Roman calendar – Wikipedia
The Roman calendar O Pre-Jiulian calendar denotes the set of calendars that were in use in ancient Rome from its foundation until advent in 46 BC. of the Giuliano calendar. According to tradition, the Roman calendar was established in 753 BC From Romolo, founder of Rome: he underwent several changes over the centuries, finally being replaced in 46 BC. From the Giuliano calendar promulgated by Gaius Julius Caesar.
Romolo calendar [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]
The Roman calendar He was reviewed several times between the Foundation of Rome and the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
An important testimony is from Macrobio in the 1st day of Saturn . Originally it was a lunar calendar divided into ten months starting the full moon of March (15), established, according to tradition, by Romulus, founder of Rome, in 753 BC: it seems to be based on the Greek lunar calendar. The months, actually not lunar as the duration of the month should have been 29.5 days, were:
| Romolo calendar |
|---|
| Martius (31 days) |
| Aprilis (30 days) |
| Maius (31 days) |
| June (30 Giorni) |
| Quintilis (31 Giorni) |
| Sextilis (30 Giorni) |
| September (30 days) |
| Octaber (31 days) |
| November (30 days) |
| December (30 days) |
In total, therefore, the calendar lasted 304 days and there were about 61 days of winter which were not assigned to any month: [first] In practice, after December, we stopped counting the days to resume counting again in the following March.
The first months took their name from the main deities related to human activities: Mars (war), Aphrodite (love), Maia (the fertility of the earth) and Juno (motherhood and procreation); The others had the name reminiscent of their position in the calendar: quintilis derived from five , sextilis and sex , september and septem , october and octo , november and new It is december and decem .
Ovid in his splendor explains that Romolo created the first calendar based on the period of gestation of the unborn child in the womb. [2]
Part of modern criticism believes that the Roman calendar has always been lasting twelve months, thus relegating the Romulean calendar to a legend in ten months. [3]
Numa Pompilio calendar [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]
Numa Pompilio, the second of the seven kings of Rome, modified the calendar in 713 BC, adding the months of January and February to the ten pre -existing. Overall, he added 51 days to the 304 of the Romolo calendar, but, removing one day from each of the six months who had 30 (making them thus becoming odd), brought to 57 days the total of those that the months of January and February had to divide. In January 29 days were assigned and in February 28. Of the eleven months with an odd number of days, four had 31 and seven had 29.
Since the equal numbers were considered unfortunate, [4] February was considered suitable as a month of purification. It was divided into two parts, each with an odd number of days: the first part ended on day 23 with the Terminalia , considering the end of the religious year, while the remaining five days formed the second part.
| Calendar | Religious calendar | |
|---|---|---|
| second Macrobio and Plutarch |
According to Ovid | Second Fowler |
| January (29) | January | Martius |
| February (28) | Martius | April |
| Martius (31) | April | Greater |
| April (29) | Greater | June |
| Maius (31) | June | Quintilis |
| June (29) | Quintilis | Sextilis |
| Quintilis (31) | Sextilis | September |
| Sextilis (29) | September | October |
| September (29) | October | November |
| October (31) | November | December |
| November (29) | December | January |
| December (29) | February | February |
Originally the first month of the year was considered March, but in 154 BC The consuls came into office in January to face a rebellion. [5] William Warde Fowler claims that religious officers continued to consider March as the first month.
Intertwining month [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]
In order to maintain the year of the calendar aligned to the tropic year, it was added occasionally, but mostly to alternate years, an inter -market month, the be merciful ( Intercalar month , also known as PRAISES O Mercedin ). It was inserted at the end of the first part of February (whose duration therefore remained 23 days). The 22 days inserted to which the 5 days of the second part of February were added made a 27 -day goods: his none fell the fifth day and the idios on the thirteenth day. In this way, no changes were occurred on dates and holidays. The inter -market year, with the addition of goods, was 377 or 378 days, depending on whether it began the next day or two days after the terminals.
The decision to insert the inter -market month was up to the Pope Massimo and generally was inserted to alternate years. Initially the inter -market month was inserted with the scheme: normal year, year with 22 -day goods, normal year, year with mercedium of 23 and so on. [6] Subsequently, [7] To correct the feed of correspondence between months and seasons due to the excess of one day of the average Roman year on the calendar year, the insertion of the inter -market month was modified according to the scheme: normal year, year with 22 -day mercedium, year Normal, year with goods of 23 and so on for the first 16 years of a cycle of 24. [6] In the last 8 years, the interspace took place only with a monthly mercedium month for 22 days, except for the last intercalation that did not happen: year of 355, year of 377, year of 355, year of 377, year of 355, year of 377, year from 355, year of 355. [6] The result of this twenty -five -year scheme was of great precision for the time: 365.25 days, as shown in the following calculation:
However, over time, numerous maximum popes, instead of scrupulously following the 24 -year -old cycle pattern, arrogated the right to add and suppress the intercalary month to their pleasure, arbitrary. From this, over the centuries, an increasingly growing shower of the correspondence between months and seasons, so much so that at the time of Julius Caesar (1st century BC) the months that should have corresponded to winter were actually fell in autumn, followed. Cesare himself, once covered with the position of Pontiff Massimo, wanted to remedy the blur that had been created in the meantime, and in 47 BC. He commissioned a Alexandrian astronomer, Sosigen, to reform the Roman calendar. To correct 67 days created over the centuries due to the arbitrariness of the maximum popes, to correct the feed of 67 days, in addition to the already expected intercalation of 23 days, two further months per year 46 BC, which therefore was exceptionally 15 months (corresponding to 456 days). [8] According to Suetonius, in fact:
| ( THE )
“Convert here to the political state of the state of the bishops by intercalandi license so disturbed, so that neither of the summer nor avenge summer or avenge summer; adjusted to the course of the sun, as three hundred and sixty-five days, and intercalario month was raised one day in the fourth year. But when the more in the future of the first of the January of the newness of the system to congruent, among the Nouembri and December the month of the two others; It was a year, which these things were made, fifteen months with intercalario, who has fallen in the year. ” |
( IT )
“Then revealed to tidy up the state, he reformed the calendar, which for some time, because of the popes – through the abuse of inserting intercalary days – was so disassembled, that the reaping time no longer fell in summer and that of the harvest does not more in autumn. He raised the year on the course of the Sun: it was three hundred and sixty -five days, and, eliminated the intertwining month, one day was inserted every four years. And why in the future, starting from the subsequent calends of January, the count of the time was more precise, between November and December he inserted another two months; With this, the year in which these innovations were fixed was fifteen months, including the inter -market one which, according to the old rule, had fallen in that year. ” |
| ( Suetonius, Caesar , 40. ) | |
Starting from 46 BC The Giuliano calendar conceived by Sosigene entered into force, who, albeit in a cycle of only 4 years (3 normal 365 + 1 bissestile 366), had the same precision of the Numa calendar: 365 days and 1/4. To truly improve the precision of the civil calendar, we would have had to wait for 1582 AD, almost 23 centuries after Numa, with the Gregorian calendar.
Giuliano calendar [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]
The Numa Pompilio calendar was re -examined when Masti Pontiff was Julius Caesar: the Giuliano calendar was established in 46 BC in 46 BC in 46 BCs. The latter eliminated the month of Mercedonio, brought the duration of the year to 365 days and introduced the bisastile year: the reforms to the Giuliano calendar were completed under his successor Augustus, who removed it in order after civil wars. Quintilis it was renamed Julius In 44 BC In honor of Giulio Cesare e Sextilis it was renamed Augustus In 8 BC In honor to Augustus himself, as the latter during this month had become console for the first time and had obtained great victories. [9] The Giuliano calendar remained in force for many centuries even after the fall of the Roman Empire, replaced only in 1582 by the Gregorian calendar.
In the Roman calendar, three were the days that had their peculiar name. The first was the day of calendes , from which the word calendar derives: he identified the first day of each month.
The other two were the none not it was , furniture depending on the month: in March, May, Quinile and October, the none fell the seventh and the idi on the fifteenth day while in the other months they fell the fifth and thirteenth day. This system was originally based on the lunar phases: the calends were the day of the new moon, the none were the day of the first quarter (half a moon), the idi on the day of the full moon. [ten] [11]
| Months with none and idi falling on the 5th and 13th day | January, February, April, June, August, September, November and December |
|---|---|
| Months with none and idi falling on the 7th and 15th day | March, May, July and October |
The way of indicating a date was very different from that currently in force. The Romans did not count the days starting from the beginning of the month (first, second, third, …, day from the beginning of the month), but counted the missing days to the calends, none or idi, depending on which of them They were closer, a bit like when the missing days are counted on the date of a particularly awaited particular event.
They also counted all included (that is, they also included the days of starting and arrival in the count): thus, for example, on 3 September it was considered the third, and not the second, day before the none, when they fell on 5.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Looking at the table you can see how, counting all included , there was no possibility of saying: “The second day before …”
The day before these fixed dates was indicated with the adverb on the day before (the previous day) followed by First , Nones , Idus (in the accusative case). For example, July 14 was said On the Ides of Julias , on March 6th The day before the Nones of Martins . [twelfth] The day following the fixed date it was indicated with the adverb next day And then with the accusative case (for example, March 8 was said the next day at the none of the Martins ).
Therefore, the months of March, May, July and October with the randy idi on the 15th, they were 31 days, as currently happens, while the others had 29, unlike today who have 30, except February that had 28 . To realign the calendar year with the calendar year, the month of be merciful 22 or 23 days: this addition had to occur at alternate years, but it was not always the case and this made it necessary to make reforms.
The reform of Numa Pompilio, with the introduction of January and February, brought from 10 to 12 the number of months originally established by Romolo. They were:
| January | Dedicated to the god Ianus (Giano) | January |
| February | Month of Februa (cleansing) | February |
| Martius | Dedicated to the god Mars (Marte) | marzo |
| April | Dedicated to the goddess Venus (Venus), | April |
| Greater | Dedicated to the goddess Maia (Maia) | May |
| June | Dedicated to the goddess Juno (Juno) | June |
| Quintilis POI Julius | Fifth month, dedicated to Gaius Julius Caesar | July |
| Sextilis, POI Augustus | Sixth month, dedicated to the emperor Augustus | August |
| September | Seventh month | September |
| October | Eighth month | October |
| November | Ninth month | November |
| December | Tenth month | December |
The Roman year began on March 1st, as is obtained from the names of the months in Latin following June (June), starting from Quintilis , that is, the fifth (month). The moment is unknown when we went to consider on 1 January as the beginning of the year. Some ancient authors attributed the decision to Numa Pompilio, while Marco Terenzio Varrone, on the basis of a commentary by Marco Fulvio Nobiliore (consul 159 BC) on the glories he himself placed in the temple of Hercules and Muse In 153 BC, he claimed that, since the name January (present in these glories) derives from the god Giano Bifronte, and therefore of a border (in this case in two years), this innovation was introduced starting from 153 BC. A calendar dating back to the late Roman Republic proves that the year began in January before the reform introduced by the Giuliano calendar.
At the beginning of the Roman Republic, the years were not counted: they were identified with the name of the console that was in office (for correspondence see Roman republican consuls). So the year was not identified with a numerical indication, but with the names of the consuls in office. Subsequently, in the late republic, it began to count them from the Foundation of Rome ( City ), which took place according to tradition in 753 BC. Therefore in some registrations the number of the year was followed by the acronym AVC, which means precisely City (Letter V represents U).
During the late Roman Empire it was also used to count them from the settlement of Diocletian with the abbreviation to which is for Year of Diocletian Not to be confused with the abbreviation A.D. used in the Middle Ages with the meaning of in the Year of our Lord .
The Romans, as well as the Etruscans, adopted a week of 8 days, who were marked with the letters from A at the H . Since the year always began with the letter ” A “, each date was always characterized by the same letter. For this purpose also the additional day, which was inserted on the years after February 24, had the same letter of the previous day. [13]
This week was called Ciclo Nundinale And it was cadenced by the market days, which took place every eight days. They were the so -called noden (Dal years. Nundinae , composed of new nine e dies day, [14] ) from which the adjective Nundinale To mark the weekly periodicity of “nine days” (due to the count all included of the Romans, where today we would say eight -day periodicity ). Since the duration of the year was not a multiple of 8 and taking into account that it always began with the letter ” A “, We had that the letter for the market day (known as Lettera Nundinale ), while remaining constant throughout the year, it was not the same at the years. In fact, in the calendar, the 355 -day ordinary year was made up of 44 nunded periods (complete with 8 days) plus 3 residues (the final letter of the year was therefore the ” C “), in the Giuliano calendar the ordinary year (365 days) was composed of 45 nunal periods plus 5 residues (the final letter of the year was therefore the” AND “).
Wanting to give an example, if the letter for the market days of a given year had been the ” H “And the year was 355 days, the last day of the market in the year was 352-th and the nundinal letter for the market day of the following year became the” AND ” [15] .
The nundinal cycle marked Roman life: although there were so much daily markets ( slaughter ) how much periodic fairs ( markets ), the Nundinae It was the days when country people interrupted the work in the fields to go to the city to sell their products. It was an opportunity to inform the population of the countryside of administrative acts. The importance of the nundine was such that a law was approved in 287 BC. (there Lex Hortensia ) who prohibited the rallies and elections on that day, although he allowed the performance of the causes, and this because the citizens from the campaign were not forced to reach the urbe specifically to compose their disputes, but they could do it on the same days in which They already came to the market.
At the beginning of the Republican period, the superstition that brought bad luck to start the year (calends of January) was born with a market day. It was also considered dangerous that the market day coincided with the none of each month, since, on that occasion the celebrations were held for the anniversary of the birth of Servio Tullio (it was known that he was born in the none, but not of which month); In particular, it was feared that on the occasion, tumults could take place to report a king on the throne. The Massimo Pontiff, who was responsible for the management of the calendar, adopted the appropriate measures to prevent this from happening.
Since during the Republic the nundinal cycle was rigidly eight days, the information on the dates of the market days represent one of the most important tools in our possession to determine which day of the Giuliano calendar corresponds to a certain day of the Roman calendar.
The Ciclo Nundinale It was subsequently replaced from the week of seven days, which came into use at the beginning of the imperial period, after the advent of the Giuliano calendar. The old system of nundal letters is still used today, adapted for the week of seven days (see dominical letter). For some time a week and the Ciclo Nundinale coeistero, but when the week was officially established by Constantine I in 321 AD, the Ciclo Nundinale He had already fallen into disuse.
Costantino replaced the dies solis ( sun of the sun ) with the dies dominica ( day of the Lord ), carrying out a compromise between the pagan world and the Christian world. In fact, the duration of seven days corresponded to the expectations of Christians, who obtained the formalization of the Jewish week, while the names of the pagans were given in the days. Christians joined their denominations to some official names of the days, in particular for Saturday and Sunday.
| Italian | Latin (Pagani) | Latin (Christians) |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | Solis dies | Dies dominica |
| Monday | Monday Day | Monday |
| Tuesday | Martis dies | On the third |
| Wednesday | Wednesday | Fourth |
| Thursday | Thursday Day | Fifth Fair |
| Friday | Friday Day | Sixth Fair |
| Saturday | Saturni this | Saturday |
| ( THE )
“The day of the gods, whose names of the Roman stars dedicated. For the first day from the sun, who are the chief of all the stars to the same day of the head of all the gods. According to the day of the moon called, which is from the sun, the light of the. The third star of Mars, the evening is called. Fourth of star Wednesday. Fifth by star Thursday. The sixth on Friday, the star, which is called the star, which is among all the stars of the greatest light. Septimus from the Star of Saturday, which is called his thirty years to fill out. The Hebrews first one day of the week, who are in our day, which the pagans dedicated. Saturday the seventh day from Sunday, which Pagani Saturn. » |
( IT )
«The days were called according to the gods with the names of which the Romans entitled the stars. The first of the days was dedicated to the sun, which was the prince of all the stars and was the day of all the gods. The second day was named after the moon, which receives light from the sun. The third to the star Mars, which is called Vespers (because it appears before evening). The fourth at the Mercury star. The fifth to the star Jupiter. The sixth to the star Venus, who call Lucifer, which has the greatest light among all the stars. The seventh on the STARNO star, who is said to use thirty years in his celestial journey. Among the Jews, however, the first day on Saturday is said, which the first day by us is the day of the Lord, that the pagans dedicated to the sun. On Saturday, that the pagans dedicated to Saturn, is, instead, the seventh day from that of the Lord,. ” |
| ( Isidoro di Seville, origin 5.30 ) | |
For the Romans, the day began to remove the sun: the time interval between the dawn and the sunset was divided into 12 hours ( Hours ).
In other words, the day’s light period was divided into 12 hours, regardless of whether you were in summer or winter. This implemented that the duration of the hours was variable: an hour at the equinox ” Roman “It lasted as much as an hour, while at the winter solstice it was shorter and in the longest summer one.
L’ Prima hour It was the first hour of dawn, the o’clock twelfth hour It was the last hour of light at sunset, while the median point identified the sixth hour O south (noon).
In military life the night was divided into 4 vigil ( first eve , the second watch , the third watch It is fourth eve ) or guard shifts, each of 3 hours on average. In civil life, more generic terms were used to indicate the various parts of the night.
An approximate table of correspondence of the hours is shown.
| Italian | Latino |
|---|---|
| From midnight to 3 | the third watch |
| From 3 to 6 | fourth eve |
| From 6 to 7 | Prima hour |
| From 7 to 8 | second hour |
| From 8 to 9 | the third hour |
| From 9 to 10 | Wednesday |
| From 10 to 11 | Fifth hour |
| From 11 to 12 | sixth hour |
| From 12 to 13 | Seventh hour |
| From 13 to 14 | Eighth hour |
| From 14 to 15 | ninth hour |
| From 15 to 16 | Tenth hour |
| From 16 to 17 | the eleventh hour |
| From 17 to 18 | o’clock twelfth hour |
| From 18 to 21 | first eve |
| From 9 pm to midnight | the second watch |
| From midnight to 3 | The third watch |
| From 3 to 6 | Fourth eve |
- ^ About the origin of a cycle of this type, a suggestive hypothesis even if without the consent of scientists is the one made by the Indian bramino Bal Gangadhar Tilak ( The arctic home in the see , Genoa, Ecig, 1994. ISBN 88-7545-605-4), according to which the ten-month Roman calendar was born at a population originally from a region near the Arctic, where the polar night lasted two months: in These two months the sun did not arise and therefore the relative days would not be counted. This same population would have given rise to the Veda, studying that Tilak came to this conclusion. In scientific environments this thesis is generally considered without foundation, but has had a certain favor in some traditionalist environments, pagans or not.
- ^ Ovid, Fasti, I, 30-34.
- ^ Calendar . are treccani.it . URL consulted on February 22, 2023 .
- ^ ( IN ) The Roman Calendar .
- ^ ( IN ) Tito Livio, Peroionae , 47, 13.
«”[47.13] In the five hundred and ninety-eighth year after the founding of the city, the consuls began to enter upon their office on 1 January.
[47.14] The cause of this change in the date of the elections was a rebellion in Hispania.”» - ^ a b c “Numa’s calendar” – Homolaicus.com . are homolaicus.com . URL consulted on June 20, 2018 (archived by URL Original on 20 June 2018) .
- ^ The era in which the correction was implemented is unknown: some scholars attributed it to the same Numa Pompilio, others to the Etruscan King of Rome Tarquinio Prisco, others still to the decemviri. Cf. New Italian Encyclopedia , which in turn refers to the VII Tomo del Thesaurus Antiquitatum Del Grezio (Utrecht, 1694, 12 volumes).
- ^ “The Giuliano calendar” – Homolaicus.com
- ^ Suetonius, Augustus , thirty first .
- ^ The word “calends” (in Latin calendae ) derives from the Latin drop , that is, “calling, convening”, as in these days the Romans summoned the people to ban parties, games, gabs and nefarious days. Le “none” (Latin ninth ) They were so -called because they were the ninth day before the idi (always counting both the day of departure and arrival). The term “idi” in Latin was male and in the singular it did idus and, more anciently, dentity , which according to traditional Latin etymology would derive from the verb of Etruscan origin IDUO “Divide”, because the idi divided the duration of the months in two. Modern philologists, however, rather put the word in relation to the Indo -European root idh “to shine”, so it would mean “the light of the full moon; plenilunio”. See the Etymological vocabulary of the Italian language by Ottorino Pianigiani, available in line up www.etimo.it .
- ^ Luigi Castiglioni, Scevola Mariotti, Vocabulary of the Latin language , and. Loescher, p. 2249-2250.
- ^ Luigi Castiglioni, Scevola Mariotti, Vocabulary of the Latin language , and. Loescher, pp. 2249-2250.
- ^ ( IN ) The ancient Roman calendar .
- ^ Nundine , in Great Italian dictionary , Garzanti linguistic.
- ^ The year completed days A, B, C; So in the new year until the eighth day there were days A, B, C, D, E.
- Jérôme Carcopino, Daily life in Rome
- Angelo Brelich, holiday calendars, Editori Riuniti University Press, Rome, 2015
- www.saturniaratellus.com, calendar, https://www.saturniatellus.com/kalendarium/
- Paolo Casolari, Rome inside , MMC Edizioni, Rome, 2013, pages 35-58, 275-298
Recent Comments