Re: The Great Metric Debate

azb@xxxxxxxxxx (Andrew Robert Breen) wrote:

Months were originally regular and derived from the phases of the moon
- so each month was 4 weeks. This didn't quite lead to a fit to the
year, so intercalendrical days were added in to make up the difference.
If these weren't added in at the right time then the calendar year
drifted relative to the seasons - as happened to the Roman calendar
during the later Republic. Step forward yer man Caesar, who had an
appreciation for things Egyptian, calendars included. This got a
system of (IIRC) alternating 30-day and 31-day months. Caesar then
gets stuck and after some unseemly scuffling enter Octavian, who
promptly goes into the shops and emerges repainted, renumbered and
renamed as Augustus. Caesar had a month of 31 days named after him, so
obviously Augustus (as his successor) must have the next month named
after him - and this month must also be of 31 days. February gets
a day pinched from it to compensate. Later on other emperors name
months after themselves (/think/ only the Julio-Claudians took advantage
of this perk, but can't be entirely sure of that - can't imagine the
Flavians or Trajians doing it, though!) which explains the cluster
of 31-day months and the short february.

All this from memory.


Wow! You remember as far back as Caesar?

;-)

But thanks for the history lesson.
.

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