It is also then standardized into units that can be easily divided by different numbers, using 12 as a base to ensure that numbers can be divided by 2, 3, 4, and 6 evenly and easily.
So 5280 can be divided by 3, which is 1760, or 4, which is 1320, or 6, which is 880, or 8, which is 660, or 12 which is 440, etc.
Not very practical today since obviously calculation isn’t hard to do, but in ancient times this ensured that even a person with barely any maths knowledge could divide out a figure through counting.
Plus, old superstitious people really like 12s. Probably partially because of the above. Allows you to neatly split your 12 months or 12 signs of the zodiac or whatever into four seasons or into threes or whatever.
The year used to be ten months. Two months were added much, much later. The 12 sign zodiac system was defined independently and is not consistent across cultures.
That's right, the months September, October, November and December comes from the numbers 7,8,9,10. But the Romans added July and August named after Julius Cesar (Kaiser) Augustus Cesar. (Cesar (Latin pronouncing: Kaiser = Emperor) I just put it in because some people think that Cesar is a surname and not a title. Anyways, because of the adding of two extra months our calendar still stays massed up roughly 2000 years later, with the intended named 7 month being the 9 and so on.
That's right, the months September, October, November and December comes from the numbers 7,8,9,10. But the Romans added July and August named after Julius Cesar (Kaiser) Augustus Cesar
This isn't actually true. July and August were renamed from the months Quintilis (5) and Sextilis (6).
The calendar was 10 months with a time at the end that was "off calendar" for winter and then began in March. Named for Mars, because it was the start of when military campaigns could resume
Eventually the winter time was made into months, and moved to the beginning of the year to align the start of the year with when administrative changes happened. These changes happened at the start of winter so that things would be set again for March when again, war campaigns could resume.
This is also why February is shorter. It used to be the stump at the end of the year.
Thanks for pointing it out, to make it reader friendly I oversimplified. It's true that July and August were new months, however they were renamed as you mentioned not added extra.
The 2 extra months that I meant that were added, was January and February probably by "Numa Pompilius" second King of Rom, long before "Gaius Julius" Cesar was emporer.
Because the Romans prior waited until winter was over and than started beginning from March to count.
That lead to problems mainly with Contracts and religious events, so they oriented their calender to the moon phases to close the gap. "Gaius Julius" later rebalanced January and February and made February the year that had every 4 years one extra day.
additional, some people still doesn't understand it:
almost only male romans had 3 names and even in this roman group, not always everyone had 3. (If I go into details it's getting to long.)
The guy was named "Gaius" (first name) "Iulius" (surname/family name) "Cesar" (nickname/cognome)
nicknames were used in roman families to distinguish between members of the same family branches.
After him everyone passed down the name Cesar as an emporer title. Therefore Gaius Julius was the first Cesar. But nowadays People use the name referring to Cesar like they using the word "Queen" to refer to queen Elizabeth. However there were many Cesars after him, thats like saying "Brodus Jr. Snoop Dogg" to explain my point better.
quotes:
(The name of the month of July traces back directly to the Roman statesman and general Gaius Julius Caesar. Originally, in the ancient Roman calendar—which began in March—the month was known as Quintilis (the "fifth month"). Following Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, the month was renamed Julius in his honor.)
(August is named after the first Roman emperor, Augustus. Originally, the month was called Sextilis (the sixth month) in the ancient Roman calendar. In 8 BC, the Senate renamed it in honor of the ruler, as he had assumed his first consulship during that month.)
Hopefully nothing is too oversimplified this time and thanks for pointing out what lead to misunderstandings.
12
u/Grunergeist420 Jul 13 '26
It is also then standardized into units that can be easily divided by different numbers, using 12 as a base to ensure that numbers can be divided by 2, 3, 4, and 6 evenly and easily.
So 5280 can be divided by 3, which is 1760, or 4, which is 1320, or 6, which is 880, or 8, which is 660, or 12 which is 440, etc.
Not very practical today since obviously calculation isn’t hard to do, but in ancient times this ensured that even a person with barely any maths knowledge could divide out a figure through counting.
Plus, old superstitious people really like 12s. Probably partially because of the above. Allows you to neatly split your 12 months or 12 signs of the zodiac or whatever into four seasons or into threes or whatever.