I was reading an article about Leap Year and in the middle of otherwise tedious calendar-speak was this little bit of history:
In 46 B.C., after his affair with Cleopatra, Caesar chose to adopt the superior Egyptian calendar, and this became known as the Julian calendar. In the first version of the Julian calendar, February had 29 days most years and 30 days in leap years. Caesar named the month of July after himself, so when Augustus came to power, he decided he needed a month too. He named August after himself, but he had to steal a day from February in order to make August as long as July.
He decided he needed a month too? He stole a day from February? The ego is amazing and yet I find the story charming.
1 comment:
when i become ceaser im changing the names of the month to cool sounding words like zuchini or zamboni.
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