Resumo de History - a.k. hussain

The Romans apparently borrowed their first calendar from the Greeks. The earliest known Roman calendar consisted of 10 months and a year of 304 days. The Romans seem to have ignored the remaining 60 days, which fell in the middle of winter. The 10 months were called Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December. Romulus, the legendary first ruler of Rome, is supposed to have introduced this calendar in about 738 B.C.

According to tradition, the Roman ruler Numa Pombilius added January and February to the calendar. This made the Roman year 355 days long. To make the calendar correspond approximately to the solar year, Numa also ordered the addition every other year of a month called Mercedinus, of 22 or 23 days. Mercedinus was inserted after February 23 or 24, and the last days of February were moved to the end of Mercedinus.

The Julian calendar. By the time of Julius Caesar, the accumulated error caused by the incorrect length of the Roman year--and by the occasional failure to add extra days at the proper times--had made the calendar about three months ahead of the seasons. Winter occurred in September, and autumn came in the month now called July. In 46 B.C., acting on the advice of the astronomer Sosigenes, Caesar ordered the Romans to disregard the moon in calculating their calendars. He divided the year into 12 months of 31 and 30 days alternately, except for February, which had only 29 days. Every fourth year, it would have 30 days. He also moved the beginning of the year from March 1 to January 1. To realign the calendar with the seasons, Caesar ruled that the year we know as 46 B.C. should have 445 days. The Romans called it the year of confusion.

The Romans renamed Quintilis to honour Julius Caesar, giving us July. Sextilis was renamed August by the Roman Senate to honour the emperor Augustus. Augustus moved a day from February to August.

The Julian calendar was widely used for more than 1,500 years. It provided for a year that lasted 3651/4 days. But it was actually about 11 minutes and 14 seconds longer than the solar year. This difference led to a gradual change in the dates on which the seasons began. By 1580, the spring equinox fell on March 11.Write your abstract here.

Resumos Relacionados