[lucky Janus]
Post by Paul WolffPost by CDB"This
superstition [luck according to length of month] influenced the
first reform of the calendar, which was attributed to Numa
Pompilius, the second of the seven traditional Kings of Rome. He
is said to have added January and February to the end of the
calendar around 713 BC."
I don't know what Numa is said to have done, precisely. Months
with odd numbers of days were the lucky ones, so there were no
30-day months. The four 31-day months had their Ides on the 15th
day, the others (29-day months, except February which had 28) on
the 13th, the Ides marking a division of the month (though slightly
before the mid-point, again possibly to do with choosing the odd
number day as more auspicious, though I don't see what might have
militated against having the Ides on the 15th throughout).
Presumably that arrangement of months, with an occasional
intercalation, was Numa's reform.
I have misled you. It is I who must say oops. I included the first,
introductory, sentence for completeness, but my point was merely that
January, when introduced, had not been put at the front of the line.
Mike's explanation resolved that problem, by suggesting that the
royals had intended to move it up but had been tossed too soon.
Post by Paul WolffPost by CDBSo, at the time Janus was added to the calendar, unless Wiki is
very much mistaken, he wasn't anywhere near the door. I wonder if
his association with transitions instead influenced the setting of
the consular year (which appears to be the one they numbered, when
they did so) to begin with his month.
My source (see below) says, on the first point, that there was a
tradition that March had been the first month, but that in
historical times it was always January, and "The Romans themselves
were aware of the contradiction"; and on the second point about the
consular year, that there was a military emergency, and the next
years' consuls needed to be sworn in urgently so that they could
conduct a spring campaign. They couldn't wait until the Ides of
March, the traditional date, and if the outgoing consuls had taken
command in January the army would have had to undergo a change of
commanders in mid-campaign, I guess.
All this makes excellent sense. If my mind grows much clearer, I will
be in danger of doing something socially useful with it.
Post by Paul WolffPost by CDBThis might gradually have become the
common New Year. Dunno. But it's OK. As Uncle Vinty always said,
one is hallucinating anyway.
No glad cries of recognition. Am I the only one who remembers Uncle,
even vaguely? Nothing left but tapes (and when I called TVO in 1987
to ask for another replay, they shirtily told me that the tape had
been destroyed, druggy) and a few chatroom exchanges ("Anyone remember
Uncle Vinty? His backup band included two guys who used to be in
Michael and the Messengers. Vinty put on quite a show. For one number,
"Alligator Wine", he wore a paper mache alligator head." " Yeah,
Vinty knew how to entertain. I believe he has passed on to the great
music club in the ether of our imagination.") It's OK.
Post by Paul WolffA fairly substantial review of the topic is Robert Hannah's book on
the Greek and to a lesser extent Roman calendars, of which some
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2005/2005-10-04.html
The Ottawa Public Library knows not of him, dammit.
Post by Paul WolffMy only recent book is Leofranc Holford-Strevens's History of Time
(a Very Short Introduction) and that is the source of much of my
detail. It also tells me such things as that the minute parts of
the hour or day were all sorts of fractions until mechanical clocks
began to enable small divisions to means something, and then
sixtieths became standard. The first order of minute parts were
sixty to the hour, the second order of minute parts were sixty to
the first order, and the third order of minute parts were sixty to
the second order. A time of ten primae minutae, thirty secundae
minutae and twenty tertiae minutae [partes], for example, would be
written 10' 30'' 20''', as they still are (except that we don't do
thirds much).
Maybe if we had a word that means number three but doesn't specify a
fraction, along the lines of "second". Ten minutes, thirty seconds,
and twenty crowders. Come to think of it, twenty crowders is a third,
of a second. I've been whooshed!
The OPL doesn't have the _History_ either, at least not yet, so I have
consoled myself by putting H-S's _Oxford Companion to the Year_ on my
reserved list. Thank you for this patient and very helpful
explanation.