By Vigdis Hocken and Konstantin Bikos
Source: Time & Date
Photo Source: Unsplash,
The Roman calendar is the ancestor of our modern calendar. Some of its features are still in use today.
The Leap Month, Mercedonius
The Republican calendar year lasted for 355 days, which is about 10 days shorter than a tropical year, the time it takes Earth to revolve around the Sun. To keep the calendar in sync with the seasons, a leap month called Mercedonius or Intercalaris was added in some years—normally every two to three years.
By custom, the insertion of the leap month was initiated by the pontifex maximus, the high priest of the College of Pontiffs in ancient Rome. However, this system was vulnerable to abuse. Since the Roman calendar year defined the term of office of elected officials, a pontifex maximus was able to control the length of his term simply by adding a leap month.
When Julius Caesar became pontifex maximus, he ordered a calendar reform which eliminated leap months and resulted in the implementation of the Julian calendar in 45 BCE, the direct predecessor of today's Gregorian calendar.
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