Our Curriculum

1. Our Curriculum • These are the six strands in our curriculum:1) Basic Latin composition and translation2) Englishgrammar3) The history and culture of the classical world4) Cultural literacy 5) Derivatives6) Greek and Roman mythology • Click Me

2. Attributed to Romulus, the first king of Rome, the Roman calendar originally was determined by the cycles of the moon and the seasons of the agricultural year. Beginning in March in the spring and ending in December with the autumn planting, the year then was ten months long, for a total of 304 days. Several hundred years later, a reformed calendar based on the solar year was introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BC, who first had heard about it while consorting with Cleopatra and the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes in Egypt. The resulting calendar of approximately 365.25 days had four nearly equal seasons, but this still does not quite correspond to the solar year. Pope Gregory XIII had the calendar revised yet again in 1582to 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds. The Gregorian calendar has been in use ever since.

3. The Roman calendar organized its months around three days, each of which served as a reference point for counting the other days:  The Kalendae (Kalends) was the first day of the month, from which the word "calendar" is derived  The Nonae (Nones) - thought to have originally been the day of the half moon  The Idus (Ides) - thought to have originally been the day of the full moon. The word ides comes from Latin, meaning "half division" (of a month). January (Ianuarius) - Janus, Roman god of doors, beginnings, sunset and sunrise, had one face looking forward and one backward. February (Februarius) – In February, the Romans celebrated the festival of purification; (februare - to purify) March (Martius) - Mars, the Roman god of war. The Roman year used to begin in March. April (Aprilis) - This Roman month was perhaps derived from aperire - toopen, as in opening buds and blossoms or perhaps from Aphrodite. May (Maius) Maia, Greek goddess, mother of Mercury/Hermes. June (Iunius) - Juno, queen of the gods.

4. July (Iulius) - Renamed for Julius Caesar in 44 BC, who was born in this month; Quintilis, Latin for fifth month, was the former name. • August (Augustus) - Formerly Sextilis (sixth month in the Roman calendar); re-named for Augustus Caesar (Octavian). • September - September, (septem, Latin for 7) the seventh month in the Julian calendar. • October - Eighth month (octo, Latin for 8) in the Julian calendar. • November - Ninth Roman month (novem, Latin for 9). • December – The year’s Tenth month (decem, Latin for 10).

5. The Roman Week • At first, the Roman week did not follow the modern 7day format. Rather it was 9 days long, and it marked out the time between market days or nundinae. Our modern 7-day system was officially adopted by Constantine in the later years of the Roman Empire. • • Sunday ¬ - Dies Solis (Sun’s day) • • Monday ¬- Dies Lunae (Moon’s day) • • Tuesday ¬ - “Tiw's(Tiu's) day.” Named after the Old English/Germanic god of war and the sky. He is identified with the Norse god Tyr • Wednesday ¬- "Woden'sday.“ Wodenis the chief Norse god also known as Odin. He is the leader of the Norse gods. • • Thursday ¬- "Thor's day” or "thunder's day.“ Thor is the Norse god of thunder. He is represented as riding a fiery chariot. • Friday – Frija’s day. Freya is the Norse goddess of love. She is fond of flowers and fairies. Some sources say Friday is named after Frigg, Odin’s wife, the goddess of marriage. • • Saturday ¬- Dies Saturni (day of Saturn)

6. dies lunae • dies Martis • dies Mercurii • dies Jovis • dies Veneris • dies Saturni • dies solis