Discover the first part of our history of the written press. As the blog of a press relations agency, we felt it was our duty to devote several articles to this incredible saga of the press, whose origins date back to antiquity.
Today, the first article on what can be considered the first daily newspaper, the Acta Diurna Populi Romani, or Facts of the Day of the Roman People, appeared at the time of the Roman Empire, in 131 BC, first by post, then by poster, the texts of which were then copied or summarized for the whole Empire.
The first daily newspaper dates back to the Roman Empire...
What are the Acta Diurna?
Rome, now the capital of the world's most powerful empire, was living at breakneck speed and teeming with information of all kinds. Whether it's about the capture of a new territory, a war that has just broken out or, on the contrary, a peace pact between faction leaders or, more simply, a fiery speech by a senator, citizens need... and want... to be informed.
Even people living in the countryside wanted to receive the news, and to satisfy them, the government didn't hesitate to relay the news in letters that were distributed quickly, given the importance of the network of Roman roads, remnants of which still exist in many places today. For important news, the recipients of these letters did not hesitate to pass them on to their colleagues.
Julius Caesar went even further, around 59 BC, when he decided to make public the deliberations of the Senate, the details of which were published in the Acta Diurna.
Suetonius (Caius Suetonius Tranquillus, born in Rome under Emperor Vespasian around 70 AD), a lawyer and secretary to Emperor Hadrian, wrote about the Acta Diurna in his work ‘The Lives of the Twelve Caesars’, published in 121 AD. C: ‘On taking possession of his dignity, Caesar was the first to establish that a diary would be kept of all the acts of the senate and the people, and that this diary would be made public’.
In fact, the Acta Diurna were modelled on the various daily written compilations of legal agreements and edicts. Controlled by a magistrate, the Acta Diurna were written by professional writers, the diurnarii, who reported on all sorts of events that took place in the city of Rome every day. The diurnarii can therefore be considered the first journalists, already placed under the authority of a magistrate, the equivalent of an editor-in-chief.
Where were the Acta Diurna published?
Rome's Forum Magnum, located between the Capitoline Hill and Mount Palatine, was the main square around which the entire city was built. It was the venue of choice for weddings, gladiatorial games and fights, religious ceremonies and festivals, military parades and political proclamations. Naturally, the square was also the ideal place for displaying the Acta Diurna every day, in several locations around the Forum.
The Acta Diurna were removed and archived after a few days.
How were the Acta Diurna read and disseminated?
First of all, let's remember that the majority of the inhabitants of Rome at the time were illiterate and unable to read the texts of the Acta Diurna. As a result, a praeco, a town crier or herald of servile origin, was recruited to read the news aloud so that everyone could find out what was going on. The praeco did not confine himself to the Forum, but shouted the news throughout the streets of the capital, particularly when it concerned new laws or decrees. Soldiers were also responsible for monitoring the Acta Diurna.
The distribution of the Acta Diurna was not limited to Rome, but spread throughout the empire, thanks to the many copies that were often made on papyrus. Copyists, of servile Greek origin or free citizens, carried out this work under the responsibility of librarii or publishers, who sold the Acta Diurna, which they distributed in chapters.
It should be noted that the Acta Diurna could also be summarized, rather than copied in full. These summaries were written by the nuntii, or messengers, correspondents based in Rome. We still have a trace of these summaries in the pen of Caelius, who wrote to his friend Cicero: ‘You will find the opinion of each orator in the extract from the news from Rome. Take what interests you and pass over a host of articles, such as whistled actors, funeral ceremonies and other frivolities. But I think that useful things win out. Besides, I'd rather send you everything, even details you don't need, than cut out the ones you do need.’
What did the Acta Diurna look like?
As far as we know, they were engraved on boards, either wooden covered in wax or whitewashed. None of these Acta Diurna have survived to the present day.
The Acta Diurna were popular and became instruments of propaganda, with columns entitled People
The letter from Cicero (Marcus Tellius Cicero, born 106 BC and died 43 BC, was a lawyer, statesman, philosopher and writer), written in 45 BC, two years before his death, clearly demonstrates the importance of the Acta Diurna and the privileged position it occupied in the news at that time. In fact, he wrote: ‘I'm sure that they send you the acts of the city, which relieves me of the need to write you news’.
Other accounts of the Acta Diurna can be found in Suetonius, Pliny the Younger (61-114 AD), a writer and politician whose correspondence with the emperor Trajan has been preserved, and Tacitus (Publius Cornelius Tacitus, historian, philosopher and Roman senator, born in 58 AD and died around 120 AD).
Over time, the Acta Diurna also became a tool for propaganda, particularly that of terror when, for example, the emperor Commodus (161-192 AD, son of Marcus Aurelius and last emperor of the Antonine dynasty) took pleasure in having the Acta Diurna recount all his cruelties and infamies.
To end on a happier note, we can also say that the Acta Diurna were the first tabloids: in fact, a section is dedicated to the marriages, births, deaths and divorces of the city's notables. As is the case today, prominent people were keen to have their personal events published in the Acta Diurna. In one of his satires, Juvenal (Decimus Lumius Iuvenalis, satirical poet and author of the Satires, written between 90 and 127 AD) had a wife say to her husband about their newborn son: ‘You are happy to sow the seeds of your virile capacity in the Acta Diurna’.
An example of the Acta Diurna style
An example left by Petronius (writer and favorite of the emperor Nero) in his Satyricon (considered to be one of the first novels in the history of literature) gives us a clear idea of the literary style of these Acta Diurna. A character reads out various pieces of news, in the tone in which he might have announced official acts, a bit of a ‘catch-all’ that was appreciated by the guests: ‘On the seventh of the calendas of July, 30 boys and 40 girls were born on the estate of Cumae, belonging to Trimalcion. 100,000 bushels of wheat were transferred from the threshing floor to the granaries and 500 oxen were yoked. On the same day, the slave Mithridates was put on a cross for blaspheming the tutelary genius of our master Caius. On the same day, 10 million sesterces were deposited in the treasury, but no one was able to find a way to use them. The same day a fire broke out in Pompey's gardens...’.
Join us soon on our blog for the rest of the press saga...
Comments