Roman calendar.
The calendar of the ancient Romans,
from which our modern calendars are derived. It is said to have
consisted originally of ten months, Martius, Aprilis,
Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis,
September, October, November, and December, having a total of 304
days. Numa added two months, Januarius at the beginning of the
year, and Februarius at the end, making in all 355 days. He
also ordered an intercalary month, Mercedinus, to be inserted
every second year. Later the order of the months was changed so that
January should come before February. Through abuse of power by the
pontiffs to whose care it was committed, this calendar fell into
confusion. It was replaced by the Julian calendar. In designating the
days of the month, the Romans reckoned backward from three fixed
points, the calends, the nones, and the ides. The
calends were always the first day of the month. The ides fell on the
15th in March, May, July (Quintilis), and October, and on the 13th in
other months. The nones came on the eighth day (the ninth,
counting the ides) before the ides. Thus, Jan. 13 was called the ides
of January, Jan. 12, the day before the ides, and Jan. 11, the
third day before the ides (since the ides count as one), while
Jan. 14 was the 19th day before the calends of February.
© Webster 1913.