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Amaterasu Ame no Uzume Benzaiten Bishamonten Daikokuten Ebisu Fujin Fukurokuju Inari Izanagi Kagutsuchi Raijin Susanoo Tsukuyomi
Caishen Cangjie Dragon King Eight Immortals Erlang Shen Fuxi Guanyin Hou Yi Huxian Jade Emperor King Yama Leizi Lu-ban Mazu Nezha Nuwa Pangu Shennong Sun Wukong Xiwangmu Yue Lao Zhong Kui
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Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Athena Atlas Coeus Crius Cronus Demeter Dionysus Gaia Hades Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hestia Hyperion Iapetus Mnemosyne Oceanus Phobos Phoebe Poseidon Prometheus Rhea Tethys Themis Uranus Zeus
Bacchus Ceres Diana Juno Jupiter Mars Mercury Minerva Neptune Pluto Venus Vesta Vulcan
Amun Anubis Aten Atum Babi Bastet Bes Geb Hapi hathor heqet Horus Isis Khepri Khnum Khonsu Maat Nephthys Nut Osiris Ptah Ra Seshat Seth Shu Sobek Thoth
Alfheim Baldur Freya Freyr Frigg Heimdallr Helheim Idun Jotunheim Loki Nerthus Njord Odin Thor Tyr
Aengus Arawn Badb Brigid Cailleach Ceridwen Cernunnos Cu Chulainn Dagda Danu Gwydion Herne the Hunter Lugh Medb Morrigan Neit Nuada Taliesin Taranis
Chalchiuhtlicue Coatlicue Huitzilopochtli Mictlantecuhtli Mixcoatl Ometeotl Quetzalcoatl Tezcatlipoca Tlaloc Tonatiuh Xipe Totec Xochiquetzal Xolotl
Amaterasu Ame no Uzume Benzaiten Bishamonten Daikokuten Ebisu Fujin Fukurokuju Inari Izanagi Kagutsuchi Raijin Susanoo Tsukuyomi
Caishen Cangjie Dragon King Eight Immortals Erlang Shen Fuxi Guanyin Hou Yi Huxian Jade Emperor King Yama Leizi Lu-ban Mazu Nezha Nuwa Pangu Shennong Sun Wukong Xiwangmu Yue Lao Zhong Kui
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  4. Roman Calendar

Roman Calendar

Of all the calendars around the ancient world in Europe, the Roman calendar survived to this time. However, the calendar underwent several evolutionary changes.

According to Roman legend, the calendar used by the Romans began at the time of the establishment of the Roman monarchy. Romulus, the founder of Rome, created the Roman calendar of 304 days with ten months, with the New Year starting with month of March. The months after June were Quintilis (fifth month) and Sextilis (sixth month). December was the tenth month of a year.

Numa Pompilius, Romulus' successor, added two more months to the end of the calendar: January and February. So Numa's calendar had 355 days. The first Etruscan king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus, wanted to move the New Year to January, but this reform was abolished when the Republic was established; the New Year was reverted back to March. The Roman calendar was based on the lunar calendar system of 355 days. An intercalary month (27 or 28 days) was added to the end of February, to prevent the calendar from being too far out of phase with the seasons and the solstices.

This arrangement of the calendar remained unchanged through much of the period of the Roman Republic. The first of March was the day when two consuls were elected. The consuls were official magistrates that had the power of a Roman king and could command an army, but they only held office for a term of one year.

It wasn't until the first century BC that the Senate decided to move the New Year and the election of the consuls to the 1st of January. This was a time before Julius Caesar (died in 44 BC) came into power.

It was Julius Caesar who developed the new calendar system, which would be called the Julian Calendar. Caesar worked with an Alexandrian astronomer named Sosigenes to calculate the solar calendar year of 365 1/4 days (or 365 days and 6 hours). The names of the months were kept the same. Getting rid of the intercalary month from the lunar calendar, the calendar would still be slightly out of phase with the seasons. To correct this – at the interval of every four years, another day would be added to the end of February, so that it would have 29 days instead of 28. This year would be known as the Leap Year.

During or after the reign of the first emperor, Augustus Caesar, the great-nephew of Julius Caesar, the month of Quintilis was changed to July after Julius Caesar, while the month of Sextilis was changed to August, after Augustus.

Early Roman Calendar (Romulus)

Early Roman Calendar (Numa)

Late Roman Republican Calendar (pre-Julian)

Julian Calendar

March (named after Mars)

March

January

January

April

April

February

February

May (named after Maia)

May

March

March

June (named after Juno)

June

April

April

Quintilis (5th month)

Quintilis

May

May

Sextilis (6th month)

Sextilis

June

June

September (7th month)

September

Quintilis

July (named after Julius Caesar)

October (8th month)

October

Sextilis

August (named after Augustus)

November (9th month)

November

September

September

December (10th month)

December

October

October

 

January (named after Janus)

November

November

 

February (named after Februus)

December

December

However, the Julian Calendar was not perfect, because the true solar year had 365.242199 days, not 365.25 days. So calendar was still out of phase with the seasons (the Equinoxes and Solstices), because the Julian Calendar had a leap year on the year of a new century or centennial year. So the Julian calendar was out by 11 minutes and 14 seconds to the true calendar year.

A little side note. The solar calendar is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds (all of which is equal to 365.242199 days).

It wasn't until 1582 that Pope Gregory XIII made an amendment to the Julian calendar to correct the error. Instead of having a leap year on each new century, the leap year would happen at every four centennial years. So the centennial year would have no leap year unless it was divisible by 400. So the year 1600 was a leap year, while there were no leap years in the year 1700, 1800 and 1900. The year 2000 was a leap year (but I think I had slept through it).

The new amendment caused the new calendar to be known as the Gregorian Calendar. This is the calendar system that we are still using today. Not everyone was happy with the new reform at the time however, mostly because the Gregorian calendar made it more complicated to calculate Easter festivals.

Worse than that, since the old calendar had a leap year in every centennial year, the Julian calendar was out of phase by 11 days with the equinox by the time of Pope Gregory XIII. To fix this, eleven days was removed from the calendar when the Gregorian Calendar was adopted. But this caused minor peasants' revolts. The peasants bitterly complained that the authorities stolen their 11 days, and they wanted those missing days back.

The Gregorian calendar was not universally accepted by some of the countries of Western Europe. The traditionally Catholic countries such as Italy, Spain and Catholic Germany mostly adopted the new calendar. The Protestant German states didn't adopt the calendar until 1699, while England (the United Kingdom) didn't accept the new calendar until 1752. Greece made the change to the Gregorian calendar as late as 1923.

Below, I have included a table on the days that were dedicated to the Roman gods, with the modern equivalents.

Roman Days

Identification with God/Goddess

Modern Equivalent

dies solis

Sol

Sunday

dies lunae

Luna

Monday

dies Martis

Mars

Tuesday

dies Mercurii

Mercury

Wednesday

dies Iovis

Jupiter

Thursday

dies Veneris

Venus

Friday

dies Saturni

Saturn

Saturday

Jimmy Joe Timeless Myths

By Jimmy Joe

All Things Roman:

  • • Seven Kings & Hills of Rome
  • • Roman Calendar
  • • Roman Festivals
  • • Roman Alphabets
Greek Calendar

Greek Calendar

Passages in the works of Homer and Hesiod indicated that the Greeks used lunar months. Hesiod, in his Works and Days , also showed that he often used the constellations to plan when to plant and harvest crops. Both lunar and solar systems were use...

June 24th, 2001 • Jimmy Joe
Numa Pompilius

Numa Pompilius

Numa Pompilius was the second king of Rome. It is a common belief among scholars that Numa came from Sabine stock, since he came from the same Sabine town as Titus Tatius, in Cures. Numa was chiefly responsible for the establishment of Roman legal...

September 10th, 2000 • Jimmy Joe
Roman Festivals

Roman Festivals

Below is a list of some of the holidays and festivals that the Romans celebrated. This was mainly gained from the book called Fasti, written by the Roman poet Ovid. Only half of the Fasti survived (January to June). The rest of the dates were gain...

July 12th, 2001 • Jimmy Joe
All Things Roman

All Things Roman

Some more miscellaneous and background information about Roman myths and legends that may interest you.

July 12th, 2001 • Jimmy Joe
Romulus

Romulus

Romulus was the founder and first king of Rome. Romulus was the son of Mars and Ilia (or Rea Silvia), daughter of Numitor of Alba Longa. Romulus was the brother of Remus. Romulus and his small group of followers first settled on the Palatine Hill....

September 10th, 2000 • Jimmy Joe
Rome

Rome

Rome (Roma) was a city-state on the banks of River Tiber, located in the region of ancient Latium. Although Rome is now larger than it was back then, Rome in ancient times occupied seven hills: Palatine, Capitoline, Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline, C...

February 4th, 2008 • Jimmy Joe
Roman Deities

Roman Deities

Roman Deities Personifications Household Guardians Greek Equivalents The religion of the Romans underwent several evolutionary changes throughout the history of Rome. One of the greatnesses of Rome was their ability to change, adapt or absorb fore...

September 10th, 2000 • Jimmy Joe
Janus

Janus

Roman god of passage, gates and doorways. Janus was also the god of agriculture, particularly sowing time. Janus was one of the earliest deities worshipped at the time of Romulus . Janus was depicted as a god with two faces, facing opposite direct...

September 10th, 2000 • Jimmy Joe
Roman Alphabets

Roman Alphabets

In the area of west central Italy was a region known as Latium (modern Lazio). The people of Latium were known as the Latins, an ancient tribe that lived in a region on the south side of the River Tiber, with the Etruscans living on the other side...

July 12th, 2001 • Timeless Myths
Juno

Juno

The Roman goddess of women and marriage. Juno was the consort and wife of Jupiter (Zeus). She closely resembled Hera , her Greek counterpart, and the Etruscan goddess Uni . Juno shared the temple at Capitol with Jupiter and Minerva (Athena). The m...

September 10th, 2000 • Jimmy Joe

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