1 Answer

When you look at September, October, November and December, it seems as if the Romans couldn't count! But their year used to start in March. When Julius Caesar reorganised the calendar and made it start in January, he kept the old names, apart from one month, which he called after himself. Augustus came after Julius Caesar and changed the name of another month.

The Romans had the same months as us. They had special names for the first day in the month (the Kalends), the seventh day (the Nones) and the fifteenth (the Ides). The Kalends belonged to Juno. The Ides belonged to Jupiter. They did not have weeks like us.

January: named after Janus, the god of doors and gatesFebruary: named after Februalia, a time period when sacrifices were made to atone for sinsMarch: named after Mars, the god of warApril: from aperire, Latin for “to open” (buds)May: named after Maia, the goddess of growth of plantsJune: from junius, Latin for the goddess JunoJuly: named after Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.August: named after Augustus Caesar in 8 B.C.September: from septem, Latin for “seven”October: from octo, Latin for “eight”November: from novem, Latin for “nine”December: from decem, Latin for “ten”