Calendar and its elements Flashcards
true or false? romans counted hours, but not minutes or seconds
true
“day” means // “night” means
when the sun goes up // when the sun goes down
why do we have 60 minutes in an hour?
because at the vernal equinox, there were 60 minutes in an hour
how long was each hour at the vernal equinox?
60 minutes
how long was each hour at the summer solstice?
76.33 minutes
how long was each hour at the autumnal equinox?
60 minutes
how long was each hour at the winter solstice?
45.5 minutes
dies
day
nox
night
Oriens
sunrise
occasus
sunset
meridies
noon (meri = mid, dies = day)
morning
ante meridiem (am)
afternoon
post meridiem (pm)
which days of the week were renamed after Norse Gods in English?
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
which day of the week got influenced by Christian Romans in French?
Sunday (dimanche, Dominica)
monday / lundi
dies lunae (moon’s day)
Tuesday / Mardi
dies Martis (mars’ day)
Wednesday / mercredi
dies mercurii (mercury’s day)
thursday / jeudi
dies jovis (Jupiter’s day)
friday / vendredi
dies veneris (venus’ day)
Saturday / samedi
dies saturni (Saturn’s day)
sunday / dimanche
dies solis (sun’s day)
why did christian romans change the names of the days of the week?
they didn’t like days being named after pagan gods
originally, how many days were in a roman week?
8
nundinae
market days (8 per month)
how many days were originally in a Roman year?
355
januarius
January
februarius
February
martius
march
aprilius
April
maius
may
iunius
June
quintilis (iulius)
July (name was changed to honour Julius caesar)
sextilis (augustus)
august (name was changed to honour Augustus Caesar)
what is the name of the month that existed within February?
intercalaris
how often did intercalaris happen?
every 2 years
why is leap day in February?
February used to be the 12th month of the year, so they just tacked on a day to the end of the year
how many months did romans originally have?
10 (march - December)
which king added two new months (myth, not fact)
king numa
who moved January - February to the beginning of the calendar?
the decemviri
kal or kl
kalendae or kalends, the first day of the month
non
nonae or nones, the 5th or the 7th of the month (only the 7th in months that originally had 31 days)
Id
idus or ides, the 13th or the 15th of the month
pridie
the day before
what holiday was stuck in February?
terminalia
true or false? romans counted their calendar backwards
true. romans counted inclusively, so the last day of march was 3 days before the first day of April
in what months did nones take place on the 7th and ides take place on the 15th? (4)
march, may, July and October
“F” means
Fastus, working days
“C” means
comitialis, working days
“EN” means
edotio exito nefas, days when business was banned in the morning and evening
“NP” means
nefas piaculum, days of great public festivals and holidays when trials and comitia (committees) were banned
“N” means
nefastus, days when trials, committees and assemblies (comitia) were banned
parilia
rome’s birthday
how many days off did romans get in January?
4 1/2
how many days off did romans get in September?
3
how many days off did romans get in November?
1
how many days off did romans get in February?
20 (15 in a row)
how many days off did romans get in April?
18
how many days off did romans get in December?
10 1/2
feriae publicae
days dedicated to gods and goddesses, big festivals and games
ludi magnae
the big games, lasted 16 days
ludi plebeii
plebeian games, lasted 14 days
who said there were too many festivals and (unsuccessfully) tried to cut them back?
Marcus Aurelius
how many days off were there by the third century ?
175
