History Series: July
History of July
Where Do We Get That Name?
July was renamed for Julius Caesar, who was born that month. Before that, it was called Quintilis in Latin, meaning the fifth month in the ancient Roman calendar. However, Marc Anthony changed the name to July after Caesar’s assassination.
This was before January became the first month of the calendar year, about 450 BC. We currently use the more contemporary Gregorian calendar — recent, as in since AD 1582. It uses Anno Domini, meaning “in the year of our Lord,” counting from the birth of Jesus. As I’ve previously discussed, in this calendar curiously, Jesus was born 4 to 6 years BC or “Before Christ.”
Calendar and Julius
The Gregorian calendar was a reform of the Julian Calendar, which itself was a reform of the previous Roman calendar.
Julius Caesar himself introduced the Julian Calendar in 46 BC, adding 67 additional days by putting two intercalary months between November and December. According to Cicero, he probably did this after returning from an African military campaign in late Quntilis (July). This solved some leap-year problems.
