T. Mayes
The Roman Calendar, attributed to Romulus, originally had only ten months, common among 'primitive' agricultural people. (They were apparently unconcered about the passage of time during the winter months when it was impossible to work in the fields.) At some later time (traditionally under Numa, 715-676BC), the calendar was reformed to include 12 months of 28 days, with an extra month to keep the calendar aligned with the sun. Julius Caesar, as Pontifex Maximus, reformed the calendar as of Jan. 1, 45BC, and introduced the calendar as we basically know it today, 12 months with varying days each, totaling 365 days a year with a leap year every 4 years.
Until Imperial times the Roman calendar had no "week" as we know it, although they did have a "nundinal cycle" to indicate which day was the nundinae or market day. This cycle marked the days as "A" through "H" with "A" probably being the market day. ("A" days are marked in red on the Fasti Antiates Maiores, the only surviving pre-Julian calendar, and Ovid, Fasti asks Janus to explain why the first day of the year, an "A", was a working day.) Under Augustus, the first hints of a 7-day week, each day named after one of the planets, begin to appear with another cycle that ran "A" through "G".The Latin names of the days were dies Solis (Sunday), dies Lunae (Monday), dies Martis (Tuesday), dies Mercurii (Wednesday), dies Jovis (Thursday), dies Veneris (Friday), and dies Saturni (Saturday).
The days were also marked to indicate what kinds of events or meetings were possible on particular days (because of the Roman love for order, tradition, and the need to take religious "omens"). A day could be: "F", fastus, meaning that it was a day on which the praetor could hear the beginning of legal proceedings (something like the American arraignment court); "C", comitialis, indicating a day on which voting assemblies could be held; "N", nefastus, marking a day on which the praetor's law-court sessions could not be held; "EN", endotercisus, pointing to a day on which the mornings and evenings were "N" and the afternoons were "F"; and "NP", (nefasti publici?), apparently referring to a day when there were public religious ceremonies to be held.
(About nefastus days, Ovid mentions that they were days on which the "3 words" could not be spoken - the words "do, dare, dico" from the praetor's formula of "Do bonorum possessionem, dico ius, addico id de quo ambigitur." About comitiales days, Ovid mentions that they are "days, too, on which the people may lawfully be penned in the polling-booths [includere saeptis].)
The Kalends were the first day of the month, sacred to Juno (to whom sacrifices were made). It is believed to have originally been the day on which the priests would call for the people to gather on the Nones to hear about the feriae and other important events happening during the month.
The Nones were 9 days before the Ides of each month, and were on the 5th day of the month in every month except March, May, July, and October (when the Nones were on the 7th). It is believed that the Nones were originally the day when the quarter moon was observable. It was the day on which the priests announced to the people the feriae and the other important dates of the month (like when the law-courts were open) to the people.
The Ides of the month were sacred to Jupiter (to whom sacrifices were made), and were on the 13th in every month except March, May, July, and October (when the Ides were on the 15th). It is also believed that the Ides were originally the day of the full moon. Debts were commonly paid off on the Ides and students paid their teachers for the month on the Ides.
The Romans also counted "inclusively" as can be seen from their putting the Nones "nine" days before the Ides. For example, January 11 would be "3" days before the Ides of January (on the 13th) because the Romans counted the 11th, 12th, and 13th as three days. So, January 11 would be "a.d. III Idus Ianuariae." The abbreviation "a.d." in the months below refer to "ante diem", not "Anno Domini."
There were movable festivals in the Roman calendar. One was the "doggy sacrifice", sacrum canarium which was held "before the corn has sprouted from the sheath, but not before it is in the sheath." At this festival "red bitches" were sacrificed to the Dog star (which rose during the heat of the summer) in order to keep the heat of summer from killing the crops.
Another movable festival was the "Day of Sowing", which was obviously clebrated when the seed was sown and the fields were fertilized. On this festival a sow and cereal were sacrificed to Tellus and Ceres.
Until Imperial times the Roman calendar had no "week" as we know it, although they did have a "nundinal cycle" to indicate which day was the nundinae or market day. This cycle marked the days as "A" through "H" with "A" probably being the market day. ("A" days are marked in red on the Fasti Antiates Maiores, the only surviving pre-Julian calendar, and Ovid, Fasti asks Janus to explain why the first day of the year, an "A", was a working day.) Under Augustus, the first hints of a 7-day week, each day named after one of the planets, begin to appear with another cycle that ran "A" through "G".The Latin names of the days were dies Solis (Sunday), dies Lunae (Monday), dies Martis (Tuesday), dies Mercurii (Wednesday), dies Jovis (Thursday), dies Veneris (Friday), and dies Saturni (Saturday).
The days were also marked to indicate what kinds of events or meetings were possible on particular days (because of the Roman love for order, tradition, and the need to take religious "omens"). A day could be: "F", fastus, meaning that it was a day on which the praetor could hear the beginning of legal proceedings (something like the American arraignment court); "C", comitialis, indicating a day on which voting assemblies could be held; "N", nefastus, marking a day on which the praetor's law-court sessions could not be held; "EN", endotercisus, pointing to a day on which the mornings and evenings were "N" and the afternoons were "F"; and "NP", (nefasti publici?), apparently referring to a day when there were public religious ceremonies to be held.
(About nefastus days, Ovid mentions that they were days on which the "3 words" could not be spoken - the words "do, dare, dico" from the praetor's formula of "Do bonorum possessionem, dico ius, addico id de quo ambigitur." About comitiales days, Ovid mentions that they are "days, too, on which the people may lawfully be penned in the polling-booths [includere saeptis].)
The Kalends were the first day of the month, sacred to Juno (to whom sacrifices were made). It is believed to have originally been the day on which the priests would call for the people to gather on the Nones to hear about the feriae and other important events happening during the month.
The Nones were 9 days before the Ides of each month, and were on the 5th day of the month in every month except March, May, July, and October (when the Nones were on the 7th). It is believed that the Nones were originally the day when the quarter moon was observable. It was the day on which the priests announced to the people the feriae and the other important dates of the month (like when the law-courts were open) to the people.
The Ides of the month were sacred to Jupiter (to whom sacrifices were made), and were on the 13th in every month except March, May, July, and October (when the Ides were on the 15th). It is also believed that the Ides were originally the day of the full moon. Debts were commonly paid off on the Ides and students paid their teachers for the month on the Ides.
The Romans also counted "inclusively" as can be seen from their putting the Nones "nine" days before the Ides. For example, January 11 would be "3" days before the Ides of January (on the 13th) because the Romans counted the 11th, 12th, and 13th as three days. So, January 11 would be "a.d. III Idus Ianuariae." The abbreviation "a.d." in the months below refer to "ante diem", not "Anno Domini."
There were movable festivals in the Roman calendar. One was the "doggy sacrifice", sacrum canarium which was held "before the corn has sprouted from the sheath, but not before it is in the sheath." At this festival "red bitches" were sacrificed to the Dog star (which rose during the heat of the summer) in order to keep the heat of summer from killing the crops.
Another movable festival was the "Day of Sowing", which was obviously clebrated when the seed was sown and the fields were fertilized. On this festival a sow and cereal were sacrificed to Tellus and Ceres.
Anyway ... Here's a link to the site I lifted that from: calendar.
So today, May 17th, 2007, is a.d.XVI Kal. Iuniae, or the Sixteenth Before June Kalends, 2760 AUC (Ab Urbe Condita). The day is comitialis, so we could have a voting assembly if we wanted, and it's an A day, probabaly market day. Otherwise, nothing special.
I keep my work journal dated in the Roman style, it amuses me. I'll post back with some holidays and such. We've missed the Robigalia, that was on a.d. VII Kal Mai. (4/25), it's a day of sacrifice to the mildew that infects crops.
Ovid's Fasti describes the days and the months but, naturally, we only have half of the book, through June.
