why do we have 12 months in the year, what is the history of the 12 month calender?

Question

I was told by a freind that the 12 month calender orginated from the 12 apostles. I didn't belive it. I always thought it was a roman tax scam the calander was 10 then they changed it too 12 but I am not sure.

Answer 1

http://astro.nmsu.edu/~lhuber/leaphist.html

Answer 2

The apostles story is way off base ... the 12-month calendar predates the apostles. The base-12 number system, while it applies to the hours of the day, does apply to the 12-month calendar. Your "roman tax scam" notion is closer to the mark when it comes to the calendar.

The calendar we use today derives from the Roman calendar, which in turn depended on two things: (1) the time it takes for the earth to go around the sun (the year), and (2) the time it takes for the moon to go around the earth (the month).

Neither of these things have anything to do with apostles, or with base-12 arithmetic. In fact, when the ancient Roman calendar was devised, people didn't even know that the earth goes around the sun, or that the moon goes around the earth. However, they know about the four seasons, the solstices and equinoxes, and the four phases of the moon.

The "ancient Roman calendar," which probably came from the Etruscans (ancestors of the Romans) had ten months (as you mentioned) loosely based on the lunar cycle. (The word "month" comes from "moon".) The calendar (and the year) began around the vernal (spring) equinox when it was time for planting.

The lunar cycle is about 29 1/2 days, so 10 months would be 295 days. Actually, the first Roman calendar had 304 days, which is why I said it was "loosely" based on the moon. March (or Martius), named after the Roman war god Mars, was the first month; then came Aprilis, Maius, Junius (after the goddess Juno). The last seven months were numbered (in Latin, of course): Quintilis (five), Sextilis (six), September (seven), October (eight), November (nine), and December (ten).

The reason there were only ten months is due to the annual agricultural cycle of tilling the fields, planting, fertilizing, irrigating, and harvesting. After December (during the winter), the fields lay fallow, so there was originally no need for a calendar until springtime.

The ancient calendar didn't last long after its inception around 750 BCE. Possibly because of the "tax scam," they added two new months, January and February, bringing the calendar year up to 365 days.

There's a pattern you can see that originates in the 10-month calendar. Beginning with March, the first five months have 31 30 31 30 31 days. The next five also have 31 30 31 30 31 days. Following the same pattern, January and February would also have 31 and 30 days respectively, but then the year would have 367 days; that's why February only has 28 days.

Much later, Julius Caesar introduced the "Julian calendar," adding a "leap year" every four years by tacking a day onto the end of February, thus enabling the average year to be 365 1/4 days. 1600 years later, Pope Gregory modified the Julian calendar, and the "Gregorian calendar" is the one we use today.

The only other thing I should add is that a Roman emperor -- I forgot which one -- decided that the year should begin in January rather than March, and that there ought to be a Roman holiday (the Saturnalia) at the end of the calendar year (late December, at the time of the winter solstice). One notable result of this is that we now celebrate Christmas late in December. The date of Christmas derives from the Roman Saturnalia.

And it has nothing to do with twelve apostles, nor with base-12 counting.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

this guy made a 10 month calender using the gods and kings and queens after awhile he decided to add his name and his wife's after the gods

this begun the 12 month calender

Answer 5

This is a very interesting question, and to answer it we have to begin with a bit of social history, which concerns counting on our fingers. Our system of arithmetic is base 10, which seems very intuitive because we have ten fingers. But in ancient Mesopotamia, people counted to twelve on their fingers. The way they did this is that they used the joints of their fingers as counters, and the thumb as a pointer. There are three joints in each finger, so base 12 was the "natural" counting system. This was the system of arithmetic used until decimals were invented in India about 1500 years ago.

Base 12 arithmetic has leaked through into many of our present measurement systems. We count 12 inches in a foot, 12 in a dozen, 360 degrees in a circle....all measurment systems that find their roots in Mesopotamia.

With that understanding, the development of our time measurement systems becomes easy to understand. There are 24 hours in a day, because the ancient system divided night and day each into 12 equal divisions. (Doing this meant that hours changed lengths with the seasons, and it was only the invention of mechanical clocks that caused the invention of the "standard" hour.)

The year could easily be measured as 365+ days by astronomical observation. What could be easier than dividing the year into 12 equal months, of 30 days each? Ooops...the model doesn't match the reality! Ancient civilizations considered the "extra" days to be an anomaly, and reserved the final five days of the year as feast days. (These are referred to as "intercalary days", literally "days between the calendar." ) Elaborate mythology developed to explain these days, including the Egyptian legend of the birth of Osiris, bits of which come down to us as the story of Christmas:

"Re, unaware, stumbled upon this union of Geb and Nut. Angered at his unfaithful wife, He forced the lovers apart....Though Re's wrath against His wife was not yet complete. He further decreed that Nut, impregnated by Her union with Geb, should never give birth to Her young in any month of any year. Instead, They were to be locked within Her, never to see the light of day. "

"Nut mourned for Her loss; the loss of both Her lover and Her unborn children. Her lamentations reached even unto the ears of Thoth, the Self Created. He rushed to Her side, and dried Her tears. He soothed Her and spoke with Her, discovering the pain which inflicted Her. Thoth, who was the Lord of all magick and spells, knew that Re's decree could not be undone. Yet, he knew also that there was a way in which to relieve great Nut of Her suffering. "

"To this end, Thoth created the game of draughts, and challenged the Moon Goddess Silene; whose light then rivaled that of the sun. Thoth convinced Her to gamble a seventieth part of Her light for each day of the year. Being the Lord of Wisdom, He easily won from Her this light, and to this day the moon dwindles and darkens at certain periods. Thoth pieced together the light he had won- enough to fashion five whole days- and added them to the end of the 360-day lunar year. "

"These days did not rest within any month, nor any year, and thus Nut was able to bear Her children, one on each day. On the first was born Osiris. As he came into the World a Great Voice was heard throughout the heavens proclaiming that the Lord of Creation was born."

The strucuture of our calendar has undergone several major revisions. The first, by Julius Ceasar, aligned the ten-month Roman calendar with the 12 month Egyptian calendar. The names of our months are Roman: July and August are named for Julius and Augustus Ceasar. September, October, November, December, are Latin for seventh month, eighth month, ninth month and tenth month. The earlier month names relate to feast days.

Our current calendar was developed under Pope Gregory in the 16th century. Numerous corrections were made to make the calendar more closely correspond with the actual solar year.