#july and august are named for Julius and Augustus Caesar

[andthebeanstalk]

Achievement unlocked! Remember your childhood hyperfixation on the Caesar family? No? Well that's alright because it remembers you, and NOW THE BEAST IS ONCE AGAIN AWAKE. IT DEMANDS SUSTENANCE. A THOUSAND YOUTUBE VIDEOS AND PRESTIGE DRAMAS. YOU NEED ALL THE HOTTEST GOSS FROM 2000 YEARS AGO. WHY IS JULIUS CAESAR AN EVIL DILF? WHY IS AUGUSTUS CAESAR THE MICHAEL CORLEONE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN?? HOW DID ONE FATHER-SON DUO WRECK EVERYONE'S SHIT SO HARD THAT 1/6 OF OUR MONTHS ARE STILL NAMED AFTER THEM???

I NEED TO KNOW.

[gsirvitor]

Do you think you could go back in time and assassinate both Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar before they become emperors so we can go back to having the month names make sense?

Even if I could I wouldn't.

1. Julius Caesar didn't deserve to die, and what happened to him was a grave injustice.

2. I will not go back to calling July and August Quintilis and Sextilis.

[cheshiregrinfu]

I'm dumping my calendars here bc I've been back on this shit again and have no one to talk about my calendars with

(Please talk to me about my calendars I'm begging you, you will not be a bother i promise i am sending you psychic mind waves telling you to ask about my calendars)

Also if any of this is confusing I don't mind explaining!!!

There's three calendars in one world I've been making, the lunar and solar calendars both running on a 365 set due to reasons

Our current months don't make much sense, and I've tracked down and compiled their original names;

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January is named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and endings. Fairly fitting!

February is named after a Roman purification festival called februa, which occurred around the fifteenth of this month. Februa literally means “month of cleansing”

March is supposedly named after Mars, the Roman god of war.

There are a few different theories about where April gets its name. Some believe that April is derived from the Latin base apero – meaning “second” – because it was once the second month of the year. Others say it comes from another Latin word, aperire, which means “to open” like the opening of buds and flowers during springtime. Still others claim that April was named for Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and procreation.

May is named for the Greek goddess Maia.

June is named after Juno, the wife of Jupiter and queen of the gods.

July was the birth month of Julius Caesar, for whom the month was renamed following his death in 44 B.C. Previously, July was called “Quintilis,” which is Latin for “fifth” and referred to the fact that, with the calendar year beginning in March, July was the fifth month.

August is the only other month named after a historical figure – Augustus Caesar, who was the nephew of Julius Caesar and the first emperor of Rome. Much like July, August was previously called “Sextilius,” meaning – you guessed it – “sixth.”

September, October, November, and December come from the Latin words septem, octo, novem, and decem, meaning “seventh,” “eighth,” “ninth,” and “tenth.”

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Now i wanted to make a new calendar set on the 12 month idea, but now with (mostly) latin counting base of 1 through 12, and starts on the season change, instead of randomly in the middle of winter.

Lunar

1/Unusilius (30) [Start of spring/New years day, starts on equivalent of March 20th]

2/DuosIlius (31)

3/Tresilius (30)

4/Quattorilis (31) (Start of Summer)

5/Quintilis (30)

6/Seitilius (30)

7/September (30) (Start of fall)

8/October (31)

9/November (30)

10/December (31) (Start of Winter)

11/Undecember (30)

12/Duodecember (31) (New years eve)

October and November both have Hallows eve (oct 31) and day (nov 1), as I've extended it to be two days bc i really like Halloween. In universe these are the days of preparation and protection as all sorts of undead come to life on hallows day, so hallows eve is people preparing food, shoring up their homes, ect.

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now there's also the solar calendar, which i haven't finished naming, but works on an 8 month system, having 45 day months except for the first and last months, which have 46 days, so it looks kinda like this

1/Early Spring (46)

2/Late spring (45)

3/Early summer (45)

4/Late Summer (45)

5/Early Fall (45)

6/Late Fall (45)

7/Early winter (45)

8/Late winter (46)

i was thinking of having them known as Novus Ver/ Vetus Ver ect but that seems a bit much and I'd prefer each month as one word like with the lunar calendar

Ver/Istas/Autumnus/Hiems being spring/summer/autumn/winter, and novus/vetus being early/late

I'm not sure if I want even weeks in this, such as 9 5 day weeks or 5 9 day weeks

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and finally there's the third calendar, which uses the lunar/solar calendars as a basis, known as the celestial calendar. Gods use this instead of the mortal calendar, and each 'Month' is a mortal decade

This calendar is 5 months long, or half a mortal century. I don't have names for what these months are, or how many 'days' make up these celestial months, or how long those days are

[aethersea]

I have a vague memory of an ancient history class in high school where the reason September-December don't make sense any more (they are literally 7/8/9/10 month) is because somebody went and added months for Julius and Augustus (which is also why they are the only bank to back months within the year with 31 days each).

(in reference to this post) I've heard that too! But it seems like it was January and February that were added in later, according to this wikipedia page, and then Julius Caesar made some calendrical reforms that included shunting those two months to the start of the year instead of the end. Augustus Caesar made some more changes, notably adding a leap year. That gave us the Julian calendar, which was used in Europe for over 1500 years!

July and August were apparently named after them, but according to this almanac they didn't create new months, they renamed existing ones, Quintilis and Sextilis.

I was told when I was little that July and August both have 31 days because if you gave only one emperor 31 and the other a mere 30, because they couldn't have one emperor having fewer days in his month than the other! The outrage! If you elevated one above the other they'd come haunt you about it probably.

I'm not sure if that's true, but I really hope so.

[dayinhistory]

January 1st: Julius Caesar did not Ruin the Calendar

Imagine you live in 1582 under the reign of the Pope. You go to bed on Thursday October 4th, and when you awaken, it is now Friday October 15th. This is what happened with the reform of the Julian Calendar into the Gregorian Calendar that is used today.

There are several myths that circulate around the history of our current calendar, an almost completely Roman invention.

The most famous myth is that the romans originally used a 10-month calendar, but Julius and Augustus Caesar wanted months named after them so they added July and August, thus messing up the order.

Firstly, Julius Ceasar actually fixed an incredibly broken and bureaucratic system of the time. Secondly, the year used to begin in march, thus the September, October, November and December months not lining up with the corresponding numbers was just a side effect of fixing the calendar.

Lets start first with how the original calendar came to be, before the Julian Calendar.

Originally, the Roman calendar was based on an older lunar calendar. The first day of each month, or “Kalends,” took place on the new moons, the “Nones” with waxing half moons, and the “Ides” to full moons. The Dates were written as a countdown to each of these. The calendar year was 10 moons long, and the remaining days of winter occurred without being assigned a month name.

After that, came the Calendar of Romulus, which was a solar calendar. The year was approximately 304 days long. Instead of relying on the moon phases, the Kalends, Nones, and Ides were placed on the 1st, 7th, and 15th of each month. This calendar also did not include the winter months, which made the length of the year a confusing and troublesome thing to figure out.

Next, came the calendar of Numa, which then threw in Ianuarius, Februarius, and Intercalaris, as well as changed the length of the months that already existed. This year came out to 355 days, and still stayed out of sync with the seasons. Though unlike today’s calendar, the months corresponding with January and February were at the end of the year, rather than at the beginning.

After the implementation of the calendar of Numa, there were “The years of confusion.” They were called this as state priests would regularly extend the year, as they could to originally keep the months in line with the seasons. Instead of keeping the months inline with the seasons however, they would regularly extend the months to keep a magistrate they wanted in power in place, or shorten the months to get rid of one they wanted gone.

Julius wished to changed this and fix the issue, thus the calendar reform became a topic. Julius Ceasar didn’t come up with the idea himself though. He had spent 48-46 BC in Egypt, and was very aware of their fixed-length calendar. He studied the information with his crew back in Rome, and they devised a plan.

Moving January and February to the begining of the year, making a leap year every 4th year, and arranging the lengths of the months differently, the Julian calendar was born.

Originally, the months went

Martius

Aprilis

Maius

Lunius

Quintilis

Sextilis

Octobris

Septembris

Novembris

Decembris

Ianuarius

Februarius

Intercalaris

Under the new calendar, the months changed in order and a few in name. Quintilis was renamed in 44BC to honor Julius because it was the month of his birth. Sextilis was renamed Augustus to honor Caesar Augustus because of several of the most significant events in his rise to power. The ending outcome of the months came to be:

Ianuarius

Februarius

Martius

Aprilis

Maius

Iunius

Iulius

Augustus

September

October

November

December

Why was the Julian Calendar reformed to become today’s Gregorian Calendar though? Well……you’ll find out on October 15th haha.

Reference List

Coolman, Robert. “Keeping Time: Months and the Modern Calendar.” LiveScience, May 16, 2014. https://www.livescience.com/45650-calendar-history.html.

Gilmour, Peter. 2001. “Odds & Ends.” U.S. Catholic 66 (10): 6. https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.wichita.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=5247638&site=ehost-live.

[thebeesareback]

Monthly thoughts

No, this isn't about menstruation.

So in the calendar we use in the UK, there are 12 months. This wasn't always the case. Originally, there were 10 months.

January, named after the god Janus

February

March, named after the god Mars

April

May

June

September, the seventh month (think sept=seven, like septuplets)

October, the eight month (think oct=eight, like octopus)

November, the ninth month (IDK)

December, the tenth month (think dec=ten, like decade)

Anyway, this didn't work very well, so they added two months. July, named after Julius Caesar, and August, named after Emperor Augustus. Which is fine and all, but then they didn't adjust the names of September-December. TBH, this seems like the easy part.

It's also weird that only two months are named after gods. There are a lot of gods! Get creative!

So that's my beef with the calendar.

[nonotetextposts]

Things i learned tonight:

-Dante’s Divine Comedy is 100 cantos (verses?) split into 3 parts: Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven; Inf. has 34 cantos and the others have 33.

-The story follows his journey alongside Virgil (the Greek Roman poet who wrote the Aeneid, which follows Aeneus, who was a Trojan [from Troy, an island in modern Turkey] who, with divine guidance, founded Rome [?] to civilize the world)

-malevolent comes from bad wishes; think volition

-the Malebranche(s?) were demons who were tasked with torturing the greedy (?) extortionists and politicians (?) who tried to surface from the lake of boiling pitch; each of the demons were named after contemporary “celebrity” figures and I think is something like a tongue-in-cheek pun making fun of them

-Limbo is the “top” layer of Hell, where there is no punishment except lack of connection to the divine (sounds familiar, living the same life but lacking a greater meaning… truly a mild form of hell). Jesus lifts several renowned souls from here into Paradise.

-Achilles was in the second layer, lust, for being lured to his death by someone’s daughter

-Joe Jonas was at Virgil Abloh’s funeral, and the entire wikipedia page for that man is some absolute rich people shit (no offense to the guy I don’t really know much about him)

-the Bugatti Veyron was named for an engineer who helped design it and was supposedly sold at a substantial loss per car; only 450 were build, and its top speed is between 250 and 300 miles per hour (1 mile every 12 to 15 seconds)

-the Chiron was named for, um, wait sorry I forgot

-Charon is Pluto’s moon; Pluto is also Hades; Charon does not appear to have a Roman counterpart

-Styx comes from the Greek word stugein which means hate. The word Stygian is very cool

-if you weren’t buried with money and couldn’t pay the toll to have Mercury (Hermes) take you across the river Styx, you had to walk its banks for 100 years before you were allowed to cross

-Apollo is both Roman and Greek (?) (was borrowed directly from Greek into Roman) (not confusing at all)

-the Wikipedia page for “list of cultural references in DC” is a mile long and I didn’t even make it through the A’s before it was time for bed

-Arachne challenged Athena to a weaving contest and got turned into a spider… I bet this is where Ancient Greek/Roman people thought spiders came from, like they were all her kin

-wait does this have anything to do with Paradise Lost? (a 1667 epic poem by John Milton… I’ll come back to this one [maybe])

-DC was written in the 1300s and took 20 years to write, Dante Alighieri died shortly after and apparently it was normal back then for it all to be in verse (and I bet I’m missing sooo much nuance by not being able to read it in its original Italian)

-Rome was a (bicameral?) republic until Julius Caesar, who was a dictator, was famously stabbed in the back by Brutus, per William Shakespeare’s play called the same, which was *not* written in old English. After JC died the Roman empire started with Augustus (see July -> August), then Tiberius, the latter two were mentioned in the Bible as the relevant emperors during the events of Jesus’ life

-there was a Roman emperor later on named Titus, which makes me think of Titus Andronicus, which is also a Shakespeare play that I otherwise know nothing about

[tonkicertified]

Roman rulers

He was a son of Livia Drusilla and a step-son of Augustus after he married Drusilla. Tiberius Claudius Nero, who was later given the name Tiberius Julius Caesar as Augustus adopted him as a candidate of his heir, was the second emperor to ever rule Rome after the death of Julius Caesar. Tiberius (16 November 42 BC – 16 March 37 AD) Tiberius (16 November 42 BC – 16 March 37 AD) Augustus ( September 63 BC – 19 August 14 AD)ġ0.Trajan (September 53 AD – 8 August 117 AD).Marcus Aurelius (April 121 AD – 17 March 180 AD).Claudius (August 10 BC – 13 October 54 AD).Hadrian (January, 76 AD – 10 July, 138 AD).Vespasian (November, 9 AD – 23 June 79 AD).Antoninus Pius (19 September, 86 AD – 7 March, 161 AD).Justinian (482 AD – 14 November 565 AD).Tiberius (16 November 42 BC – 16 March 37 AD).The 10 Major Aspects of Roman Religious Practice.Top 12 Must-Know Facts about Hannibal Barca.Top Inventions of Ancient Egyptian civilization.Top Ancient Civilizations That Ever Existed.Most Famous Roman Names and Their Roles in the History.Ancient Greeks Figures and Their Contributions.Most Influential Hindu Goddesses in India.Fabulous Ancient Chinese Inventions that Make Our Society Today.Top Inventions and Discoveries of Mesopotamia.Top Categories of Ancient Roman Foods and Drinks.Top 10 Significant Historical Events of Ancient Rome.Top Sumerian Inventions that is followed by other civilizations.Top 10 Most Influential Historical Events.Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece.Most Revered Roman Goddesses : Names and Powers.Top Inventions of Persian Civilizations.Ancient Roman Inventions We Still Use Today.Prominent Chinese Gods and Goddesses from Mythology.

[crystal-wind]

#Happy #September! ❤ September is special in that it has 7 different letters and 9 total letters -- numbers which correspond elegantly to both its root meaning and its calendar placement. No other month can do this trick. September is named after the Roman Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus (a Numidian African Moor from North Africa), (AD 145 - AD 211) and has nothing to do with the number of the month. In the Roman calendar there were only ten months - the 7th to 10th being September to December as their names suggest. It was only later when July and August (Julius and Augustus Caesar) were added that they became out of sequence September in the Northern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent of March in the Southern Hemisphere. September begins on the same day of the week as December every year, because there are 91 days separating September and December, which is a multiple of seven (the number of days in the week). September (from Latin septem, "seven") was originally the seventh of ten months on the oldest known Roman calendar, with March (Latin Martius) the first month of the year until perhaps as late as 153 BC. After the calendar reform that added January and February to the beginning of the year, September became the ninth month, but retained its name. It had 29 days until the Julian reform, which added a day. September is mostly in the sixth month of the astrological calendar (and the first part of the seventh), which begins at the end of March/Mars/Aries. September marks the beginning of the ecclesiastical year in the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is the start of the academic year in many countries in which children go back-to-school after the summer break, usually on 1st of September. The equinox named the autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere and the vernal or spring equinox in the southern hemisphere occurs on dates varying from 21 September to 24 September (in UTC). 

[charlesoberonn]

September, October, November, and December (7, 8, 9, and 10) weren’t pushed two forward by July and August. They were pulled forward by January and February being shifted from the end of the year to the start.

July and August were originally named Quintilis and Sextilis (5 and 6) and were later renamed in honor of Julius Caesar and his son Caesar Augustus.

[letarasstuff]

Common knowledge? Don’t care!

(A/N): Based on my own experience, after I told people that I know why there are 31 days in July and August but don’t know how many in April and May are.

Summary: Some things are easier to remember than other things, especially for a little genius.

Wordcount: 0.5k

✨Masterlist✨ ___________________________________

“Finally normal people. Reid, your daughter is definitely your daughter. You can’t deny it”, Morgan says dramatically after entering the bullpen. In his arms he carries the four years old (Y/N) Reid, another little genius.

Originally a babysitter was supposed to pick her up from elementary school, where she is in first grade. But the babysitter got sick on short notice and the father is stuck with paperwork. Naturally Morgan offered to gether and bring her back to the bureau.

“What did you tell your Uncle Morgan today, Sweetheart?” Spencer asks, amused. It’s not an uncommon occurrence that Morgan gets flabbergasted by something the little girl says. Her knowledge is astonishing, regardless of her age.

“I just told him why there are 31 days in the months July and August. Did you know that the year actually begins in March, noticeable by October having to be the eight month in the year based on the name. And the months July and August, which are named after Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus, have 31 days to honor both of them”, she explains with an adorable excitement.

Spencer shoots his best friend a look. Why is he so dramatic about the number of days in some months?

“Wonder Baby, tell your daddy what you said after that”, Derek demands.

Shyly (Y/N) replies: “Do you think daddy can schedule a playdate with Henry next week?”

“Which date was it, Wonder Baby?”

“April 31th”, she admitted, her ears turning red. Her face is hidden in her godfather’s shoulder.

“Pretty Boy, your child knows why there are this many days in that month, but doesn’t know it for every month? What do you teach her?”

“It’s not daddy’s fault!” (Y/N) defends her father. “I just can’t remember the other numbers. I don’t know why it’s so important. You always can look it up!”

Her angry face looks more like an adorable pout. Spencer takes his daughter out of Morgan’s arms and bounces her up a few times.

“There’s nothing wrong with you not knowing everything. You see, there are a few things most people think of as common knowledge. The numbers of days in a month are an example for this. But it’s not necessary to know them to function as a proper human being. Do you understand?” He brushes a strand of her hair behind her ear. (Y/N) looks up at her father and nods.

“I understand, daddy. Do we have to practise them now?”

“Not if you don’t want to. You should learn about the things you are interested in.”

“Good, because I really don’t care about them. But can you teach me one of your magic tricks? I told Natalie about them and now she wants to see one. Pretty please, daddy”, the little girl begs with the best puppy face a child can put on.

“Of course, baby. Under one condition only.”

“Which is?”

Spencer gets closer to her ear and ‘whispers’: “You can’t tell Uncle Derek how to do it, ok?”

Said man touches his chest in fake hurt.

“Pretty Boy, Wonder Baby, you never fail to hurt my heart and pride!”

[whynotwriting]

Worldbuilding For Beginners: Time

I'm procrastinating doing lectures that I'm behind on, and another one of these is long overdue, so here we are. Worldbuilding for beginners is back!

This time I'm going to be covering something that, for most people, isn't considered in any great detail when building a world: time. It passes in (almost) every setting, but people take it for granted. I'm here to challenge that, while hopefully not giving anyone an existential crisis. We're going to need to start with how time works in our world.  (Please note that I'm basing all this off of the Gregorian calendar.) Before I go any further I'm going to warn that this is quite long, so I'll put in italics at the end the key points. 

The generally accepted format for time for most of our planet is that it is fundamentally measured in seconds, defined as the caesium frequency (look it up if you want to know more). From there, we have 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week and 52 weeks in a year. Why? Well... We'll start with the length of a year, which is the easiest to start with. 365.25 days is a very close estimate/average time taken for our planet to orbit the sun.   This means that, every four years, a leap year occurs, with one extra day tacked onto February. The next easiest is a month, or it would be if we didn't mess with their lengths. The months are either 28, 29, 30 or 31 days long depending on month and leap years. Initially the length of months was based on cycles of the moon, which conclude, as it happens, around every 29 days. So why are the months weird lengths? The simplest explanation is that months of 29 days don't fit neatly into a year. The more complicated version has to do with the different ways of measuring a lunar month, leap days, and solar months. Days next. Approximately 24 hours is the amount of time the Earth takes to compete a full rotation on its axis. Simple, at least comparative to months. For months, days and years, we looked to the skies. So why are hours, minutes and weeks as they are? We'll cover weeks next. From my research I can't quite explain why they're seven days long, but I can give an explanation for the names (at least in English). Originally they were named for planets and gods - Thursday is the best example here. Originally it was named for the norse god Thor, while obviously Sunday is named for the sun. Saturday was named for Saturn, which is both a god and a planet. As we're doing names, I should discuss the names of months. July is very definitely the easiest to explain - it's named for Julius Caesar. August is similar - named for Augustus. October and November were originally the eighth and ninth months in the calendar, hence were named for those numbers. September and December have the same reasoning behind them. A lot of the other months are named for gods, as with days, for example March is named for the Roman god of war, Mars. On to minutes and hours, each with 60 of the next division within them. The Romans divided the day into 12 hours, while the divisions of 60 is due to medieval astronomers who were inspired by the babylonian calendar which was circular and divided into 360 portions based on their estimated length of the year.  That was a sentence and a half, eek. So, what does this all have to do with your world? Well, firstly, how is time divided? Are there months? How long? How long is a day? Is time different in different places (think time zones)? What's the reason for the lengths and names? Do they need names? How do people know what the time is? Watches? Sundials? Let's add one more thing. Is time dependant on who you are? I'm thinking elves and other typically long lived species, and equally those with very short lives. Due to this, they might measure time differently, have different months and years, and different ages that members "come of age". In my world, for instance, dragons live to around 500 years old, and so consider almost every other race as youngsters, measuring their time with hatching seasons rather than years like other species might. So, there we go! That was quite a lot of information, but I hope it gave you food for thought. Until the next one!

Tagging a couple of peeps who requested it: @esmeralda-tgg, @tawny-lion-writing (feel free to send me an ask and I can add you to a tag list for these if you want).

[ecoamerica]

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

[jupiterbyrd]

The other day I had the "the months on the calendar are wrong" conversation I have with my students every semester.

I like to point out this info

Sept means 7 but September is the 9th month

Oct means 8 but October is the 10th month

Nov means 9 but November is the 11th month

Dec means 10 but December is the 12th month

And yes even though I'm a math teacher and not a history teacher I did explain that it's because of July and August being named after Julius and Augustus Caesar, which messed up the months

[shamsgoddess]

𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝟎𝟎𝟏:

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫

  It  was  as  if  the  leaves  were  splattered  with  a  resplendent  orange,  fiery  glow.  Quite  the  same  color  as  her  hair.  It  was  something  Augustus  couldn’t  help  but  conclude  with  an  amused  smile.  The  crisp,  bitter  wind  was  announcing  the  onset  of  the  colder  months.  Of  the  time  when  the  garnet  leaves  would  be  gone  and  the  ground  would  be  covered  in  a  blanket  fashioned  from  petals  of  daisies  and  white  roses.  However,  that  was  tomorrow.  Today,  the  world  was  glowing  as  if  it  were  furnished  with  ambers  and  orange  diamonds.

  What  a  shame  this  girl  was  hell  bent  on  ruining  it.   What  had  it  been  ?   Two  hours  ?  One  could  tell  by  the  dwindling  crowd.  It  was  exciting  at  first,  seeing  a  law  major  and  a  physics  major  quarrel  about  history  on  the  fourth  day  of  the  first  semester.  Wasn’t  there  any  history  major  in  the  crowd  to  step  in  as  player  three  ?

  “  If  that’s  what  you  think  was  the  reason  why  Caesar  was  successful  in  Alesia  then  have  you  ever  read  a  bit  of  history  ?  I’m  starting  to  think  you  only  like  to  talk  to  impress  people.   ”

  “  Your  inkling  isn’t  wrong,  I  love  impressing  people.  But  your  stance  sure  is,  ”   Augustus  couldn’t  help  the  amused  smirk  that  sprawled  across  his  lips.   “  My  man  Julie  was  theatrical,  sure,  but  he  wasn't  the  best  politician  and  statesman.  And  I  think  it  really  was  because  of  his  dramatic  nature.  Are  you  fond  of  it  because  you  see  yourself  in  him  ?   Octavian  was  successful  because  he  wasn’t  executed.  On  his  retirement,  there  was  a  protest.  It  was  because  he  had  the  right  mind.  He  didn’t  make  any  mistakes,  quite  unlike  one-third  of  the  Triumvirate.  ”

  “  Ha,  ha.  ”   The  faux  laugh  didn’t  do  anything  to  help  the  frown  etched  on  her  cher  features.  The  lines  only  seemed  to  deepen  at  the  contemptuous  smirk.  He  reeked  of  arrogance  and  it  annoyed  her  ego.  Her  neck  arched  in  disdain.   “  Nothing  Octavian  did  amounted  to  what  Caesar  did  in  Alesia.  He  was  dramatic,  sure,  but  he  was  brilliant  in  the  way  he  defeated  the  Gauls  and  Vercingetorix  for  once  and  for  all.  His  military  career  is  unmatched.  Octavian  wouldn’t  have  a  career  at  all  if  it  weren’t  for  Julius,  you  egg-eyed  worm.  ”

  “  Egg-eyed  worm  ?   Whaa,  that’s  creative.  I  gotta  give  you  that,  Cherry,  ”   he  chuckled,  resting  his  back  against  a  marble  pillar,  his  arms  crossed.  Even  the  slouching  position  did  little  to  wane  that  obnoxious  height.  Amusement  seemed  to  glitter  in  his  deep  eyes.  “  You  can  call  me  Augustus.  ”

  A  terrible  mistake  and  an  unfortunate  event.  Augustus  couldn’t  say  he  hadn’t  foreseen  this.  Of  course,  burbles  of  her  laughter  echoed.  Well,  he  surely  didn’t  regret  it  either.  A  smile  slowly  crawling  across  thin  lips.  

  “  Augustus,  really  ?   Uncle  issues,  I  see. ”

  “  Perhaps.  ”   he  nodded,  accepting  defeat.  Though,  he  usually  didn’t.  This  time,  it  promised  more  amusement.   “  And  what’s  your  name,  Little  Mayhem  ?  ”

  Her  pride  was  evident  in  her  smirk.   “  I  don’t  want  to  tell  you.  See  you,  August.  ”

  He  knew  this  was  the  beginning  of  a  long,  beautiful  friendship.  

[sabrinasgrimoire]

Magickal Correspondences: August

Word Origin: like July, the original name for the month of August was “Sextilis”, which translated to “sixth”. Originally, this month was 29 days, but changed to thirty with the Julius Calendar reform. When Augustus Caesar became the holy Roman Emperor, he took one day from February, and renamed the month “Augustus” in his honor. Instead of renaming September, he renamed August because it directly followed the month of July, which was named after Julius Caesar. Historical names for August include the Irish name “Lúnasa”, which is a version of Lughnasadh, named after the God Lugh. The Japanese name “hatsuki”, the Finnish name “elokuu” (“month of reaping”), the Anglo-Saxon name “Weodmonath” (“vegetation month”), the Frankish name “Aranmanoth” (“corn ears month”), and the Asatru name “Harvest”. Mythology: the month of August is sacred to the Goddess Hecate, the Greek Goddess of witchcraft, magic, the night, the moon, ghosts, and necromancy. She received her powers over heaven, earth, and sea from her parents the Titan Perses and the nymph Asteria. Hecate is associated with both good and evil, and was feared as well as worshipped by the ancient Greek people. Hecate witnessed the abduction of Persephone by Hades. Because of this knowledge, she went to Persephone’s mother Demeter, and helped search for her with a torch in hand. This myth lead to the creation of pillars called Hecataea, which stood at crossroads and doorways to keep away evil spirits. Traditions and Folklore: I have given a brief summary of the Goddess Hecate above, and now I will talk about the August rituals that are connected with her. Hecate is a Goddess that is also associated with the harvest, the first of which occurs in the month of August. In pagan thought, it is Hecate who has the power to bestow a bountiful first harvest, or destroy it. August 13th is named “Hecate’s Night” or “Night of Hecate as Goddess of Witches”. This night honors Hecate through ritual and worship. Speaking of the harvest, the major pagan and wiccan sabbat that occurs in the month of August is called Lammas or Lughnasadh, after the Celtic God Lugh. This is the first of the three harvest festivals, the other two being Mabon and Samhain. This was a time of thanksgiving a celebration in the old times, where everyone in the community got together to celebrate the harvest by feasting. There is a superstition surrounding Lammas, where farmers would let the first corn bread go stale and crumble it in the corners of the barn to make sure the harvest lasts through the winter and ensure a bountiful harvest. Moon: Sturgeon Moon, Barley Moon, Corn Moon, Herb Moon, Wort Moon, Wyrt Moon Zodiac: Leo, Virgo Element: Fire, Earth Gender: Masculine Sabbat: Lammas/Lughnasadh (August 1st) Deities: Ganesha, Thoth, Hathor, Diana, Hecate, Nemesis Animals: Lion, phoenix, sphinx, dragon, Crane, falcon, eagle Nature Spirits: dryads Trees: hazel, alder, cedar Colors: dark green, yellow, gold Flowers/Herbs: Chamomile, St. Johns wort, bay angelica, fennel, rue, orange, Sunflower, marigold, gladiolus Crystals: carnelian, emerald, jade, moonstone, peridot, sardonyx, topaz, tourmaline, cat’s eye, jasper, fire agate, diamond, sapphire Incense: Frankincense, heliotrope Characteristics, Influences, and Energies: animal magick, abundance, prophecy, prosperity, wisdom, harvest energy, appreciation, vitality, health, friendships

[jeanjauthor]

How do I do a book that’s pre clock invention that spans years but in one book? How do I time jump that my readers know what year or month it is?

How did the builders of Stonehenge 5,000 years ago know how to align it celestially with the solstices, etc?

Does your planet have stars visible at night? Does it have a moon that orbits that world? (Or is it an inhabitable moon orbiting a gas giant?) Does it have a sun that moves across the sky, creating angles to discern moments in time, and dividing day from night? Does it have seasons in the area where the story takes place?

...By seasons, I don't mean frozen winters, hot summers, etc. Seasons could be "monsoon rains vs dry season" or "the daily afternoon rains are coming, time to pull the laundry off the line."

In the Earth's Children series by Jean M. Auel (zero relation), the people of the Clan (her created culture for Neanderthalensis) didn't really have or use numbers (other than the mog-ur/shamans), but they did label their years for their children such as "birthing year, walking year, weaning year." They also carried a constant awareness of what season it was--any culture, from hunter-gatherer on up through agrarian (farming) will have that awareness of what time of year it is.

Once you hit industrial revolution, they'll most likely invent clocks, but long before the invention of gear mechanisms (*conveniently ignores the antikythera mechanism*) people still had calendars. The ancient Egyptian calendar began on different dates because it was dependent upon the annual flooding of the Nile, but they still had months and days because they depended upon the Moon to help order the passage of time. Same with China; their months were measured by the moon, their New Year would vary year by year, but they had months and they had days and they even had hours that were labeled.

And before the invention of geared clocks, people still had clocks. They had candles of specific regular thickness and length marked with measured cuts along the side, or a small nail stuck into the wax; when it dropped from melting (usually into a metal pan so it made a loud, noticeable noise) or the candle melted down to a particular mark, they knew how much time had passed.

They also had water clocks, which were designed to drip water at a specific rate from one container to another. These varied in shape, design, and timespan, but they are one of the most ancient recognizable timekeeping pieces available, and often consisted of a bowl floating in another, larger bowl, with the smaller bowl having a pinprick hole. When that pinprick filled the smaller bowl high enough, it would sink, and clink against the bottom of the larger bowl. These versions of timekeeping have been found in certain Indigenous American cultures as well as in African, European, and Asian communities. (Not sure about Australian indigenous.)

Macadamia nuts were used by Polynesians as literal candle-nuts, and since most macadamias are similar in size, this meant that they, too, could be burned as a unit of measuring time. (Not necessarily scientifically accurately, but hey, it works at least somewhat!)

As for measuring the passage of weeks and months and years, each region and culture had its own way of measuring time--a lot of them were annotated like this: "In the 3rd year of the reign of Thutmoses II" and "In the 43rd year of the reign of our glorious Queen Elizabeth (I)..." Of course, by the time Queen Elizabeth I ruled, they'd had the Gregorian calendar being used by most everyone in Europe, and they did have mechanical clocks, but you'd still have outliers using the Julian Calendar. (Modern day Russia, the government, uses the Gregorian now, but the Russian Orthodox Church still uses the Julian calendar, for example.)

If it's a real world era & culture, you can simply look that up. But if it's a created world & culture...you gotta figure out how they'd approach the matter. If their culture relies more upon agriculture than religion, they'd use more agriculture-specific terms.

The Coastal Salish peoples here in the Pacific Northwest literally named some of their months by which edibles were available, such as "Berry Shoot Month" for the time of year when they'd go around looking for new growth on specific bramble vines to cut, peel, and eat in the early spring, or "Salmonberry season" whcih is when the eponymously orange berries become ripe enough to harvest...which is also just before the late spring/early summer salmon spawning runs for certain salmon species. This progression of what-to-gather-when was a strong influence upon how they labeled their calendar.

If, however, it's a heavily religious community, then there may be things like specific days or months devoted to a particular god or spirit/entity, specific saint's days to celebrate at certain times of year (you're always hearing about "the Feast of St. Crispin's Day" or "we'll meet again two days after Michaelmas" in medieval-setting stories).

If it is a created world...well, that means you'll want to create a calendar. it doesn't have to be super complex, but you do want to figure out how it'll be set up, how long the days are, how long the weeks, how long the months, and of course how long the years. I haven't read the Game of Thrones series, but apparently winter lasts a really long time, so there's that. In my IaVerse, every planet has a different rotational cycle and day length, so they all had to agree upon a universal or "Alliance Standard" for measuring time...but while Earth days and V'Dan days technically aren't the same, their years (length of time it takes to go around their respective suns) actually come pretty darn close, so a Terran born on Earth will reach the age of 18 years old at about the same time as a V'Dan born on V'Dan.

However, a Terran born on Mars will be 18 in Earth years at the same time as the V'Dan born on V'Dan, IF they use Earth years, but in Mars years, they'll "only be" 9.5 years old (the Earth orbits the Sun in 365-ish days, while Mars orbits the Sun in 687 days, give or take). So everyone within the Terran United Planets has agreed that "Terran Standard" is based upon Earth measurements (Greenwich Mean Time), so no matter where you go in space, if you're aboard a Terran ship, they mark time in Terran units...and then add in a second digital display to "synch" time with whatever local area they're at.

Of course, that's high tech post-clock stuff, but it still applies to some degree--again, think of the Julian calendar versus the Gregorian calendar. Before the Russian government shifted to using the Gregorian calendar, there used to be all manner of confusion about booking hotel rooms, when business meetings were to take place, so on and so forth. And despite the fact that the Chinese calendar has been in use for far longer...they, too, have taken to using the Gregorian calendar just so that everyone can be doing business on the same page. This wasn't always the case.

If your characters are going to be traveling in a different culture, if they speak that culture's language, then they may be aware of the confusion that will occasionally strike those who are used to one system but not the other. Otherwise they'll use their own culture's time references--Rappa Nui was "named" Easter Island because that's the day of the European calendar year when the European explorers encountered it, even though it already had a name.

If they're going to be at home / not traveling, then they (and you!) won't have to worry about other cultural timekeeping methods. Just come up with your own, decide if it's based upon agriculture, astronomy, mythology, religion, and/or state leader worship (July and August are both named after Roman Emperors, Julius Caesar and his successor Augustus, iirc). It could even be a mix of things, like our own months. (January is named after Janus the two-faced god of ancient Rome, but our week-days include Wodin's Day, Thor's Day, Freya's Day, for the Norse Gods, then back to Rome for Saturn's Day, etc.)

Calendars, like cultures, are living things, constantly affected by the people creating them and living within them, shaping and reshaping everything. Don't be afraid to mix things up a little, if it's a created culture you're working within.

Hope that helps!

[ecoamerica]

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