HISTORY PROJECT – ROMAN CALENDAR

Time is one of the world´s deepest mysteries. No one can say exactly what it is. Yer, the ability to measure time makes our way of life possible. Most human activities involve groups of people acting together in the same place at the same time. People could not do this if they did not all measure time in the same way. Calendar is a system of measuring and recording passage of time. I cannot imagine my life without such ordinary thing for us a a calendar is. What day is it today? When is your birthday? These question could not be answered without knowing calendar. In my opinion calendar was a very useful and important thing for Roman citizens. And I thought it would be interesting to know something more about the history of the Roman calendar and that is why I chose this topic for my project. In this project I will try to decribe and explain the origin of the Roman calendar, what did it look like, how do we read this calendar, and many interesting facts about it. I did not have many problems with finding sources and books. I used Internet to obtain extra information and pictures. The material I used is mentioned in bibliography. The problem was what to select from it so that I would keep to my aim and would not write unimportant things because it is quite wide topic. The origin of the Roman Calendar
Calendars have long been an indispensable part of everyday life – they tell us when to expect a change in seasons, they tell the farmer when to plow or plant, they tell the priest when to prepare for fasts or festivals, they provide a measure of years that have passed since some important event and they help us all plan for the future a well a keep track of passing time. The Roman Calendar used a system of months and special days in each month. Two hundred fragments of Roman Calendars have been found so far and they are collectively known a Fasti.(1)There is a common style and format reflected in all of them, but there are also many differences, perticularly regional differences. Some calendars were carved in marble or stone, but many were painted on walls for decoration. The ealry Roman calendar was brought by Rome´s original citizens. It was drawn up by Romulus, the first king of Rome, some seven or eight centuries before Christian Era. The year began in March and was composed of 10 months, six of 30 days and four of 31 days, making a total of 304 days. It ended in December.