Calendrical Notes

[Clavdivs]

Thank you. If it is of interest to any beginners, I attach an little introductory note on Roman reckoning:

The Kalendar used by here is that of the Divine Emperor Julius Caesar. It consists of twelve months (MENSES), to wit:

MENSIS MARTIVS, of thirty-one days.
MENSIS APRILIS, of thirty days.
MENSIS MAIVS, of thirty-one days.
MENSIS IVNIVS, of thirty days.
MENSIS QVINCTILIS SIVE IVLIVS of thirty-one days.
MENSIS SEXTILIS SIVE AVGVSTVS, of thirty-one days.
MENSIS SEPTEMBRIS, of thirty days.
MENSIS OCTOBRIS, of thirty-one days.
MENSIS NOVEMBRIS, of thirty days.
MENSIS DECEMBRIS, of thirty-one days.
MENSIS IANVARIVS, of thirty-one days.
MENSIS FEBRVARIVS of twenty-eight days.

These dates are not equivalent to the Gregorian calendar. The Julian date may be obtained by subtracting thirteen days from the Gregorian.

In any case, we do not reckon by weeks, but rather by counting forward (inclusively) towards the nearest of the three fixed days in each month, the Kalends, the Nones and the Ides. The months are divided into ''full'' months (MENSES PLENI) of thirty-one days, and ''hollow'' months (MENSES CAVI) of thirty days.

In the full months that predate the Julian reform (MENSES MARTIVS, MAIVS, QVINCTILIS and OCTOBRIS) the Kalends is the first, the Nones the seventh and the Ides the fifteenth day.
In the new Julian full months (MENSES SEXTILIS, DECEMBRIS and IANVARIVS) and in the hollow months, the Kalends is the first day, the Nones the fifth and the Ides the thirteenth day.

There is a traditional rhyme to remember this:

March, July, October, May,
The Nones the seventh, Ides the fifteenth day.

February has 28 or (in modern terms) 29 days and is reckoned as a shortened hollow month. However, in actual fact, the sixth day before the Kalends of March is reckoned as forty-eight hours long, so that February always has twenty-eight days.

The Nones are so chosen as to fall nine days, inclusively, before the Ides, and the Ides themselves fall approximately on the middle day of each month.

Furthermore, the Kalends marks the sighting of the first sliver of the new moon, the Nones the quarter-moon and the Ides the full moon.

The eve (PRIDIE) and the day following (POSTRIDIE) the Kalends, Ides or Nones are expressed as such. The latter is a black day (DIES ATER) of ill omen ''on these days... [we] might not start anything new'' (Varro, ''Latin Language'', Book Six Chapter 29)

Note that the dates ''AB VRBE CONDITA'' are artificial -- the Romans never used such a system, instead naming each year after the two consuls elected for that year. Such lists of consuls (the FASTI CONSVLARES) provide the foundation for the annalists.

Religious and legal calendars were published (FASTI). In these, the religious and legal status of each day was marked by an abbreviation. We possess several fragmentary FASTI, one of the most valuable being that of Praeneste, which preserves much of the commentary of Verrius Flaccus, writing in the reign of Tiberius.

The essential division is into ''DIES FASTI'', on which courts might take place, and ''DIES NEFASTI'' which were devoted to other purposes. FASTVS derives from FAS, a noun meaning ''in accordance with the dictates of religion'' or ''permissible'' (NEFAS is the opposite), thus, days upon which it is permissible to hold court, or from FOR, FARI, FATVS, to say or to speak, because on these days ''it is permitted in the presence of the magistrates of the Roman people to speak those words, without which no legal business can take place'' (FASTI PRAENESTINI, Verius Flaccus)

There were three classes of ''DIES FASTI'' or permitted days:

1. ''DIES FASTI PROPRIE ET TOTI'' on which the praetor might hold his court at all hours, were denoted by F alone.

2. ''DIES PROPRIE SED NON TOTI FASTI'' were those on which the praetor might hold his court at certain hours, or, in other words, they were partially ''FASTI'' and partly ''NEFASTI''. Abbreviations include FP (FASTVS PRIMO). Other abbreviations were used, as END. (ENDOTERCISVS, divided in two), on which the morning and evening were NEFASTI and the intervening period, between the sacrifice and the offering of the entrails upon the altar, was FASTVS, Q. REX. C.F. (QVANDO REX COMITIO FVGIT or QVANDO REX COMITAVIT FAS)on which the King (the REX SACRORVM or King of the Sacred Rites, who assumed many of the functions of the old King) flees the Council [after offering sacrifice there] -- the two Regifugia, held by some to commemorate the expulsion of the Tarquins) and Q. ST. D. (QVANDO STERCVS DEFERTVR, on which the ashes [of the Vestal Fire] are thrown away through the Porta Stercoraria).

3. ''DIES NON PROPRIE SED CASU FASTI'', or days that were not ''FASTI'' but became so by accident, as if the ''COMITIA'' was not held on its proper day (a ''DIES FASTVS TOTVS'') or if it lasted but part of the day (the remainder was a DIES FASTVS EX PARTE).

''DIES NEFASTI' were those on which the praetor might not hold his court, nor may assemblies (COMITIA) be held. The term initially held no religious meaning -- from a religious point of view, days were either ''DIES FESTI'' devoted to the gods, ''DIES PROFESTI'' devoted to the affairs of men and ''DIES INTERCISI'', in part devoted to the gods and in part devoted to men -- but later came to be applied to religious days in general, as ''DIES NEFASTI'' were generally dedicated to the worship of the gods.

The abbreviation NP is sometimes met with. Warde Fowler takes it to indicate a day sacred to a god or goddess who was not of earthly character. Nova Roma (a Roman pagan group) glosses it ''nefastus publicus'', a sacred day on which public rites were held. Seek source for latter?

''DIES PROFESTI'' were subdivided into ''DIES COMITIALES'' on which the comitia might be held, ''DIES COMPERENDINI'' onto which legal summonses (VADIMONIA) could be transferred, and ''DIES STATI' on which cases between Romans and foreigners might be heard. ''DIES PROELIALES'' were those on which war might be declared, it being forbidden by the dictates of religion to declare war on certain days and festivals.