We need to organize our lives personally, professionally, and even socially. We use calendars. The very word 'calendar' is the first day of every month in Latin: 'kalendis' was reserved as the first day; other days had their own unique names, the 'nonae' and the famous 'idus' or Ides of March warned to Julius Caesar. As a superstitious lot the Romans did not enter into contracts on certain days and other days were considered better or worse for certain activities. The list of them exceeds our interest to review them. But the internet provides us plenty of room with links to Roman superstitions.
This Chapter is about the Roman calendar and its dating system. Years were identified by whoever was in power so you would just have to do the math if I said 'it was the third year of rein of Barack Obama' or 'the seventh year of rein of Bill Clinton.' You get the idea. So Romans referred to whomever was then in the consulship of power or emperor and the first or second year, or whatever, of his power.
As to the calendar itself, it had twelve months but for the Romans the first month was not January rather it was March. The first months were named after a series of gods and goddesses then, seemingly tiring of that, they became practical and just started using numbers for several months resulting in the following numbers corresponding to the respective months in the year:
Number Latin Month
7 septem september
8 octo october
9 novem november
10 decem december
Then the calendar months finished with Janus for January and February. Starting all over again with March. This was the Julian Calendar; obviously, it is still used today modified slightly by Pope Gregory, hence, we are really under the Gregorian Calendar system that is highly accurate requiring an adjustment, beyond the leap year already incorporated, in several hundred more years. That's when we will have one year containing 367 days to accommodate the fact that Earth's rotation around the sun is really 365 and one-quarter days plus eight minutes. What's amazing is all this has been known for hundreds of years already. Our ancestors knew much more than we often give them credit for.
Look on page 88 for a discussion of dates and their meanings in the calendar. Our own dating system is A.D. or "Anno Domini" (in the year of the Lord) while the English serves for B.C. as in "before Christ." This dating system did not come into existence until A.D. 525 and was not uniformly adopted in Europe. Spain and Portugal continued with the old system into the 1400's. The link, above, explains more for those who want to go deeper. After reviewing the pages 88 and 89, try this for understanding, watch the video at the bottom of this text and return here. It will help greatly.
Roman Dates
If you want to convert a modern date to Roman you can use this link for the job; meanwhile, here is an exercise on dates to get a sense of the system:
Roman Dates to Ours
This Chapter is about the Roman calendar and its dating system. Years were identified by whoever was in power so you would just have to do the math if I said 'it was the third year of rein of Barack Obama' or 'the seventh year of rein of Bill Clinton.' You get the idea. So Romans referred to whomever was then in the consulship of power or emperor and the first or second year, or whatever, of his power.
As to the calendar itself, it had twelve months but for the Romans the first month was not January rather it was March. The first months were named after a series of gods and goddesses then, seemingly tiring of that, they became practical and just started using numbers for several months resulting in the following numbers corresponding to the respective months in the year:
Number Latin Month
7 septem september
8 octo october
9 novem november
10 decem december
Then the calendar months finished with Janus for January and February. Starting all over again with March. This was the Julian Calendar; obviously, it is still used today modified slightly by Pope Gregory, hence, we are really under the Gregorian Calendar system that is highly accurate requiring an adjustment, beyond the leap year already incorporated, in several hundred more years. That's when we will have one year containing 367 days to accommodate the fact that Earth's rotation around the sun is really 365 and one-quarter days plus eight minutes. What's amazing is all this has been known for hundreds of years already. Our ancestors knew much more than we often give them credit for.
Look on page 88 for a discussion of dates and their meanings in the calendar. Our own dating system is A.D. or "Anno Domini" (in the year of the Lord) while the English serves for B.C. as in "before Christ." This dating system did not come into existence until A.D. 525 and was not uniformly adopted in Europe. Spain and Portugal continued with the old system into the 1400's. The link, above, explains more for those who want to go deeper. After reviewing the pages 88 and 89, try this for understanding, watch the video at the bottom of this text and return here. It will help greatly.
Roman Dates
If you want to convert a modern date to Roman you can use this link for the job; meanwhile, here is an exercise on dates to get a sense of the system:
Roman Dates to Ours
Grammar lesson. The word 'quam' has many uses in Latin and it's good to learn the various ways it affects a translation. Look on page 91, bottom, for a discussion of this. We already know how 'quam' works with comparative degree adjectives: e.g., 'Marcus longior quam Sextus est' -- Marcus is taller than Sextus. That not much an issue. But how about when it appears with superlative adjectives (the -est forms in English: tallest, greatest, etc.) That is reviewed on the bottom of page 91-- 'as ... as possible.' Read pages 91 to 92, the lesson is short and take on these exercises to understand points we are learning.
Using 'Quam'
'Quam Battleship'
The video below is a reminder of how Roman society and traditions affect our own even today. Watch the comparisons of art and architecture between ancient and modern. It nearly begs the question of -- what is new?
Now review the vocabulary on page 87 and 88. When ready take on these reviews to learn it and check your knowledge:
vocabulary 1
vocabulary 2
vocabulary 3
The cultural lesson is on something we take for granted since it is so inexpensive and available today: fabrics. When you think about it, making fabric is very high labor intensive: spinning the wool, weaving it into cloth, making the clothes. To have cloth for display as in drapes or table covering was a wealth symbol in society and we can see why. There was no such thing as a rag to be wasted. The video below is a lady today using a spindle with whorl to create yarn. The camera zooms in showing the whorl twisting the animal hair into yarn. Each string of yarn was made this way then woven into fabric or weaved into a covering. Any kind of long hair can be spun into yarn. My Wife spun the hair of her dog into yarn for weaving into a sweater. The warning is that if you try this beware that cats may attach the sweater since it retains the dog smell. Commercial wool today is sterilized of smells.
vocabulary 1
vocabulary 2
vocabulary 3
The cultural lesson is on something we take for granted since it is so inexpensive and available today: fabrics. When you think about it, making fabric is very high labor intensive: spinning the wool, weaving it into cloth, making the clothes. To have cloth for display as in drapes or table covering was a wealth symbol in society and we can see why. There was no such thing as a rag to be wasted. The video below is a lady today using a spindle with whorl to create yarn. The camera zooms in showing the whorl twisting the animal hair into yarn. Each string of yarn was made this way then woven into fabric or weaved into a covering. Any kind of long hair can be spun into yarn. My Wife spun the hair of her dog into yarn for weaving into a sweater. The warning is that if you try this beware that cats may attach the sweater since it retains the dog smell. Commercial wool today is sterilized of smells.
Wool spinning is such a cross-cultural, cross-temporal need that all societies developed it and practice it still. Here's a short video of a tourist in Asia asking a lady about her wool spinning as she walks. She scolds him for such a silly question showing how easy it is; of course, everything is easy when you know how to do it.
Refer back to the Roman dating system and take on this cultural lesson. It is good practice for understanding a different way of understanding the world.
culture
Translate the letter on page 87. Notice how Romans started their notes to each other: S.D. = salutem dicit = s/he sends greetings. As you translate this into your notebook, number each sentence. Look at the picture on page 86 to set the letter's context for you. Where does she sit? How does she look?
culture
Translate the letter on page 87. Notice how Romans started their notes to each other: S.D. = salutem dicit = s/he sends greetings. As you translate this into your notebook, number each sentence. Look at the picture on page 86 to set the letter's context for you. Where does she sit? How does she look?
chapter 36 vocabulary quiz
Go to the quiz when told by your teacher. Bona Fata.
chapter 36 vocabulary quiz
English to Latin vocabulary quiz
chapter 36 vocabulary quiz
English to Latin vocabulary quiz