The first numbers of months in the Roman calendar. Romulus (Romulus calendar) - ancient Roman calendar
Days, weeks and months pass, few of us think about where the current names in the calendar come from. In fact, our modern calendar dates back thousands of years, with roots in the Roman Empire.
And after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Roman calendar was used in its former territories during the early Middle Ages. Although some details have changed, our modern calendar is simply a version of the ancient Roman calendar.
This is how the months of the year got their names.
January 
Statue depicting Janus Bifrons in the Vatican Museum.
January, the first month of the Roman imperial calendar, is named after the god Janus.
This important Roman deity was the god of beginnings and was usually depicted with two faces: one looking forward and the other looking back.
Temple of Janus with closed doors on a sestertium, issued under Nero in 66 AD at the mint at Lugdunum.
Janus was also the god of doorways, gates and transitions, which is why he was chosen to mark the month of transition from one year to the next.
The first day of January was the beginning of the New Year, when the festival of Janus was celebrated by exchanging sweet gifts such as dates, figs or honey. Pies were brought as a gift to the altar of God.
February 
February from the book “The Three Riches of the Duc de Berry” - a prayer book said at canonical time.
February took its name from the festival of purification - Februus, the "purifying month" which was believed to drive out evil spirits from the city of Rome.
On the 15th day of the month, a number of rites were held throughout Rome, many of which involved sacrifices or ritual parades.
March 
March from the book “The Three Riches of the Duc de Berry” is a prayer book recited at canonical time.
March is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is believed that this month marked the beginning of the period when the Roman army prepared for the upcoming season of military campaigns.
Therefore, it was important to glorify the god of war at this time, and March was a period of rituals and festivals that ensured military success.
Medieval image of Mars sitting on a rainbow with a sword and scepter, calling people to war.
March was originally the first month in the Roman calendar, which at that time had only ten months. However, to avoid confusion with dates, two additional months (January and February) were added and the start of the year was moved to January.
The Julian calendar (created as a result of the reforms of Julius Caesar in the 1st century BC) is a version of the Roman calendar from which our modern dating system is derived.
April 
April panel from a Roman mosaic of the months (from El Jem, Tunisia, first half of the 3rd century AD).
April is named after the Roman month Aprillis, used as the name of the fourth month of the Roman calendar.
One of the most popular theories is that Aprillis refers to the Latin aperir, meaning "to open." April is the month when flowers begin to bloom and spring comes into full bloom, which is why it has such a special name.
May 
Hermes and Maya, detail of a ceramic amphora (c. 500 BC).
The month of May, when the earth begins to bear fruit, is named after the Greek goddess of the earth, Maya. She was the goddess of fertility and abundance, so she is associated with this warm, bountiful time of year.
The Roman poet Ovid, however, thought differently. He argued that the Latin name "May" came from major, which means "eldest", as opposed to the name "June" from junior, or "young".
June 
June is associated with one of the most important deities of the Roman Pantheon. Juno, the wife of Jupiter, is celebrated in June and she gives her name to this important month.
Juno was also known as the goddess of marriage, and in Roman culture the end of June was considered especially favorable for weddings. However, getting married before the 15th was considered a bad omen and was generally avoided.
July 
Sculpture of the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar near the ancient greenhouse in the Lazienki Public Park, Warsaw. The sculpture was made by Francis Pink (1733-1798).
July is the first month in the Roman calendar named after a historical figure. Julius Caesar, Roman dictator and conqueror of Gaul, certainly left his mark on Roman society.
Assassination of Julius Caesar by Vincenzo Camuccini, 1804
July was originally called Quintilis, as it was the fifth month in the traditional Roman calendar. However, after the assassination of Caesar in 44 BC. E. It was renamed in his honor since it was the month of his birth.
August 
Julius Caesar's successor, Octavian, did not want to be outdone by his adoptive father, and as a result, the next month in the Roman calendar is named after him.
Octavian rose to power to become the first Emperor of Rome, after which he changed his name to Augustus, meaning “sanctified” or “venerable.”
Although many other Roman figures tried to insert their name into the calendar, none succeeded, Julius Caesar and Augustus remain the only people commemorated in the names of the months of the year.
September - December
The remaining months in the Roman calendar have a less exalted etymology. They were simply called the serial number that existed before the Julian reforms.
September comes from septem, meaning seven; October from October, which means eight; November from November, meaning nine; and December from decem, meaning ten.
There is no exact information about the origins of the Roman calendar. According to tradition, its first version was introduced in 738 BC. founder and first king of Rome, (753 - 715 BC). This calendar, the year of which consisted of 10 months and contained 304 days, was borrowed from the Greeks and was called Romulus. The months in it had no names and were designated by serial numbers, and the year began with the month in which the beginning of spring occurred.
By the end of the 8th century BC. the first four months received their names. It was Martius ( in honor of the god of war Mars), Aprilis(lat. aperire – open, according to the buds opening on the trees),Mayus(in honor of the goddess Maya, mother of the god Mercury) andJunius(in honor of the goddess Juno, wife of the god Jupiter). The remaining six months retained their ordinal designations -Quintilis(fifth), Sextilis(sixth), September(seventh), October(eighth), November(ninth) and December(tenth). Martius, Maius, Quintilis and Oktober each had 31 days, and the rest - 30.
The first calendar reform was carried out by the second Roman king (715 - 674 BC). He added two more months to the existing 10 - Januarius (in honor of the two-faced god Janus) and Februarius (lat. February – purify, according to the rite of purification that took place annually in this month).
To equalize the year of 304 days with the year of the Greeks, it was necessary to add another 50 days to it. The superstitious Romans believed that odd numbers were luckier than even numbers, so they added 51 days. However, such a number of days did not make up two full months, and the Romans took one day each from six 30-day months, getting 57 days for the new two. 29 of them went to Januarius, and 28 to Februarius.
Thus, a year consisting of 355 days was divided into 12 months with the following number of days:
| Martius | 31 |
| Aprilis | 29 |
| Mayus | 31 |
| Junius | 29 |
| Quintilis | 31 |
| Sextilis | 29 |
| September | 29 |
| October | 31 |
| November | 29 |
| December | 29 |
| Januarius | 29 |
| Februarius | 28 |
Why 355 days? The fact is that the Romans used a lunar calendar and the beginning of each month was determined by the appearance of the crescent moon after the new moon. The length of the lunar year is 354.4 days. However, the solar year has a length of 365.25 days. To eliminate discrepancies of more than 10 days, an additional month of Mercedonia, containing alternately 22 and 23 days, was inserted in every second year between the 23rd and 24th days of Februarius. The length of the year, accordingly, changed as follows: 355 days, 377 days, 355 days, 378 days, 355 days, 377 days, 355 days, 378 days, etc. The average length of the year turned out to be one day longer than the actual one, and from time to time it was necessary to resort to reducing the length of additional months. The right to change the duration of these months belonged to the pontiffs (priests), who often abused their power, causing confusion in public life.
The oldest surviving Roman calendar, Fasti Antiates. 84-55 BC Reproduction. Museo del Teatro Romano de Caesaraugusta, Zaragoza, Spain. The original, painted on plaster, was found in 1915 and is in the National Roman Museum in the Baths of Diocletian.
Voltaire wrote: “Roman generals always won, but they never knew on what day it happened.”
Put an end to this uncertainty. In 46 BC. he, on the advice of the Egyptian astronomer Sosigenes, carried out a radical reform of the calendar according to the Egyptian model. A four-year cycle was established (365 + 365 + 365 +366 days) with the unequal length of months adopted until now. The month of Mercedonia disappeared from the calendar forever. The beginning of the year was moved to January 1, since it was from this day (starting from 153 BC) that consuls took office and the Roman financial year began. The year with an extra day was called bisextilis(“with the second sixth day,” which, like the previous month of Mercedonius, was inserted before February 24, i.e., before the sixth day before the March calendars), where the Russian “leap” comes from.
Before implementing the reform, in order to ensure that all holidays coincide with their corresponding seasons, i.e. To remove the accumulated errors, the Romans added to the calendar year, in addition to the 23-day Mercedonia, a couple more months - 33 and 34 days. They were inserted between November and December. This created a year of 445 days, called the “year of confusion.” It was 46 BC. The counting according to the new calendar began on January 1, 45 BC.
In gratitude to Julius Caesar for the reform of the calendar and military merits, the Roman Senate in 44 BC. renamed the month Quintilis, in which Caesar was born, to Julius (July).
The pontiffs continued to count time. Not understanding the essence of the reform, they began to insert leap days not after three years on the fourth, but after two years on the third, again confusing the calendar account. The error was discovered in 8 BC. during the time of the emperor, who had to carry out a new reform to eliminate it. At the direction of Augustus, from 8 BC. to 8 AD no additional days were inserted.
The Senate decided to rename the month Sextilis to Augustus in gratitude to Augustus for correcting the calendar and for the great victories he won in this month. However, Sextilis had 30 days, an even number considered unlucky. I had to take one day away from Februarius, leaving him with 28 (29) days. Now three months in a row - Julius, Augustus and September - each had 31 days, which, for some reason, again did not suit the superstitious Romans. One day of September was given to October, and November - to December. In this form, the Roman calendar remained unchanged throughout Europe until the end of the 16th century (and in some places until the beginning of the 20th century).
Stone Roman calendar. 3-4 centuries. The sticks were inserted into holes corresponding to the month, date and day of the week. Emperors Tiberius, Nero and Commodus tried to name the next three months by their own names, but these names did not take root.
Since the beginning of the Roman Republic (509 BC), years have been designated by the names of two consuls (consuls were re-elected in pairs annually). So about the events of 55 BC. it was said - to the consulate of Marcus Crassus and Gnaeus Pompey. Starting from 16 BC, without canceling the dating according to the consuls, dating from the supposed year of the founding of Rome comes into use - ab Urbe condita (from the foundation of the city).This date (April 21, 753 BC) was “calculated” by the Roman writer and scientist Marcus Terentius Varro (116 - 27 BC), establishing that it corresponds to the 3rd year of the 6th Olympiad. This dating was used in Europe until the end of the 17th century.
The designation of the numbers of the month by the Romans was based on the identification of three main days in it, originally associated with the phases of the moon. The 1st day of each month was called Kalends ( Kalendae ) . This was the first day of the new moon, which was announced by the high priest (lat. calare – convene). The 13th or 15th day of the month was calledIdami (Idus ), on the day of the full moon (Etruscaniduare – divide). The 5th or 7th day was callednonami (Nonae ) and was the day of the first quarter of the moon and the 9th day before the Ides (lat.n onus– ninth).
In March, May, July and October (we will now use the usual names), the Ides fell on the 15th, and the Nones on the 7th. In the remaining months, the Ides corresponded to the 13th, and the Nones to the 5th. The days immediately preceding the Kalends, Nones and Ides were calledpridie (eve). For example, March 14th iseve of the ides of march . To indicate the remaining days, their number remaining until the next main day was indicated. The count included the designated day itself and the next main day. 20th of March -13 days before April calendars . It can be seen that when dating, “before” was always used and never “after”.The review of the year was calledcalendarium .
Originally a Roman week, nundina(lat. nundinae), consisted of 8 days, designated by the letters of the alphabet A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H. The seven-day week came to Rome in the 1st century BC. from the East. Her days, with the exception of the Sabbath, which had its own name (ancient Heb.sabbath
–
rest) were designated by serial numbers. The Romans gave them the names of seven luminaries, themselves named after the gods:
| Monday | Lunae dies | Moon |
| Tuesday | Martis dies | Mars |
| Wednesday | Mercuri dies | Mercury |
| Thursday | Jovis dies | Jupiter |
| Friday | Veneris dies | Venus |
| Saturday | Saturni dies | Saturn |
| Sunday | Solis dies | Sun |
The Romans divided the day into 2 parts - day and night. Their division into hours came into use in 291 BC. with the advent of the sundial in Rome (horologium solarium ) , which in 164 BC. inherited the water clock (solarium ex aqua ). Day and night were divided into 12 equal hours, but in the understanding of the Romans these were daylight (from sunrise to sunset) and night itself (from sunset to dawn). This approach led to the fact that the daytime hour was equal to the nighttime (and the modern, familiar hour) only at the equinoxes. In other seasons, their duration, naturally, changed and differed.
The papal government of Rome continued to use this measurement of time until 1842 (!), after which it switched to universal time.
Today, all peoples of the world use the solar calendar, practically inherited from the ancient Romans. But if in its current form this calendar almost perfectly corresponds to the annual movement of the Earth around the Sun, then about its original version we can only say “it couldn’t be worse.” And all, probably, because, as the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC - 17 AD) noted, the ancient Romans knew weapons better than the stars...
Agricultural calendar. Like their neighbors the Greeks, the ancient Romans determined the beginning of their work by the rising and setting of individual stars and their groups, that is, they linked their calendar with the annual change in the appearance of the starry sky. Perhaps the main “landmark” in this case was the rising and setting (morning and evening) of the Pleiades star cluster, which in Rome was called the Virgils. The beginning of many field works here was also associated with favonium - a warm western wind that begins to blow in February (February 3-4 according to the modern calendar). According to Pliny, in Rome “spring begins with him.” Here are a few examples of the “linking” of field work carried out by the ancient Romans to changes in the appearance of the starry sky:
“Between Favonium and the spring equinox, trees are pruned, vines are dug up... Between the spring equinox and the rising of Virgil (the morning sunrise of the Pleiades is observed in mid-May), the fields are weeded..., willows are cut down, meadows are fenced..., olives should be planted.”
“Between the (morning) sunrise of Virgil and the summer solstice, dig up or plow young vineyards, plant the vines, mow the fodder. Between the summer solstice and the rising of the Dog (June 22 to July 19), most are busy with the harvest. Between the rising of the Dog and the autumn equinox, the straw should be mowed (the Romans first cut the spikelets high, and mowed the straw a month later).
“They believe that you should not start sowing before the (autumn) equinox, because if bad weather begins, the seeds will rot... From Favonium to the rising of Arcturus (from February 3 to 16), dig new ditches and prune the vineyards.”
It should, however, be borne in mind that this calendar was filled with the most incredible prejudices. Thus, meadows should have been fertilized in early spring no other way than on the new moon, when the new moon is not yet visible (“then the grass will grow in the same way as the new moon”), and there will be no weeds on the field. It was recommended to lay eggs under a chicken only in the first quarter of the moon phase. According to Pliny, “all chopping, plucking, cutting will do less harm if done when the Moon is debilitated.” Therefore, anyone who decided to get a haircut when the “moon is waxing” risked going bald. And if you cut off the leaves on a tree at the specified time, it will soon lose all its leaves. The tree cut down at this time was in danger of rotting...
Months and counting the days in them. The existing inconsistency and some uncertainty in the data about the ancient Roman calendar is largely due to the fact that the ancient writers themselves disagree on this issue. This will be partially illustrated below. First, let's look at the general structure of the ancient Roman calendar, which developed in the middle of the 1st century. BC e.
At the indicated time, the year of the Roman calendar with a total duration of 355 days consisted of 12 months with the following distribution of days in them:
Martius 31 Quintilis 31 November 29
Aprilis 29 Sextilis 29 December 29
Maius 31 September 29 Januarius 29
The additional month of Mercedonia will be discussed later.
As you can see, with the exception of one, all months of the ancient Roman calendar had an odd number of days. This is explained by the superstitious beliefs of the ancient Romans that odd numbers are lucky, while even numbers bring misfortune. The year began on the first day of March. This month was named Martius in honor of Mars, who was originally revered as the god of agriculture and cattle breeding, and later as the god of war, called upon to protect peaceful labor. The second month received the name Aprilis from the Latin aperire - “to open”, since in this month the buds on the trees open, or from the word apricus - “warmed by the Sun”. It was dedicated to the goddess of beauty, Venus. The third month Mayus was dedicated to the earth goddess Maya, the fourth Junius - to the sky goddess Juno, the patroness of women, the wife of Jupiter. The names of the six further months were associated with their position in the calendar: Quintilis - the fifth, Sextilis - the sixth, September - the seventh, October - the eighth, November - the ninth, December - the tenth.
The name of Januarius - the penultimate month of the ancient Roman calendar - is believed to come from the word janua - “entrance”, “door”: The month was dedicated to the god Janus, who, according to one version, was considered the god of the firmament, who opened the gates to the Sun at the beginning of the day and closing them at its end. In Rome, 12 altars were dedicated to him - according to the number of months in the year. He was the god of entry, of all beginnings. The Romans depicted him with two faces: one, facing forward, as if God sees the future, the second, facing backward, contemplates the past. And finally, the 12th month was dedicated to the god of the underworld Februus. Its name itself apparently comes from februare - “to cleanse”, but perhaps also from the word feralia. This is what the Romans called the memorial week in February. After it expired, at the end of the year they performed a cleansing rite (lustratio populi) “to reconcile the gods with the people.” Perhaps because of this, they could not insert additional days at the very end of the year, but did so, as we will see later, between February 23 and 24...
The Romans used a very unique way of counting the days in a month. They called the first day of the month calends - calendae - from the word calare - to proclaim, since the beginning of each month and the year as a whole was proclaimed publicly by the priests (pontiffs) at public meetings (comitia salata). The seventh day in four long months or the fifth in the remaining eight was called nones (nonae) from nonus - the ninth day (inclusive!) to the full moon. The nones approximately coincided with the first quarter of the moon phase. On the nones of each month, the pontiffs announced to the people what holidays would be celebrated in it, and on the February nones, moreover, whether additional days would or would not be inserted. The 15th (full moon) in long months and the 13th in short months was called the Ides - idus (of course, in these last months the Ides should have been attributed to the 14th, and the Nones to the 6th, but the Romans did not like that even numbers...). The day before the Kalends, Nones and Ides was called eve (pridie), for example pridie Kalendas Februarias - the eve of the February Kalends, i.e. January 29.
At the same time, the ancient Romans did not count the days forward, as we do, but in the opposite direction: there were so many days left until the Nons, Ides or Kalends. (The Nones, Ides and Kalends themselves were also included in this count!) So, January 2 is the “IV day from the Nons,” since in January the Nones occurred on the 5th, January 7 is the “VII day from the Ides.” January had 29 days, so the 13th day was called the Ides, and the 14th was already “XVII Kalendas Februarias” - the 17th day before the February calendars.
Next to the numbers of the months, the first eight letters of the Latin alphabet were written: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, which were cyclically repeated in the same order throughout the whole year. These periods were called “nine-day periods” - nundins (nundi-nae - noveni dies), since the last day of the previous eight-day week was included in the count. At the beginning of the year, one of these “nine” days - nundinus - was declared a trade or market day, on which residents of the surrounding villages could come to the city for the market. For a long time, the Romans seemed to strive to ensure that the nundinuses did not coincide with the nones, in order to avoid excessive crowding of people in the city. There was also a superstition that if Nundinus coincided with the calendars of January, then the year would be unlucky.
In addition to the nundine letters, each day in the ancient Roman calendar was designated by one of the following letters: F, N, C, NP and EN. On days marked with the letters F (dies fasti; fasti - schedule of days in court), judicial institutions were open and court hearings could take place (“the praetor, without violating religious requirements, was allowed to pronounce the words do, dico, addiсo - “I agree” (to appoint a court ), “I indicate” (law), “I award”). Over time, the letter F began to denote days of holidays, games, etc. Days designated by the letter N (dies nefasti) were forbidden; for religious reasons, it was forbidden to convene meetings, hold court hearings, and pass sentences. On C days (dies comitialis - “meeting days”), popular assemblies and meetings of the Senate took place. NP (nefastus parte) days were "partially forbidden", EN (intercisus) days were considered nefasti in the morning and evening and fasti in the intermediate hours. During the time of Emperor Augustus in the Roman calendar there were days F - 45, N-55, NP- 70, C-184, EN - 8. Three days a year were called dies fissi (“split” - from fissiculo - to examine the cuts of the sacrificed animals), of which two (March 24 and May 24 - "were designated as QRCF: quando rex comitiavit fas - "when the sacrificial king presides" in the national assembly, the third (June 15) - QSDF: quando stercus delatum fas - "when the dirt is taken out and rubbish" from the temple of Vesta - the ancient Roman deity of the hearth and fire. An eternal fire was maintained in the temple of Vesta, from here it was taken to new colonies and settlements. The days of fissi were considered nefasti until the end of the sacred rite.
The list of fasti days for each month was for a long time proclaimed only on its 1st day - this is evidence of how in ancient times the patricians and priests held in their hands all the most important means of regulating public life. And only in 305 BC. e. The prominent politician Gnaeus Flavius published on a white board in the Roman Forum a list of dies fasti for the whole year, making the distribution of days in the year publicly known. Since that time, the installation of calendar tables carved on stone tablets in public places has become commonplace.
Alas, as noted in the “Encyclopedic Dictionary” of F. A. Brockhaus and I. A. Efron (St. Petersburg, 1895, vol. XIV, p. 15), “the Roman calendar seems controversial and is the subject of numerous assumptions.” The above can also be applied to the question of when the Romans began counting the days. According to the testimony of the outstanding philosopher and political figure Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) and Ovid, the day for the Romans allegedly began in the morning, while according to Censorinus - from midnight. This latter is explained by the fact that among the Romans many holidays ended with certain ritual actions, for which the “silence of the night” was supposedly necessary. That’s why they added the first half of the night to the day that had already passed...
The length of the year at 355 days was 10.24-2 days shorter than the tropical one. But in the economic life of the Romans, agricultural work played an important role - sowing, harvesting, etc. And in order to keep the beginning of the year close to the same season, they inserted additional days. At the same time, the Romans, for some superstitious reasons, did not insert a whole month separately, but in every second year between the 7th and 6th days before the March Kalends (between February 23 and 24) they “wedged in” alternately 22 or 23 days. As a result, the number of days in the Roman calendar alternated in the following order:
377 (355 + 22) days,
378 (355+ 23) days.
If the insertion was made, then February 14 was already called the day “XI Kal. intercalares", on February 23 ("eve"), terminalia was celebrated - a holiday in honor of Terminus - the god of boundaries and boundary pillars, considered sacred. The next day, as it were, a new month began, which included the rest of February. The first day was “Kal. intercal.”, then - day “IV to non” (pop intercal.), the 6th day of this “month” is the day “VIII to Id” (idus intercal.), the 14th is day “XV (or XVI) Kal. Martias."
The intercalary days (dies intercalares) were called the month of Mercedonia, although ancient writers simply called it the intercalary month - intercalaris. The word “mercedonium” itself seems to come from “merces edis” - “payment for labor”: it was supposedly the month in which settlements between tenants and property owners were made.
As you can see, as a result of such insertions, the average length of the year of the Roman calendar was equal to 366.25 days - one day more than the true one. Therefore, from time to time this day had to be thrown out of the calendar.
Evidence from contemporaries. Let's now see what Roman historians, writers and public figures themselves said about the history of their calendar. First of all, M. Fulvius Nobilior (former consul in 189 BC), writer and scientist Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27 BC), writers Censorinus (3rd century AD) and Macrobius (5th century AD) argued that the ancient Roman calendar year consisted of 10 months and contained only 304 days. At the same time, Nobilior believed that the 11th and 12th months (January and February) were added to the calendar year around 690 BC. e. semi-legendary dictator of Rome Numa Pompilius (died c. 673 BC). Varro believed that the Romans used a 10-month year even “before Romulus,” and therefore he already indicated the 37 years of the reign of this king (753-716 BC) as complete (according to 365 1/4, but not not 304 days). According to Varro, the ancient Romans allegedly knew how to coordinate their work life with the changing constellations in the sky. So, they supposedly believed that “the first day of spring falls in the sign of Aquarius, summer - in the sign of Taurus, autumn - Leo, winter - Scorpio.”
According to Licinius (tribune of the people 73 BC), Romulus created both a 12-month calendar and rules for inserting additional days. But according to Plutarch, the calendar year of the ancient Romans consisted of ten months, but the number of days in them ranged from 16 to 39, so that even then the year consisted of 360 days. Further, Numa Pompilius allegedly introduced the custom of inserting an additional month into 22 days.
From Macrobius we have evidence that the Romans did not divide the period of time remaining after the 10-month year of 304 days into months, but simply waited for the arrival of spring to begin counting by months again. Numa Pompilius allegedly divided this period of time into January and February, with February placed before January. Numa also introduced a 12-month lunar year of 354 days, but soon added another, 355th day. It was Numa who allegedly established an odd number of days in months. As Macrobius further stated, the Romans counted years according to the Moon, and when they decided to compare them with the solar year, they began to insert 45 days into every four years - two intercalary months at 22 and 23 days, they were inserted at the end of the 2nd and 4th years. Moreover, allegedly (and this is the only evidence of this kind) in order to coordinate the calendar with the Sun, the Romans excluded 24 days from counting every 24 years. Macrobius believed that the Romans borrowed this insertion from the Greeks and that it was made around 450 BC. e. Before this, they say, the Romans kept track of lunar years, and the full moon coincided with the day of the Id.
According to Plutarch, the fact that the numerical months of the ancient Roman calendar, when the year begins in March, end in December is proof that the year once consisted of 10 months. But, as the same Plutarch notes elsewhere, this very fact could be the reason for the emergence of such an opinion...
And here it is appropriate to quote the words of D. A. Lebedev: “According to the very witty and highly probable assumption of G. F. Unger, the Romans called 6 months by their proper names, from January to June, because they fall in that half of the year when the day increases, why it was considered happy and only on it in ancient times all the holidays fell (from which the months usually got their names); the remaining six months, corresponding to that half of the year in which the night increases and in which, therefore, as unfavorable, no celebrations were celebrated, did not have special names in mind, but were simply counted from the first month of March. A complete analogy with this is the fact that during lunar
year, the Romans celebrated only three lunar phases: the new moon (Kalendae), the 1st quarter (popae) and the full moon (idus). These phases correspond to the half of the month when the bright part of the Moon increases, marking the beginning, middle and end of this increase. The last quarter of the Moon, which falls in the middle of that half of the month when the light of the Moon decreases, was not of any interest to the Romans and therefore did not have any name for them.”
From Romulus to Caesar. In the previously described ancient Greek parapegmas, two calendars were actually combined: one of them counted the days according to the phases of the Moon, the second indicated a change in the appearance of the starry sky, which was necessary for the ancient Greeks to establish the timing of certain field work. But the same problem faced the ancient Romans. Therefore, it is possible that the writers mentioned above noted changes in various types of calendars - lunar and solar, and in this case it is generally impossible to reduce their messages “to a common denominator”.
There is no doubt that the ancient Romans, conforming their lives to the cycle of the solar year, could easily count days and months only during the “year of Romulus” of 304 days. The different lengths of their months (from 16 to 39 days) clearly indicate the consistency of the beginning of these periods of time with the timing of certain field works or with the morning and evening sunrises and sunsets of bright stars and constellations. It is no coincidence, as E. Bickerman notes, that in Ancient Rome it was customary to talk about the morning sunrises of one or another star, just as we talk about the weather every day! The very art of “reading” signs “written” in the sky was considered the gift of Prometheus...
The lunar calendar of 355 days was apparently introduced from outside, it was probably of Greek origin. The fact that the words “Kalends” and “Ides” are most likely Greek was recognized by the Roman authors themselves who wrote about the calendar.
Of course, the Romans could slightly change the structure of the calendar, in particular, change the counting of days in the month (remember that the Greeks counted backwards only the days of the last ten days).
Having adopted the lunar calendar, the Romans, apparently, first used its simplest version, that is, the two-year lunar cycle - triesteride. This means that they inserted the 13th month every second year and this eventually became a tradition among them. Considering the superstitious adherence of the Romans to odd numbers, it can be assumed that a simple year consisted of 355 days, an embolismic year - of 383 days, i.e. that they inserted an additional month of 28 days and, who knows, maybe they were already “hiding it” "in the last, incomplete ten days of February...
But the triesteride cycle is still too imprecise. And therefore: “If in fact they, apparently having learned from the Greeks that 90 days need to be inserted into 8 years, distributed these 90 days over 4 years, 22-23 days each, inserting this wretched mensis intercalaris every other year, then, obviously , they had long been accustomed to inserting the 13th month every other year, when they decided to use octaetherides to bring their time calculation into agreement with the sun, and therefore they preferred to cut the intercalary month rather than abandon the custom of inserting it once every 2 years. Without this assumption, the origin of the wretched Roman octaetheride is inexplicable.”
Of course, the Romans (perhaps they were priests) could not help but look for ways to improve the calendar and, in particular, could not help but find out that their neighbors, the Greeks, used octaetherides to keep track of time. Probably, the Romans decided to do the same, but they found it unacceptable the way the Greeks inserted embolismic months...
But, as noted above, as a result, the four-year average duration of the Roman calendar - 366 1/4 days - was one day longer than the true one. Therefore, after three octaetherides, the Roman calendar lagged behind the Sun by 24 days, i.e., more than a whole intercalary month. As we already know from the words of Macrobius, the Romans, at least in the last centuries of the Republic, used a period of 24 years, containing 8766 (= 465.25 * 24) days:
once every 24 years, the insertion of Mercedonia (23 days) was not carried out. A further error in one day (24-23) could be eliminated after 528 years. Of course, such a calendar did not agree well with both the phases of the Moon and the solar year. The most expressive description of this calendar was given by D. Lebedev: “Abolished by Julius Caesar in 45 BC. X. The calendar of the Roman Republic was... a real chronological monstrum. It was not a lunar or solar calendar, but a pseudo-lunar and pseudo-solar one. Possessing all the disadvantages of the lunar year, he had none of its advantages, and he stood in exactly the same relation to the solar year.”
This is further strengthened by the following circumstance. Since 191 BC. e., according to the “law of Manius Acilius Glabrion”, the pontiffs, headed by the high priest (Pontifex Maximus), received the right to determine the duration of additional months (“assign as many days for the intercalary month as necessary”) and establish the beginning of months and years. At the same time, they very often abused their power, lengthening the years and thereby the terms of their friends in elected positions and shortening these terms for enemies or those who refused to pay a bribe. It is known, for example, that in 50 BC. Cicero (106 - 43 BC) on February 13 did not yet know whether an additional month would be inserted in ten days. However, a little earlier he himself argued that the Greeks’ concern about adjusting their calendar to the movement of the Sun was just an eccentricity. As for the Roman calendar of that time, as E. Bickerman notes, it did not coincide with either the movement of the Sun or the phases of the Moon, but “rather wandered completely at random...”.
And since at the beginning of each year the payment of debts and taxes was carried out, it is not difficult to imagine how firmly, with the help of the calendar, the priests held in their hands the entire economic and political life in ancient Rome.
Over time, the calendar became so confusing that the harvest festival had to be celebrated in winter. The confusion and chaos that dominated the Roman calendar of that time was best described by the French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) with the words: “Roman generals always won, but they never knew on what day it happened...”.
Roman calendar and major holidays
The most ancient Roman calendar was agrarian, that is, it was based on the timing of agricultural work. It counted ten unequal months: some had not even twenty days, some had thirty-five, or even more. The ancient Roman calendar began in March, when farmers began to work. The twelve-month lunar calendar was introduced by the legendary Roman king Numa Pompilius, who added two new months: January and February. Scientists disagree on when the beginning of the year was moved from March 1 to January 1: under Numa or already under Julius Caesar.
Some months of the Roman year were directly dedicated to one or another god. So, January is the month of Janus, March - Mars, May - the goddess of the fertile earth Maya, June - Juno, the wife of Jupiter. The remaining months were simply called the fifth, sixth, and so on until the tenth. True, when the beginning of the year was moved from March to January, everything shifted and March turned into the third month of the year, which means that the fifth month became the seventh, the sixth - the eighth, and so on. We use the Roman names of these months to this day: we call the ninth month of the year, September, the seventh (from the Latin septem - seven), the tenth, October - the eighth (octo - eight), the eleventh and twelfth - the ninth and tenth, respectively (novem and decem - nine and ten). The word "February" comes from the Latin februare, which means "to cleanse", since February was considered the month of religious purification, and "April" comes from aperire, "to open", since it was in April that the first shoots of plants appeared.
Where did the names “July” and “August” come from? In ancient times they were called simply "fifth" and "sixth", but received new names in honor of Julius Caesar and his successor Octavian Augustus. Emperor Domitian also tried to give the months their own names, calling September “Germanic” and October “Domitian”, but after his death their previous names returned.
The Romans determined the numbers of the month by counting them from the three main days originally associated with the lunar calendar: the Kalends, the Nones and the Ides. The Kalends are the first day of the month, which falls on the new moon, the Nones are the day of the first quarter of the moon, and the Ides are the middle of the month, the full moon. In March, May, July and October, the Ides fell on the 15th, the Nones on the 7th, and in the remaining months the Ides fell on the 13th, and the Nones on the 5th.
From Kalends, Nons and Ides, days were counted backwards, for example they said: “It was on the fifth day before the Kalends of June.” The Kalends belonged to Janus, the god of all beginnings, and the Ides was considered a day dedicated to Jupiter - in the middle of each month, a priest of Jupiter sacrificed a sheep. In the cultural European context, the Ides of March became especially famous, becoming a common noun, since on this day in 44 BC. e. Julius Caesar was killed.
In a year, the Romans celebrated more than fifty holidays in honor of various deities. We will tell you in more detail about some of the most interesting and important ones.
In later times, on the first day of January, the Romans celebrated the New Year. On this day, incense and wine were sacrificed to Janus, the god of the beginning and the end; It was customary to wish each other good beginnings and give money, since the two-faced Janus himself was depicted on the copper aces. The January holiday of Agonalia, which fell on the 9th, was also dedicated to Janus, when purification sacrifices were made to the god.
Preparations for the holiday. Artist L. Alma-Tadema
On February 15, the festival of Lupercalia was celebrated dedicated to Faun, the patron saint of flocks. The ceremony was performed by priests of one of the most ancient colleges - the Luperci, who gathered in the Lupercal cave at the foot of the Palatine Hill, in the most ancient sanctuary of Rome, where, according to legend, the she-wolf fed the twins Romulus and Remus. There the Luperci sacrificed a goat or male goat, one of the most prolific animals, and then held a feast. At the feast, two young men from noble families were brought to the place where the animals were slaughtered, and there one priest touched their foreheads with a bloody sacrificial knife, and the second immediately wiped off the blood with a woolen rag soaked in milk.
Pan. Artist M. Vrubel
Then the Luperci cut belts from goat skins and, armed with these belts, in only loincloths they ran around the Palatine Hill, and then along the Sacred Way, the main street of Rome, to the base of the Capitol and back. The Luperci beat everyone they met with belts, and childless women were specifically exposed to the blows of the Luperci, as it was believed that this would help them get pregnant.
There are different opinions about the origins and meaning of this holiday. Even in antiquity, several legends were known about the origin of Lupercalia. According to one of them, Romulus and Remus, after defeating Amulius, rushed with glee to where they were suckled by a she-wolf. The essence of the holiday is the imitation of this run, a bloody knife is applied to the foreheads of the two young men as a reminder of the dangers and murders that surrounded the twins, and cleansing with milk is a symbol of the food that Romulus and Remus were fed.
Ancient authors considered Lupercalia to be a purification ceremony, since the entire month of February, the last month of the ancient calendar, was considered a month of purification rites. It is also possible that the purpose of the Luperca rites was to increase fertility. There is also an opinion that Lupercalia is nothing more than the celebration of the first pasture of herds to the meadows, and the rituals of Luperk symbolize the protection of livestock from wolves, since the forest god Faun was considered the patron of herds and shepherds, and “Luperk” is translated as “persecutor of wolves.”
In February, Parentalias were also held, parental days, calculated from the 13th to the 21st day of the month. These were days of remembrance of the dead, when flowers, mainly violets, fruits, salt and bread were left at the graves of relatives or on roads. It was believed that this holiday was introduced into use by the pious Aeneas, who began to make sacrifices annually to his father Anchises. On memorial days, the temples of all gods were closed, marriages were prohibited, and Roman officials removed the signs of their authority. It was believed that at this time the souls of the dead travel across the earth and eat the offerings left for them. The Parentalia ended with a great festival, the Feralia, when sacrifices were made to the mans on the Palatine Hill.
On February 27 and March 14, the festival of Equiria, dedicated to Mars, was celebrated, presumably founded by his son Romulus, when equestrian competitions were held on the Field of Mars and ritual cleansing of horses. The holidays preceded the month of the god of war and symbolized the beginning of the time of military campaigns. The “military season” closed with the Ides of October, the holiday of the October Horse with the offering of sacrificial animals to Mars. In March and October, sali processions also took place, marking the beginning and end of hostilities.
On the Kalends of March, the Romans celebrated Matronalia, held in honor of the goddess Juno. Only married women - free residents of Rome - took part in it. According to legend, this holiday was also established by Romulus as a sign of respect for the Roman wives who stopped the battle with the Sabines. On the same day, on the Esquiline Hill, the temple of Juno Lucina, the patroness of childbirth, was founded, to whom women pray in the Matronalia, asking for a painless birth. And on this day, household members present gifts to Roman mothers and wives.
Preparations in the Colosseum (fragment). Artist L. Alma-Tadema
From March 19 to 23, Quinquatria were held in honor of Minerva. On the second day of the festivities, gladiatorial fights were held as a reflection of the warlike nature of this goddess; the rest of the time, Quinquatria was celebrated by those whose occupations Minerva patronized: students and teachers, knitters and spinners, various artisans and artists, doctors and poets. In June, small three-day Quinquatria took place, organized by flutists.
Spring. Artist L. Alma-Tadema
In honor of Ceres, the goddess of fertility and agriculture, the holiday of Cerealia arose, falling on the days from April 12 to 20. Ceres was mainly celebrated by the plebeians, since the cult of the goddess became most widespread among the common people, especially in rural areas. Even in Rome, the Temple of Ceres was located at the foot of the Aventine Hill, in an area where mainly plebeians lived. Pigs were sacrificed to Ceres, and on these days people wore white clothes, collected holiday treats and sent flowers to each other.
In May, Lemurias were held, designed to appease the restless souls of the dead, and Floralia, celebrations in honor of Flora, the goddess of flowering.
From June 7 to 15, Vestalia was held in honor of Vesta, the keeper of the hearth, and at the height of summer, on July 23, Neptunalia was celebrated, dedicated to the god of all streams, Neptune, asking him to prevent drought. Little is known about the celebration of Neptunalia: huts were built from branches, in which, presumably, the celebration was celebrated, indulging in copious libations. During the empire, games were held at the same time in honor of Neptune.
Autumn in Rome was the time of public games dedicated to Jupiter - Roman in September and Plebeian in November, while in December the Romans magnificently celebrated the festival of Saturnalia.
Saturnalia took place from December 17 to 23 and marked the end of all agricultural work. The name of the holiday is due to the fact that the Romans attributed the invention of agriculture to Saturn. Saturnalia had the character of a nationwide festival: during this time all state affairs were suspended, war could not be declared, courts were closed, classes in schools were stopped and it was forbidden to punish criminals.
The celebration began with a sacrifice in the temple of Saturn, after which a feast was held for senators and horsemen. In Roman families, in honor of Saturn, they slaughtered a pig and gave gifts, including wax candles and figurines baked from dough. The first - in honor of the fact that the end of the Saturnalia falls on the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, after which the sunny day begins to arrive; the latter symbolically replaced human sacrifices, apparently due to Saturn in ancient times.
Harvest Festival. Artist L. Alma-Tadema
On the days of Saturnalia, the streets of Rome were crowded with people who greeted each other with traditional cries: “Io, Saturnalia!” Throughout the festival, feasts, festivities, and various games continued, so the holiday was very popular among the Roman people. During Saturnalia, slaves had equal rights with free people - perhaps in memory of the universal equality that reigned on earth during the Golden Age of Saturn. This is perhaps the most famous feature of the Saturnalia: slaves received the right to sit at the same table with their masters, freely dispose of themselves and even scold their masters and give them orders.
This routine of holidays and rituals, repeated year after year, formed an integral part of the life of Roman society.
This text is an introductory fragment.According to the ancient Roman calendar, the year consisted of 10 months, the first of which was March. At the turn of the 7th – 6th centuries BC. a calendar was borrowed from Etruria in which the year consisted of 12 months - January and February followed December. The months of the Roman calendar were called by adjectives agreeing with the word mensis (month): mensis Martius - March (in honor of the god of war Mars), m. Aprilis - April, m. Maius – May, m. Junius - June (in honor of the goddess Juno); the remaining names of the months came from numerals, and called the month number in order from the beginning of the year: m. Quintilis – fifth (later, from 44 BC m. Julius – July, in honor of Julius Caesar), m. Sextilis – sixth (later, from 8 AD m. Augustus – August, in honor of Emperor Augustus), m. September – September (seventh), m. October – October (eighth), m. November – November (ninth), m. December – December (tenth). Then came: m. Januarius - January (in honor of the two-faced god Janus), m. Februarius – February (month of cleansing, from Latin februare – to cleanse, to make an atoning sacrifice at the end of the year).
In 46 BC. Julius Caesar, on the advice of the Egyptian astronomer Sosigenes, reformed the calendar according to the Egyptian model. A four-year solar cycle was established (365+365+365+366=1461 days), with unequal lengths of months: 30 days (April, June, September, November), 31 days (January, March, May, July, August, October, December) and 28 or 29 days in February. Julius Caesar moved the beginning of the year to January 1, since on this day the consuls took office and the Roman financial year began. This calendar was called the Julian (old style) and it was replaced by the revised new Gregorian calendar (named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it) in 1582 in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, later in the rest of Europe, and in 1918 in Russia.
The designation of the numbers of the month by the Romans was based on the identification of three main days in the month associated with the change of phases of the moon:
1) the 1st day of each month is the calendar, initially the first day of the new moon, which is announced by the priest;
2) the 13th or 15th day of each month - the Ides, initially in the lunar month the middle of the month, the day of the full moon;
3) 5th or 7th day of the month - nones, the day of the first quarter of the moon, the ninth day before the Ides, counting the days of nones and Ides.
In March, May, July, and October, the Ides fell on the 15th, the Nones on the 7th, and in other months on the 13th and 5th, respectively. The days preceding the Kalends, Nones and Ides were designated by the word eve - pridie (Acc.). The remaining days were designated by indicating how many days were left until the nearest main day, while the count also included the day that was designated and the nearest main day (compare, in Russian - the third day).
A week
The division of the month into seven-day weeks came to Rome from the Ancient East, and in the 1st century. BC. became generally accepted in Rome. In the week borrowed by the Romans, only one day - Saturday - had a special name, the rest were called serial numbers; The Romans named the days of the week according to seven luminaries that bore the names of the gods: Saturday - Saturni dies (day of Saturn), Sunday - Solis dies (Sun), Monday - Lunae dies (Moon), Tuesday - Martis dies (Mars), Wednesday - Mercuri dies ( Mercury), Thursday - Jovis dies (Jupiter), Friday - Veneris dies (Venus).
Watch
The division of the day into hours has come into use since the appearance of sundials in Rome in 291 BC, in 164 BC. A water clock was introduced in Rome. Day, like night, was divided into 12 hours, the duration of which varied depending on the time of year. Day is the time from sunrise to sunset, night is the time from sunset to sunrise. At the equinox, the day was counted from 6 o'clock in the morning to 6 o'clock in the evening, the night - from 6 o'clock in the evening to 6 o'clock in the morning (for example, the fourth hour of the day at the equinox is 6 o'clock + 4 o'clock = 10 o'clock in the morning, i.e. 4 hours after sunrise).
The night was divided into 4 watches of 3 hours each, for example, at the equinox: prima vigilia - from 6 pm to 9 am, secunda vigilia - from 9 am to 12 am, tertia vigilia - from 12 pm to 3 am ., quarta vigilia – from 3 o’clock to 6 o’clock.
