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inserted into the traditional position for intercalation. Month names were preserved without change. The additions did not alter the Nones or the Ides of any month. The additions did not affect the position of any festivals. The Julian changes were, then, a kind of minimum set. |
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All of these considerations suggest that the intercalated periods, which total (23 + 67 =) 90 days, were intended to achieve some conservative objective, which probably involved the restoration of some traditional relationship between calendar dates and astronomical events. What relationship might Julius have intended to restore? |
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The natural candidates are the solstices and equinoces. Pliny the Elder states that the traditionally accepted Roman dates were the seventh day before the Kalends of Aprilis, Iunius, October, and Ianuarius, or 25 March, 24 June, 24 September, and 25 December. |
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The winter solstice springs immediately to mind. The date of 25 December was important later to the cults of Sol Invictus and Mithra, and the Christian cult eventually adopted the date as the birth date of its protagonist as well. But these events come in the third century A.D. |
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The vernal equinox can be shown by calculation to have been missed by the reform altogether. |
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The only Roman festival specifically associated with a solstice or equinox in the time of Julius seems to have been Fors Fortuna on 24 June. If restoring this relationship was the object of the Julian correction, it was successful. It is far from clear, however, why this one relatively minor festival should be the object of such a correction. |
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Thus, the question remains: What was the specific objective that Julius had in mind by implementing the corrections of 46 B.C.? |
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9.1.3.7
Changes in Julian Month Names |
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Several changes to the names of the months of the Julian calendar were made during the early years of the Empire. |
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Following the assassination of Julius, the Roman Senate voted, in gratitude of his services, to rename the month of ''Quintilis" to "Julius" in his honor. |
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Under some prodding, the Senate also voted to change the name of the month of "Sextilis" to "Augustus" in honor of Caesar Augustus. |
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Caligula ordered that the month of "September" be renamed "Germanicus" to honor his father, and Domitian decreed that "October" should be named after himself. In both cases, the Senate abolished the decrees after the deaths of these unpopular autocrats. The enduring changes, then, are the ones to the months of Quintilis and Sextilis. |
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