Terminalia — Ancient Roman End of Year and Time of Setting Boundaries

Based in Northern California, attorney Graham R. Taylor heads Marquis Advisory and provides coordinated investment advisory services, with a focus on new technologies. An avid reader, Graham R. Taylor considers Edward Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire among his favorite books.

One of the unique aspects of ancient Roman society was that February 23rd, rather than our current January 1st, marked the transition between years. On that date, the festival of Terminalia celebrated the god of boundaries, Terminus. Families from neighboring properties would traditionally meet at the place where their lands met and share a meal together. In addition, an animal was often sacrificed, with the blood used to reinforce the demarcation line between the properties.

As recounted by Gibbons, the date also marked a darker occasion, as the Emperor Diocletian in 303 AD used the date as a means of “setting bounds” on Christianity, which was rapidly expanding and supplanting the old Roman gods. On that date, Diocletian began a violent persecution that generated equally violent reprisals, including the burning of his palace, and hastened the fracturing of unity within the Roman Empire.