Transcript The early Roman Calendar

The Roman
Calendar
The early Roman Calendar
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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
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There were three main days, dependent on
the phases of the moon
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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?
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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.....
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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…..
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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.....
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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”
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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!!!!