Sextilis
Sextilis (lit. 'sixth') or mensis Sextilis was the
(from septem, "seven"), which was originally the seventh month.The month Augustus
Julius (July) was renamed from Quintilis ("fifth" month) in honor of Julius Caesar, who had adopted his grand-nephew Octavian, the future Augustus, and made him his heir. It has sometimes been thought that the month has 31 days because Augustus wanted as many days in his month as in his predecessor's, but Sextilis in fact had 31 days since the reform during Caesar's dictatorship that created the Julian calendar.
The decree of the
Whereas the emperor Augustus Caesar, in the month of Sextilis, was first admitted to the
auspices, and in the same month Egypt was brought under the authority of the Roman people, and in the same month an end was put to the civil wars; and whereas for these reasons the said month is, and has been, most fortunate to this empire, it is hereby decreed by the senate that the said month shall be called Augustus.[2]
Iconography of the month
The
Dates
The Romans did not number days of a month sequentially from the 1st through the last day. Instead, they counted back from the three fixed points of the month: the
On the calendar of the Roman Republic and early Principate, each day was marked with a letter to denote its religiously lawful status. In August, these were:
- F for dies fasti, days when it was legal to initiate action in the courts of civil law;
- C, for dies comitalis, a day on which the Roman people could hold assemblies (comitia), elections, and certain kinds of judicial proceedings;
- N for dies nefasti, when these political activities and the administration of justice were prohibited;
- NP, the meaning of which remains elusive, but which marked feriae, public holidays;
- EN for endotercissus, an sacrifices were being prepared, and in the evening, while sacrifices were being offered, but were fasti in the middle of the day.[5]
Days were also marked with nundinal letters in cycles of A B C D E F G H, to mark the "market week"[6] (these are omitted in the table below).
A
Unless otherwise noted, the dating and observances on the following table are from
Modern date |
Roman date | status | Observances |
---|---|---|---|
1 August |
Kalendae Sextilis Kalendae Augustae |
F | • dies natales of the Temple of Calendar of Filocalus in 354 AD)[10]
|
2 | ante diem IV Nonas Sextilis ante diem IV Nonas Augustas |
F | |
3 | a.d. III Non. Sext.[11] a.d. III Non. Aug.[12] |
C | • supplicia canum, the punishment of the dogs |
4 | pridie Nonas Sextilis (abbrev. prid. Non. Sext.) pridie Nonas Augustas |
C | • after the mid-1st century AD, circus games for the Victory of the Senate[13] |
5 | Nonae Sextilis Nonae Augustae |
F | • dies natalis for the Temple of Salus on the Quirinal, with circus games added for Salus Publica ("Public Safety") after the mid-1st century AD[14] |
6 | a.d. VIII Id. Sext.[15] a.d. VIII Id. Aug.[16] |
F | |
7 | VII Id. Sext. VII Id. Aug. |
C | • dies natalis and circus games in honor of Constantius (Calendar of 354)[17] |
8 | VI Id. Sext. VI Id. Aug. |
C | • votive games (Calendar of 354)[18]
|
9 | V Id. Sext. V Id. Aug. |
C | • public sacrifice for Sol Indiges on the Quirinal Hill
|
10 | IV Id. Sext. IV Id. Aug. |
C | |
11 | III Id. Sext. III Id. Aug. |
C | |
12 | pridie Idūs Sextilis (abbrev. prid. Id. Sext.) pridie Idūs Augustas |
C | • festival for Pompeius Magnus, accompanied by Honos et Virtus, Felicitas, and possibly Vesta
• Lychnapsia (added after mid-1st century AD)[19] |
13 | Idus Sextilis Idus Augustae |
NP | •ovis idulis, the monthly sacrifice of the Ides sheep for Vortumnus on the Aventine near the Circus Maximus
• dies natalis for the Temple of Fortuna Equestris • dies natalis for the Temple of Hercules Victor or Hercules Invictus near the Porta Trigemina; for the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Circus Flaminius; for the Camenae on the Caelian Hill; and for the Temple of Flora |
14 | ante diem XIX Kalendas Septembris (pre-Julian XVII Kal. Sept.)[20] |
F | |
15 | XVIII Kal. Sept.[21] | C | |
16 | XVII Kal. Sept. | C | |
17 | XVI Kal. Sept. | NP | • Theater of Marcellus |
18 | XV Kal. Sept. | C | |
19 | XIV Kal. Sept. | F | • Probus (Calendar of 354)[23]
|
20 | XIII Kal. Sept. | C | |
21 | XII Kal. Sept. | NP | • CONSUALIA (pre-Julian X Kal. Sept. ) |
22 | XI Kal. Sept. | EN | |
23 | X Kal. Sept. | NP | • |
24 | IX Kal. Sept. | C dies religiosus |
• sacrifices for Luna at the Graecostasis[25] • mundus patet, one of three days in the year when a mysterious pit or underground chamber was opened |
25 | VIII Kal. Sept. | NP | • OPICONSIVIA for the goddess Ops (pre-Julian VI Kal. Sept.) |
26 | VII Kal. Sept. | C | |
27 | VI Kal. Sept. | NP | • VOLTURNALIA for Volturnus (pre-Julian IV Kal. Sept.) |
28 | V Kal. Sept. | C | • dies natalis for the Temple of Sol and Luna, the Sun and the Moon (pre-Julian III Kal. Sept.), with circus games added after the mid-1st century AD[26]
|
29 | IV Kal. Sept. | C | |
30 | III Kal. Sept. | C | |
31 | prid. Kal. Sept. | C |
References
- ^ Censorinus, De die natali 22.16 ([1]).
- ^ Preserved by Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12.35; entry on calendarium, in William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (John Murray, London, 1875), at LacusCurtius.
- ^ Michele Renee Salzman, On Roman Time: The Codex Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity (University of California Press, 1990), p. 94.
- ^ The month name is construed as an adjective modifying Kalendae, Nonae or Idūs (all plural nouns of feminine gender).
- ^ Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies, pp. 44–45.
- ^ Jörg Rüpke, The Roman Calendar from Numa to Constantine: Time, History, and the Fasti, translated by David M.B. Richardson (Blackwell, 2011, originally published 1995 in German), p. 6.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 118ff.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, pp. 17, 122.
- ^ Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic, p. 41.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 134.
- ^ Abbreviated form of ante diem III Nonas Sextilis.
- ^ Abbreviated form of ante diem III Nonas Augustas.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 122.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 122.
- ^ Abbreviated form of ante diem VII Idūs Sextilis, with the ante diem omitted altogether from this point.
- ^ Abbreviated form of ante diem VII Idūs Augustas.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 134.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 134.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 123.
- ^ Because two days were added to the month as part of the Julian calendar reform
- ^ Abbreviated form of ante diem XVIII Kalendas Septembris/-es with the ante diem omitted altogether, as in the rest of the month following.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 123.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 134.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, pp. 122, 126.
- ^ Mentioned only in the Fasti Pinciani.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 122.