History of the Roman Calendar

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This video tells about how the Roman calendar evolved, how the months got their names and how to read Roman dates. Other topics covered include the 7-days week and the reckoning of years.
Music:
Imperator: Rome Soundtrack - We The People
Imperator: Rome Soundtrack - Tyrrhenum
Imperator: Rome Soundtrack - The Mediterranean
Crusader Kings II Soundtrack - Journey to Absolution

Пікірлер: 75

  • @j55165
    @j55165 Жыл бұрын

    20 seconds of class🙄😪😪 20 minute of learning about the intricacies of the roman calendar🤓🤓👍

  • @jodij2366
    @jodij2366 Жыл бұрын

    Small technicality - the Julian calendar drifted out of alignment by a few more than 10 days - Pope Gregory's reforms were meant to bring the calendar back to alignment with the calendar at the time of the Council of Nicaea, meaning the three/four day drift between the time of Caesar and the time of the Nicaean council was never corrected. This is why we have the winter solstice (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) on 21/22 December instead of 25 December as in ancient times.

  • 5 ай бұрын

    According to the independent scholar Hans-Erdmann Korth of Germany, Pope Gregory XIII only dropped 10 days from the calendar because he believed that a 3-day correction had already been made at the Council of Nicaea. Otherwise Gregory would have dropped 13 days from the calendar. Gregory's assumption was wrong. No 3-day correction was made at Nicaea, but it worked out anyway because although Gregory failed to realize it, only 1300 years had elapsed since Julius Caesar instituted the Julian calendar, not 1600 years. So Gregory analyzed the problem incorrectly, but nonetheless reached the right conclusion.

  • @OptimusMaximusNero
    @OptimusMaximusNero Жыл бұрын

    *Fun fact:* Speaking of the roman calendar, Caligula during his reign tried to rename the month of September Germanicus (after his father), but he couldn't make it happen. Who did manage to rename September as Germanicus was Domitian, in honor of his presumed victories in Germania, maintaining said name change until his assassination.

  • @erinrising2799

    @erinrising2799

    Жыл бұрын

    how very *germane* (I couldn't resist)

  • @reviewgodusa9613

    @reviewgodusa9613

    Жыл бұрын

    Imagine if that stuck around to this day

  • @bigredjanie

    @bigredjanie

    Жыл бұрын

    @@reviewgodusa9613 I can see the jokes now: "I'm in Germany, in the month of Germany!"

  • @s.deegan3740

    @s.deegan3740

    Жыл бұрын

    I heard once that someone tried to rename April “Neronius”. I cant remember who but it might’ve been Nero himself. The chanhe lasted until his death and was promptly changed back. Thats what i remember hearing anyway

  • @nicmagtaan1132

    @nicmagtaan1132

    Жыл бұрын

    Hear me out.... Caligula wasn't wrong here

  • @harmonialink1496
    @harmonialink1496 Жыл бұрын

    Some additional facts: Maius and Iunius not only are dedicated to Maia and Juno, but even, and more so, to the maiores (the ancestors, especially men) and the iunioners (the young, especially the young girls); Februarius may be interpreted as the month of the Gods of the underworld, but at the same it was a month dedicated mainly to the purification of the self and the state (februatur = to be purified; from here comes the term fever in some romance languages, which is the purification from illness); The time going from January to March was dedicated to the great celestial Gods, the time from April to June to the terrestrial Gods, the time from June to September to the natural Gods and the time from October to December to the chthonic Gods and the ones of Fate.

  • @laurendamasoruiz

    @laurendamasoruiz

    Жыл бұрын

    Indeed, the god Februus was named after the month/ritual not the other way round. In fact, I would go so far as to say Februus was made up by Isidore of Seville.

  • @viperking6573
    @viperking6573 Жыл бұрын

    Fun fact : Since the eastern roman calendar started in septermber, in the island of sardinia it is still called "Capitanni" in Sardinian, which explained means the "head of the year", aka new year's eve. capit-anni : caput -> capit 'head' ; annus -> anni ( genitive ) 'of-the-year'

  • @automaticmattywhack1470
    @automaticmattywhack1470 Жыл бұрын

    This is the best explanation of the Roman calendar I've ever seen. Thank you for your hard work to help us learn!

  • @legateelizabeth
    @legateelizabeth Жыл бұрын

    The idea of just straight up ‘not knowing what day it is’ because the calendar you use is currently broken by war and religious-political arguments is kind of crazy for a modern person to think about, with how specific and broadly universal our time keeping has gotten. It’s cool how many different influences there were on the Roman Calendar - Jews, Egyptians, Etruscans. Were there any other potential influences too small for the video?

  • @RomabooRamblings

    @RomabooRamblings

    Жыл бұрын

    None that I can think of. I didn't to mention all the emperors who tried and failed to rename months in their honor, however

  • @faithlesshound5621

    @faithlesshound5621

    Жыл бұрын

    Priests of some religions still have the responsibility of announcing certain holy days based on astronomical observations, which means they could vary by a day or so if the weather gets in their way.

  • @massimocarbone8984
    @massimocarbone8984 Жыл бұрын

    This might be one of the most interesting videos I’ve ever seen. Had no idea how deep this went!

  • @faithlesshound5621
    @faithlesshound5621 Жыл бұрын

    I always thought that "inclusive reckoning" and not having a zero explained why the Greeks and Romans made little headway with mathematics other than geometry. It's still used in French and perhaps other Romance languages when a week is "huit jours" and a fortnight "quinze jours."

  • @amyrat151
    @amyrat151 Жыл бұрын

    There's also the fact that hours of the day were not uniform. There were always 12 hours of darkness and 12 hours of light.

  • @nazeem8680
    @nazeem8680 Жыл бұрын

    My berber tribe in north africa still uses a version of the julian calendar. Due to this, we they are 16 days behind compared to the gregorian calendar

  • @s.deegan3740
    @s.deegan3740 Жыл бұрын

    I heard one time that someone tried to rename April “Neronius” but the change didn’t take. This is the best video on this subject I’ve ever seen!

  • @dvepps6780
    @dvepps6780 Жыл бұрын

    Well done. Learned a lot from this one.

  • @H_Eli
    @H_Eli Жыл бұрын

    Imagine showing up for that meeting on the 11th day before the kalens just to be 1 day too early.

  • @blyndblitz
    @blyndblitz Жыл бұрын

    another fantastic video

  • @rursus8354
    @rursus8354 Жыл бұрын

    Just a terminology note: the current calendar, the Gregorian calendar, emerged from the Julian calendar, which is almost never referred to as the Roman calendar. In modern terms, the Julian calendar calendar abolished and replaced the Roman Calendar, that refers to the one that had 12, 29 and 31 day months and very commonly intercalary months inserted to keep the months somewhat in place in the seasons.

  • @user-ee6gp5gv5l

    @user-ee6gp5gv5l

    6 ай бұрын

    It is the Roman calendar.

  • @Volteer
    @Volteer Жыл бұрын

    Very interesting video! I've been learning Latin for a while now and have been wondering how the dating system came to be ever since reading about it. Keep up the great work! :)

  • @canadiancritical2988
    @canadiancritical29883 ай бұрын

    You taught me so much!! ❤️🇨🇦

  • @normanorr3072
    @normanorr30725 ай бұрын

    this is a very good summary of the history of the roman calendar a bit more time would have allowed a deeper dive into the details that were not able to be covered here

  • @ZachMoore-rh1gd
    @ZachMoore-rh1gd Жыл бұрын

    In my latin class they make us write he date like the romans did. Its hellish

  • @tequilamockingbird758
    @tequilamockingbird758 Жыл бұрын

    Bravo.

  • @otisarmyalso
    @otisarmyalso Жыл бұрын

    Very God background. What years were Augustin peroid?

  • @Fred_L.
    @Fred_L. Жыл бұрын

    Dating system namings through different languages are interesting, too. While English most prominently uses either a religious form (BC and AD) or a non-religious form (BCE and CE) for the years, the non-abreviated German version of those usually are vor Christus / nach Christus (before Christ / after Christ) and vor unserer Zeitrechnung / [nach] unserer Zeitrechnung (before our calendar / [after] out calendar).

  • @RomabooRamblings

    @RomabooRamblings

    Жыл бұрын

    I don't like the "after Christ" version. What about those 33 years "during Christ"?

  • @Fred_L.

    @Fred_L.

    Жыл бұрын

    @@RomabooRamblings Just like in the English-language version the change from BC to AD is the supposed birth year, so it means after Christ('s birth).

  • @RomabooRamblings

    @RomabooRamblings

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Fred_L. nah, AD is "The Year of our Lord", so it's not literally "After Christ", like in German. Btw, just started "Barbarians" season 2 and saw "10 nach Christus", didn't require the subtitles for that :D

  • @Fred_L.

    @Fred_L.

    Жыл бұрын

    ​@@RomabooRamblings Historically speaking German also has/had the religious AD form with the spoken variant being Im Jahre des Herrn (In the Year of the Lord).

  • @nyxhighlander9894
    @nyxhighlander9894 Жыл бұрын

    Is fasti the etymology that lead to the term for fast(think lent not quick)

  • @RmsOceanic
    @RmsOceanic Жыл бұрын

    The story I heard for how January and February happened is related to the Iberian Wars after Rome moved into Spain and Portugal. Because the year started in March, the Consuls had to be in the city in March to assume office, before leaving the city to assume command of whatever armies were abroad. However it could take weeks or months to assume command, and this wasted precious campaign time. So eventually they took the nebulous [Winter] between December and March, turned them into two months and made January the start of the year. The benefit of this was a Consul could assume office, and then be in position with his Consular Army before campaign season could begin, as there wouldn't be much fighting in winter.

  • @OptimusMaximusNero
    @OptimusMaximusNero Жыл бұрын

    1:45 The Babylonian culture is really fascinating and underrated, actually. It's amazing how incredibly unique (and even alien in a certain way) that civilization was. It's a pity that everything fell apart the moment they enslaved the Jews and destroyed Jerusalem, since the only thing left to them after suffering the Wrath of God was a mad King and two conquerors (one Persian and one Macedonian) who converted the famous city into their war trophy

  • @Michael_De_Santa-Unofficial

    @Michael_De_Santa-Unofficial

    Жыл бұрын

    Atleast Nebuchadnezzar wasn't as insane as Commodus.

  • @OptimusMaximusNero

    @OptimusMaximusNero

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Michael_De_Santa-Unofficial But he ended up literally behaving like an animal during the last years of his life. That's what happens when you "make Baby Jesus cry"

  • @mortache

    @mortache

    Жыл бұрын

    No city lasts forever, and a rich city being target of conqerors has nothing to do with the butthurt writing of Abrahamics who got capped by them lol. Jerusalem's god is as important to fall of Babylon as the dirt on my shoes

  • @causantinthescot
    @causantinthescot Жыл бұрын

    Request: Assessing how accurate had Nero and Caligula portrayed in Horrible Histories ( A TV show in the UK, a country which I am studying in) You can visit the channel and watch some videos :D

  • @automaticmattywhack1470
    @automaticmattywhack1470 Жыл бұрын

    In the series Rome, when you showed someone putting a gold marker in the calendar and moving some bead, was that denoting a certain # of days before the kalends/nones/idus?

  • @ianwinter514
    @ianwinter514 Жыл бұрын

    now i'm not quite sure when i am

  • @rogeriopenna9014
    @rogeriopenna9014 Жыл бұрын

    I think you people are not aware how the months of September to December being 9 to 12 can be confusing to Portuguese and Italian speakers, the two languages where the words for the numbers are the same as the prefixes in the name of the months Portuguese 7 - sete - setembro 8 - oito - outubro 9 - nove - novembro 10 - dez - dezembro It's very common to see accidents where people not paying attention will make an error when "translating" a number date to a written date or vice versa. By coincidence, Portuguese and Italian are the languages of the regions involved in the Lusitani revolt that resulted in Rome changing the start of the year to January, thus putting their calendar out of sync with months names

  • @rogeriopenna9014
    @rogeriopenna9014 Жыл бұрын

    The video says the exact date when January replaced March as the first month of the year is unknown, but several sources I have seen claim it was in the Lusitani War, led by Viriatus, between 155 and 134 BC "According to Theodor Mommsen,[3] 1 January became the first day of the year in 600 AUC of the Roman calendar (153 BC), due to disasters in the Lusitanian War. A Lusitanian chief called Punicus invaded the Roman territory, defeated two Roman governors, and killed their troops. The Romans resolved to send a consul to Hispania, and in order to accelerate the dispatch of aid, "they even made the new consuls enter into office two months and a half before the legal time" (March 15)."

  • @jillphilips3788
    @jillphilips3788 Жыл бұрын

    Please Share What Us Our American Calendar Based On Zane Name Of ???! Is It Constantine Roman Calendar and What Year did It Start!??

  • @JimmyEscajeda
    @JimmyEscajeda Жыл бұрын

    I’m interested in the month of the year which Rome taxes were reconciled or taken. Was the time period adopted by other countries like America? Aril 15 for example. Can this help settle or narrow the date of the birth of Christ? It kind of makes sense due to the timeframes of taxation. Or is this just coincidence? Latter-Day Saints assert that Christ’s true birth date was April 6th which was through revelation in the early 1800s quite prior to popular worldwide speculation of his birth date.

  • @mistahraldz2940
    @mistahraldz2940 Жыл бұрын

    The truth is their in the book you just gotta understand and connect all the verses in book in order to see a clear point of view or the whole picture of the book...

  • @Caligulashorse1453
    @Caligulashorse1453 Жыл бұрын

    12:40 the Hebrews influenced us more then we realize

  • @Fummy007

    @Fummy007

    Жыл бұрын

    They probably got the 7 day week from the Babylonians who had earlier based on the 7 planets.

  • @EcclesiastesLiker-py5ts

    @EcclesiastesLiker-py5ts

    Жыл бұрын

    The Jews ARE very important. Almost like they have special significance...

  • @euroman438
    @euroman438 Жыл бұрын

    Hello chat

  • @rhetoric5173
    @rhetoric5173 Жыл бұрын

    Legacies of ancient Egypt you mean

  • @jovanweismiller7114
    @jovanweismiller7114 Жыл бұрын

    Great video! I'm an absolutely fanatical calendar nerd! For the record, until the 1960s, the Catholic Church continued to use the kalends, nones, & ides in official dating.

  • @entubaotraducciones272
    @entubaotraducciones272 Жыл бұрын

    how can you say it was year 304

  • @sarasamaletdin4574

    @sarasamaletdin4574

    Ай бұрын

    BC or AD? BC: year of P. Sempronius Sophus and P. Sulpicius Saverrio AD: M. Flavius Valerius Constantius Caesar IV and C. Galerius Valerius Maximianus Caesar IV Like the video says, the Romans named the years after consuls and it was confusing. That’s partly why being consul was so prestigious even in imperial era however (although you can see that in 304 AD both consuls were the emperors of the tetrarchy, emperors often had consulships but others did too).

  • @Batfink11
    @Batfink1110 ай бұрын

    What year would Julius Ceasar say he was born? When I Google it it comes up with 100 BC , I doubt very much Ceasar would say he was born in 100 BC.

  • @jaif7327

    @jaif7327

    10 ай бұрын

    he would’ve said that he was born during the consul ship of Gaius Marius and Lucius Valerius Flacchius or the year 654 AUC (the traditional roman dating that was used counting upwards from the founding of rome) also im not sure about this second part but maybe he would’ve said a year after the ending of the cimbrian wars because we like to pair years with events

  • @sarasamaletdin4574

    @sarasamaletdin4574

    Ай бұрын

    He also would have said three days before ides of Quintilis (which is now 12th of July). Exact birthdays were very important for Romans and why we know some of the dates of birth like Caesar’s.

  • @NoName-cp4ct
    @NoName-cp4ct Жыл бұрын

    I thought the letter K was reserved for words borrowed from Greek

  • @Fummy007

    @Fummy007

    Жыл бұрын

    Kalends was borrowed from Greek.

  • 5 ай бұрын

    According to independent scholar Hans-Erdmann Korth, the Julian calendar may not have originated with Julius Caesar, as we believe, but with Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus Thrax, another Roman emperor who lived about 300 years after Julius Caesar. If you can read German, read Korth's interesting though poorly written book, Der Grosste Irrtum der Weltgeschichte.

  • @sarasamaletdin4574

    @sarasamaletdin4574

    Ай бұрын

    Then hey Cicero in his letters make comments on Caesar’s calendar change? Does this scholar propose some other change after Caesar?

  • @mistahraldz2940
    @mistahraldz2940 Жыл бұрын

    The school even teach the day of death holloween Christmas valentines day all this festivals are all created from romans Greek and Latin they all same family or seed influence the world from their own tradition believes and even churches costum to be followed that's why all the people are divided according from their beliefs

  • @sarasamaletdin4574

    @sarasamaletdin4574

    Ай бұрын

    They aren’t all created from Roman’s. Expecially Christmas that merely takes place the same month as Saturnalia (which lasted a whole month). Romans weren’t celebrating for a messiah being born and didn’t use the same traditions we now use to celebrate Christmas

  • @mistahraldz2940
    @mistahraldz2940 Жыл бұрын

    Cezar got influence from the Pharisee threatening him that if he not obey them no one will obey him and consider as a high noble in the society his position or thrown power and wealth is more important than the laws costumes statues or commandments of the most high .. That's why the law changes over the years because of influence of roman pope ,pharasies, or so called saints now a days. if you watch or study the book of john you will know exactly what I'm talking about

  • 5 ай бұрын

    According to the Phantom Time Hypothesis, when the AD system was put in around the year 1000 AD, it wasn't really 1000 years after Christ at all, but only about 700 years. 297 years were inserted between August 614 AD and September 614 AD, so that September 614 AD now became September 911 AD. If the Phantom Time Hypothesis is correct, we are actually living in 1727 rather than 2024.

  • @behien9292
    @behien92928 ай бұрын

    If you say yes you’re a silly billy