Early Roman Calendars
    Much of the knowledge we now have about early Roman calendars came from Ovid, a Roman born in 43 B.C., and from Plutarch, a Greek biographer who wrote between 105 and 115 A.D. 1   Both of them had access to historical documents that are no longer extant. Ovid claimed that his information was "dug up in archaic calendars," 2 so it was already ancient two thousand years ago.
         According to Plutarch, during Rome's beginning years their calendar was in wild disarray. He said that months at the time of Rome's origin were of varying lengths, some as short as twenty days and others with thirty-five or longer in what early Romans believed was a year of three hundred and sixty days. 3 
         We can assume that the Roman calendar was brought from their birthplace by Rome's original citizens. Their calendar early on contained only ten months. Romulus, the legendary first king, was said to have made extensive changes to month lengths, assigning twenty-nine days to some and thirty-one to others. If you are interested in legends, you might want to read Romulus in Mythology.
   View a footnote
        Both Ovid and Plutarch made it clear that Martius, originally the first month, was named after Mars, the Roman god of war. Six of the other original ten were simply numbered as Quintilis thru Decembris (fifth thru tenth) but there were already disagreements when Ovid wrote, two thousand years ago, as to the sources of names for what were originally the second thru fourth months, Aprilis, Maius and Junius. These disagreements continue to the present time.
        When writing about April, which in the Julian Calendar was the fourth month, Ovid said "I have come to the fourth month, full of honor for you; Venus, you know both the poet and the month are yours." 4 A later researcher also pointed out that "April was sacred to Venus, and her festival—the Festum Veneris and Fortuna Virilis—occurred on the first day of this month. Apparently Aprilis stems from aphrilis, corrupted from Aphrodite, a Greek name for Venus. Jakob Grimm, a later authority, opposed this stating it may have originated from the name of a hypothetical god or hero named Aper or Aprus." 5
        Maius was said by some to be named after the goddess Maia, a daughter of Atlas, and Junius "is indirectly named after the goddess Juno, the Roman equivalent of Frigga." 6 Ovid suggested that names of months we now call May and June possibly refer not to sky-gods but rather to elders and young men. 7   Still another opinion is that the original second, third and fourth months were named to reflect the growth stages of crops and cattle.
        There was also disagreement in Ovid's day as to the sequence and time at which Januarius, Februarius and Mercedinus were added to the original ten months.
         When Januarius became part of the calendar is an open question. It might have been either before or shortly after Rome was founded because Plutarch said that Numa, the king who followed Romulus, made it the first month of the year. This statement is disputed by one writer who claims that the month was a creation of Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth Etruscan king of Rome, who made Januarius the first month and returned Decembris to the last. 8
         January was named after Janus, a sky-god who was ancient even at the time of Rome's founding. Ovid quoted Janus as saying "The ancients called me chaos, for a being from of old am I." After describing the world's creation, he again quoted Janus: "It was then that I, till that time a mere ball, a shapeless lump, assumed the face and members of a god."
         A Lydian named Joannes identified Janus as a planet when he wrote: "Our own Philadelphia still preserves a trace of the ancient belief. On the first day of the month there goes in procession no less a personage than Janus himself, dressed up in a two-faced mask, and people call him Saturnus, identifying him with Kronos."
         Early Romans believed that the beginning of each day, month and year were sacred to Janus. They thought he opened the gates of heaven at dawn to let out the morning, and that he closed them at dusk. This eventually led to his worship as the god of all doors, gates, and entrances.
         Apparently Februarius, when adopted, had but 23 days—traditionally the 23rd day of that month was the end of the calendar year. 9   That could indicate Februarius was observed in pre-Romulan times when months had as few as twenty days. Also, adding five days at year-end (to extend February's length to 28) is similar to the change made by many other peoples who, around the time of Rome's founding, added five days to their own calendar, but did not consider them to be part of the year. 10  
         Februarius got its name from a goatskin thong called a februa ("means of purification") and from the Latin verb for its use, februare, meaning to "expiate" or "purify." On the 15th day of this month Romans observed the festival of Lupercalia. During the festival, a februa was wielded by priests who used it to beat women in the belief that it would make a barren woman fertile.
         The "Month of Purification" may have been so named because it was at its close that the difference between calendar and natural year lengths were reconciled. This notion is supported by the fact that, through many revisions, whenever and however the Roman Calendar was modified to correspond to year length, it was always done after the 23rd day of February, traditionally the last day of the year. Even in our time leap year is observed with a 29-day February. To purists, February 24th rather than 29th is "leap day."
     February, 1998
         Plutarch wrote: "Numa...added an intercalary month, to follow February, consisting of twenty-two days, and called by the Romans the month Mercedinus. This amendment, however, itself, in course of time, came to need other amendments." 11
         Others claim that it wasn't until 452 B.C. that a month named Intercalaris was added to the Roman calendar. This month also began after the 23rd day of Februarius. It was observed every second year and was said to have had a length of either 22 or 23 days with the remaining five days of Februarius added after them. 12
        Shown on the right is a Roman Calendar wall painting for the months of Januarius, Februarius and Martius. It was created after the time January and February became the first two months of the year. Each day in their eight-day marketing week is identified by one of the letters A thru H on the far left side of each month's column.
        On the top line between day letter and abbreviation for month name is a "k•," short for kalendae, the name Romans gave the first day of each month. You can see that the first day of January was identified with the letter A. Special days were indicated by red letters including an A for the first day of each nine day period or an F or N with some other days. This may well be the source of our own term "Red Letter Days." You can read about the meaning of these letters at a page on the web. 13
        Roman Numerals for 29, 28 and 31 at the bottom of the painting indicate the number of days in those first three months in the old Roman Republican Calendar.
        In 45 B.C., Romans finally created a calendar that did not require intercalation of an extra month, but still kept in pace with seasons. They accomplished this with their Julian Calendar. It featured revised month lengths that brought the calendar's total to 365 days, making it truly solar. This change was accompanied by addition of an extra day every fourth year because of the almost six extra hours beyond 365 days in a tropical year.
   Januarius thru Martius.
Prior pages in this series were:
An Introduction to Calendars
Days and Weeks
Months and Years
Calendar Structures
360 - The Trial
8th to 4th Century B.C. Calendar Changes

Following sections concern:
Julian Calendar
Octavian's Changes
Gregorian Calendar
Fixed-Week Calendar

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Last revision:  April 25, 1998
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