Julian calendar Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! AdvancedSpecial charactersHelpHeadingLevel 2Level 3Level 4Level 5FormatInsertLatinLatin extendedIPASymbolsGreekGreek extendedCyrillicArabicArabic extendedHebrewBanglaTamilTeluguSinhalaDevanagariGujaratiThaiLaoKhmerCanadian AboriginalRunesÁáÀàÂâÄäÃãǍǎĀāĂ㥹ÅåĆćĈĉÇçČčĊċĐđĎďÉéÈèÊêËëĚěĒēĔĕĖėĘęĜĝĢģĞğĠġĤĥĦħÍíÌìÎîÏïĨĩǏǐĪīĬĭİıĮįĴĵĶķĹĺĻļĽľŁłŃńÑñŅņŇňÓóÒòÔôÖöÕõǑǒŌōŎŏǪǫŐőŔŕŖŗŘřŚśŜŝŞşŠšȘșȚțŤťÚúÙùÛûÜüŨũŮůǓǔŪūǖǘǚǜŬŭŲųŰűŴŵÝýŶŷŸÿȲȳŹźŽžŻżÆæǢǣØøŒœßÐðÞþƏəFormattingLinksHeadingsListsFilesDiscussionReferencesDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getItalic''Italic text''Italic textBold'''Bold text'''Bold textBold & italic'''''Bold & italic text'''''Bold & italic textDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getReferencePage text.<ref>[https://www.example.org/ Link text], additional text.</ref>Page text.[1]Named referencePage text.<ref name="test">[https://www.example.org/ Link text]</ref>Page text.[2]Additional use of the same referencePage text.<ref name="test" />Page text.[2]Display references<references />↑ Link text, additional text.↑ Link text===Motivation=== The ordinary year in the previous Roman calendar consisted of 12 months, for a total of 355 days. In addition, a 27- or 28-day [[intercalary month]], the [[Mercedonius|Mensis Intercalaris]], was sometimes inserted between February and March. This intercalary month was formed by inserting 22 or 23 days after the first 23 days of February; the last five days of February, which counted down toward the start of March, became the last five days of Intercalaris. The net effect was to add 22 or 23 days to the year, forming an intercalary year of 377 or 378 days.<ref>T H Key, "A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities" (article ''Calendarium''), London, 1875, available at [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Calendarium.html].</ref> Some say the ''mensis intercalaris'' always had 27 days and began on either the first or the second day after the Terminalia (23 February).<ref>Blackburn, B & Holford-Strevens, L ''The Oxford Companion to the Year'', Oxford University Press, 1999, reprinted with corrections, 2003, pp. 669–70.</ref> If managed correctly this system could have allowed the Roman year to stay roughly aligned to a [[tropical year]]. However, since the pontifices were often politicians, and because a Roman magistrate's term of [[official|office]] corresponded with a calendar year, this power was prone to abuse: a pontifex could lengthen a year in which he or one of his political allies was in office, or refuse to lengthen one in which his opponents were in power.<ref>Censorinus, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Censorinus/text*.html#20.7 ''De die natali'' 20.7] {{In lang|la}} Latin)</ref> Caesar's reform was intended to solve this problem permanently, by creating a calendar that remained aligned to the sun without any human intervention. This proved useful very soon after the new calendar came into effect. [[Varro]] used it in 37 BC to fix calendar dates for the start of the four seasons, which would have been impossible only 8 years earlier.<ref name="Varro">Varro, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Varro/de_Re_Rustica/1*.html#28 ''On Agriculture'' I.1.28.]</ref> A century later, when [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] dated the [[winter solstice]] to 25 December because the sun entered the 8th degree of Capricorn on that date,<ref>Pliny, ''Natural History:'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D18%3Achapter%3D59 ''(Book 18, LIX / LXVI / LXVIII / LXXIV)''.]</ref> this stability had become an ordinary fact of life. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page