The surprising Roman origins of our calendar and the names of the months (2024)

Our modern calendar is a fascinating testament to the past, with its origins deeply rooted in the Roman Empire.

This ancient civilization laid the foundation for the calendar we use today, shaping how we perceive and measure time.

Below, we will delve into the evolution of the Roman calendar, from its inception to the modern system we now know and use.

The story of the Roman calendar begins with the founding of Rome, taking us through a series of reforms and adaptations that have left their mark on our current calendar system.

The earliest Roman calendar, established by Romulus around 753 BCE, and consisted of only 10 months.

This calendar was primarily based on the lunar cycle, resulting in a misalignment with the solar year.

It looked like this:

Later, Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, sought to improve the calendar by adding two additional months: Ianuarius (January) and Februarius (February).

This change occurred around 713-673 BCE, extending the calendar to a total of 355 days.

Despite this modification, the calendar still failed to align with the solar year, so an intercalary month was occasionally inserted to make up for the discrepancy.

However, by adding to months at the beginning of the calendar put the numbering system out of sequence.

As a result, December, which literally meant 'tenth month', was now the twelfth month.

This confusion still exists today.

In 45 BCE, Julius Caesar introduced a significant reform known as the Julian calendar.

This new system aimed to resolve the inaccuracies of the earlier Roman calendar by aligning it with the solar year.

Caesar enlisted the help of the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes to develop a calendar that added an extra day every four years, known as a leap year.

The Julian calendar was more accurate than its predecessor, but it still had its shortcomings; it overestimated the length of the solar year by approximately 11 minutes.

Despite this minor inaccuracy, the Julian calendar was widely adopted throughout the Roman Empire and remained in use for over a millennium.

During Caesar's reign, the month of Quintilis was renamed Julius (July) in his honor.

Augustus, the first Roman emperor, implemented additional reforms to the calendar around 8 BCE.

He redistributed the days among the months to ensure that each month had an equal number of days; this involved adding days to the month of Sextilis.

In honor of his achievements, the Senate decided to rename Sextilis to Augustus (August).

Augustus also adjusted the leap year system. At the time, leap years were being incorrectly observed every three years instead of four; Augustus temporarily suspended the leap year practice to bring the calendar back in line with the solar year.

Once the correction was made, leap years were observed every four years as originally intended.

Although the Roman calendar has undergone significant changes and reforms throughout history, its influence on modern calendar systems is undeniable.

The names of the months and the concept of a seven-day week have their roots in Roman culture and persist to this day.

Moreover, various Roman terms and concepts continue to be used in the contemporary calendar, such as the Ides, Nones, and Kalends.

Additionally, some of the Roman festivals and celebrations, like Saturnalia and Lupercalia, have evolved into modern holidays like Christmas and Valentine's Day, respectively.