TIME

ELE Syllabus Entry

(nominative singular,plural)
hora dies mensis annus
nox, noctes

SECTION CONTENTS

The Roman Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Roman Calendar Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Days of the Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
A Roman Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Doors of Janus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

GRAPHICS CD CONTENTS

Roman Calendar Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Detailed Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Doors of Janus Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Copyright 2004 American Classical League

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The Roman Calendar

The original Roman calendar had only four months! Later the first king, Romulus,
revised the calendar into ten months, starting with Martius (March). This is how the
last four months (September, October, November, and December) got their
names. Then, the second king of Rome, Numa, made an adjustment to the
calendar by adding two more months at the beginning. When he did this,
September was no longer the seventh month, but the ninth month. Julius Caesar
made later adjustments, including the renaming of two months. However, the
names of the last four months were never changed. Below is the list of months as
they were known to the Romans.

MENSES ANNI: Ianuarius - month of Ianus, beginnings

Februarius - month of purification, cleaning
r Martius - month of Mars, once the first month of the year
Aprilis - month of openings
Maius - month of Maia (mother of Mercury)
Iunius - month of Juno
Iulius - month of Julius (Caesar), once called Quinctilis
Augustus - month of Augustus, once called Sextilis
September - the seventh month
October - the eighth month
November - the ninth month
December - the tenth month

The number of days in each Roman month was the same as our own. Therefore, this
rhyme works both systems.

Thirty days hath September,

April, June, and November.
All the rest have thirty-one,
Except the second month alone.
It has four and twenty-four
‘Til leap year gives it one day more.

The biggest difference between the two systems is that the early Romans did not divide
their months into weeks. Rather, they had three important dates during each month by
which they calculated all other days. These three dates were the Kalends (the first day of
the month), the Nones (the fifth or seventh day), and the Ides (the thirteenth or fifteenth
day). Look at the calendars on the next page and note that Martius, Maius, Iulius and
October have a different pattern than the other months.

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The Roman Calendar (continued)

Ian./Feb./Apr./Iun./Aug./Sept./Nov./Dec.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Kal. Non.

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Id.

23 24 25 26 27 28 29 (?) 30 (?) 31 (?) Kal. of next

month

Mar./Mai./Iul./Oct.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Kal. Non.

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Id.

23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Kal. of next
month

In order to translate from the Roman system into our own, you need to know the following
abbreviations:

Kal. = Kalends - 1st day of the month

Non. = Nones - 5th day of the month except 7th in March, May, July & October
Id. = Ides - 13th day of the month except 15th in March, May, July & October
pr. = pridie - day before the Kalends, Nones, or Ides
a.d. = ante diem - day(s) before

Calendar Song
(to the tune of “The Worms Crawl In, The Worms Crawl Out”)

In March, October, July, and May

The Ides come on the 15th day
The Nones the 7th
All else besides
Have two days less for Nones and Ides

For other dates the Romans counted the number of days before each of three marker dates
mentioned above. However, when counting days, the Romans counted both the starting and
ending days. For instance, March 12 would be a.d. IV Id. Mar. Using the chart on the graphics
CD, see if you can write your birthday as the Romans would. _______________________________

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Days of the Week

It was not until the empire that Romans adopted the seven day week. The days were named as
follows.
Dies Solis = Sunday
Dies Lunae = Monday
Dies Martis = Tuesday
Dies Mercurii = Wednesday
Dies Iovis = Thursday
Dies Veneris = Friday
Dies Saturni = Saturday

While it appears that only Saturday reflects its Roman roots since the current names are of Norse
and German origin, actually there are close relationships. Consult a dictionary and see what you
can find out about the relationship between the old Roman and modern names of the days. Fill
in the chart below with your findings.

CURRENT NAME ROMAN NAME RELATIONSHIP

Sunday Dies Solis

Monday Dies Lunae

Tuesday Dies Martis

Wednesday Dies Mercurii

Thursday Dies Iovis

Friday Dies Veneris

Saturday Dies Saturni

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A Roman Day
This circle represents XXIV horae.

The top half is daylight.

The 12 sections of the top half were called “horae.”
First hour corresponded roughly to our time from 6 to 7 AM.
Noon would be at the end of the 6th hour.

The bottom half is darkness.

The three 4-hours sections of the bottom half were “watches.”
First watch was from 6 PM to 10 PM
Second watch was from 10 PM to 2 AM
Third watch was from 2 AM to 6 AM.

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The Doors of Janus

An Activity for December – January

Ianus (Janus) was the Roman deity of doorways and beginnings. His name comes
from the Latin word ianua, meaning "door." Since he has two faces, one looking
forward and one looking backward, he is said to be aware of both the past and
the future. The first month of the year, January, is named after him for this reason.

Ianus
(Janus)

This assignment is for students to complete a “Doors of Janus” folder which can be
put on display on a bulletin board. First, each student will need to fill in the three
boxes under the first year with three things he/she accomplished in the past year.
These can be school accomplishments (I learned to write in cursive.) or sports (I
scored two goals for my soccer team.) or personal (I learned how to bake
cookies.)

Next, each student will need to enter three goals for the next year. Again, these
can come from any area (I would like to learn how to do a back flip.) After each
student has completed these two steps, he/she should decorate both sides of the
paper neatly and colorfully.

Folding on the dotted line produces the “doors” of Janus. A pattern for this activity
can be found on the graphics CD.

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TIME ANSWER KEY

p. 128 Days of the Week

Sunday Dies Solis sol = sun // day of the sun

Monday Dies Lunae luna = moon // day of the moon

Tuesday Dies M artis Mars (Roman) = Tiw (Germanic) // gods of war

Wednesday Die s M erc urii Mercury (Roman) = Woden (Norse) // multi-talented deities

Thursday Dies Iovis Jupiter (Roman) = Thor (Norse) // thunder gods

Friday Dies Veneris Venus (Roman) = Freya (Norse) // goddesses of love

Saturday Die s Sa turni Saturn = agricultural god // no change

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