DID YOU KNOW......
Time, time on our hands, too much time, never enough time, time flies, will this interminable time ever end? We've all said it, too fast, too slow, somehow time seems as though it never moves in a steady rhythmic flow. Well, once upon a time -pardon the pun- we weren't so passive with time's... passage. We took the clock by the hands and stretched it and squeezed it to fit our daily wants. When we wanted to enjoy the long summer days, we simply made the 'day' longer. We would stretch the daylight hour from the familiar 60 to as many as 75 minutes. And when it was time for the short winter days... the petite 45 minutes completed an 'hour' just fine, thank you. It seems though, at the time not everyone agreed on the time. As Seneca once wrote; it's 'easier for two philosophers to agree than two clocks.'
There was the same casual, or perhaps controlling, attitude toward the number of days in a month.
The pontifices, members of the council of priests in ancient Rome, were in charge of the calendar and since the pontifices were often politicians and the Roman calendar year defined the term of office of elected officials, the Pontifex Maximus would have reason to lengthen a year in which he or his friends were in power. Or he may choose to shorten the term of his opponents. (wiki)
These 'time trials' worked for awhile, sort of. Occasionally the Pontifex Maximus would step in and 'repair' the seasons with an intercalation. That is, he would insert a day, week or month(s) into the calendar in order to match the seasons with the dates. No more Saturnalia in September.
Then, along came Gaius Julius Caesar. That stickler for order, that general of routine, that meddler in time.
Well, he would have none of this harvesting crops in March, planting in December. He was going to fix the problem once and for all. He gave us the Julian Calendar.
Every year would have the same number of days, 365, with a 'leap day' added to February every four years. Julius officially declared January 1st to begin the new year. Until now March 1st had been counted as the 1st day. But, to get his new calendar kick-started, he needed to do some serious intercalation with the present year. Julius' good buddy, Sosigenes of Alexandria, the great astronomer and mathematician who was assisting him with the details of the new calendar, recommended stre-e-e-tching this year and starting fresh with the next. And, since Julius held the consulship for the year and was Pontifex Maximus, he thought it was a good idea too. The year; 46BC or, as it will come to be known, the 'Annus Confusionis' - the 'year of confusion'. The year had 445 days!. Truly, the longest year in history. "Oh, will this year NEVER end?" muttered the members of the senate!
Finally, it was time for the New Year. The year 45BC and the birth of the Julian Calendar which was to last universally over 1500 years and in some places is still the preferred measure of time.
And that's the way it was! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Time, time on our hands, too much time, never enough time, time flies, will this interminable time ever end? We've all said it, too fast, too slow, somehow time seems as though it never moves in a steady rhythmic flow. Well, once upon a time -pardon the pun- we weren't so passive with time's... passage. We took the clock by the hands and stretched it and squeezed it to fit our daily wants. When we wanted to enjoy the long summer days, we simply made the 'day' longer. We would stretch the daylight hour from the familiar 60 to as many as 75 minutes. And when it was time for the short winter days... the petite 45 minutes completed an 'hour' just fine, thank you. It seems though, at the time not everyone agreed on the time. As Seneca once wrote; it's 'easier for two philosophers to agree than two clocks.'
There was the same casual, or perhaps controlling, attitude toward the number of days in a month.
The pontifices, members of the council of priests in ancient Rome, were in charge of the calendar and since the pontifices were often politicians and the Roman calendar year defined the term of office of elected officials, the Pontifex Maximus would have reason to lengthen a year in which he or his friends were in power. Or he may choose to shorten the term of his opponents. (wiki)
These 'time trials' worked for awhile, sort of. Occasionally the Pontifex Maximus would step in and 'repair' the seasons with an intercalation. That is, he would insert a day, week or month(s) into the calendar in order to match the seasons with the dates. No more Saturnalia in September.
Then, along came Gaius Julius Caesar. That stickler for order, that general of routine, that meddler in time.
Well, he would have none of this harvesting crops in March, planting in December. He was going to fix the problem once and for all. He gave us the Julian Calendar.
Every year would have the same number of days, 365, with a 'leap day' added to February every four years. Julius officially declared January 1st to begin the new year. Until now March 1st had been counted as the 1st day. But, to get his new calendar kick-started, he needed to do some serious intercalation with the present year. Julius' good buddy, Sosigenes of Alexandria, the great astronomer and mathematician who was assisting him with the details of the new calendar, recommended stre-e-e-tching this year and starting fresh with the next. And, since Julius held the consulship for the year and was Pontifex Maximus, he thought it was a good idea too. The year; 46BC or, as it will come to be known, the 'Annus Confusionis' - the 'year of confusion'. The year had 445 days!. Truly, the longest year in history. "Oh, will this year NEVER end?" muttered the members of the senate!
Finally, it was time for the New Year. The year 45BC and the birth of the Julian Calendar which was to last universally over 1500 years and in some places is still the preferred measure of time.
And that's the way it was! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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