Julian+Calendar

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 The Julian Calendar by Thalita Cortes    ====== =   Before the Julian calendar:   = Before the Julian calendar, the Romans did not have a concrete calendar due to the disorganization and corruption of Roman priests and politicians.    The year began in March and went until December, making a total of 10 months or 304 days. Around 600 BC, the Roman king Numa Pompilius added two months, January and February, to make the year approximately 354 days. However, it rarely worked out like that. Roman priests, whose duty it was to keep track of the calendar, were bribed by politicians who wished to stay in office longer. They often added extra days or even months to the year called Intercalaris or Mercedonius. As you can imagine, this led to much confusion among the people and the priests themselves. Because of so much disorganization, much of what we know about the Roman calendar prior to 45 BC is only speculation. Historians have based these conclusions on the //fasti,// a collection of about 200 fragments of the Roman calendar found to date.  Changes the Julian calendar made:  <span class="TextRun SCX29675086" style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: normal !important;">Convinced by Sosigenes, Julius Caesar decided to reform the calendar. He began by adding 90 days to the year 46 BC and decreed a cycle of three 365-days years followed by a 366-day leap year. However, up until 9 BC the priests in charge continued to make leap years every three years rather than four. In order to set this straight, the four year cycle was only put into practice around 8 AD, making it so that a leap year was on every year divisible by four. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: normal !important;"><span class="TextRun SCX29675086" style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: normal !important;">Though the Julian calendar has been replaced by the Gregorian, this four-year cycle is still used today. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: normal !important;"> Roman numbering of days:  <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 8pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: normal !important;"><span class="TextRun SCX29675086" style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: normal !important;">The Romans did not number days like we do today. Instead, they determined the date in relation to three marked days on each month, the Kalends, Nones, and the Ides. The Kalends was always the first of each month, signaling the beginning of the moon’s cycle. The Nones came on the day of the half moon, usually the 5 <span class="TextRun SCX29675086" style="font-size: 9.5pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: super; word-wrap: normal !important;">th <span class="TextRun SCX29675086" style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: normal !important;"> of the month. The Ides came on the full moon, usually the 13 <span class="TextRun SCX29675086" style="font-size: 9.5pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: super; word-wrap: normal !important;">th <span class="TextRun SCX29675086" style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: normal !important;">. However, on the 31-day months (March, May, July, October), the Nones and the Ides came two days later- the 7th and the 15th respectively. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto; word-wrap: normal !important;"><span class="TextRun SCX29675086" style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: normal !important;">When speaking about a particular day, a Roman would name it in relation to one of these three days. For example, May 3 was "antediem V Nonem Maius" or "five days before the Nones of May." <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-size: 8pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto; word-wrap: normal !important;">

<span class="TextRun SCX29675086" style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: normal !important;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-size: 12pt; height: 100%; line-height: 24pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 100%;"><span style="display: block; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"> Bibliography <span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: -3em; word-wrap: normal !important;">"The Christian Calendar | Calendars." // Webexhibits //. 2008. Web. 02 May 2011. <http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-christian.html>.Gill, N. S. "Roman Calendar Terminology." // About.com //. Web. 02 May 2011. <http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/calendars/a/romcalterm.htm>."Julian Calendar -- from Eric Weisstein's World of Astronomy." // ScienceWorld //. Wolfram Research. Web. 02 May 2011. <http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/JulianCalendar.html>."The Julian Calendar." // Sir Thomas Browne //. 2008. Web. 02 May 2011. <http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/juliancalendar.html>."The Roman Calendar." // Timeanddate.com //. Web. 02 May 2011. <http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/roman-calendar.html>.