April 13 (the Ides of April): The Roman shipping season officially reopens, particularly for transport of the annona (grain supply) from Alexandria in Egypt to the city of Rome. The evidence for this is an edict of Gratian from 380 CE directing African shipmasters (CTh.13.9.3.3).
As many people point out to me every time I tweet shipping dates: these were rough temporal guidelines for sea transport & a terminus ante quem for grain shipping. See Lionel Casson's well-known article ( #OA now in @JSTOR): https://www.jstor.org/stable/4238693  & Sirks: https://www.worldcat.org/title/food-for-rome-the-legal-structure-of-the-transportation-and-processing-of-supplies-for-the-imperial-distributions-in-rome-and-constantinople/oclc/463833052
You can follow @SarahEBond.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: