August

Have you ever wondered how the months of the year got their names?

Actually, the months’ names reflect a mixture of gods, goddesses, rulers, and numbers.

The first Roman Calendar was adopted from the Greek lunar calendar.

It had only 10 months, beginning with the spring month of Marius (March).

It was followed by Aprilis (April), Maius (May), Junius (June), Quintilis (meaning fifth), Sextilis (sixth), September (seventh), October (eighth), November (ninth), and December (tenth).

All of this made sense until sometime at the end of the seventh century BC, when the Roman emperor Numa Pompilius added two extra months to bring the lunar calendar back in line with the solar seasons.

The new months that he added were Januarius (January) and Februarius (February) which later became the first and second months. When he added these two months it made the names Quintilis through December seem foolish. Later on, two other Roman emperors, Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar, renamed Quintilis and Sextilis after themselves. The two months became Julius (July) and Augustus (August).

By the time Julius Casesar came to power in 46 B.C., the calendar needed major adjustment. After consulting a Greek astronomer named Sosigenes, Caesar ordered the following changes to the Roman calendar:

The lunar calendar would be replaced with a solar one.
The year would have 365¼ days instead of 365.
The year would begin in January and have twelve months of fixed length.
An extra day would be added ever four years in the month of February.
The months of January, March, May, July, September, and November would all have thirty-one days. All the other months would have thirty except February, which would have twenty-eight or twenty-nine.

In order to restore the seasons to their proper places, Julius Caesar added eighty days to the current year. So, the year 46 B.C. had 445 days. It became known as Annus Confusionus – The Year of Confusion!

Augustus was born Gaius Octavius Thurinus in 63 B.C.E. Historians refer to him as Octavian. In 27 B.C., the emperor Augustus became the ruler of Rome after Julius Caesar’s death. Octavian was adopted by Julius Caesar, who in turn changed his name to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. Octavian rejected all titles such as king or emperor. The most he would agree to be called was Augustus, meaning “honored” or “revered one.”

The month of August got its name from the Ancient Romans who named this month for Augustus Caesar. Augustus made adjustments to the calendar since the extra day that was supposed to be every four years was actually every three years. He also named August after himself since Julius Caesar named July after himself. Since July had 31 days, Augustus borrowed a day from February making it a 28-day month. He also changed September and November to thirty days and gave October and December 31 days.

August is usually the hottest month of the year in most of the United States and Canada. It’s a great month to head to the beach or the woods to cool off. It’s also a month with no national holidays. However, we do have the following dates to celebrate during the month of August.