I re-read about the Latin system of dates yesterday. It struck me as a clumsy system. Kalends as the first of the month sounds logical enough. Ides as half way through the month, but having it change from the 13th to 15th for four months is confusing and illogical. Nones as either the 5th or 7th is confusing too. Why is there no special day three-quarters through the month? Counting backwards from the next Kalends, Nones or Ides sounds more difficult than it should be, especially when Kalends would be in a different month.
The way the Romans count the duration of days is a bit illogical to me too. According to their system there are two days between today and tomorrow. It does explain one thing: I have often wondered why it was said that Jesus Christ rose from the dead after three days, when from sunset Friday to dawn Sunday is more like one and a half. It was not more than two days, but according to the Roman way of reckoning it was three.
I read that Julius Caesar renamed the month Quinctil as Julius and that his reform in 46BC set the year at 365 days. The Roman new year started in March. I am not sure whether it originally started at the equinox. If I were Julius Caesar I would have shortened all the existing months to 28 days, then added another month named after myself. The moon orbits the earth every 28 days, although it does not appear in the same phase until a day or two later. Still, Roman astrologers would know about that. The new month could either be 29 days long, or you could have an extra day for special religious ceremonies. Every four years you could have another special day for extra special religious ceremonies. Maybe the Romans had a thing against the number 13.
The way the Romans count the duration of days is a bit illogical to me too. According to their system there are two days between today and tomorrow. It does explain one thing: I have often wondered why it was said that Jesus Christ rose from the dead after three days, when from sunset Friday to dawn Sunday is more like one and a half. It was not more than two days, but according to the Roman way of reckoning it was three.
I read that Julius Caesar renamed the month Quinctil as Julius and that his reform in 46BC set the year at 365 days. The Roman new year started in March. I am not sure whether it originally started at the equinox. If I were Julius Caesar I would have shortened all the existing months to 28 days, then added another month named after myself. The moon orbits the earth every 28 days, although it does not appear in the same phase until a day or two later. Still, Roman astrologers would know about that. The new month could either be 29 days long, or you could have an extra day for special religious ceremonies. Every four years you could have another special day for extra special religious ceremonies. Maybe the Romans had a thing against the number 13.
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