July & August - A Calendar Question

[Anton Gramscescu]

The old, pre-reformation calendar was called the Julian calendar, right? Meaning that Julius Caesar was repsonsible.

If I recall correctly, he added two months to the calendar and named one of them - July - after himself.

But "August" is named after Augustus (Octavian), who was only a lad when Julius was Consul. Julius wouldn't have named the month after an adolescent.

So is what is commonly known as the Julian calendar in fact an Augustan calendar? Or did August briefly (between the time Julius did his calendar work and the time Octavian finally defeated James Purefoy in battle) have another name - and if so, what was it?

[JtS]

July & August - A Calendar Question

From Wiki

Immediately after the Julian reform, the twelve months of the Roman calendar were named Ianuarius,[1] Februarius, Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Iunius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December, just as they were before the reform. The old intercalary month, the Mensis Intercalaris, was abolished and replaced with a single intercalary day at the same point (i.e. five days before the end of Februarius). The first month of the year continued to be Ianuarius, as it had been since 153 BC.

The Romans later renamed months after Julius Caesar and Augustus, renaming Quintilis (originally, "the fifth month", with March = month 1) as Iulius (July)[1] in 44 BC and Sextilis ("sixth month") as Augustus (August) in 8 BC. Quintilis was renamed to honour Caesar because it was the month of his birth. According to a senatus consultum quoted by Macrobius, Sextilis was renamed to honour Augustus because several of the most significant events in his rise to power, culminating in the fall of Alexandria, fell in that month.

[Andy C]

July & August - A Calendar Question

In the calendar introduced by Julius Caesar those two months were called Quintilis and Sextilis. Quintilis was renamed in honour of Julius C. shortly after the calendar had been adopted, and Sextilis was renamed a few years later.

[hobbes]

July & August - A Calendar Question

But what about Bigus Dickus?