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The Roman Calendar
"Happy he who has passed his whole life mid his own fields, he of whose birth and old
age the same house is witness....For him the recurring seasons, not the consuls, mark the
year; he knows autumn by his fruits and spring by her flowers."
Claudian
Attributed to Romulus, himself, the Roman calendar originally was determined by the cycles of the moon
and the seasons of the agricultural year. Beginning in March, in the spring, and ending in December with
the autumn planting, the year then was ten months long (304 days) and had six months with thirty days and
four with thirty-one. The winter months, when there was no work in the fields, were not counted. The
remnants of this early calendar still can be recognized in the numbered names for Quinctilis (July), Sextilis
(August), September, October, November, and December. It also may have survived in the formulation of
when contracts were to be paid. Cato, for example, speaks of payment for olives being due in ten months
(De Agricultura, CXLVI).
According to Livy (I.19), it was Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome (715-673 BC), who divided the
year into twelve lunar months. Fifty days, says Censorinus (XX), were added to the calendar and a day
taken from each month of thirty days to provide for the two winter months: Januarius (January) and
Februarius (February), both of which had twenty-eight days. This was a lunar year of 354 days but, because
of the Roman superstition about even numbers, an additional day was added to January to make the
calendar 355 days long. Auspiciously, each month now had an odd number of days: Martius (March), Maius
(May), Quinctilis (July), and October continued to have thirty-one; the other months, twenty-nine, except for
February, which had twenty-eight days. Considered unlucky, it was devoted to rites of purification (februa)
and expiation appropriate to the last month of the year. (Although these legendary beginnings attest to the
venerability of the lunar calendar of the Roman Republic, its historical origin probably was the publication
of a revised calendar by the Decemviri in 450 BC as part of the Twelve Tables, Rome's first code of law.)
But the moon's lunation, a period of approximately 29.5 days, is not the same length of time as the earth's
annual orbit around the sun, a period of approximately 365.25 days. Twelve lunar months are shorter by
about eleven days than the solar year (365 - 354). Without intercalating (inserting) these missing days, the
calendar cannot keep a synchronicity with the seasons, as Suetonius observed, "Harvest festivals did not
come in summer nor those of the vintage in the autumn" (Life of Julius, XL.1). Such was the disparity
between the calendar of the Roman Republic and the solar year that, when a nearly total eclipse of the sun
was observed in Rome on March 14 (190 BC), it was recorded as having taken place on July 11, the fifth day
before the Ides of July. An eclipse on June 21 (168 BC) in northern Greece was recorded as having occurred
on September 3, the third day before the Nones of September (Livy, XXXVII.4; XLIV.37).
Nor did the college of pontiffs (from pontifex or "bridge maker"), who were responsible for regulating the
calendar and the festivals that depended upon it, always intercalate the additional days necessary to
synchronize the lunar and solar years. Intercalation was considered unlucky and, during the Second Punic
War (218-201 BC), when Rome struggled against Carthage, the priests were hesitant to make any changes at
all. Often, too, the calendar was manipulated more for partisan political consideration and vested interest
than to adjust for the seasons. The tenure of an office holder could be extended or reduced, and legislation
given more or less time before a vote. Bibulus, Caesar's co-consul in 59 BC, for example, attempted to thwart
the legislation of his more powerful colleague by declaring all the remaining days of the year to be holidays
so the assembly could not legally meet (Dio, XXXVIII.6.1). Too, in 153 BC the new year was moved from the
Ides of March to the Kalends of January (January 1), which now marked the beginning of the civil year and
newly elected consuls assumed office.
The pontifex maximus had to be in Rome during February to declare whether there would be an intercalation
that year. But Julius Caesar, who had been elected chief priest in 63 BC, was preoccupied in Gaul and then
with civil war, and there had been only one intercalation since he became proconsul. In 50 BC, Cicero
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complains in a letter to Atticus on February 13 that he still did not know whether there would be an
intercalation later that month (V.21). When Caesar finally returned to Rome from the Egyptian campaign in
46 BC and was declared dictator, a three-month discrepancy existed between the seasons and their calendar
date. The harvest was being celebrated long before the crops even had been taken in.
That year, a reformed calendar, based on the solar year, was introduced by Caesar, who first had heard
about it, relates Lucan, while consorting with Cleopatra. With the advice of the Alexandrian astronomer
Sosigenes, the missing ninety days were intercalated, extending the ultimus annus confusionis, "the last year
of confusion," as Macrobius calls it, to 445 and causing March 1 in the Republican calendar to fall on January
1, 45 BC in the new Julian calendar. To correct for the days that are lost in a lunar calendar, one or two
additional days were added at the end of those months with twenty-nine days (January, Sextilis, and
December have thirty-one days; April, June, September, and November, thirty).
And, because the solar year is approximately a quarter day longer than the calendar year, a single
intercalary day was to be inserted every four years, when February 24 would be counted twice. (This was a
bissextile or leap year, since that date was the "twice sixth" day, bissextus, before the Kalends of March. The
notion of a February 29 is a modern construct.) When Caesar was assassinated the next year, Quinctilis, the
month in which he had been born, was renamed Julius (July) in his honor, although this change in the name
of the month was ignored until made legal after the appearance of a comet four months later during games
sponsored in July by Octavian, which, recounts Cassius Dio, was understood to be a sign of Caesar's
apotheosis. (Octavian is thought to have moved these games to late July to overshadow games sponsored by
Brutus earlier that month. Hearing of their announcement, Cicero responded in a letter to Atticus, 409,
"Good heavens! 'Nones of July'! Confound their impudence!...Could anything be more unseemly than 'July'
for Brutus?")
But the pontiffs mistakeningly adjusted for leap year every three years (having counted inclusively) and
inserted too many intercalary days. In 8 BC, Augustus was obliged to omit any further intercalations until
AD 8. Only then, after the superfluous days had been corrected and intercalation was resumed, did the
Julian calendar function as intended, with February gaining an extra day every four years. In honor of his
reform, Sextilis was renamed Augustus. It was that month, says Macrobius (I.12), that Augustus first had
been elected consul, Egypt had become part of the Roman empire, and the civil wars ended. August also
was the eighth month and appropriate for someone who earlier had been named Octavian.
The four-year cycle of the Julian year averaged 365.25 days, but this still does not quite correspond to the
solar year. Rather, it was a bit more than eleven minutes too long, gaining a day every 128 years, an
accumulation that, by the mid-sixteenth century, amounted to approximately ten days. The vernal equinox,
from which the church calculated Easter, no longer was occurring on March 21, its traditional date, but ten
days earlier. (The summer solstice, which occurs on June 21, also was being celebrated ten days too soon, on
the feast of St. Barnabas, from whence the rhyme "Barnaby bright / The longest day and the shortest night.")
To correct for this retrogression and bring the calendar year back to the solar year, Pope Gregory XIII
omitted these extra days, ordaining in 1582 that, for that year, October 4 was to be followed by October 15.
And, to prevent the discrepancy in the Julian calendar from reoccurring, three leap years were to be omitted
every four centuries. A leap day would not be added in those years that ended in hundreds unless they
were divisible by 400; thus, for the first time since 1600, there was a February 29 in the centurial year 2000.
The Gregorian calendar has been in use ever since, although, in practice, Republican dates are adhered to
before the Caesarian reforms and Julian dates prior to the Gregorian reform.
England, Wales, and Ireland (and the British colonies) did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752, in
response to legislation introduced by Lord Chesterfield. Previously, the new year had begun on March 25
(the traditional date for the spring equinox) and, by then, was eleven days behind the Gregorian calendar, a
discrepancy that was corrected by having September 14 follow September 2 that year.
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References: The Oxford Companion to the Year (1999) by Bonnie J. Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Stevens;
Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar (2000) by Duncan Steel; The Roman Festival Calendar
of Numa Pompilius (1986) by Michael York; Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (1981) by H. H.
Scullard; The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic (1899) by W. Warde Fowler; Calendar of the Roman
Republic (1967) by Agnes Kirsopp Michels; Chronology of the Ancient World (1980) by E. J. Bickerman; On
Roman Time: The Codex-Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity (1990) by Michele Renee
Salzman; Ovid and the Fasti: An Historical Study (1994) by Geraldine Herbert-Brown; Mapping Time: The
Calendar and Its History (1998) by E. G. Richards; Calendar: Humanity's Epic Struggle to Determine a True and
Accurate Year (1998) by David Ewing Duncan; A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1875) edited by
William Smith; The History & Practice of Ancient Astronomy (1998) by James Evans; Time in History: Views of
Time from Prehistory to the Present Day (1988) by G. J. Whitrow; The Oxford Classical Dictionary (1970) edited by
N. G. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard; A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (1992) by L.
Richardson, Jr.; Caesar's Calendar (2007) by Denis Feeney
Livy: The Early History of Rome (1971) translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt (Penguin Classics); Plutarch: Parallel
Lives (1916) translated by Bernadotte Perrin (Loeb Classical Library); Ovid: Fasti (1936) translated by James
G. Frazer (Loeb Classical Library); Suetonius: The Twelve Caesars (1957) translated by Robert Graves (Penguin
Classics); Macrobius: The Saturnalia (1969) translated by Percival Vaughan Davies; Dio's Roman History (1916)
translated by Earnest Cary (Loeb Classical Library); Petronius: The Satyricon and the Fragments (1965)
translated by John Sullivan; Claudian (1922) translated by M. Platnauer (Loeb Classical Library); Statius:
Silvae, Thebaid (1928) translated by J. H. Mozley (Loeb Classical Library); Pliny the Younger: Letters and
Panegyricus (1969) translated by Betty Radice (Loeb Classical Library); Censorinus: De Die Natale (1900)
translated by William Maude; Cicero: Letters to Atticus (1999) translated by D. R. Shackleton Bailey (Loeb
Classical Library); Varro: On the Latin Language (1938) translated by Roland G. Kent (Loeb Classical Library).
Grout, James. Encyclopedia Romana. “Roman Calendar”. February 15, 2008. <http://penelope.uchicago
.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/romancalendar.html>.
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The Julian Calendar
"First he reorganized the Calendar, which the Pontiffs had allowed to fall into such
disorder, by intercalating days or months as it suited them, that the harvest and vintage
festivals no longer corresponded with the appropriate seasons. He linked the year to the
course of the sun by lengthening it from 355 days to 365, abolishing the short extra month
intercalated after every second February, and adding an entire day every fourth year."
Suetonius, Julius Caesar (XL)
Even after the days of the month had lost any fixed correspondence with the phases of the moon (except for
February, every month in the Julian calendar is longer than the time from one new moon to the next), the
Romans continued to count them in relation to one of three fixed points in the lunar cycle. The Kalends was
the first day of the month and sacred to Juno, to whom sacrifice was made at the first appearance of the new
crescent moon (several days after conjunction). The pontiff then proclaimed (calare) the number of days
before the Nones, when the people again were summoned to hear the announcement of the month's
festivals. The Nones was the ninth day (counting inclusively) before the Ides and was on the fifth day of the
month (the first quarter of the moon), except for March, May, July, and October, when the Nones was on the
seventh day. The Ides (from iduare "to divide," also Eidus) occurred in the middle of the month and coincided
with the full moon. Sacred to Jupiter, it was on the thirteenth of every month, except, again, for March, May,
July, and October, when it was on the fifteenth. Because of the difficulty in determining the days of the
month during the the new moon, there were, with one exception, no festivals before the Nones. Rather, the
majority took place after the Ides, when the full moon had begun to wane.
Counted inclusively, days were reckoned backwards from these three points, by when they occurred before
the Kalends, Nones, or Ides. They were not enumerated after the Kalends but counted as so many before the
following Nones; days after the Nones were numbered as being before the Ides, and those after as so many
before the next Kalends. Seemingly so inconvenient, counting days backwards actually is the same as saying
that there are so many days until the new moon, the first quarter, and the full moon.
JANUARY (Mensis Januarius)
Named after Janus, the god of beginnings, and derived from ianua, "door," January began with the first
crescent moon after the winter solstice, marking the natural beginning of the year. It was a time of relative
ease for the farmer, with the respite from the labors of the field that began in December and continued into
January. Varro, in his Res Rusticae (37 BC) divided the agricultural year into eight parts. During the last part,
December 21 (the winter solstice) to February 7 (the beginning of the west wind), no hard work was to be
done outdoors. The other periods of year were marked by the rising of the west wind, the vernal equinox,
the rising of the Pleiades, the solstice, the rising of Sirius, the autumnal equinox, the setting of the Pleiades,
the winter solstice, and, again, the beginnings of the west wind. Columella (De Re Rustica, circa AD 65) also
advises against working the soil until the Ides, except that on January 1 the farmer may want at least to
begin his tasks to ensure good luck.
1. Kalendae Januariae
2. a.d.IV.Non.Jan
3. a.d.III.Non.Jan.
4. pridie Non.Jan.
5. Nonae Januariae
6. a.d.VIII.Id.Jan.
7. a.d.VII. Id.Jan.
8. a.d.VI. Id.Jan.
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9. a.d.V. Id.Jan.
10. a.d.IV. Id.Jan.
11. a.d.III. Id.Jan.
12. pridie Id.Jan.
13. Idus Januariae
14. a.d.XIX.Kal.Feb.
15. a.d.XVIII.Kal.Feb.
16. a.d.XVII.Kal.Feb.
17. a.d.XVI.Kal.Feb.
18. a.d.XV.Kal.Feb.
19. a.d.XIV.Kal.Feb.
20. a.d.XIII.Kal.Feb.
21. a.d.XII.Kal.Feb.
22. a.d.XI.Kal.Feb.
23. a.d.X.Kal.Feb.
24. a.d.IX.Kal.Feb.
25. a.d.VIII.Kal.Feb.
26. a.d.VII.Kal.Feb.
27. a.d.VI.Kal.Feb.
28. a.d.V.Kal.Feb.
29. a.d.IV.Kal.Feb.
30. a.d.III.Kal.Feb.
31. pridie Kal.Feb.
FEBRUARY (Mensis Februarius)
Originally, the last month of the year and the shortest, February derives from februa, the instruments of
purification that were used to propitiate the gods of the underworld (Varro, De Lingua Latina, VI.34) and
prepare for spring, which Varro indicates began on February 7. Not only did the fields, groves, and
vineyards need tending, but there were duties to the spirits of dead ancestors (manera), as well as to the
gods, on which the fertility of the fields depended. Expiatory rituals sought to atone for any unwitting
offense given the gods, whether by commission or omission, (willful offense could not be absolved; the
offender was impius.)
1. Kalendae Februariae
2. a.d.IV.Non.Feb.
3. a.d.III.Non.Feb.
4. pridie Non. Feb.
5. Nonae Februariae
6. a.d.VIII.Id.Feb.
7. a.d.VII.Id.Feb.
8. a.d.VI.Id.Feb
9. a.d.V.Id.Feb.
10. a.d.IV.Id.Feb.
11. a.d.III.Id.Feb.
12. pridie Id. Feb.
13. Idus Februariae
14. a.d.XVI.Kal.Mar.
15. a.d.XV.Kal.Mar. Lupercalia
16. a.d.XIV.Kal.Mar.
17. a.d.XIII.Kal.Mar.
18. a.d.XII.Kal.Mar.
19. a.d.XI.Kal.Mar.
20. a.d.X.Kal.Mar.
21. a.d.IX.Kal.Mar.
22. a.d.VIII.Kal.Mar.
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23. a.d.VII.Kal.Mar. Terminalia
24. a.d.VI.Kal.Mar.
25. a.d.V.Kal.Mar.
26. a.d.IV.Kal.Mar.
27. a.d.III.Kal.Mar.
28. pridie Kal.Mar.
MARCH (Mensis Martius)
Named after Mars, the god of war and protector of crops and the field, March originally was the first month
of the Roman year. A time of renewal after the dormacy of winter, it also inaugurated the beginning of the
military campaign season. On the first day of the month, the sacred fire in the Temple of Vesta was tended
and fresh laurel wreaths placed in the Regia. The Kalends of every month was sacred to Juno, especially the
first day of March, when wives were given presents by their husbands in an unofficial celebration called the
Matronalia.
1. Kalendae Martiae
2. a.d.VI.Non.Mar.
3. a.d.V.Non.Mar.
4. a.d.IV.Non.Mar.
5. a.d.III.Non.Mar.
6. pridie Non.Mar.
7. Nonae Martiae
8. a.d.VIII.Id.Mar.
9. a.d.VII.Id.Mar.
10. a.d.VI.Id.Mar.
11. a.d.V.Id.Mar.
12. a.d.IV.Id.Mar.
13. a.d.III.Id.Mar.
14. pridie Id.Mar.
15. Idus Martiae Ides of March
16. a.d.XVII.Kal.Apr.
17. a.d.XVI.Kal.Apr.
18. a.d.XV.Kal.Apr.
19. a.d.XIV.Kal.Apr.
20. a.d.XIII.Kal.Apr.
21. a.d.XII.Kal.Apr.
22. a.d.XI.Kal.Apr.
23. a.d.X.Kal.Apr.
24. a.d.IX.Kal.Apr.
25. a.d.VIII.Kal.Apr.
26. a.d.VII.Kal.Apr.
27. a.d.VI.Kal.Apr.
28. a.d.V.Kal.Apr.
29. a.d.IV.Kal.Apr.
30. a.d.III.Kal.Apr.
31. pridie Kal.Apr.
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APRIL (Mensis Aprilis)
The Romans were uncertain about the etymology of the word. Ovid associates April with Aphrodite
(Venus) and, indeed, just as March was dedicated to Mars, so April, says Macrobius, was named after
Venus, the parents of Rome. April also was thought to derive from aperire (to open), since this was the
month that fruits and flowers blossomed. It was a time for several agricultural festivals, including the
Cerialia, Vinalia, and Robigalia, which was in honor of the spirit of blight, rust, and mildew. The Floralia
celebrated Flora, the goddess of flowers and vegetation.
MAY (Mensis Maius)
There was similar confusion regarding the month of May, although it may be named for Maia, a goddess of
growth and bounty. May was a time for work in the fields and anxious expectation of the harvest to follow.
The month was associated with the underworld and was a time for purification; at the Lemuria, a festival of
the dead, the house was purified of evil spirits. Not surprisingly, May was considered an unlucky month in
which to marry.
JUNE (Mensis Junius)
Deriving its name from the goddess Juno, the first half of June was not regarded as an auspicious time to
marry, probably because many of the days were dies religiosi. The Vestalia was celebrated then in honor of
Vesta, the guardian of the hearth, and the temple opened to women worshipers. For the celebration, the
Vestals made a sacred cake with water fetched from a sacred spring and carried in a vessel that could not be
set on the ground without spilling. The Vestalia ended on the fifteenth, when the temple was swept clean
and the debris carted off to the Tiber.
JULY (Mensis Julius)
Until it was renamed for Julius Caesar, this month was Quinctilis, the fifth month of the civil year. As the
first six months of the year were named for their characteristics, the seasonal activities and deities who
presided over them, the remaining months now begin to be identified numerically.
.AUGUST (Mensis Augustus)
The sixth month of the old year, and renamed for Augustus, August was a time when the harvest almost
was completed.
SEPTEMBER (Mensis September)
A time of comparative rest for the farmer, the harvest is in and the vintage not yet begun. The gods need not
be invoked for their protection and favor, and there are few if any festivals. Instead, this is the time for the
Ludi Romani, the oldest and most famous of the games.
OCTOBER (Mensis October)
October marked the end of the campaigning season that had begun in March, and there were ceremonies in
honor of Mars. It also was time for the vintage, although only one festival marked its observance, which
shows how late viticulture was introduced to Italy.
.NOVEMBER (Mensis November)
The least important month for religious festivals, November did celebrate the Ludi Plebeii, a time of
performances and Circus games that extended from the 4th to the 17th.
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DECEMBER (Mensis December)
Work in the fields now was less demanding, and December saw the celebration of a number of festivals, the
most well-known of which is the Saturnalia. There also was a celebration of the Good Goddess. Attended
only by the Vestal Virgins and women celebrants, the Bona Dea was a private ceremony so mysterious that
even the name of the goddess could not be revealed. In 62 BC, when it was held in the house of Julius
Caesar, who was praetor at the time, its secret rites were desecrated by Publius Clodius Pulcher. In an
audacious attempt to meet with Caesar's wife Pompeia, with whom he was alleged to be having an affair,
Clodius gained admission dressed as a woman. There was a scandal. Caesar divorced Pompeia as not being
above suspicion, and Clodius was put on trial for sacrilege. Acquited by a bribed jury, Clodius never
forgave Cicero, whom he had supported in his prosecution of Catiline the year before, for giving evidence
against him. The activities of the Bona Dea later were satirized by Juvenal (II.86ff, VI.314ff).
References: Marcus Porcius Cato: On Agriculture and Marcus Terentius Varro: On Agriculture (1935) translated
by William Davis Hooper, revised by Harrison Boyd Ash (Loeb Classical Library); Lucius Junius Moderatus
Columella: On Agriculture (1941-) translated by Harrison Boyd Ash and by E. S. Forster and Edward H.
Heffner (Loeb Classical Library).
Grout, James. Encyclopedia Romana. “Julian Calendar”. February 15, 2008. <http://penelope.uchicago.edu
/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/juliancalendar.html#anchor1162460>.
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Days in the Month – Roman Calendar
A. No system of sequential numbering of days (e.g., "1st" or "10th" or "30th" of a month).
B. Each month had three fixed days from which all other days were counted (inclusively)
1.
Kalends:
2.
Nones
o
o
o
o
3.
Ides:
1.
2.
3.
Always the first day of the month.
Always nine days before the Ides
Long months (March, May, July and October) fell on seventh day of the month
Other months, fell on fifth day of month
Always the day of the full moon in the lunar month.
Long months (March, May, July and October) fell on 15th day of the month (remember the
Ides of March)
Other months, fell on 13th day of month
C. All days other days were called by the number of days they fell before the Kalends, Nones or Ides
(counting inclusively).
1.
2.
E.g. The day we would call April 21st (the anniversary of the foundation of Rome), the Romans
called "ante diem decem Kalendas Maias" &endash; 10 days before the Kalends of May.
Note, even though we would count "nine" days from the 21st of April to the 1st of May, the
Romans counted "ten" because the counted inclusively (i.e., they included the days they were
naming in the count - we just count the days between the day we start with and the day we are
naming).
o [Remember - before JC, April had 29 days].
D. Examples
1.
2.
3.
The Nones of April = April 5th
December 25th = 6 days before the Kalends of January
Ides of June = June 13th
E. No "weeks"
1. 7-day system via Babylonian, then Jewish, then Christian cultures not adopted until 321 CE.
2. However, by the age of Augustus, Romans were aware of "seven day systems" because they had
expanded their empire to the middle east where the discovered
a. Jewish 7day system - Sabbath = day of atonement purification
b. native pagans named days after seven visible planets and associated planets with gods (e.g.,
Mercury, Saturn) - French week preserves alot of these names:





Monday - lundi - The moon's day
Tuesday - mardi - Mars' day
Wednesday - mercredi - Mercury's day
Thursday - jeudi - Jupiter's day
Friday - vendredi - Venus' day
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

Saturday - samedi - Saturn's day
Sunday - dimanche - The Lord's Day [Judeo-Christian intrusion?]
c.Romans tended to accept local systems as they took over countries. Roman leaders, diplomats
and soldiers, accordingly, would have become increasingly familiar with 7 day week as they
established 'eastern empire." They would also have not tried to impose Roman 8 day system on
local inhabitants of eastern provinces.
d. evidence of use of 7 day weeks in Italy appears by end of Republic. By 200 CE, it appears to have
been commonly used throughout Roman empire.
3. Constantine in 324 declared "Sunday" - the Christian sabbath, a day of rest
4. In 386, Theodosius I, aboloshed the Roman Fasti (calendar) described above and declared Sunday a "holy
day."
IV. The Days of a Nundinum
A. In addition to dividing the year into months, the Roman Calendar divided the year into nundina.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Every eigth day in Rome was a nundinae - or market day.
The period between market days was a nundinum. Each day of the nundinum was marked on the
calendar by the letters A -H.
January 1 (the Kalends) was always an "A" and on January 9th (5 days before the Ides of January),
the cycle would start over.
The numbering of nundinae continued over the beginning of a new month. i.e., January 29th was an
"E." February 1st was an "F."
These letters are called "nundial" letters.
B. Holidays, Business Days, and Black letter days
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Roman calendars, in addition to marking the nundinae, also contained letters that indicated what
type of public business could be transacted on a given day. There were accordingly, types of days.
dies fasti - days on which Romans could initiate law suits. These were marked on calendars by the
letter "F." Originally there were only 42 days in the pre-Julian calendar marked "F," but by the first
century B.C.E., all nundinae were deemed dies fasti - so folks could sue a lot more. [Note, trials could
continue on days that were not dies fasti (unless they were dies nefasti - see below), but they could
only start on dies fasti.]
dies comitiales - days on which the Roman assemblies (comitia) could meet, were marked by the
letter "C." There were 195 dies comitiales in the pre-Julian calendar. If a dies comitiales fell on a
nundinae, however, the assemblies could not meet. Nor could the assemblies if they fell on certain
kinds of religious holidays (feriae conceptivae or imperativae). While assemblies could in theory meet
if the dies comitiales fell on days when the Games were being held, no one in their right mind would
ever go. Finally, if a day was marked "C" in the calendar, but none of the assemblies wanted to
meet, the dies comitiales turned into a dies fasti, and folks could sue instead.
dies nefasti - days which were the opposite of dies fasti and dies comitiales were marked by the letter,
"N." There 58 days dies nefasti in the pre-Julian calendar. Dies nefasti were the opposite of dies fasti
and dies comitiales. On these days Romans were forbidden to initiate lawsuits or meet in assembly.
dies endotercissi - were days which were nefasti in the morning and evening, but fasti during the
rest of the day [endotercissi means 'cut up']. These were marked "EN" on the pre-Julian calendar
and there were only 8 in the year.
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6.
dies nefasti publici - Actually, we're not quite sure if this was the name of these days. But we do
know that they were marked "NP" on the pre-Julian calendar 49 times during the year. It seems
that these days were reserved for general public holidays on which religious feasts were held for
the benefit of the entire population (as opposed to local religious holidays). You were supposed to
take the day off, give your slaves the day off and try to avoid suing anyone - but no law forbade
you or ordered you to do these things.
7. dies religiosi - or "days of ill-omen" were not marked on the calendar. They were days when it was
considered wrong or unlucky to do any public business unless you absolutely had to. A day which
was the anniversary of some great disaster would be considered a dies religiosi and people would
think you were nuts if you tried to call an assembly or start a lawsuit. Cicero, for example, delayed
the ceremonies for his daughter's betrothal until after two dies religiosi passed. It does appear,
however, that public religious festivals could be held on dies religiosi. The closest parallel
Americans have is days like December 7 (bombing of Pearl Harbor) or June 6 (D-Day).
8. dies atri - or "black days" were not marked on the calendar because they always occured on the
day after the Kalends, Nones and Ides of each month. Nothing new could be done on dies atri, and
even state cult festivals were not held on these days. Romans also thought that the Kalends, Nones
and Ides of each month as well as the fourth day of each month were unlucky days (the way we
would think of Friday the Thirteenth). There were no legal or religious prohibitions against
activities on simply unlucky days, and a nundina could fall on Nones quite easily. Furthermore,
Romans thought the month of May and the first half of June were terribly unlucky months to get
married in.
9. dies festi - The calendars also marked days on which religious and cult festivals were held. Feriae
marked on the calendar were public festivals, organized and paid for by the state. But private
familes also observed feriae, held to mark important days in the life of its members. There were
three types of feriae publicae: 1) stativae; 2) conceptivae and 3) imperativae.
o Feriae stativae: annual festivals held on a fixed day and recorded in the public calendars.
o Feriae conceptivae: annual festivals whose date of celebration would be decided each year
by magistrates and/or priests.
o Feriae imperativae: irregulary occuring holidays proclaimed by politicians either to
celebrate a victory or to propriate the gods because things were going very badly for the
Romans.
o On feriae, people were supposed to avoid lawsuits and disputes, take a day of rest (slaves
included) and celebrate religious rites. These were days ordained to worship gods, and it
was generally thought to be in very bady taste (no one wanted the gods angry at them
because their neighbor didn't have the sense to behave) not to observe them. Work didn't
come to a complete stop, particularly for farmers, but you were supposed to do the bare
minimum to keep your house and farm in order (cf. restrictions of activities on the Jewish
Sabbath). Interestingly enough, no law or religious mandate required anyone to
participate in a festival, but few Romans, whatever their personal theological thinking,
would have ignored the feriae.
10. dies festi - Ludi ("Games") - were recorded in the Calendars and had origins in religious ritual (i.e.,
they were held to honor gods). Originally, they were held sporadically (i.e. a general wanted to
thank Jupiter for some victory) but the idea quickly caught on and four sets of ludi began to be held
annual in Rome: 1) Ludi Romani (sometimes called Ludi Magni); 2) Plebeian Games; 3) Ludi
Apollinares; 4) Ludi Megalenses; 5) Ludi Ceriales; 6) Floralia. Ludi lasted for several days
(sometimes 7 or 8 days) and included chariot racing, athletic contests and theatrical performances.
Ludi did not include gladiatorial contests during Republican times.
V. The Hours of the Day
A. The Romans counted 24 hours in a day.
B. Each day day was divided into two parts: 12 hours of daytime and 12 hours of nighttime.
C. But they measured their hours from dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn. As the amount of daylight changed
over the course of the year, this meant that the length of time an hour took varied (i.e., in midwinter, the
hours were shorter and in high summer longer than 60 minutes).
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D. Romans began their day at dawn and spent the first two hours performing the salutatio. Clients went to
the home of their patrons to receive any a) commissions the patron might want performed for the day) and
b)a sportula (dinnner in the form of cash or a picnic basket).
E. After the salutatio ordinary folks went to work and rich men went to the forum to conduct law suits and
politics.
F. The work day ended 7 hours after dawn, when folks retired to bath houses and gymnasia for a couple of
hours.
G. If you were rich, fancy dinner parties started at the ninth hour and lasted who knows how long.
VI. Control of the Calendar
A. Roman priests were charged with knowing how to keep the calendar and maintaining it. Originally all
priests were patricians (members of a hereditary aristocracy) and did not actually publish calendars. This
greatly affected the legal rights of ordinary citizens (plebians - how could you plan a lawsuit if you weren't
sure when the dies fasti were). By the fourth century B.C.E., however, plebians were allowed to enter the
Roman Colleges of Pontiffs and Augurs and Romans began publishing their calendar.
B. The fasti were inscribed in stone and could be quite large (the fasti from the town of Praenesti is almost 6
feet tall). Archeologists have found fragments of varying sizes from over 40 fasti . All but one date from post
Republican times.
C. Two farmers almanacs have also survived. These were bronze cubes on which the months of the year and
the farmer's jobs to be performed during them (plus some information about the stars) were inscribed.
Think of them as the predecessors to the Farmer's Almanac published in Lewiston, ME.
Imber, Margaret. Roman Civilization. “The Roman Calendar”. February 15, 2008. <http://abacus.bates.edu/
~mimber/Rciv/roman.cal.htm>.
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