Let me just say

[conuly]

the Roman system for noting the days of the month was seriously over-complicated.

So, in the system we're used to you start on the first of the month and keep counting forward until the next month.

The Romans didn't do that. Instead, they start with a month and add three landmark dates - the calends, the nones, and the ides - and then they counted backwards from those dates. Okay, so far, so good... except they also used inclusive counting. So the 14th of March is the day before the ides, and yet the 13th of March is three days before the ides. (That's why the nones is the nones, anyway. It's eight days before the ides, which to the Romans was nine days before, and marking a day by saying it was so-and-so many days before the ides made sense to them.)

I learned this in high school Latin, of course, and have never quite forgiven the Romans.

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Comments

[kengr]

You think the Romans were bad? Try the Mayan calendar(s) for size.

They had a calendar of 18 20 day months. Plus a period of 5 days that wasn't in any month.

So in that the date would be [month name] day number (starting with zero).

Then they had another calendar based on two *independent* cycles. One of 20 days, one of 13 days. So in *that* calendar the date would be like this:

A0
B1
C2
D3
E4
F5
G6
H7
I8
J9
K10
L11
M12
A13
B14
C15
D16
E17
F18
G19
H0

(since they used base 20, each of the numbers was a single digit)

The combination of the two calendars gives a cycle of 52 years before the dates in the two calendars line up again.

Then add in the Long Count.

[calimac]

Inclusive counting, that's why they say Jesus was raised three days after he was crucified, right?

And why Theodore Roosevelt could say that Maxwell House coffee was good to the last drop? Ever since, there have been pedants claiming that meant the last drop must be terrible.

[larryhammer]

AND some months the ides is on our 13th of the month and some on our 15th. Usually the former.

[sravakavarn]

On historically black colleges and their renaissance--there are HUGE differences in the reporting in Nat Geo than the other sources I have seen from a year ago, but it appears that spike is a sign of declining race relations a way:

http://www.businessinsider.com/hbcus-may-be-more-in-danger-of-closing-than-other-schools-2015-3

https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/what-future-america-s-historically-black-colleges-universities-n725811

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/28/a-look-at-historically-black-colleges-and-universities-as-howard-turns-150/

So what a difference a year of Trump can make, huh.

[sravakavarn]

Also, the militants in the Egyptian desert aren't new. When I was in Egypt two years ago, they were already an issue.

[magnetic_pole]

I had no idea about the Roman calendar (or the Mayan, for that matter--thanks, kengr). Roman numerals always seemed overly complicated to me (thank goodness for Arabic numerals!), but now I know I don't know the half of it! M.

[dawnebeth]

I didn't know about the Roman calendar (except for the ides of March since I was a theatre major and was required to read Shakespeare's Caesar). Muy confusing! Learn something new every day.

[conuly]

Ugh. Thanks.

[conuly]

They had a calendar of 18 20 day months. Plus a period of 5 days that wasn't in any month.

Well, yes, otherwise they'd rapidly get out of synch.

[kengr]

Well, being in the tropics, seasons aren't quite as important. Because their setup *only* had those 5 extra days. No leap years.

So they did get rapidly out of synch.

[conuly]

Well, yes, but not as rapidly, and they were working without calculators so....

[gale_storm]

"have never quite forgiven the Romans."

Aw, sh!t. Now I've remembered the frustrations of Latin class.

Would that this could be handed off like an object instead of a cold.

(ah... ah... ah - CHOO!)

[conuly]

Also: Roman naming conventions omg.

[archersangel]

the naming of people? colleen mccullough gets into that in her masters of rome series. she even has a glossary with pronunciations & name meanings.

[adafrog]

That's really complicated.

[conuly]

Yup.

[siderea]

'Homer can help you': War veterans use ancient epics to cope

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/healing-power-greek-tragedy-180965220/

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/theatre-of-war-sophocles-message-for-american-veterans

http://www.thegreenespace.org/series/theater-war-productions/

[conuly]

Thanks! I'm full up on New Yorker articles right now, though - is it interesting enough (and different enough from the rest) that it's worth the hassle of deleting that cookie, or can it wait?

[conuly]

Yes, the naming of people. Definitely not the naming of cats, though I'm not holding my breath that they had any better ideas there than they had for their children.

[siderea]

It can wait. The Smithsonian article is more relevant and the last link is to tickets.

[conuly]

Great.

[gatheringrivers]

The only response I have to roman calendars is:

@.@

[conuly]

Yup