Roman Calendar - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition roman-calendar

Definition :

The calendar of the ancient Romans from which our modern calendars are derived It is said to have consisted originally of ten months Martius Aprilis Maius Junius Quintilis Sextilis September October November and December having a total of 304 days Numa added two months Januarius at the beginning of the year and Februarius at the end making in all 355 days He also ordered an intercalary month Mercedinus to be inserted every second year Later the order of the months was changed so that January should come before February Through abuse of power by the pontiffs to whose care it was committed this calendar fell into confusion It was replaced by the Julian calendar In designating the days of the month the Romans reckoned backward from three fixed points the calends the nones and the ides The calends were always the first day of the month The ides fell on the 15th in March May July Quintilis and October and on the 13th in other months The nones came on the eighth day the ninth counting the ides before the ides Thus Jan 13 was called the ides of January Jan 12 the day before the ides and Jan 11 the third day before the ides since the ides count as one while Jan 14 was the 19th day before the calends of February