Did you ever wonder why December has 31 days? (1997)

Did you ever wonder why December has 31 days? (1997)
projects.csail.mit.edu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar

> Commonly repeated lore has it that August has 31 days because Augustus wanted his month to match the length of Julius Caesar's July, but this is an invention of the 13th century scholar Johannes de Sacrobosco. Sextilis in fact had 31 days before it was renamed, and it was not chosen for its length (see Julian calendar). According to a senatus consultum quoted by Macrobius, Sextilis was renamed to honor Augustus because several of the most significant events in his rise to power, culminating in the fall of Alexandria, fell in that month.

The fact that February has the fewest days makes sense considering it was the last month of the Julian year (March was the first, hence July and August were called quintilis and sextilis, for fifth and sixth, respectively). It doesn't quite explain why the 31-day months are distributed unevenly over the year, but if you are going to take days off, it makes sense to take them off the last month of the year.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus#Month_of_August