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| Commemorative coin in honor of Numa Pompilius |
According
to Plutarch, the Roman calendar was established by the second king of Rome,
Numa Pompilius (753-674 BC), who at first divided the year into ten months, beginning
in March, and gave numerical names to the fifth to tenth months, but later
added two extra months (January and February), and moved the beginning of the
year to January 1st. The months of the early Roman calendar, therefore, were
these:
Ianuarius, Februarius, Martius, Aprilis, Maius,
Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November and December.
It will be noted that, by adding two months at the beginning, the numbers of
the fifth to tenth months became seventh to twelfth, but the names were already
fixed and nobody bothered to correct them and adapt to the new situation.
Plutarch comments on the origin of the month names:
The first
month, consecrated by Romulus to Mars, was called Martius, and the second
Aprilis, named after Aphrodite, who is Venus, because in this month sacrifices
are made to this Goddess... The next month is called Maius, after Maia, as it
is devoted to Mercury [son of Maia]; and Iunius is named after the goddess Juno. But there
are some who argue that they take their denomination from the oldest and the youngest;
because the eldest are called maiores, and the youngest iuniores...
The first, Ianuarius, comes from Janus [the god of the
doors].
The
Roman months were lunar, alternating 28 and 29 days. As twelve lunar months
fall short of the year by more than 11 days, from time to time an additional
month was added (the thirteenth month), but a regular system was not
established for the addition, as they did in Babylon and Greece. The decision
to add the additional month was taken by the pontifex maximus, the
main religious authority. But this position was political and fell under the
party game, which was especially virulent in the last years of the republic. As
the political magistracies lasted a year, the additional month was inserted when
the pontifex wished to prolong the government of the party holding power, and
omitted it when the magistrates belonged to the opposite party. The result was chaotic. By mid-first century
B.C., the total error amounted to eighty days, almost a season.
