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The Roman Week

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The Roman Week

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  1. Attributed to Romulus himself, 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. Rather, it was a bit more than eleven minutes too long. To correct for this and bring the calendar year back to the solar year, Pope Gregory XIII had the calendar revised yet again in 1582. The Gregorian calendar has been in use ever since.

  2. 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, Roman goddess, mother of Mercury by Jupiter and daughter of Atlas. June (Iunius) - Juno, queen of the gods.

  3. 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).

  4. 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 ¬ - Old English tiwesdæg“Tiw's(Tiu's) day.” Named after the English/Germanic god of war and the sky. He is identified with the Norse god Tyr. • Wednesday ¬- Old English wodnesdæg"Woden'sday.“ Wodenis the chief Anglo-Saxon god also known as Odin. He is the leader of the gods. • • Thursday ¬- "Thor's day” thunresdæg "thunder's day.“ Thor is the Norse god of thunder. He is represented as riding a fiery chariot. • Friday – Frija’s day. Old English frigedæg. Frea(Fria) is the Teutonic goddess of marriage. • • Saturday ¬- Dies Saturni (day of Saturn)

  5. If you've ever been to a hospital or flipped through a phone book looking up a physician, you've seen the image: two serpents criss-crossed around a staff topped by a round knob and flanked by wings. This is known as the CADUCEUS, and it has been the symbol of the American medicalprofession for nearly a hundred years.

  6. The CADUCEUS was the staff of Hermes (Mercury) the messenger god, and hence the divine deliverer of information. In the 19th century, a medical publisher used the symbol prominently on its texts, and thereby began the association of the CADUCEUS with medicine. A symbol first representative of wisdom, eloquence, and communication, thus became the common logo for those in the health profession. ASKLEPIOS (or Asclepius) was the Greek god of medicine and the son of Apollo. Asclepius was depicted as a kindly, bearded man holding a serpent-entwined staff.

  7. The oak tree, olive branch, eagle, and arrows are all attributes of which god?

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