Romulus’ days were numbered

Romulus’ 10-month calendar featured adorable wolf puppies on every slab.

The original Roman calendar was invented by Romulus, the first king of Rome, around 753 bc. The calendar started the year in March (Martius) and consisted of 10 months, with 6 months of 30 days and 4 months of 31 days. The winter season didn’t get any months with names, so the calendar year only lasted 304 days with 61 extra days in the winter. Everybody stayed home during those 61 days and looked at seed catalogues.

Here are the months of Romulus’ calendar:

Martius – 31 Days
Aprilis – 30 Days
Maius – 31 Days
Junius – 30 Days
Quintilis – 31 Days
Sextilis – 30 Days
September – 30 Days
October – 31 Days
November – 30 Days
December – 30 Days

Back to the beginning of The Western Civ User’s Guide to Time & Space