Roman Calendar Months Named After

The calendar was the predominant calendar in the roman world and most of europe for more than 1 600 years.

Roman calendar months named after. The julian calendar proposed by julius caesar in auc 708 46 bc was a reform of the roman calendar. However because the calendar was reformed and adjusted countless times over the centuries the term essentially denotes a series of evolving calendar systems whose structures are partly unknown and vary quite a bit. The month of january was added to the 10 month roman calendar by numa pompilius around 700 bce.

It took effect on 1 january auc 709 45 bc by edict it was designed with the aid of greek mathematicians and greek astronomers such as sosigenes of alexandria. Also known as the republican calendar it is the earliest calendar system from rome for which we have historical evidence. September october november and december are named after roman numbers 7 8 9 and 10 they were originally the seventh eighth ninth and tenth months of the roman year.

March april may and june were the first four months of the original roman calendar. When king pompilius named the 12th month of the roman year he chose february after that period of celebration. January has not always been first on our calendars.

Before july and august were renamed after roman rulers they were called quintilis and sextilis meaning fifth and sixth months. Here we focus mainly on the calendar used in the roman republic 509 27 bce. Origins of the names of the months only a few names of the month were actually derived from roman deities.

Their origins are far back in the mists of time but as far as we can tell march may and june appear to be named after roman gods and so we presume april is too although the god it is named after if that is the case is otherwise completely forgotten. Here s how the months of the year got their names january. Tradition had it that romulus named the first month martius after his own father.

For ancient romans the year began in march and. Most simply came from the numbers of the months or in two cases in honor of roman emperors. What are the calendar months named after.