Publication details
The Pre-Caesarian Calendar – A Time Counting Theory
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| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | This paper deals with the Roman calendar before Caesar's reform – a number of months, inercalatum, counting of winter months and legendary calendars of Romulus and Remus. Primarily, the research describes the issues from religious point of view, but connections between political, war or vegetation affairs and the Roman calendar are also important. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part follows up and interprets ancient sources, e.g. Livius or Macrobius, who informs us about the first Roman calendars. The next part acquaints us with the view of modern scholars, for example, Otto Ernest Hartmann, Joseph Dwight or Jörg Rüpke. We can say that Otto E. Hartmann was the first modern scholar who studied the Roman calendar. He formulated a theory of the ten months Roman calendar that was identical with a vegetation calendar. This calendar had 304 days and winter seasons included no months. This theory is accepted by most scientists of the 20. and 21. century. Some scholars disagree with this theory, for example H. J. Rose and B. M. Allen. These scientists claim that the Roman calendar had to be based on the so-called full year (twelve months), because in winters, there were too many matters to make (preparing wars and field works, providing purification rituals). The aim of the last part is to show how Romans counted months before the Caesar’s calendar reform. The paper suggests a new solution. |
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