The Roman, Julian, & Gregorian Calendars Compared

Photo by Fauzan Ardhi

Information

The early Roman calendar was a lunisolar calendar that dates back as far as the 8th century BC and consisted of 10 months. Martius, now called March, was the first month, the beginning of the year. The Roman calendar went through changes over the centuries as people realized that the dates were no longer syncing up with the seasons. Ianuarius and Februarius, as well as occasional extra months called intercalary months were added to get the calendar closer to the solar year.

In 45 BC, Julius Caesar, with the help of astronomers, implemented the Julian Calendar to make it a truly solar calendar with 365 days. The Gregorian calendar, implemented by Pope George XIII in 1582, is the calendar that is currently used across most of the world. It is a modification of the Julian calendar to improve leap years.

Months

#	Early Roman Calendar (Lunisolar)	Julian Calendar (Solar)	Gregorian Calendar (Solar)
1	Martius	Ianuarius	​January
2	Aprilis	Februarius	February
3	Maius	Martius	March
4	Iunius	Aprilis	April
5	Quintilis	Maius	May
6	Sextilis	Iunius	June
7	September	Quintilis -> Iulius	July
8	October	Sextilis -> Augustus	August
9	November	September	September
10	December	October	October
11		November	November
12		December	December
# Days in Year	304	365	365

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