Roman Calendars

Roma askerî tarihi üzerine yapılan araştırmalar genel itibarıyla bu teşkilatın siyasi tarihine yönelirken kayda değer bir kısmı da onu oluşturan askerlerin dinsel inançlarına odaklanmaktadır. Bu bağlamda Alfred von Domaszewski’nin 1895 yılında yayımladığı die Religion des römischen Heeres adlı eseri, Roma ordusunda görev yapmış askerlerin dinsel inançlarına yönelik ilk monografi olması bakımından önemlidir. Domaszewski bu eserinde çeşitli rütbe ve birliklere mensup Roma askerlerine ait olmak üzere kendi dönemine dek keşfedilmiş adak yazıtlarını bir araya getirerek askerlerin ibadet ettiği tanrı ve tanrıçaları tespit etmiş, bunların kültlerine ilişkin bilgiler vererek ibadet yöntemleri üzerine değerlendirmelerde bulunmuştur. Roma ordusunda dinsel yaşam hakkında yazılmış bu monografiden sonra konuyla ilgili en çarpıcı çalışma, W. F. Snyder, Robert O. Fink ve Allan S. Hoey tarafından 1940 yılında yayımlanan Feriale Duranum adlı makale olmuştur. Bu makalenin konusu, günümüz Suriye Arap Cumhuriyeti’ndeki Dura’da keşfedildiği için Feriale Duranum adı verilen dinsel içerikli bir papirüstür. Roma askerlerinin dinsel yaşamının takvimsel olarak düzenlendiğini göstermesi bakımından oldukça önemli bir keşif olan bu papirüs, yayımlandığı tarihten itibaren pek çok araştırmacının dikkatini çekerek sıklıkla başvurulan ve incelenen bir kaynak olmuştur.

A proposta deste trabalho segue as primeiras sugestões feitas no início dos estudos sobre as mulheres da Antiguidade, ou seja, procurar, iluminar e fazer existir essas mulheres do passado, além de levantar uma crítica ao androcentrismo de tal tempo. Dessa forma, este artigo enfatizará duas mulheres, Otávia e Cleópatra, as quais sofreram diferentes consequências por estarem em meio às intrigas de Otávio e Marco Antônio, que foram registradas através de fontes textuais e materiais, assim como de moedas exemplificadas aqui. A reconciliação de Antônio e Otávio foi selada com o casamento de Antônio com sua irmã, Otávia. Cleópatra foi caracterizada como uma influência fatal e como um exemplo a não ser seguido. Nessa perspectiva, é por meio das problemáticas acerca das questões atuais das mulheres que se busca esse conhecimento no passado.

A cross-disciplinary discussion centred around the Minoan Phaistos Disc; pursuing the theory that it was a simple 30-and 31-day solar calendar; its possible connection to the Etruscans; or perhaps to the Trojans and the legendary Trojan origins of the Romans. Many timeless legends offer us overlapping versions of the migration of tribes from the Aegean Sea region to Italy and even beyond, to Britain and Ireland. If we could untangle some of these legends then it might be possible to compare the events to hard evidence of climate change, famines and archaeology; and to suggest a chronology for some of the migrations. The enigmatic Phaistos Disc and its possible use as a calendar may offer clues to supplement the other evidence.

The purpose of this work follows the first suggestions made at the beginning of the studies of women in Antiquity, which is to seek, illuminate and to show that women exist in the past, in addition to raising a criticism of androcentrism of past time. In this way, this article will emphasize two women, Octavia and Cleopatra, who suffered different consequences for being in the middle of intrigues of Octavian and Mark Antony, registered through textual and material sources as well as coins exemplified here. The reconciliation between Antony and Octavian was sealed with the marriage of Octavia, Octavian's sister, to Antony. Cleopatra was characterized as a fatal influence and as an example not to be followed. In this perspective, it is through the problematics about women's current issues that this knowledge is sought in the past.

This work seeks to interpret Homer’s Catalogue of Ships as an astronomical treatise containing several numerical constants or approximations that are useful for calendar calculations. It views the Catalogue not as a historical primary source but as a matrix of data, the meticulous classification of which can itself reveal its inner configuration. The probability that the correspondences found in the Catalogue are random is assessed using a software simulator.
The author’s approach resonates with the ideas of Heinrich Düntzer, Martin Nilsson, Engelbert Drerup, John Myres, Günter Jachmann, Seth Benardete, Nina Braginskaya, Lev Klein, and other scholars who have noticed signs of a certain geometric order in Homer’s text.
This paper was conceived when the author noticed something that was hiding in plain sight: there are 1186 ships, 29 fleets, and 46 commanders in the Catalogue; the orbital periods of Jupiter and Saturn are 11.86 and 29.46 years, respectively. What could this be if not an invitation to take a closer look at these numbers?

While it was customary for successful Roman generals to commemorate their victories through statues or other building projects, Caesar's most crucial military victory at the Battle of Pharsalia in 48 BCE strikingly saw the least amount of official commemoration of all his campaigns. This article explores why this was so (it was too controversial yet to celebrate a civil war victor over fellow Roman citizens) and outlines the various other more indirect ways Caesar attempted to commemorate his key civil war victory, ranging from his temple to Venus Victrix, the battle's inclusion as a commemorative date in the fasti, and finally the Bellum Civile, his own literary commemoration of the civil wars that elevated him to the heights of power.

The four seasons of the Roman calendar, as described by Marcus Terentius Varro, are different from our seasons, in the sense that they start on days which differ from those that we are using today. In his Books on Agriculture, Varro shows that the Roman seasons started on the Cross Quarter-days instead than on the Quarter-days of the year as it happens today. Besides the classic subdivision in four parts, in the Books on Agriculture we can also find the year divided into eight parts, that is eight seasons having quite different lengths. In our discussion of Varro's seasons we will compare the days he mentions for the separation of seasons to the Cross Quarter- and Quarter-days that we find in Celtic calendars.

The revolutionary nature of Augustus’ power manifested itself in numerous aspects of daily life. One of these was the control of time: by introducing numerous celebrations related to the Emperor and to his family to the calendars, Augustus reshaped the temporal rhythm of city life. By creating a dialogue between a rich epigraphic corpus and many literary texts, this study will reconstruct the diachronic evolution of the methods of celebrating birthdays, military victories and triumphs. Moreover, it will reflect on if and how these festivals assumed the role of public anniversaries by exploring the different ways in which they were recorded in different sources and their reception by Romans of different social classes. Particular attention will also be given to the dates of dedication of the inscriptions that record the day of these celebrations in order to understand if the day chosen was influenced by its historical meaning or it was just mere coincidence. Overall, this book will show that the calendars are a mirror that reflects different socio-political issues and therefore function as a lens through which we can better understand the political history of Ancient Rome.

The Multidimensional Time/Space Evaluator of Human Being Life Map (See fig. 1) is willing to observe the human being evolved from a multidimensional perspective. The main objective to build the Multidimensional Time/Space Evaluator of Human Being Life Map is to observe the evolution of time for any human beings through different periods of time for a certain period of time.

The presentation offers a brief exposition of the astronomical knowledge codified in the calendar traditionally associated with the second king of Roma, Numa Pompilius (715-673 BCE). The festivities in the calendar, the myths and rites associated with them and the rhythm of their cadences allows us to track backwards to real astral movements and to recognize the sum of that knowledge. This knowledge spans: 1-the periodicity of the solar and the lunar eclipses, i.e. the Saros cycle; 2-the period of revolution of the line of lunar nodes; 3-the period of the passages of nodes from the Points of Aries and Libra; 4-the period of revolution of the line of apsides; 5-the planetary movements and their period relations. All this proves that the so-called Numan Calendar has an astronomical basis. This means that it is of direct Mesopotamian origin. KEYWORDS: Roman and Numan Calendar, Numan Cycle, intercalation, Saros Cycle, the revolution of the line of lunar nodes, the passage of nodes from the First Point of Aries, the revolution of the line of lunar nodes, planetary period relations

This thesis examines the ways in which the speech of women and their interaction with men contribute to the ethical framework of Plutarch’s Roman Lives. In particular, it explores the significant features shared by the various examples of female speech: every Roman woman who speaks is a member of the elite; all speak at a point of civic and personal crisis; and all are portrayed as virtuous exempla. The lone exception to this model is Cleopatra, whose direct discourse functions as a philosophical and cultural contrast to the virtues espoused by the Roman women, although ultimately, Plutarch provides the Egyptian queen with a measure of redemption at the close of the Life of Antony. A close reading of these texts therefore offers a complex view of how Plutarch regarded gender, culture and identity under the rule of the Roman Empire.
Chapter One analyses the public intercessions of Hersilia in the Life of Romulus and Volumnia in the Life of Coriolanus. In these episodes, Plutarch incorporates Greek tragic models and Roman cultural ideals in order to present female action and direct discourse as a dramatic articulation of the importance of sophrosyne and paideia for both the statesman and state. Chapter Two explores the more intimate speeches delivered by Julia, Octavia and Cleopatra in the Life of Antony. The discourse of these women serves to illustrate the ethical tension between eros (passion) and logos (reason), and the conflict between the pursuit of public and private goods. Chapter Three examines the spoken interaction between husband and wife in the Lives of Pompey, Brutus and Gaius Gracchus. The women’s speeches, modelled again on Greek tragic and epic archetypes, explore the vital difference between eros and marital philia (friendship), reinforcing the connection between private conjugal harmony, virtue and civic stability.
Plutarch thus regularly deploys female direct discourse to dramatically reinforce his moral and philosophical themes at watershed moments of the narrative. As each speech is delivered not only at critical points of the protagonist’s life, but at critical moments for Rome, each scene dramatically exemplifies an unsettling mode of instruction within the narrative by questioning the statesman’s roles and responsibilities within Rome’s societal structures; and each subsequently reasserts the social and ethical foundations on which the protagonist (and Plutarch’s ideal reader) should rely.

Die Quintilier sind zweifellos die berühmteste und am besten dokumentierte Familie aus Alexandria Troas. Insbesondere die letzten vier Generationen haben durch ihre Tätigkeit in der römischen Reichsverwaltung, ihre engen Verbindungen zu den Kaisern und Geistesgrößen ihrer Zeit, ihr literarisches Wirken sowie ihren ausgedehnten Villenbesitz mannigfaltige Spuren hinterlassen. Eine willkommene Bereicherung fand unser Quellenmaterial vor Kurzem durch drei neue Inschriften vom alexandrinischen Forum, die 2008 und 2016 von E. Schwertheim veröffentlicht wurden und Auskunft über zwei frühe, zuvor unbekannte Quintilier geben sowie einen nicht näher zu greifenden Κυιντίλ[ιος] der hohen Kaiserzeit nennen. +++ Damit sind inzwischen acht Familienmitglieder sicher bekannt: ein P. Quintilius Maximus und seine Tochter Quintilia Apphia in iulisch-claudischer Zeit, ein Sex. Quintilius Valerius Maximus und sein gleichnamiger Sohn in der Zeit von den Flaviern bis Hadrian sowie die beiden nachfolgenden und bekanntesten Generationen mit jeweils einem Sex. Quintilius Valerius Maximus und einem Sex. Quintilius Condianus in der Antoninenzeit. Hinzu kommt der Vater des ältesten Sex. Quintilius Valerius Maximus, von dem aber leider nur sein Vorname Sextus überliefert ist. +++ Die epigraphischen Neufunde nahm ich zum Anlass, die Familiengeschichte erneut aufzurollen und erstmals einen ausführlichen Gesamtüberblick in deutscher Sprache vorzulegen. Der bislang ungeklärten Frage nach der origo der Quintilier widmet sich der erste Abschnitt, der zwar keine eindeutige Antwort zu liefern vermag, aber zumindest drei mögliche Szenarien aufzeigt und diese hinsichtlich ihrer Plausibilität überprüft. Die nachfolgenden Ausführungen orientieren sich an der chronologischen Abfolge, wobei der fünfte Abschnitt auch eine Darstellung zum reichen Familienbesitz enthält. Die Schlussbemerkung richtet ihren Blick schließlich auf das Verhältnis zwischen den Quintiliern und ihrer langjährigen Heimatgemeinde Alexandria Troas.

Aunque a veces no nos demos cuenta, somos herederos directos de Roma, de su cultura y de su forma de concebir aspectos tan determinantes como las leyes, la estructura social o el mismo paso del tiempo. Este último nos servirá de guía para adentrarnos en el mundo romano de modo distinto, a través de su calendario, con sus meses, semanas, días, horas y los principales hitos que marcaban el día a día de quienes lo utilizaron para regir sus vidas antes que nosotros.
Vive ahora de primera mano lo que pudo ser un año cualquiera en la antigua Roma, del 1 de enero al 31 de diciembre, en un viaje a través de su cultura y su historia - la grande y la pequeña - en el que asistirás a sus fiestas, sus ceremonias civiles y religiosas, sus ocupaciones cotidianas. Desde el emperador al esclavo, del mercader al senador, del soldado al labrador, todos ellos tienen su hueco en esta obra, que se extiende por los más de mil doscientos años de historia de esta extraordinaria civilización en la que se hunden nuestras raíces.

J.Linderski, Religious Aspects of the Conflict of the Orders: The Case of confarreatio, in: K..A. Raaflaub (ed.), Social Struggles in Archaic Rome. New Perspectives on the Conflict of the Orders, Berkeley1986, 244-261 = RQ 1995, 542-59 + addenda 671-75 + addenda altera, RQ II, 2007, 634-37.

Despite its greatness and power, Christianity could not fully counteract older traditional beliefs. The paper will present the Roman holidays, dates of which remained incorporated in the orientation of medieval churches built on the Roman period sites or near them. An archaeoastronomical survey highlighted and emphasised various dates that marked important holidays in the Roman calendar, and which were adopted or covered by Christianity with their own festivals of the liturgical calendar.

These pages supplement the table of Julian equivalents for Roman dates in Drumann-Groebe vol. 3. They move, with supporting evidence, the intercalary month from 59 to 58 BC and from 54 to 55 BC.  All phases of the Moon and market days (nundinae)  are listed for those years.

Este trabalho foi desenvolvido para as Comemorações do Ano Internacional da Astronomia, 2009, promovidas pela Sociedade Portuguesa de Astronomia. Pretende-se explorar os significados astronómicos/astrológicos por detrás do provérbio popular "Na Lua Cheia, não cortes pau nem veia.

This paper is an introductory level -- general public lecture -- from 2 Mar. 2008.  It had illustrations which I will attempt to upload.  It was a 50 minute talk with a handout to a surprisingly large audience.  The pictures accompanying the  paper are marked by bold print and can be found through links on the handout.

Este artículo pretende demostrar que Augusto nació en el mes de diciembre astronómico, bajo el signo de Capricornio, en una fecha que se correspondía con el septiembre calendárico debido a las viejas discrepancias del calendario tradicional romano con respecto a la realidad astronómica, así como señalar la endeblez de las demás teorías propuestas acerca de esta cuestión.

Religion und Geschichte stehen in einem Spannungsverhältnis zueinander. Die Zugehörigkeit zu einer bestimmten Religion bietet in der römischen Antike die Möglichkeit, die eigene Identität auszudrücken. Geschichte stellt diese Identitäten in einen größeren Zusammenhang. Die moderne Gedächtnisforschung hat das Bewusstsein dafür geschärft, dass historische Erinnerung weit über bloße Geschichtserzählungen hinausgeht. Sie greift im antiken Rom zurück auf religiös motivierte priesterliche Aufzeichnungen, auf Festkalender und Beamtenlisten. Daraus entwickeln sich schließlich Formen ›weltlicher‹ Geschichtsschreibung wie etwa Annalen oder ›Commentarii‹. Religiöse Institutionen von Erinnerung stehen somit am Beginn jeder Historiographie, und zugleich wird Religion auf diese Weise selbst Geschichte. Jörg Rüpke untersucht in seinem Buch dieses spannungsreiche Wechselspiel zwischen religiösen Erinnerungskulturen und Geschichtsschreibung.

Na prvi pogled čini se da ništa ne povezuje englesku reč za veliku nesreću, hrabre branioce davno nestalih gradova Segede i Numancije, rimskog vojskovođu Kvinta Fulvija, afričke bojne slonove i prvi dan meseca januara. Međutim, izuzetan koloplet naizgled nepovezanih ljudi, mesta i događaja doveo je do toga da se baš 1. januara najveći deo čovečanstva raduje dolasku Nove godine.