This ater

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This ater ( Latin , lit. “ black day ”) is an ancient Roman name for a calendar day on which a misfortune can be expected or a historically memorable misfortune happened.

In the technical language of the Roman Fasti were as this Atri especially the so postriduani called the "Nachtage" (from postridie "the next day") of the monthly early days of Kalends , Nones and Ides , so that each month a total of three this Atri had, namely the second , the sixth or eighth and the fourteenth or sixteenth day of the month.

According to a quote from Verrius Flaccus cited by Aulus Gellius ( Noctes Atticae 5,17, 1f.) , The impetus for this was the defeat of the Romans against the Gauls in the battle of the Allia (387 or 390 BC): Because this defeat took place on the night of the Ides and on this occasion it was remembered that Rome had often experienced severe military defeats instead of the hoped-for favor of the gods when a religious act was carried out on a dies postriduanus for the purpose of warfare (“quotiens belli gerendi gratia res divina postridie Kalendas, Nonas, Idus… facta esset “), this problem was presented to the priests by the Senate, who then decided that the dies postriduani should not be sacrificed to the gods. This corresponds to Gellius' introductory remark that the dies postriduani were designated and handled as "dictos habitosque atros", as "black days."

In connection with this term, but without being tied to specific calendar days, this ater developed into a general term for "unlucky day" even in ancient times.

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