4 ms·
> Julius and Augustus were emperors and from that point are just numerals, starting at March It used to be numbers earlier, Quintilis and Sextilis were renamed
by B1FF_PSUVM 4y ago
> Julius and Augustus were emperors and from that point are just numerals, starting at March
It used to be numbers earlier, Quintilis and Sextilis were renamed for them.
Apparently the Romans did not find hard naming even persons - they just went by numbers, as in Secundus, Quintus, Sextus, Septimus, Octavius, etc.
- smsm42 4y agoThey didn't have too many personal names in general, IIRC about 20 or so commonly used, including numeric ones (there's even Decimus - I guess they had big families). And looking at how Ceasar is always Julius Ceasar (while his personal name was Gaius) it looks like they didn't use it too much outside of family and close friends. Which kinda makes sense - if you know 10 guys with personal name Gaius, it's not very useful to say just "we're having a party at Gaius' place tonight".
- narag 4y agoAugustus' first name was Octavius... now August is the eighth month, full circle.