The Roman Calendar



The Roman Calendar

Julius Caesar’s establishment of a corrected twelve-month calendar in 46/45 B.C. not only altered the Roman world but also had long-ranging effects. The Julian Calendar (or Old Style; abbr. O.S.) remained the standard in much of the Western world until 1582 when Pope Gregory developed a better way to factor in the leap years (the Gregorian Calendar or New Style; abbr. N.S.). In fact, the American colonies of the British crown used the Julian calendar until 1752.

Months of the Year

All of our month names come from the Roman calendar. In fact, the spelling is only slightly different, if at all. The original Roman calendar was only ten months long, hence the names of the last four months.

Ianuarius

Februarius

Martius

Aprilis

Maius

Iunius

Quintilis/Iulius

Sextilis/Augustus

September

October

November

December

Writing Roman Dates

The Romans did not count the days forward through the month as we do. Instead they used a “countdown” of days remaining before special marker days. There were three of these marker days in a Roman month: the Kalends, Nones, and the Ides. However there is a trick to having accurate Roman dates: the Romans counted days at the beginning AND end of a countdown. Therefore, the number of days until an event or marker day has one more day than we would include. The date September 10th would be reckoned by the Romans as four days before the Ides of September (Sept. 13th). Therefore, the Roman style date is written thusly: a.d. IV Id. Sept. The marker day itself had no Roman numeral nor preceeding abbreviation, e.g., October 15th is reckoned as Id. Oct.

Terms to know:

ante diem (abbr. a.d.) “the (a number) day before”

pridie (abbr. pr.): “the very day before”

Kalendae, f. pl. (abbr. Kal.): first day of the month; Eng. Kalends

Nonae, f. pl. (abbr. Non.): 5th day of every month except March, July,

October, and May when the Nones fall on the 7th day; Eng. Nones

Idus, f. pl. Decl. 4 (abbr. Id.): 13th day of every month except March, July,

October, and May when the Ides fall on the 15th day; Eng. Ides

Keeping track of the years

The Romans had several methods of keeping track of time. Here are the two most common. The first was labeling the year by who served as consuls: Gaio Vipstano C. Fonteio consulibus (59 A.D.). The second, and easiest to use is a.u.c.: ab urbe condita (from the city having been founded [in 753 B.C.E.]). To convert A.D. (C.E.) years to a.u.c., add 753 to the A.D. year. To convert B.C. (B.C.E.) dates to a.u.c., subtract the B.C. year from 754, e.g., the year in which Julius Caesar was assassinated, 44 B.C., is reckoned thus 754 – 44 = 710 a.u.c. (DCCX a.u.c.)

I. Days of the Week

The Romans did not use a seven-day week until the 3rd Century A.D. At that time, the below system of naming the days of the week became common. The Romans derived the name from the “planets” in the sky. Remember, astronomy had not yet advanced far, so the Romans considered the Sun, Sol, and the Moon, Luna, planets.

ENGLISH

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

LATIN

Solis dies (day of ______________?)

Lunae dies (day of ______________?)

Martis dies (day of ______________?)

Mercurii dies (day of ____________?)

Iovis dies (day of ____________?)

Veneris dies (day of ____________?)

Saturni dies (day of ____________?)

Errata

Here are other interesting peculiarities of the Roman calendar.

• Originally, New Year’s Day was the Kalends of March.

• Consuls were inducted on the first day of the year.

• The leap day of February was added after the 6th day before the Kalends of March (a.d. VI Kal. Mar.)creating a SECOND 6th day before the Kalends. This day was reckoned as a.d. bis VI Kal. Mar. Currently the leap year is called l’annee bisextile in France!

• Numa Pompilius, Rome’s second king, is credited with extending the original ten-month year to twelve months.

• Julius Caesar extended 46 B.C. to 445 days to synchronize the months with the seasons and introduced a 365 ¼ day year on Kal. Ian. 709 a.u.c. (January 1, 45 B.C.)

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