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The Roman Calendar The early Roman Calendar The original Roman calendar was made up of about 304 days, starting in Martius (March) and ending in December. They knew that the sun took about 355 or so days to revolve around the sun, but just sort of ignored them, after December and before March. There have been so many revisions to the calendar, because of how many errors were recognized, that dates, etc., that what we have are often based on best evidence available, and may not always be exact. Ianuarius and Februarius The original calendar was attributed to Romulus. Eventually, one of Rome’s other kings, Numa Pompilius, added Ianuarius and Februarius. The year was now officially 355 days long. (There were days between the end of December and the beginning of Martius, but these were not named – just sort of existed in limbo.) The early Roman Calendar There were three main days, dependent on the phases of the moon the Kalends (thus, the word “calendar”), the first day of the month (when the moon would first appear in a sickle shape, first day after a new moon) The Ides, the middle of the month, (usually the 13th day but sometimes the 15th , corresponding to a full moon) and The Nones, nine days before the Ides (which is usually the 5th day of the month but the 7th in long months, and indicating the fourth quarter of the moon). How did they name their days? If the Romans only three days had names, how did they tell the rest of them apart? They would always figure out how many days there were until the next named day, and count backwards from there. The day before a named day was known as the “pridie”, or literally “day before”. They counted differently than we do – they always included the first and last in a series when they counted, in modern times we only include the end of the series. Anything but the ides, nones, or kalends..... For example, the day before the nones of January (Ianuarius) would be January 4th in modern times, but pridie nones ianuarius in ancient times. Two days before the nones would be January 3 today, but ante diem (days before) III in ancient times. Three days before the nones would be January 2, or ante diem IV. Modern Calendar 1 8 15 22 29 2 9 16 23 30 3 10 17 24 31 4 5 6 7 11 12 13 14 18 19 20 21 25 26 27 28 Ancient Calendar kalends a.d.IV nones a.d.III nones Pridie nones nones a.d.VIII ides a.d.VII ides a.d.VI ides a.d.V ides a.d.IV ides a.d.III ides Pridie ides Ides a.d. XIX kalends a.d. XVIII kalends a.d. XVII kalends a.d. XVI kalends a.d. XV kalends a.d. XIV kalends a.d. XIII kalends a.d. XII kalends a.d. XI kalends a.d. X kalends a.d. IX kalends a.d. VIII kalends a.d. VII kalends a.d. VI kalends a.d V kalends a.d. IV kalends a.d.III kalends Pridie kalends Caesar takes over Julius Caesar was credited with many things in ancient Rome, but one of his most famous (and important) acts was to redo the calendar. The calendar was a mess in 46 B.C., based on a lunar year instead of a solar one – summer months were taking place near the winter, etc. He added 90 days to that one year to get the months back where they we supposed to be, and, after having spent so much time in Egypt, pretty much stole their calendar of 365 ¼ days. After his assassination, the priests in charge of keeping track of the calendar (who were pretty much responsible for messing it up in the first place) misunderstood and made leap years every three years instead of every four. He also moved the beginning of the year from Martius to Ianuarius, which caught on some places but not in others. The new calendar preserved the counting system of the original, but no longer relied upon a lunar cycle. Emperors honored…. The senate decided to honor Caesar after his death by renaming Quintilis after him, which is why we now have July. Augustus realized the priests’ mistake, that by 8 B.C. too many leap years had been added, so he ordered no more leap years happen until things caught up. To thank him, the senate renamed Sextilis after him. The rest? Month Origin Notes Ianuarius Februarius Janus Februa (fever) festivals god of beginnings and endings considered a “bad” month, which is why it was kept short – “Mudmonth” in old English – they didn’t like it either Martius Aprilis Maius Iunius Iulius Augustus September October November December Mars Aprilis Maia Juno Julius Caesar Augustus Caesar 7th month 8th month 9th month 10th month original first month of year Etruscan goddess originally Quintilis – 5th month originally Sextilis – 6th month www.roman-britian.org/calendar.htm So where were the emperors? “Thwarted attempts by warped emperors to rename months: Caligula renamed September “Germanicus” after his father in AD37, but this was overturned following his assassination and the subsequent condemnation of his memory by the senate in AD42. September was once more renamed “Germanicus” in AD 89, this time by the Emperor Domitian following his triumph over the Germanic Chatti tribe; he also renamed October “Domitianus” as this was the month in which he was born. Domitian was also assassinated, his name condemned, and his acts overturned in AD96.” www.roman-britian.org/calendar.htm Other crazy emperors….. Commodus (emperor 180 – 192AD, and just as crazy as the movie Spartacus implied) actually renamed all of the months after himself, since he had given himself twelve names by this time (all indicating how amazing he was, names like Pius, Invictus, Hercules (whom he thought he was), etc…..) Nero tried to rename Aprilis, Maius, and Iunius as Neroneus, Claudius, and Germanicus. What's that BCE all about??? “There is a move to replace the letters AD for designating the starting point of the modern calendar. The phrase which they stand for, ‘year of our lord’, might offend people from other religions whose Lord, if they have one, was born in a different year. AD can now be written CE for Common Era, and BC, which stands for Before Christ, can be written BCE.” http://www.wilkiecollins.demon.co.uk/roman/calhis.htm What’s that all about??? Dionysius Exiguus in 531 AD determined when Jesus was born, and dated years from his birth. Thus, BC and AD. Scholars vary in how many years off he was – estimates range from 4 years off to 25 (although that seems a stretch and not as reliable – closer to four or seven seems most likely). Actually, a pretty amazing feat when you consider the era and lack of internet, never mind a simple library! But if the Romans didn’t use BC…… If the Romans didn’t know that their years were BC, how did they name them? During the time of the republic and into the early years of the empire, the years were named after the two men who were consuls at that time (consuls were still elected in the early empire as the emperors tried to pretend Rome was still a republic). No two men were ever consul together more than once, so although this system worked, it was awkward. Eventually they begin naming years AUC – ab urbe condita – in other words, from the start of the city of Rome itself. 1 AUC would be 753 BC. Figure out what the year is today if we were still using AUC! What happened next? Pope Gregory XIIIth changed the calendar in 1582, to account for the fact that a year is not exactly 365 ¼ days long. There will be a leap year only on centurychanging years only when the century is exactly divisible by 400. So 2000 was a leap year, but 2100 will not be. Riots happened next! The Roman Catholic world went crazy when Pope Gregory first did this because, in order to get the calendar back in line once more with equinoxes and seasons and things like that, they had to subtract 13 days. Since most people were uneducated, they thought that 13 days had been deducted from their lifespans. Ever since then, 13 has been considered an unlucky number! (Actually, I made that up, but it seems pretty logical to me!) www.roman-britian.org/calendar.htm History….. What was going on in 1582? This is in the midst of the Reformation, when Martin Luther was doing things like nailing theses to doors and English kings were creating their own religions so they could divorce their wives. Not everyone adopted the Pope’s change immediately – since so many places were rebelling against the Pope, even if what he did made sense they weren’t going to follow it. Adoption through the ages…. The Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox churches have never adopted the Gregorian calendar, and have always used the Julian. It’s why some holidays fall on different days than other Christian religions. I’m not sure how that works since the Russian government adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1918 (good-bye czars, welcome Bolsheviks). The Brits adopt Gregory The British isles and colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752. Their new year had begun up until this time on March 25 (traditional date of spring equinox). By this time the Julian calendar was eleven days behind the Gregorian, so that year September 14 came after September 2, no 3 through 13. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/romancalendar.html Other countries adopt..... Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, and the Netherlands adopt the Gregorian calendar around 1700. Sweden adopted the calendar in 1753. Most Baltic nations switched right after World War I (collapse of the Ottoman empire), and Turkey itself adopted this calendar in 1926. Japan signed on in 1873, Korea in 1896, Egypt in 1875. Alaska adopted the calendar in 1867. Lost an entire week that year. http://europeanhistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa041301a.htm France goes “fou” So France for the most part adopts the Gregorian calendar in 1582. However, from 1792 to 1805, they created their own French Republic Calendar, with months of 30 days and a few extra days thrown in here and there. A French poet named Fabre d'Eglantine renamed the months Wind, Frost, Blossom, Seed Time, etc. He was later guillotined. Napoleon takes power, and restores the calendar back to Gregorian. http://www.norbyhus.dk/calendar.html Days of the Week A planetary week of seven days is thought to have started in Persian theology, and by the end of the first century AD was in pretty common use throughout the entire Mediterranean world. The Roman week was eight days long until the time of Constantine, which followed the ancient Etruscan custom of seven days followed by a market day. Many places found themselves having to pay attention to both, dealing with Roman rulers and local people at the same time. www.roman-britian.org/calendar.htm Days of the week …. Roman Day Translation Modern Equivalent Modern Derivation dies Saturni day of Saturn Saturday dies Solis Sun day Sunday Directly from Latin Likewise dies Lunae Moon day Monday Ditto dies Martis day of Mars Tuesday day of Tiw (Norse) dies Mercuris day of Mercury Wednesday dies Iovis day of Jupiter Thursday dies Veneris day of Venus Friday day of Woden (Norse) day of Thor (Norse) day of Freya (Norse) www.roman-britian.org/calendar.htm Days of the week Episode III…. I am NOT going into the Norse god bit – feel free to go to roman-britian.org if you want to know more. For those that have studied/know other modern Romance languages, do those Roman days sound familiar? fragment of calendar excavated from the Forum the letters A – H indicate market days, every eighth day the letters after the numbers indicate what type of day it was: C – comitiales, or days when assemblies are allowed; F – fasti, ordinary citizens are allowed to do what they need to, but courts cannot be in session, although judges can carry on official duties; N – dies nefasti, no judicial events can occur at all; NP – dies nefasti publici, ordinary citizens are not supposed to work unless absolutely necessary (and could be fined if they were seen doing physical labor), slaves are allowed a day off work, EN – dies endotercisi, nefasti in the morning and evening, but fasti in the middle of the day …there were more but these are the main ones….. creating your own Roman calendar for this year Always label your kalends, ides, and nones first. Then label each pridie. Then, counting backwards, label each ante diem. Believe me, if you count forwards you will invariably make a mistake! The four long months were October, Martius, Maius, and Quintilis (Iulius). Abbreviate where possible!!!!