If it were true, that would mean Augustus messed up our calendar in addition to his biggest sin - sending us into the dark ages by making Christianity a viable religion. We are still in the shadows.
Did you ever wonder why December has 31 days? (1997)
51–60 of 70 posts
Re: Did you ever wonder why December has 31 days? (1997)
#52I vote for 30 days for all months, followed by a 5 or 6 day festival (depending) at the end of the year. ;)
This is the Alexandrian calendar, proposed in 238 BC and adopted in 25 BC. (Previous Egyptian calendars had a fixed 5 day intercalary festival.) It is still used by the Coptic church and parts of Egypt.
Re: Did you ever wonder why December has 31 days? (1997)
#53This is a cute story, but it lacks all sources, and it contradicts Wikipedia [1] [2]: > 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…
Nature abhors a vacuum.
Internet abhors a claim contradicting Wikipedia.
Re: Did you ever wonder why December has 31 days? (1997)
#54To me, the most mathematically logical way to split up the calendar would have just been something like: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 31 30 31 30 31 30 30 31 30 31 30 30 -- common year 31 30 31 30 31 30 30 31 30 31 30 31 -- leap year - All months 30 or 31. - Leap month alternates between 30 and 31. - Never have more than two consecutive months with the same day. - Only time two consecutive months have the same…
Even easier. 13 months of 28 days with one or two "leap day" per year make up 365-366.
Which is like to a Lunar Calendar with 1 or 2 holidays at the end. So, you have 13 months, each month is 28 days. At the end of the year you get 1 or 2 days off free!
Re: Did you ever wonder why December has 31 days? (1997)
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, but information on Wikipedia tends to be accurate and based on reliable sources -- when a person contradicts Wikipedia and fails to provide any sources of their own, they are usually wrong. Not necessarily, of course, but often enough to say the burden of proof lies with the person making the unsubstantiated claim.
Uh. There was a source provided: 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. I wouldn't call that more reliable, but it's still as valid a source as Wikipedia.
The 1911 Britannica is not the source provided. The source is a hypothetical entry in an encyclopedia that most people don't have. That is not as valuable a source as Wikipedia because I cannot easily verify that the 1911 Britannica corroborates the facts in this email.
Re: Did you ever wonder why December has 31 days? (1997)
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Uh. There was a source provided: 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. I wouldn't call that more reliable, but it's still as valid a source as Wikipedia.
The 1911 Britannica is not the source provided. The source is a hypothetical entry in an encyclopedia that most people don't have. That is not as valuable a source as Wikipedia because I cannot easily verify that the 1911 Britannica corroborates the facts in this email.
Re: Did you ever wonder why December has 31 days? (1997)
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Uh. There was a source provided: 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. I wouldn't call that more reliable, but it's still as valid a source as Wikipedia.
The 1911 Britannica is not the source provided. The source is a hypothetical entry in an encyclopedia that most people don't have. That is not as valuable a source as Wikipedia because I cannot easily verify that the 1911 Britannica corroborates the facts in this email.
Just because you are lazy and unwilling to verify the source doesn't mean it's not a source.
Re: Did you ever wonder why December has 31 days? (1997)
#58This is a cute story, but it lacks all sources, and it contradicts Wikipedia [1] [2]: > 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…
"if you are going to take days off, it makes sense to take them off the last month of the year."
It's sort of understandable to take them off the last month of the year, but I think it makes the most sense to take them off the longer months first.
Re: Did you ever wonder why December has 31 days? (1997)
#59This is a cute story, but it lacks all sources, and it contradicts Wikipedia [1] [2]: > 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…
"if you are going to take days off, it makes sense to take them off the last month of the year." It's sort of understandable to take them off the last month of the year, but I think it makes the most sense to take them off the longer months first.
Backwards compatibility.
Re: Did you ever wonder why December has 31 days? (1997)
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Uh. There was a source provided: 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. I wouldn't call that more reliable, but it's still as valid a source as Wikipedia.
The 1911 Britannica is not the source provided. The source is a hypothetical entry in an encyclopedia that most people don't have. That is not as valuable a source as Wikipedia because I cannot easily verify that the 1911 Britannica corroborates the facts in this email.
The text of the whole 1911 Britannica is just one Google away:
https://archive.org/details/EncyclopaediaBritannica1911HQDJV...