A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

Name: A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
Author: Smith, William

Smith, William

Classical dictionaries; Greece -- Antiquities; Rome -- Antiquities

provided against a repetition of similar errors, by casting aside
the intercalary month, and adapting the year to the sun’s course.
Accordingly, to the 355 days of the previously existing year he added
ten days, which he so distributed between the seven months having
29 days that January, Sextilis, and December received two each, the
others but one; and these additional days he placed at the end of
the several months, no doubt with the wish not to remove the various
festivals from those positions in the several months which they had
so long occupied. Hence in the present calendar, although there are
seven months of 31 days, yet the four months, which from the first
possessed that number, are still distinguishable by having their
nones on the seventh, the rest having them on the fifth of the month.
Lastly, in consideration of the quarter of a day, which he regarded
as completing the true year, he established the rule that, at the
end of every four years, a single day should be intercalated, where
the month had been hitherto inserted, that is, immediately after the
terminalia; which day is now called the _bissextum_.” The mode of
denoting the days of the month will cause no difficulty, if it be
recollected that the kalends always denote the first of the month;
that the nones occur on the seventh of the four months of March,
May, Quinctilis or July, and October, and on the fifth of the other
months; that the ides always fall eight days later than the nones;
and lastly, that the intermediate days are in all cases reckoned
backwards upon the Roman principle of counting both extremes. For the
month of January the notation will be as follows:--

  1. Kal. Jan.
  2. a. d. IV. Non. Jan.
  3. a. d. III. Non. Jan.
  4. Prid. Non. Jan.
  5. Non. Jan.
  6. a. d. VIII. Id. Jan.
  7. a. d. VII. Id. Jan.
  8. a. d. VI. Id. Jan.
  9. a. d. V. Id. Jan.
  10. a. d. IV. Id. Jan.
  11. a. d. III. Id. Jan.
  12. Prid. Id. Jan.
  13. Id. Jan.
  14. a. d. XIX. Kal. Feb.
  15. a. d. XVIII. Kal. Feb.
  16. a. d. XVII. Kal. Feb.
  17. a. d. XVI. Kal. Feb.
  18. a. d. XV. Kal. Feb.
  19. a. d. XIV. Kal. Feb.
  20. a. d. XIII. Kal. Feb.
  21. a. d. XII. Kal. Feb.
  22. a. d. XI. Kal. Feb.
  23. a. d. X. Kal. Feb.
  24. a. d. IX. Kal. Feb.
  25. a. d. VIII. Kal. Feb.
  26. a. d. VII. Kal. Feb.
  27. a. d. VI. Kal. Feb.
  28. a. d. V. Kal. Feb.
  29. a. d. IV. Kal. Feb.
  30. a. d. III. Kal. Feb.
  31. Prid. Kal. Feb.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman AntiquitiesSmith, William

History

A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

Smith, William

Classical dictionaries; Greece -- Antiquities; Rome -- Antiquities

provided against a repetition of similar errors, by casting aside
the intercalary month, and adapting the year to the sun’s course.
Accordingly, to the 355 days of the previously existing year he added
ten days, which he so distributed between the seven months having
29 days that January, Sextilis, and December received two each, the
others but one; and these additional days he placed at the end of
the several months, no doubt with the wish not to remove the various
festivals from those positions in the several months which they had
so long occupied. Hence in the present calendar, although there are
seven months of 31 days, yet the four months, which from the first
possessed that number, are still distinguishable by having their
nones on the seventh, the rest having them on the fifth of the month.
Lastly, in consideration of the quarter of a day, which he regarded
as completing the true year, he established the rule that, at the
end of every four years, a single day should be intercalated, where
the month had been hitherto inserted, that is, immediately after the
terminalia; which day is now called the _bissextum_.” The mode of
denoting the days of the month will cause no difficulty, if it be
recollected that the kalends always denote the first of the month;
that the nones occur on the seventh of the four months of March,
May, Quinctilis or July, and October, and on the fifth of the other
months; that the ides always fall eight days later than the nones;
and lastly, that the intermediate days are in all cases reckoned
backwards upon the Roman principle of counting both extremes. For the
month of January the notation will be as follows:--

  1. Kal. Jan.
  2. a. d. IV. Non. Jan.
  3. a. d. III. Non. Jan.
  4. Prid. Non. Jan.
  5. Non. Jan.
  6. a. d. VIII. Id. Jan.
  7. a. d. VII. Id. Jan.
  8. a. d. VI. Id. Jan.
  9. a. d. V. Id. Jan.
  10. a. d. IV. Id. Jan.
  11. a. d. III. Id. Jan.
  12. Prid. Id. Jan.
  13. Id. Jan.
  14. a. d. XIX. Kal. Feb.
  15. a. d. XVIII. Kal. Feb.
  16. a. d. XVII. Kal. Feb.
  17. a. d. XVI. Kal. Feb.
  18. a. d. XV. Kal. Feb.
  19. a. d. XIV. Kal. Feb.
  20. a. d. XIII. Kal. Feb.
  21. a. d. XII. Kal. Feb.
  22. a. d. XI. Kal. Feb.
  23. a. d. X. Kal. Feb.
  24. a. d. IX. Kal. Feb.
  25. a. d. VIII. Kal. Feb.
  26. a. d. VII. Kal. Feb.
  27. a. d. VI. Kal. Feb.
  28. a. d. V. Kal. Feb.
  29. a. d. IV. Kal. Feb.
  30. a. d. III. Kal. Feb.
  31. Prid. Kal. Feb.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

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