Calender

[Celtic_Punk]

HOKAY! so we all know we follow the Caesarian calender (whether or not he invented himeself or not we'll never know)but what calender did the Romans follow before Caesar? how did they track the years before and after the great salad man himself?

[SwissBarbar]

i guess they calculatet years after the founding of rome or somewhat like that

[abou]

It was similar, but there was an intercalary month that was used to properly adjust the calender so that spring would begin at approximately the same time each year. During the events of the civil war, proper use of the intercalary month had practically ceased and the calender was so far off that no one really bothered. Once Caesar won and came to power, he introduced reforms utilizing Greek methods (probably picked up while he was in Alexandreia) to realign the calender and develop the Caesarian calender.

[Celtic_Punk]

hmmm. Well thats interesting. But what year did they see Caesar come into power? not the BC or AD Calender, but their calendar at the time. The greeks used time after the last olympiad or something right?

[abou]

Either Ab Urbe Condita, which translates to, "since the founding of the city," or they would list the year by the consules. So it would be something like, "In the year of the consulship of this dude and that guy."

[Foot]

AUC, Ab Urbe Condita, counted from the founding of Rome.

Foot

[Celtic_Punk]

ahhhh thankyou

[Mulceber]

AUC, Ab Urbe Condita, counted from the founding of Rome.

Foot

Problem is, the Romans actually didn't use AUC that much - it was pretty much invented by Livy and even then, it didn't see much use. More often, they referred to the year by who was consul, or if they were feeling like being really formal about their dating, they'd identify the year by what Olympiad it was. -M

[Megas Methuselah]

During the events of the civil war, proper use of the intercalary month had practically ceased and the calender was so far off that no one really bothered.

I remember reading somewhere about this, but it's been a while, so I'll need some confirmation. Anyways, didn't the Pontifex Maximus(or someone) just add that extra month whenever his allies were in political power(as Consuls or whatever), and took out the month when his enemies had political power?

[Atilius]

Anyways, didn't the Pontifex Maximus(or someone) just add that extra month whenever his allies were in political power(as Consuls or whatever), and took out the month when his enemies had political power?

Macrobius, Ammianus, Plutarch, Cicero, and others all state or imply that the calendar was manipulated by intercalating days or months. However, regulation of the Roman calendar fell to the College of Pontifices, presided over by the Pontifex Maximus; the matter was not solely in the hands of the PM. Caesar became Pontifex Maximus in 63 BC, yet his reform of the calendar didn't occur until the year 46 BC. (That year had a total of 445 days.) The 17 year gap indicates that his authority as Pontifex Maximus was absolute only after he had secured supreme political power.