted parenthetically.
Modern
date		Roman datestatusObservances
November 1Kalendae NovembrīsF• conclusion of the seven-day Ludi Victoriae Sullanae
• Isia, which began October 28, continues with the Heuresis, a "finding out" ceremony of the return to life of Osiris, with 24 circus races
2a.d. IV Non. Nov.F• Isia continues with the Ter novena, a joyful performance by a choir of 27 men
3III Non. Nov.C• Isia concludes with the Hilaria
4pridie Nonas Novembrīs
C• Plebeian Games begin
5Nonae NovembrīsF• Plebeian Games continue
6VIII Id. Nov.F• Plebeian Games continue
7VII Id. Nov.C• Plebeian Games continue
8VI Id. Nov.C• mundus patet, the third of three annual openings of a mysterious pit or storage chamber
• Plebeian Games continue
• dies natalis of Nerva, with circus games
9V Id. Nov.C• Plebeian Games continue
10IV Id. Nov.C• Plebeian Games continue
• beginning of winter according to Varro
11III Id. Nov.C
12pridie Idūs Novembrīs
C• Plebeian Games continue
13Idūs Novembrīs NP• monthly Feriae Iovis, a procession and sacrifice of a ram to Jove on the arx
• Epulum Iovi, a banquet for Jupiter
• dies natalis of the temples of Feronia and Fortuna Primigenia
• Plebeian Games continue
14XVIII Kal. Dec.F
dies religiosus		• Plebeian Games continue
• probatio equorum, an equestrian procession of knights
15XVII Kal. Dec.C• Plebeian Games continue
16XVI Kal. Dec.C• Plebeian Games continue
• birthday of Tiberius, with a supplication to Vesta on the Feriale Cumanum
17XV Kal. Dec.C• Plebeian Games conclude
• dies natalis of Vespasian, with circus games
18XIV Kal. Dec.C• mercatus, fair or market days
• dies natalis of a cult to Deus Sanctus Sol established by Licinius
• new year in the province of Syria, and according to Clement of Alexandria the birth of Christ
19XIII Kal. Dec.C• mercatus continue
20XII Kal. Dec.C• mercatus continue
21XI Kal. Dec.C
22X Kal. Dec.C
23IX Kal. Dec.C
24VIII Kal. Dec.C• bruma, beginning of the Brumalia
25VII Kal. Dec.C
26VI Kal. Dec.C
27V Kal. Dec.C
28IV Kal. Dec.C
29III Kal. Dec.C
30prid. Kal. Dec.''C