Calendar of the ancient Romans. History of the calendar, names of months and days
July is a hot month of midsummer, a time of active agricultural work for peasants and a pleasant holiday for the nobility. The month is hot in different senses; it is named after one of the most prominent politicians of all times, Julius Caesar.
14th century Saints whose feast days fall in the first half of July: St. Swithun, St. Martin, St. Thomas, St. Benedict, St. Mildred, St. Kenelm, St. Margaret. Astrological and church calendar in six parts / 14th century, late. Astrological and ecclesiastical calendar in six pieces. MS. Rawl. D. 939, Section 2c (verso), detail. Bodleian Library. Manuscript. Parchment. Country or nationality of origin: English. Image description: Feasts in July: St. Swithin, St. Martin, St. Thomas, St. Benedict, St. Mildred, St. Kenelm, St. Margaret.
In republican ancient Rome, July was called Quintilis from quintus - fifth. Quintilis was renamed in honor of the great reformer Julius Caesar, who was born this month, and became known as Julius mensis - “month of Julius”. Therefore, first a short story about the Roman chronology. Moreover, our word “calendar” comes from the Roman word “calends”.
Initially in Rome the year was divided into ten months. It was believed that this was the work of the mind and hands of Romulus himself, the founder of Rome. The year began on March 1st.
The Roman calendar acted as a journal for recording civil time. Founded by the great pontiff, it indicated for each month the trading period - letters A to H, lucky F and unlucky N days, religious holidays - NP, dates of popular assemblies - C.
The Romans recorded only three days in a month: Kalends, Nones, and Ides, each of which corresponded to the beginning of a new lunar phase. On these days, the months were divided into three unequal parts.
Kalends / Calendae - from the Latin calare - to call, hence the word “calendar”. Kalends is the first day of each month, the beginning of a new moon. Kalends were the days when the pontiffs declared the moving holidays of the month, as well as the days for the payment of debts recorded in debt books - calendaria.
The determination of the beginning of the month was entrusted to a special priest, and later to the Supreme Pontiff, who monitored the new moon from a special ritual building on the Capitoline Hill and solemnly announced it to the people, and heralds publicly called it out in the squares.
The nones, the first quarter of the moon, fell on the fifth or seventh day, 9 days before the full moon. The Ides corresponded to the full moon and fell on the thirteenth or fifteenth day of the month.
15.
Calendar pages for July, from the Hours of Joanna of Castile, Netherlands (Bruges), between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 7v-8
Work in the fields is in full swing. The annual wheat harvest is underway. All the men work with their sleeves rolled up, and some without pants. On the page on the right, farmers are carrying their harvested crops into a log barn.
16.
Between 1412 and 1416 or around 1440. July, folio 7, verso. Magnificent book of hours of the Duke of Berry / Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. Brothers Limburg (Paul?) or Barthelemy d'Eyck(?) (c. 1420-after 1470). Parchment, gouache, watercolor, gilding. 29x21 cm. Condé Museum, Chantilly via
The July miniature from the Magnificent Book of Hours of the Duke of Berry shows the harvest and shearing of sheep. Two peasants in wide-brimmed straw hats are cutting ripe ears of corn with sickles, among which weeds are visible - red poppies and blue cornflowers. In the right foreground, a woman in a blue dress and a man are shearing sheep. A stream flowing among willows and reeds flows into the River Clan and separates two scenes of earthly labors. Beyond the arable field, at the foot of the mountains, lies a castle with a roof covered with slate. This is most likely the Castle of Poitiers/Château de Poitiers, erected by order of the Duke of Berry at the end of the 14th century on the banks of the Maple River in Poitou and which does not exist today.
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 on the Esquiline Hill, 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, gladiator 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 solar 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 the 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.Each year is divided into 4 seasons, and each season into 3 months. As a result, every year we live 12 months and each of them is unique in its own way and is associated for us with different events. Naturally, each month has its own unique name. Do you know where these names came from? In this article we will tell you about the origin of the names of the months.
1. January. The first month of the new year received its name in honor of the god Janus - the god of time, doors and gates. Symbolically, this can be deciphered as “Door to the New Year.”
2. February. February has always been considered the coldest month of the year. It is not for nothing that in the times of the Slavs it was called lute (“severe frost”). But the month of February itself is named after the Etruscan god Februus, the god of the underworld.
3. March. The first month of spring was named after the ancient Roman god of war, Mars, father of Romulus. But what does spring and the god of war have to do with it? and despite the fact that Mars was not only the god of war, but also the god of cultivators and rural workers. The ancient Slavs called this month “thawed area” because the snow began to melt and the first thawed patches appeared.
4. April. This month was again named after the ancient god, or rather the ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite. In this month, everything blooms, a spring mood appears, which is why the Slavs also called this month pollen and birch.
5. May. The warmest month of spring was again named after the goddess, or rather the ancient Roman goddess Maia, who personified the fertile earth and blossoming nature. The Slavs called this month “Traven”.
6. June. The first summer month was named after the famous Roman goddess Juno, who was the wife of Jupiter, the goddess of fertility, the mistress of rain and the guardian of marriage. The Slavs called this month izok (“grasshopper”) or cherven.
7. July. The hottest summer month was named, surprisingly, not in honor of a god or goddess, but in honor of the well-known Roman emperor. Before this, July was called “Quintilius,” which meant “Fifth,” and it was fifth because previously the year began not in January, but in March.
8. August. The name of this month also comes from the famous Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus. Before this, the month was called “Sextile,” which meant (I think everyone understood) “Sixth.” As mentioned earlier, the year in the Roman calendar used to begin in March, which is why August was the sixth month. The Slavs called this month “Serpen”, i.e. time to mow the grass.
9. September. The name simply came from the word “Seven” (Septem - September). I think there is no need to comment here. Everything has been said above. Our ancestors called this month “Gloomy” due to the fact that during this month the sky began to frown.
10. October. Everything is similar here. The fantasy is over. The number “Eight” in Latin was pronounced “Octo”, hence October (October), i.e. eighth month. The Slavs also called kneading simply - Listopad.
11. November. No comments. Novem was translated as “Nine”, i.e. ninth month (November).
12. December. The first winter month and the last month of the outgoing year! But it was also named after its serial number “Tenth” (Decem - December).
And what do we see? The first 6 months were named in honor of the ancient Gods and Goddesses, the two summer months were named in honor of the ancient Roman emperors, and the last four did not have names, so they have serial numbers. But nevertheless, this is a very interesting topic and you now know the origin of the names of all the months.
12.3. Calendars of Ancient Rome. Julian calendar.
Gregorian calendar
In ancient Rome, the calendar first appeared in VIII V. BC e., he was lunar. The year consisted of 10 months, and there were 304 days in a year. The year began on the first day of the first spring month. Initially, all months were designated by numerals, then they received names:
· Martius– in honor of the god of war and the patron saint of agriculture and cattle breeding, Mars, agricultural work began this month (31 days);
· Aprilis– aperire (lat.) – to grow, to open (29 days);
· Mayus– in honor of the goddess of beauty and growth Maya (31 days);
· Junius– in honor of the goddess of fertility Juno (29 days);
· Quintilis– fifth month (31 days);
· Sextile– sixth (29 days);
· September– seventh (29 days);
· October– eighth (31 days);
· November– ninth (29 days);
· December– tenth (29 days).
The superstitious Romans were afraid of even numbers, so each month consisted of 29 or 31 days. IN V II century BC e. - calendar reform, a lunar-solar calendar was created, which had 355 days, divided into 12 months. Two new months:
· Januarius– in honor of the two-faced god Janus (31 days);
· Februarius– month of purification, in honor of the god of the dead and the underworld Februarius (29 days).
Kalends- the first day of each month in the ancient Roman calendar.
Nones– 7th day of long months, 5th day of short months.
Ides– 15th day of long, 13th day of short months. Counting days by Kalends, Nones and Ides is a trace of the lunar calendar. The Kalends are the day of the new moon, the Nones are the day of the first quarter of the moon, and the Ides are the day of the full moon.
In order to bring the year as close as possible to the tropical one (365 and 1/4 days), once every two years they began to introduce an additional month between February 23 and 24 - marcedonia (from the Latin word “marces” - payment), initially equal to 20 days. All cash payments for the past year were supposed to be completed this month. However, this measure failed to eliminate the discrepancy between the Roman and tropical years.
Therefore in V V. BC. The Romans, following the example of the Greek calendar, introduced an 8-year cycle, changing it slightly. The Greeks had 3 extended years every 8 years, while the Romans introduced a 4-year cycle with two extended years. Marcedonium began to be administered twice every four years, alternating 22 and 23 additional days. Thus, the average year in this 4-year cycle was equal to 366 days and became longer than the tropical year by approximately 3/4 days. To eliminate this discrepancy, the priests were given the right to correct the calendar and decide what insertions to make into it. Intercolation- the introduction of an additional month, the duty of priests - pontiffs. Using their right to introduce additional days and months into the calendar, the priests confused the calendar so much that in the 1st century. BC. There is an urgent need for its reform.
Julian calendar . Such a reform was carried out in 46 BC. e. on the initiative of Julius Caesar. The reformed calendar became known as the Julian calendar in his honor. The calendar reform was based on the astronomical knowledge accumulated by the Egyptians. An Egyptian astronomer from Alexandria, Sosigenes, was invited to create a new calendar. The reformers faced the same task - to bring the Roman year as close as possible to the tropical one and thereby maintain constant correspondence of certain days of the calendar with the same seasons.
The Egyptian year of 365 days was taken as a basis, but it was decided to introduce an additional day every four years. Thus, the average year in a 4-year cycle became equal to 365 days and 6 hours. Sosigenes retained the number of months and their names, but the length of the months was increased to 30 and 31 days. An additional day began to be added to February, which had 28 days, and was inserted between the 23rd and 24th, where marcedonium had previously been inserted.
As a result, in such an extended year a second 24th day appeared, and since the Romans counted the day in an original way, determining how many days remained until a certain date of each month, this additional day turned out to be the second sixth before the March calendars (before March 1). In Latin, such a day was called bisectus - second sixth ("bis - twice, again, sexto - six").
In Slavic pronunciation, this term sounded slightly different, and the word “leap year” appeared in Russian, and the extended year began to be called leap year year.
January 1 began to be considered the beginning of the year, since on this day the consuls began to perform their duties. Subsequently, the names of some months were changed: in 44 BC. e. Quintilis began to be called July in honor of Julius Caesar in 8 BC. sextile - August in honor of Emperor Octavian Augustus. Due to the change in the beginning of the year, the ordinal names of some months lost their meaning, for example, the tenth month (“December - December”) became the twelfth.
The Julian calendar is purely solar. In the Julian calendar, the year became longer than the tropical one by only 11 minutes 14 seconds. The Julian calendar lagged behind the tropical year by one day every 128 years. Initially, the Julian calendar was used only in Rome. In 325, the first Ecumenical Council of Nicaea decided to consider this calendar mandatory for all Christian countries. The Julian calendar was adopted in Byzantium on September 1, 550 AD. e. In the 10th century switched to Rus'.
Gregorian calendar . In the Julian calendar, the average length of the year was 365 days 6 hours, therefore, it was longer than the tropical year (365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds) by 11 minutes 14 seconds. This difference, accumulating annually, led after 128 years to an error of one day, after 384 years - to 3 days, and after 1280 years to 10 days. As a result, the day of the vernal equinox was March 24 during the time of Julius Caesar in the 1st century. BC.; March 21 – at the Council of Nicaea in I V V. n. e.; March 11 at the end of X V I century, and this threatened in the future the movement of the main holiday of the Christian church - Easter from spring to summer. This affected religious and economic life. Easter was supposed to be celebrated after the spring equinox - March 21 and no later than April 25. Again the need arose for calendar reform. The Catholic Church carried out a new reform in 1582 under Pope Gregory XIII.
A special commission of clergy and scientific astronomers was created. The author of the reform project was the Italian scientist - doctor, mathematician and astronomer Aloysius Lilio. The reform was supposed to solve two main problems: firstly, to eliminate the accumulated difference of 10 days between the calendar and tropical years and will prevent this error in the future, and secondly, to bring the calendar year as close as possible to the tropical one, so that in the future the difference between them would not be noticeable.
The first problem was solved administratively: a special papal bull ordered October 5, 1582 to be counted as October 15. Thus, the spring equinox returned to March 21.
The second problem was solved by reducing the number of leap years in order to reduce the average length of the Julian calendar year. Every 400 years, 3 leap years were removed from the calendar. 1600 remained a leap year in the new calendar, and 1700, 1800 and 1900. became simple. According to the Gregorian calendar, years whose numbers end in two zeros began to be considered leap years only if the first two digits are divisible by 4 without a remainder. The calendar year became closer to the tropical one because the difference of three days, which accumulated every 400 years, was discarded.
The new Gregorian calendar created was much more advanced than the Julian calendar. Each year now lagged behind the tropical one by only 26 seconds, and the discrepancy between them in one day accumulated after 3323 years. Such a lag has no practical significance.
The Gregorian calendar was initially introduced in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and the Southern Netherlands, then in Poland, Austria, the Catholic states of Germany and several other European countries. The introduction of the Gregorian calendar encountered fierce opposition from the clergy of those churches that compete with the Catholic Church. The Orthodox, Anglican, and Protestant churches, citing church dogmas and theological interpretations, declared the Gregorian calendar to be contrary to the teachings of the apostles.
In 1583, a church council was convened in Constantinople, which recognized the inaccuracy of the Julian reckoning of time. But the new calendar was not recognized as correct. The advantage was left to the old Julian calendar, as it was more consistent with the definition of the day of Easter. According to the Gregorian system of counting time, it became possible for the day of the celebration of Christian and Jewish Easter to coincide, which, according to the apostolic rules, was strictly prohibited. In those states where the Orthodox Christian Church dominated, the Julian calendar was used for a long time. For example, in Bulgaria a new calendar was introduced only in 1916, in Serbia in 1919. In Russia, the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1918; the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of January 24 prescribed that the day following January 31 should be considered not February 1, but February 14.
The relationship between the Julian (old style) and Gregorian calendars (new style) . The difference between them is not a constant value, but is constantly increasing. B X V I century, when the reform was carried out, it was 10 days, and in the twentieth century. it was already equal to 13 days. How did this accumulation occur? 1700 was a leap year according to the Julian calendar, but simple according to the Gregorian calendar, since 17 cannot be divided by 4 without a remainder. Thus, the difference between the calendars increased to 11 days. Similarly, the next increase in the discrepancy between them occurred in 1800 (up to 12 days), and then in 1900 (up to 13 days). In 2000, the difference remained the same, since this year is a leap year in both calendars, and will reach 14 days only in 2100, which will be a leap year according to the Julian calendar, but simple according to the Gregorian calendar.
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 assigned 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, the Roman calendar numbered 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 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 supposedly 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, and put February 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 measure 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 at all interesting 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 learn 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 set 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...”.
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