Calendar date · January
What happened on January 1
On January 1, -153: For the first time, Roman consuls begin their year in office on January 1.
Events
121
across history
Notable births
50
Notable deaths
50
Zodiac
Capricorn
Featured moment · -153
For the first time, Roman consuls begin their year in office on January 1.
The consuls were the two highest elected public officials of the Roman Republic. Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the cursus honorum—an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspired—after that of the censor, which was reserved for former consuls. Each year, the centuriate assembly elected two consuls to serve jointly for a one-year term.
People
Born on January 1
People
Died on January 1
Timeline
Every January 1 on record
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-153 For the first time, Roman consuls begin their year in office on January 1. Political office in ancient Rome
The consuls were the two highest elected public officials of the Roman Republic. Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the cursus honorum—an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspired—after that of the censor, which was reserved for former consuls. Each year, the centuriate assembly elected two consuls to serve jointly for a one-year term.
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-45 The Julian calendar takes effect as the civil calendar of the Roman Republic, establishing January 1 as the new date of the new year. Solar calendar
The Julian calendar is a solar calendar of 365 days in every year with an additional leap day every fourth year. The Julian calendar is still used as a religious calendar in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts of Oriental Orthodoxy as well as in the Berber calendar. For a quick calculation, between 1901 and 2099 the much more common Gregorian date equals the Julian date plus 13 days.
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-42 The Roman Senate posthumously deifies Julius Caesar. Political institution in ancient Rome
The Roman Senate was the highest and constituting assembly of ancient Rome and its aristocracy. With different powers throughout its existence, it lasted from the first days of the city of Rome as the Senate of the Roman Kingdom, to the Senate of the Roman Republic and Senate of the Roman Empire and eventually the Byzantine Senate of the Eastern Roman Empire, existing well into the post-classical era and Middle Ages.
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193 The Senate chooses Pertinax against his will to succeed Commodus as Roman emperor. Roman emperor in 193
Publius Helvius Pertinax was Roman emperor for the first three months of 193, succeeding Commodus and becoming the first ruler of the turbulent Year of the Five Emperors.
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404 Saint Telemachus tries to stop a gladiatorial fight in a Roman amphitheatre, and is stoned to death by the crowd. This act impresses the Christian Emperor Honorius, who issues a historic ban on gladiatorial fights. Calendar year
Year 404 (CDIV) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Aristaenetus. The denomination 404 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
- 417 Emperor Honorius forces Galla Placidia into marriage to Constantius, his famous general (magister militum) (probable).
- 947 Emperor Taizong of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty captures Daliang, ending the dynasty and empire of the Later Jin.
- 1001 Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary is named the first King of Hungary by Pope Sylvester II (probable).
- 1068 Romanos IV Diogenes marries Eudokia Makrembolitissa and is crowned Byzantine Emperor.
- 1259 Michael VIII Palaiologos is proclaimed co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Laskaris.
- 1438 Albert II of Habsburg is crowned King of Hungary.
- 1502 The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is first explored by the Portuguese.
- 1515 Twenty-year-old Francis, Duke of Brittany, succeeds to the French throne following the death of his father-in-law, Louis XII.
- 1527 Croatian nobles elect Ferdinand I, Archduke of Austria as King of Croatia in the 1527 election in Cetin.
- 1600 Scotland recognises January 1 as the start of the year, instead of March 25.
Show 15 earlier entries from January 1
- 1604 The Masque of Indian and China Knights is performed by courtiers of James VI and I at Hampton Court.
- 1651 Charles II is crowned King of Scotland at Scone Palace.
- 1700 Russia begins using the Anno Domini era instead of the Anno Mundi era of the Byzantine Empire.
- 1707 John V is proclaimed King of Portugal and the Algarves in Lisbon.
- 1725 J. S. Bach leads the first performance of his chorale cantata Jesu, nun sei gepreiset, BWV 41, which features the trumpet fanfares from the beginning also in the end.
- 1726 J. S. Bach leads the first performance of Herr Gott, dich loben wir, BWV 16, his church cantata for New Year's Day to a libretto by Georg Christian Lehms.
- 1739 Bouvet Island, the world's remotest island, is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.
- 1772 The first traveler's cheques, which could be used in 90 European cities, are issued by the London Credit Exchange Company.
- 1773 The hymn that becomes known as "Amazing Grace", previously titled "1 Chronicles 17:16–17, Faith's Review and Expectation", is first used to accompany a sermon led by John Newton in the town of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England.
- 1776 American Revolutionary War: Burning of Norfolk – Norfolk, Virginia, is burned to the ground by combined Royal Navy and Continental Army action.
- 1776 General George Washington hoists the first United States flag, the Continental Union Flag, at Prospect Hill.
- 1781 American Revolutionary War: One thousand five hundred soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Anthony Wayne's command rebel against the Continental Army's winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey in the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny of 1781.
- 1788 The first edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published.
- 1801 The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is proclaimed.
- 1801 Ceres, the largest and first known object in the Asteroid belt, is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.
Around the world
Holidays on January 1
- Christian feast day: Basil the Great (Eastern Orthodox Church)
- Christian feast day: Feast of the Circumcision of Christ Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (Anglican Communion, Lutheran Church)
- Christian feast day: Fulgentius of Ruspe
- Christian feast day: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God; and its related observances: World Day of Peace
- Christian feast day: January 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- The last day of Kwanzaa (African Americans)
- The eighth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)
- Global Family Day
- Jump-up Day (Montserrat)
- New Year's Day (Gregorian calendar) Japanese New Year
- New Year's Day (Gregorian calendar) Novy God Day (Russia)
- Polar Bear Swim Day
- Public Domain Day (multiple countries)
- Triumph of the Revolution (Cuba)
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