Roman Calendars

These pages supplement the table of Julian equivalents for Roman dates in Drumann-Groebe vol. 3. They move, with supporting evidence, the intercalary month from 59 to 58 BC and from 54 to 55 BC.  All phases of the Moon and market days (nundinae)  are listed for those years.

Aunque a veces no nos demos cuenta, somos herederos directos de Roma, de su cultura y de su forma de concebir aspectos tan determinantes como las leyes, la estructura social o el mismo paso del tiempo. Este último nos servirá de guía para adentrarnos en el mundo romano de modo distinto, a través de su calendario, con sus meses, semanas, días, horas y los principales hitos que marcaban el día a día de quienes lo utilizaron para regir sus vidas antes que nosotros.
Vive ahora de primera mano lo que pudo ser un año cualquiera en la antigua Roma, del 1 de enero al 31 de diciembre, en un viaje a través de su cultura y su historia - la grande y la pequeña - en el que asistirás a sus fiestas, sus ceremonias civiles y religiosas, sus ocupaciones cotidianas. Desde el emperador al esclavo, del mercader al senador, del soldado al labrador, todos ellos tienen su hueco en esta obra, que se extiende por los más de mil doscientos años de historia de esta extraordinaria civilización en la que se hunden nuestras raíces.

Este artículo pretende demostrar que Augusto nació en el mes de diciembre astronómico, bajo el signo de Capricornio, en una fecha que se correspondía con el septiembre calendárico debido a las viejas discrepancias del calendario tradicional romano con respecto a la realidad astronómica, así como señalar la endeblez de las demás teorías propuestas acerca de esta cuestión.

Na prvi pogled čini se da ništa ne povezuje englesku reč za veliku nesreću, hrabre branioce davno nestalih gradova Segede i Numancije, rimskog vojskovođu Kvinta Fulvija, afričke bojne slonove i prvi dan meseca januara. Međutim, izuzetan koloplet naizgled nepovezanih ljudi, mesta i događaja doveo je do toga da se baš 1. januara najveći deo čovečanstva raduje dolasku Nove godine.

Die Quintilier sind zweifellos die berühmteste und am besten dokumentierte Familie aus Alexandria Troas. Insbesondere die letzten vier Generationen haben durch ihre Tätigkeit in der römischen Reichsverwaltung, ihre engen Verbindungen zu den Kaisern und Geistesgrößen ihrer Zeit, ihr literarisches Wirken sowie ihren ausgedehnten Villenbesitz mannigfaltige Spuren hinterlassen. Eine willkommene Bereicherung fand unser Quellenmaterial vor Kurzem durch drei neue Inschriften vom alexandrinischen Forum, die 2008 und 2016 von E. Schwertheim veröffentlicht wurden und Auskunft über zwei frühe, zuvor unbekannte Quintilier geben sowie einen nicht näher zu greifenden Κυιντίλ[ιος] der hohen Kaiserzeit nennen. +++ Damit sind inzwischen acht Familienmitglieder sicher bekannt: ein P. Quintilius Maximus und seine Tochter Quintilia Apphia in iulisch-claudischer Zeit, ein Sex. Quintilius Valerius Maximus und sein gleichnamiger Sohn in der Zeit von den Flaviern bis Hadrian sowie die beiden nachfolgenden und bekanntesten Generationen mit jeweils einem Sex. Quintilius Valerius Maximus und einem Sex. Quintilius Condianus in der Antoninenzeit. Hinzu kommt der Vater des ältesten Sex. Quintilius Valerius Maximus, von dem aber leider nur sein Vorname Sextus überliefert ist. +++ Die epigraphischen Neufunde nahm ich zum Anlass, die Familiengeschichte erneut aufzurollen und erstmals einen ausführlichen Gesamtüberblick in deutscher Sprache vorzulegen. Der bislang ungeklärten Frage nach der origo der Quintilier widmet sich der erste Abschnitt, der zwar keine eindeutige Antwort zu liefern vermag, aber zumindest drei mögliche Szenarien aufzeigt und diese hinsichtlich ihrer Plausibilität überprüft. Die nachfolgenden Ausführungen orientieren sich an der chronologischen Abfolge, wobei der fünfte Abschnitt auch eine Darstellung zum reichen Familienbesitz enthält. Die Schlussbemerkung richtet ihren Blick schließlich auf das Verhältnis zwischen den Quintiliern und ihrer langjährigen Heimatgemeinde Alexandria Troas.

The article focuses on the author's research on the chronographical background of the Zodiac Mosaic Calendar in Synagogue at Hammath-Tiberias. He researched to find the origin of mosaic decoration, the twelve zodiac sign, the four seasons, and Helios, which was found in synagogues in two parts of Palestine, Galilee and Judah. The chronograph of the mosaic art was extensively debated. The author further studied the history of Palestine Jews in the 4th century. Most of the work was done during the period of Hillel II.
The author concludes that the mosaic from the Stratum IIa synagogue with the Zodiac Calendar was executed in the time of Hillel II, who said to have died around 365 CE. He proposes the new date of the execution of the Zodiac Mosaic from Hammat-Tiberia (Stratum IIa) after the earthquake in 363, that is, in 364 or 365.

This work seeks to interpret Homer’s Catalogue of Ships as an astronomical treatise containing several numerical constants or approximations that are useful for calendar calculations. It views the Catalogue not as a historical primary source but as a matrix of data, the meticulous classification of which can itself reveal its inner configuration. The probability that the correspondences found in the Catalogue are random is assessed using a software simulator.
The author’s approach resonates with the ideas of Heinrich Düntzer, Martin Nilsson, Engelbert Drerup, John Myres, Günter Jachmann, Seth Benardete, Nina Braginskaya, Lev Klein, and other scholars who have noticed signs of a certain geometric order in Homer’s text.
This paper was conceived when the author noticed something that was hiding in plain sight: there are 1186 ships, 29 fleets, and 46 commanders in the Catalogue; the orbital periods of Jupiter and Saturn are 11.86 and 29.46 years, respectively. What could this be if not an invitation to take a closer look at these numbers?

The four seasons of the Roman calendar, as described by Marcus Terentius Varro, are different from our seasons, in the sense that they start on days which differ from those that we are using today. In his Books on Agriculture, Varro shows that the Roman seasons started on the Cross Quarter-days instead than on the Quarter-days of the year as it happens today. Besides the classic subdivision in four parts, in the Books on Agriculture we can also find the year divided into eight parts, that is eight seasons having quite different lengths. In our discussion of Varro's seasons we will compare the days he mentions for the separation of seasons to the Cross Quarter- and Quarter-days that we find in Celtic calendars.

The revolutionary nature of Augustus’ power manifested itself in numerous aspects of daily life. One of these was the control of time: by introducing numerous celebrations related to the Emperor and to his family to the calendars, Augustus reshaped the temporal rhythm of city life. By creating a dialogue between a rich epigraphic corpus and many literary texts, this study will reconstruct the diachronic evolution of the methods of celebrating birthdays, military victories and triumphs. Moreover, it will reflect on if and how these festivals assumed the role of public anniversaries by exploring the different ways in which they were recorded in different sources and their reception by Romans of different social classes. Particular attention will also be given to the dates of dedication of the inscriptions that record the day of these celebrations in order to understand if the day chosen was influenced by its historical meaning or it was just mere coincidence. Overall, this book will show that the calendars are a mirror that reflects different socio-political issues and therefore function as a lens through which we can better understand the political history of Ancient Rome.

The presentation offers a brief exposition of the astronomical knowledge codified in the calendar traditionally associated with the second king of Roma, Numa Pompilius (715-673 BCE). The festivities in the calendar, the myths and rites associated with them and the rhythm of their cadences allows us to track backwards to real astral movements and to recognize the sum of that knowledge. This knowledge spans: 1-the periodicity of the solar and the lunar eclipses, i.e. the Saros cycle; 2-the period of revolution of the line of lunar nodes; 3-the period of the passages of nodes from the Points of Aries and Libra; 4-the period of revolution of the line of apsides; 5-the planetary movements and their period relations. All this proves that the so-called Numan Calendar has an astronomical basis. This means that it is of direct Mesopotamian origin. KEYWORDS: Roman and Numan Calendar, Numan Cycle, intercalation, Saros Cycle, the revolution of the line of lunar nodes, the passage of nodes from the First Point of Aries, the revolution of the line of lunar nodes, planetary period relations

This paper is an introductory level -- general public lecture -- from 2 Mar. 2008.  It had illustrations which I will attempt to upload.  It was a 50 minute talk with a handout to a surprisingly large audience.  The pictures accompanying the  paper are marked by bold print and can be found through links on the handout.

Religion und Geschichte stehen in einem Spannungsverhältnis zueinander. Die Zugehörigkeit zu einer bestimmten Religion bietet in der römischen Antike die Möglichkeit, die eigene Identität auszudrücken. Geschichte stellt diese Identitäten in einen größeren Zusammenhang. Die moderne Gedächtnisforschung hat das Bewusstsein dafür geschärft, dass historische Erinnerung weit über bloße Geschichtserzählungen hinausgeht. Sie greift im antiken Rom zurück auf religiös motivierte priesterliche Aufzeichnungen, auf Festkalender und Beamtenlisten. Daraus entwickeln sich schließlich Formen ›weltlicher‹ Geschichtsschreibung wie etwa Annalen oder ›Commentarii‹. Religiöse Institutionen von Erinnerung stehen somit am Beginn jeder Historiographie, und zugleich wird Religion auf diese Weise selbst Geschichte. Jörg Rüpke untersucht in seinem Buch dieses spannungsreiche Wechselspiel zwischen religiösen Erinnerungskulturen und Geschichtsschreibung.

While it was customary for successful Roman generals to commemorate their victories through statues or other building projects, Caesar's most crucial military victory at the Battle of Pharsalia in 48 BCE strikingly saw the least amount of official commemoration of all his campaigns. This article explores why this was so (it was too controversial yet to celebrate a civil war victor over fellow Roman citizens) and outlines the various other more indirect ways Caesar attempted to commemorate his key civil war victory, ranging from his temple to Venus Victrix, the battle's inclusion as a commemorative date in the fasti, and finally the Bellum Civile, his own literary commemoration of the civil wars that elevated him to the heights of power.

Este trabalho foi desenvolvido para as Comemorações do Ano Internacional da Astronomia, 2009, promovidas pela Sociedade Portuguesa de Astronomia. Pretende-se explorar os significados astronómicos/astrológicos por detrás do provérbio popular "Na Lua Cheia, não cortes pau nem veia.

Summary. In 2008 a fragment of a time-reckoning device was found at Vindolanda. This fragment has been interpreted as part of an anaphoric water clock. There are important differences between this fragment and other objects
thought to come from anaphoric water clocks. This article seeks to reinterpret the fragment in terms of a broader array of Roman time-reckoning tools than anaphoric water clocks and also in terms of the archaeological context of Vindolanda in which the fragment was found. The emphasis on cultural context in interpreting this fragment reveals much about the temporal consciousness of its possible users and maker.

The thesis studies the concept of the dies natalis templi starting from the work Fastorum libri sex by the poet Publius Ovidius Naso. This synthetic formula refers to the day of birth of the sanctuaries, to be understood as the birthday of the sacred places, grafted into the system of Roman fasti. It is an expression used by some sources, rather through the wording natalis dies, to indicate the event of the creation of a sacred space, which has also been very successful in modern studies on the history of Greco-Roman polytheism. The thesis consists of three broad chapters. In the first, introductory, a review of the studies on the history of the calendar and on the concepts concerning the processes of formation of sacred spaces is presented. The graphic signs, or commas, that appear in some examples of fasti to indicate the natales of the temples are also analysed: the images of these commas were collected and placed in the Appendix at the end of the thesis. The second chapter contains a lexicon of the dies natalis templi starting from Ovid's Fasti. Twenty seven entries are analysed, between verbs and, more rarely, expressions that the poet uses to describe the day of birth of the sacred buildings and its annual recurrence: this is the most important result of the research. In the third chapter three case studies are presented, which confirm and apply the theoretical tool of the lexicon. The dies natalis of the sanctuaries of Aesculapius on the Tiber Island, of Juturna in the Campus Martius and of Minerva Capta on the Mount Celius are studied. These three case studies also constitute individual dossiers, from which significant results have emerged, sometimes independent of the underlying theme of the research. An example is the proposed new edition of a sepulchral inscription that could expand the very scarce information on the Iuturnalia, which are festivals in honor of the goddess Juturna, and on her celebrants

Despite its greatness and power, Christianity could not fully counteract older traditional beliefs. The paper will present the Roman holidays, dates of which remained incorporated in the orientation of medieval churches built on the Roman period sites or near them. An archaeoastronomical survey highlighted and emphasised various dates that marked important holidays in the Roman calendar, and which were adopted or covered by Christianity with their own festivals of the liturgical calendar.