July and August 2013English_rev1
'July' Is For Julius
The Roman Senate named the month of July after Julius Caesarto honor him for reforming their calendar, which had degenerated into a chaotic embarrassment. Bad calculations caused the months to drift wildly across the seasons—January, for example, had begun to fall in the autumn. The high priest in charge of the calendar, the pontifex maximus, had b
Effective January 1, 45 B.C.
The new calendar went into effect on the first day of January 709 A.U.C. (ab urbe condita—"from the founding of the city [Rome]")—January 1, 45 B.C.—and put an end to the arbitrary and inaccurate nature of the early Roman system. The Julian calendar became the predominant calendar throughout Europe for the next 1600 years until Pope Gregory made fu
Augustus For 'August'
After Julius's grandnephew Augustus defeated Marc Antony and Cleopatra, and became emperor of Rome, the Roman Senate decided that he too should have a month named after him. The month Sextillus(sex = six) was chosen for Augustus, and the senate justified its actions in the following resolution: Not only did the Senate name a month after Augustus, b
For Further Reading
Calendar: Humanity's Epic Struggle to Determine a True and Accurate Year,David Ewing Duncan (New York: Avon, 1998). infoplease.com
