Christmas in the time of the Roman Empire
By Brian J. Kitchen.
How the Roman Army in Britannia celebrated Christmas.
The Roman Army in Britannia at
its maximum strength, had around 16,000 legionaries and around the same number
of auxiliary troops. The soldiers came from all over the Roman Empire and would
have worshipped a wide range of gods and goddesses, before Christianity became the
Empire’s official religion. Some may have worshipped Sol Invictus, the
‘Unconquered Sun’ after the Emperor Aurelian made it an official cult in 274ad.
The Emperor Constantine, had decreed in 321ad the dies Solis, the day of the
Sun, and declared Sunday as the Roman day of rest. The birthday of the ‘Unconquered
Sun’ was celebrated, with calendars dating the celebration to the 25th
of December.
Saturnalia had long been
celebrated in the Roman world. Described as a festival of light leading up to
the Winter Solstice (21st or 22nd of December), which
itself was celebrated by many. Indeed, some writers described Saturnalia as
being the merging of three winter festivals and the length of the festival
varies in accounts from 2 to 7 days. All agreed however that Saturnalia took
place during the period of 17th to 25th of December.
Constantine the Great was the
first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity. The son of a Roman Army
Officer, Flavius Valerius Constantius, who had become Caesar in the Western
Empire in 293ad and later Augustus (senior western emperor) in 305ad.
Constantine had served in the Roman Army and had campaigned with his father in
Britain. In 306ad after his father’s death, Constantine had been proclaimed
Emperor at Eburacum (York) by the Army in Britain.
When Constantine converted to Christianity
and the Edict of Milan extended tolerance to Christians and ended their
persecution, it was natural that the Christians would want to celebrate the
birth of Christ. Unfortunately, due in part to the schisms in the Christian
Church a date for this couldn’t be decided upon. The actual date of Christ’s
birth wasn’t known, and a range of dates, March 28th, September 11th
and November 18th had been put forward.
By the 4th century,
Christianity was becoming the more dominant religion and the edicts of the
Emperor Theodosius which had made pagan religious ceremonies capital offences
and by 392ad had prohibited all pagan worship, had left the Christian leaders
with something of a dilemma. They were wise enough to know that banning a
popular festival like Saturnalia would cause unrest. Also, many pagans had
converted to Christianity on the understanding that they could still celebrate
Saturnalia. So, there was only one thing that could be done, Saturnalia was
adopted as a Christian festival and became in time Christmas.
So how did the late Roman Army
celebrate the new festival of Christmas? As with all armed forces, a soldier’s
duties do not cease with any holiday and for the Roman troops based on
Hadrian’s Wall, the Saxon Shore and the Welsh frontier, it would have still
been a time of vigilance, especially as in the later Empire, barbarian raids
were becoming more common. For many of the troops and especially those from
sunnier climates, the British winter, especially in the north of Britain, would
have been an unpleasant shock. Anything which relieved the tedium of the short,
dark winter days would have been welcomed and we can surmise that any festival
would have been welcome.
Gift giving had been a part of
the Saturnalia celebrations and as we know it also became part of the
celebration of Christmas. For those soldiers based on Hadrian’s Wall I think
socks might have been a welcome gift. Indeed, correspondence on writing tablets
found at Vindolanda one of the Roman Auxiliary Forts, located just south of the
Wall contains requests for such items of clothing. Feasting and drinking were
also Saturnalia customs, which again became part of the Christmas tradition.
Correspondence recently found at Vindolanda contains requests from someone
called Masclus for more beer to be supplied to his outpost. Gambling was
another of the Saturnalia traditions and whether it too continued with
Christmas taking precedence is unknown, but bone dice have certainly been
found.
By the late fourth century the
families of the soldiers based in Britain would have accompanied them and this
is evidenced by the amount of material found such as women’s and children’s
shoes, hair pins and brooches. Wooden swords obviously made as children’s toys
have also been found and it begs the question as to whether they were made as
Saturnalia, or Christmas gifts for a soldier’s children. The soldiers may also
have exchanged their military helmets for the a pointed felt hat called a
pileus during the celebrations. This had been a tradition of the Saturnalia
celebrations, when it was traditional for all men regardless of status to wear
them. The traditional Saturnalia greeting of “io Saturnalia” would no doubt in
time have become “merry Christmas”, but it seems a lot of the ancient customs
were maintained and continue to be maintained today.
About Brian J. Kitchen
Brian Kitchen lives in Burton upon Trent, England and enjoys walking in the countryside, photography, reading, writing, visiting museums and historic sites & buildings and supporting Burton Albion. He first became interested in the history of Roman Britain as a child and loved the Eagle of the Ninth trilogy of novels by Rosemary Sutcliff. The first of the Flavius Vitulasius novels, Divided Empire is his first published novel.
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