Ancient Roman Calendar – November & December
The Roman calendar was initially made of 10 lunar months, many of which were named by number. November and December were 9 and 10.
Julius Caesar’s introduction of the 12 month solar calendar was inspired by his period in Egypt with Cleopatra. Two month introduced at the beginning meant that 9 and 10 were shifted to positions 11 and 12. ie December is named after the number 10 but actually falls into our 12 month, retaining it’s festivities associated with the end of the year.
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The early ancient Roman calendar was made of ten lunar months only. This made the Roman calendar for November and December the ninth and tenth months in the year. Being practical the Romans called these months by their number: ‘novem’ and ‘decem’ hence we have ‘november’ and ‘december’. By the time of Julius Caesar an extra couple of months had been stuck on to the beginning of the calendar pushing 9 and 10 into positions 11 and 12 of the year!
This image, taken from an 18th century book of dates, numbers, inscriptions and astronomical events was printed in Paris, France in 1763. Title: “Tablettes Chronologiques de l’Histoire Universelle, Sacree et Prophane, Ecclesiastique et Civile, Depuis la Creation du Monde justqu’a l’an 1762.” by Abbot Lenglet Dufresnoy. Book 1 , Ancient History.
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