Roman Civilization

CMS 206 /History 206

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I. Years in History

A. two ways to count years

1. From fixed reference:

• e.g. "birth of Christ" - 2002 CE
• Romans: from foundation of the city ("ab urbe condita")
  • Varro (Roman scholar, general and politician in 1st century BCE) argued that Rome was founded in 753 BCE, based on records dating the Greek Olympic festivals (lists documenting the winners survive from 776 BCE)
  • He was required to estimate the length of reigns of Rome's earliest kings [Rome was a monarchy from its foundation until the very late 6th century) - since these kings were figures as much of myth and legend as they were of history (e.g., Romulus) not clear how much we should rely on the analysis - on the other hand, he appears to have been roughly in the right neighborhood according to archeological evidence.
  • NB - Varro didn't live until the end of the Republic, what did Romans do to count years before he came along?

2. From identity of holders of political office [regnal dating}

• during the Republic and throughout the empire, Romans named their years according to the name of the politicians who held the office of consul (the two leading magistrates of the Republic);
  • e.g., Romans didn't say "63 BCE." They said "in the year when Cicero and Antonius were consuls"; cf. "during the Regan years"
• It was not until 537 CE when the Emperor Justinian declared that years should be dated from the year of the emperor's reign (e.g., in the 40th year of the reign of Justinian)

II. Months in the year

A. The original calendar

1. Was originally 10 months
2. The "New Year" festival was celebrated in March,
3. Remnants seen in our month names:

   e.g.: September = "seventh" month (when March is the first); same for October ( = "eighth" month); November( = "ninth" month); and December ( = "tenth" month)

4. versions of calendar history
   1. Romulus [founder of Rome] introduced a 304 day calendar of 10 months (each of different length) plus a "between the years" period every winter [believe it or not, there is more evidence for this version]
   2. Romulus introduced a 360 day calendar with 30 day months
   3. Numa [second king of Rome] reformed version 1
      1. added 50 days to make a 354 day calendar
      2. then added a bonus day because as a proto - Pythagorian, he was susperstitious about even numbers
      3. added an "intercalated" month every other year at the end of February of 22 days [caled Interclaris or mercedonius]
      4. Added and named "Januaris" and "Februarius" [hotly debated] although it's not clear if he meant for these to begin or end the year

B. First Reform

1. Probably introduced under Etruscan rule of Rome, certainly before 509 BCE
   • Oldest calendars don't refer to the feast of Jupiter Capitolinus ("Jupiter of the Capitol"); we know the temple to Jupiter Capitolinus was built in 509 BCE.
2. The "New Year" festival was celebrated in March.
3. Consuls enter office on March 15
4. nb: after Republic established, Romans adopt dating by reference to consulships
5. Roman priests would days to the end of February to keep the calendar in sync with the seasons [similar to Numa's system"]. In periods of crisis (Punic wars), the pontiffs appeared very attentive and the calendar stayed in tune with the solar year. In less troubled times they appear to have been sloppy or political (prolonging the year would keep a consul in office). By 190, the calendar was ahead of the seasons by 119 days (e.g., spring planting festivals were falling in early winter).

C. Second Reform

1. Around 153 BCE (if not earlier), the New Year's Festival transferred to January 1st.
2. Coordinated religious calendar with political (consuls took office on 1/1)
3. The year consisted of 355 days.
   • March, May, July and October had 31 days [the "long months"]
   • February had 28 days
   • The rest had 29 days
4. The calendar continued to all out of sync with the solar year.
   1. The College of Pontiffs when necessary announced the addition of the month of Mercedonius or Intercalaris, a month of 22 or 23 days.
5. For various reasons (sometimes political) the College would permit the calendar to fall grossly out of sync with the solar year [i.e., "New Year" would fell in October in 46 BCE].

D. Julian Reform

1. Julius Caesar, during the ultimus annus confusionis, (he had to intercalate two months, totaling of 90 days) announced a reform of the calendar that took effect on January 1, 45 BCE. [He happened to hold the religious office of Pontifex Maximus, and was sole consul this year, and thus had the authority to do so).
2. Readjusted the number of days in various months
   1. January, March, May, July, September and November - 31 days
   2. February - 29 days (30 in leap years)
   3. all others [April, June, August, October]- 30 days
3. Introduced the "leap" year
4. The modern calendar we used is a further (but minor) reform of Caesar's, promulgated by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582.
   1. NB: not everyone accepted the Gregorian reforms (which occured after Henry VIII's divorce). Britain, Russia, Turkey refused to accept this "Catholic" reform for quite a while. This led to confusing dating in the west."
   2. e.g., George Washington's father wrote in the family bible: "George Washington, son to Augustine and Mary his wife, was born ye 11th day of February 1731/32....." We record GW's brithday as February 22 (the Gregorian date). By the 18th century, however, so many countries used the Gregorian system (which England did adopt in 1753) that countries that persisted in the Julian Calendar had to "double date" [1731/32] so everyone could figure out the exact day they were refering to.
   3. Then, in 1968, Congress announced that GW's birthday would be "observed" on the third Monday in February. This is great for three day weekends, but ensures that we never celebrate GW's birthday on his actual birthday (whether under the Julian or Gregorian systems).

III. Days in the Month

 

A. No system of sequential numbering of days (e.g., "1st" or "10th" or "30th" of a month).

B. Each month had three fixed days from which all other days were counted (inclusively)

1. Kalends:
   • Always the first day of the month.
2. Nones
   • Always nine days before the Ides
   • Long months (March, May, July and October) fell on seventh day of the month
   • Other months, fell on fifth day of month
3. Ides:
   1. Always the day of the full moon in the lunar month.
   2. Long months (March, May, July and October) fell on 15th day of the month (remember the Ides of March)
   3. Other months, fell on 13th day of month

C. All days other days were called by the number of days they fell before the Kalends, Nones or Ides (counting inclusively).

1. E.g. The day we would call April 21st (the anniversary of the foundation of Rome), the Romans called "ante diem decem Kalendas Maias" &endash; 10 days before the Kalends of May.
2. Note, even though we would count "nine" days from the 21st of April to the 1st of May, the Romans counted "ten" because the counted inclusively (i.e., they included the days they were naming in the count - we just count the days between the day we start with and the day we are naming).
   • [Remember - before JC, April had 29 days].

D. Examples

1. The Nones of April = April 5th
2. December 25th = 6 days before the Kalends of January
3. Ides of June = June 13th

E. No "weeks"

1. 7-day system via Babylonian, then Jewish, then Christian cultures not adopted until 321 CE.

2. However, by the age of Augustus, Romans were aware of "seven day systems" because they had expanded their empire to the middle east where the discovered

a. Jewish 7day system - Sabbath = day of atonement purification

b. native pagans named days after seven visible planets and associated planets with gods (e.g., Mercury, Saturn) - French week preserves alot of these names:

• Monday - lundi - The moon's day
• Tuesday - mardi - Mars' day
• Wednesday - mercredi - Mercury's day
• Thursday - jeudi - Jupiter's day
• Friday - vendredi - Venus' day
• Saturday - samedi - Saturn's day
• Sunday - dimanche - The Lord's Day [Judeo-Christian intrusion?]

c.Romans tended to accept local systems as they took over countries. Roman leaders, diplomats and soldiers, accordingly, would have become increasingly familiar with 7 day week as they established 'eastern empire." They would also have not tried to impose Roman 8 day system on local inhabitants of eastern provinces.

d. evidence of use of 7 day weeks in Italy appears by end of Republic. By 200 CE, it appears to have been commonly used throughout Roman empire.

3. Constantine in 324 declared "Sunday" - the Christian sabbath, a day of rest

4. In 386, Theodosius I, aboloshed the Roman Fasti (calendar) described above and declared Sunday a "holy day."

 

IV. The Days of a Nundinum

A. In addition to dividing the year into months, the Roman Calendar divided the year into nundina.

1. Every eigth day in Rome was a nundinae - or market day.
2. The period between market days was a nundinum. Each day of the nundinum was marked on the calendar by the letters A -H.
3. January 1 (the Kalends) was always an "A" and on January 9th (5 days before the Ides of January), the cycle would start over.
4. The numbering of nundinae continued over the beginning of a new month. i.e., January 29th was an "E." February 1st was an "F."
5. These letters are called "nundial" letters.

B. Holidays, Business Days, and Black letter days

1. Roman calendars, in addition to marking the nundinae, also contained letters that indicated what type of public business could be transacted on a given day. There were accordingly, types of days.
2. dies fasti - days on which Romans could initiate law suits. These were marked on calendars by the letter "F." Originally there were only 42 days in the pre-Julian calendar marked "F," but by the first century B.C.E., all nundinae were deemed dies fasti - so folks could sue a lot more. [Note, trials could continue on days that were not dies fasti (unless they were dies nefasti - see below), but they could only start on dies fasti.]
3. dies comitiales - days on which the Roman assemblies (comitia) could meet, were marked by the letter "C." There were 195 dies comitiales in the pre-Julian calendar. If a dies comitiales fell on a nundinae, however, the assemblies could not meet. Nor could the assemblies if they fell on certain kinds of religious holidays (feriae conceptivae or imperativae). While assemblies could in theory meet if the dies comitiales fell on days when the Games were being held, no one in their right mind would ever go. Finally, if a day was marked "C" in the calendar, but none of the assemblies wanted to meet, the dies comitiales turned into a dies fasti, and folks could sue instead.
4. dies nefasti - days which were the opposite of dies fasti and dies comitiales were marked by the letter, "N." There 58 days dies nefasti in the pre-Julian calendar. Dies nefasti were the opposite of dies fasti and dies comitiales. On these days Romans were forbidden to initiate lawsuits or meet in assembly.
5. dies endotercissi - were days which were nefasti in the morning and evening, but fasti during the rest of the day [endotercissi means 'cut up']. These were marked "EN" on the pre-Julian calendar and there were only 8 in the year.
6. dies nefasti publici - Actually, we're not quite sure if this was the name of these days. But we do know that they were marked "NP" on the pre-Julian calendar 49 times during the year. It seems that these days were reserved for general public holidays on which religious feasts were held for the benefit of the entire population (as opposed to local religious holidays). You were supposed to take the day off, give your slaves the day off and try to avoid suing anyone - but no law forbade you or ordered you to do these things.
7. dies religiosi - or "days of ill-omen" were not marked on the calendar. They were days when it was considered wrong or unlucky to do any public business unless you absolutely had to. A day which was the anniversary of some great disaster would be considered a dies religiosi and people would think you were nuts if you tried to call an assembly or start a lawsuit. Cicero, for example, delayed the ceremonies for his daughter's betrothal until after two dies religiosi passed. It does appear, however, that public religious festivals could be held on dies religiosi. The closest parallel Americans have is days like December 7 (bombing of Pearl Harbor) or June 6 (D-Day).
8. dies atri - or "black days" were not marked on the calendar because they always occured on the day after the Kalends, Nones and Ides of each month. Nothing new could be done on dies atri, and even state cult festivals were not held on these days. Romans also thought that the Kalends, Nones and Ides of each month as well as the fourth day of each month were unlucky days (the way we would think of Friday the Thirteenth). There were no legal or religious prohibitions against activities on simply unlucky days, and a nundina could fall on Nones quite easily. Furthermore, Romans thought the month of May and the first half of June were terribly unlucky months to get married in.
9. dies festi - The calendars also marked days on which religious and cult festivals were held. Feriae marked on the calendar were public festivals, organized and paid for by the state. But private familes also observed feriae, held to mark important days in the life of its members. There were three types of feriae publicae: 1) stativae; 2) conceptivae and 3) imperativae.
   • Feriae stativae: annual festivals held on a fixed day and recorded in the public calendars.
   • Feriae conceptivae: annual festivals whose date of celebration would be decided each year by magistrates and/or priests.
   • Feriae imperativae: irregulary occuring holidays proclaimed by politicians either to celebrate a victory or to propriate the gods because things were going very badly for the Romans.
   • On feriae, people were supposed to avoid lawsuits and disputes, take a day of rest (slaves included) and celebrate religious rites. These were days ordained to worship gods, and it was generally thought to be in very bady taste (no one wanted the gods angry at them because their neighbor didn't have the sense to behave) not to observe them. Work didn't come to a complete stop, particularly for farmers, but you were supposed to do the bare minimum to keep your house and farm in order (cf. restrictions of activities on the Jewish Sabbath). Interestingly enough, no law or religious mandate required anyone to participate in a festival, but few Romans, whatever their personal theological thinking, would have ignored the feriae.
10. dies festi - Ludi ("Games") - were recorded in the Calendars and had origins in religious ritual (i.e., they were held to honor gods). Originally, they were held sporadically (i.e. a general wanted to thank Jupiter for some victory) but the idea quickly caught on and four sets of ludi began to be held annual in Rome: 1) Ludi Romani (sometimes called Ludi Magni); 2) Plebeian Games; 3) Ludi Apollinares; 4) Ludi Megalenses; 5) Ludi Ceriales; 6) Floralia. Ludi lasted for several days (sometimes 7 or 8 days) and included chariot racing, athletic contests and theatrical performances. Ludi did not include gladiatorial contests during Republican times.

V. The Hours of the Day

A. The Romans counted 24 hours in a day.

B. Each day day was divided into two parts: 12 hours of daytime and 12 hours of nighttime.

C. But they measured their hours from dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn. As the amount of daylight changed over the course of the year, this meant that the length of time an hour took varied (i.e., in midwinter, the hours were shorter and in high summer longer than 60 minutes).

D. Romans began their day at dawn and spent the first two hours performing the salutatio. Clients went to the home of their patrons to receive any a) commissions the patron might want performed for the day) and b)a sportula (dinnner in the form of cash or a picnic basket).

E. After the salutatio ordinary folks went to work and rich men went to the forum to conduct law suits and politics.

F. The work day ended 7 hours after dawn, when folks retired to bath houses and gymnasia for a couple of hours.

G. If you were rich, fancy dinner parties started at the ninth hour and lasted who knows how long.

VI. Control of the Calendar

A. Roman priests were charged with knowing how to keep the calendar and maintaining it. Originally all priests were patricians (members of a hereditary aristocracy) and did not actually publish calendars. This greatly affected the legal rights of ordinary citizens (plebians - how could you plan a lawsuit if you weren't sure when the dies fasti were). By the fourth century B.C.E., however, plebians were allowed to enter the Roman Colleges of Pontiffs and Augurs and Romans began publishing their calendar.

B. The fasti were inscribed in stone and could be quite large (the fasti from the town of Praenesti is almost 6 feet tall). Archeologists have found fragments of varying sizes from over 40 fasti . All but one date from post Republican times.

C. Two farmers almanacs have also survived. These were bronze cubes on which the months of the year and the farmer's jobs to be performed during them (plus some information about the stars) were inscribed. Think of them as the predecessors to the Farmer's Almanac published in Lewiston, ME.

VI. Examples:

RCiv, v. I has a reconstruction of a republican calendar in section 9 (p. 68-71) and a discussion (section 163, p. 552-554) from the ancient sources or Julius Caesar's reforms.

Essay on Roman methods and concepts of Chronology / Roman Workweek and Leisure Time / The Roman Workday / notes on the Roman calendar / major Roman festivals / a Roman calendar

An outline of Ovid's Fasti - Books 1-4 / The Christian Calendar

The Julian and Gregorian Calendars / Caesar's Calendar Changes / Calendar Studies

The Encyclopaidea Britannica entry: "Calendar"