Sextilis

 ( August ) 

Sextilis () or mensis Sextilis was the Latin name for what was originally the sixth month in the Roman calendar, when March ( Martius, "Mars' month") was the first of ten months in the year. After the calendar reform that produced a twelve-month year, Sextilis became the eighth month, but retained its name. It was renamed Augustus (August) in 8 BCCensorinus, De die natali 22.16 ([1]). in honor of the first Roman emperor, Augustus. Sextilis followed Quinctilis, which was renamed Julius (July) after Julius Caesar, and preceded September (from septem, "seven"), which was originally the seventh month.

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The month Augustus Quintilis (July) was renamed from Quintilis ("fifth" month) in honor of Julius Caesar, who had adopted his grand-nephew Octavian, the future Augustus, and made him his heir. It has sometimes been thought that the month has 31 days because Augustus wanted as many days in his month as in his predecessor's, but Sextilis in fact had 31 days since the reform during Caesar's Roman dictator that created the Julian calendar.

The decree of the Roman senate (senatus consultum) renaming Sextilis reads in part:

Whereas the emperor Augustus Caesar, in the month of Sextilis, was first admitted to the Roman consul, and thrice entered the city in Roman triumph, and in the same month the Roman legion, from the Janiculum, placed themselves under his auspices, and in the same month Roman Egypt was brought under the authority of the Roman people, and in the same month an end was put to the civil wars; and whereas for these reasons the said month is, and has been, most fortunate to this empire, it is hereby decreed by the senate that the said month shall be called Augustus.Preserved by Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12.35; entry on calendarium, in William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (John Murray, London, 1875), at LacusCurtius.

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Iconography of the month The Calendar of Filocalus illustrated the month of August with a seasonal representation of summer's heat. A peacock fan overhangs a nude male who drinks from a large bowl, with his cast-off garment in the top right corner. The amphora beside him is sealed with a flower and in one extant copy is inscribed ZLS, probably a mistaken transcription for the Greek exhortation zeses, "to your health". Three mature gourds or melons are another seasonal motif.Michele Renee Salzman, On Roman Time: The Codex Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity (University of California Press, 1990), p. 94.

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Dates The Romans did not number days of a month sequentially from the 1st through the last day. Instead, they counted back from the three fixed points of the month: the Nones (5th or 7th, depending on the length of the month), the Ides (13th or 15th), and the Kalends (1st) of the following month. The Nones of August was the 5th, and the Ides the 13th. The last day of August was the pridie Kalendas Septembris,The month name is construed as an adjective modifying Kalendae, Nonae or Idūs (all plural nouns of feminine gender). "day before the Kalends of September". Roman counting was inclusive; 9 August was ante diem V Idūs Sextīlis ( ante diem V Idūs Augustas), "the 5th day before the Ides of August," usually abbreviated a.d. V Id. Sext. ( a.d. V Id. Aug.), or with the a.d. omitted altogether. The Julian calendar reform added two days to Sextilis; thus on the pre-reform calendar, 23 August was VIII Kal. Sept., "the 8th day before the Kalends of September," but on the Julian calendar X Kal. Sept., "the 10th day before the Kalends of September".

On the calendar of the Roman Republic and early Principate, each day was marked with a letter to denote its religiously lawful status. In August, these were:

• F for dies fasti, days when it was legal to initiate action in the courts of Roman law;
• C, for dies comitalis, a day on which the Roman people could hold assemblies (comitia), elections, and certain kinds of judicial proceedings;
• N for dies nefasti, when these political activities and the administration of justice were prohibited;
• NP, the meaning of which remains elusive, but which marked feriae, public holidays;
• EN for endotercissus, an Old Latin of intercissus, "cut in half," meaning days that were nefasti in the morning, when sacrifices were being prepared, and in the evening, while sacrifices were being offered, but were fasti in the middle of the day.Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies, pp. 44–45.

Days were also marked with nundinal letters in cycles of A B C D E F G H, to mark the "market week"Jörg Rüpke, The Roman Calendar from Numa to Constantine: Time, History, and the Fasti, translated by David M.B. Richardson (Blackwell, 2011, originally published 1995 in German), p. 6. (these are omitted in the table below).

A dies natalis was an anniversary such as a temple founding or rededication, sometimes thought of as the "birthday" of a deity. During the Roman Empire, some of the traditional festivals localized at Rome became less important, and the birthdays and anniversaries of the emperor and his family gained prominence as Roman holidays. On the calendar of military religious observances known as the Feriale Duranum, sacrifices pertaining to Imperial cult outnumber the older festivals. After the mid-1st century AD, a number of dates are added to calendars for spectacles and games (ludi circenses) held in honor of various deities in the venue called a "circus".Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 118ff. By the late 2nd century AD, extant calendars no longer show days marked with letters (F, N, C and so on) to show their religious status, probably in part as a result of calendar reforms undertaken by Marcus Aurelius.Salzman, On Roman Time, pp. 17, 122. Festivals marked in large letters on extant fasti, represented by festival names in all capital letters on the table, are thought to have been the most ancient holidays, becoming part of the calendar before 509 BC.Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic, p. 41.

Unless otherwise noted, the dating and observances on the following table are from H.H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (Cornell University Press, 1981), pp. 169–182. After the Ides, dates are given for the Julian calendar, with pre-Julian dates noted parenthetically for festivals.

• dies natales of the Temple of Spes ("Hope") in the Forum Holitorium, and of the Two Victories on the Palatine Hill • dies natalis and circus games in honor of the divinized emperor Pertinax (recorded by the Calendar of Filocalus in 354 AD)Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 134.

• supplicia canum, the punishment of the dogs

• after the mid-1st century AD, circus games for the Victory of the SenateSalzman, On Roman Time, p. 122.

• dies natalis for the Temple of Salus on the Quirinal Hill, with circus games added for Salus Publica ("Public Safety") after the mid-1st century ADSalzman, On Roman Time, p. 122.

• dies natalis and circus games in honor of Constantius II (Calendar of 354)Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 134.

• ludi votivi (Calendar of 354)Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 134.

• public sacrifice for Sol Indiges on the Quirinal Hill

• festival for Hercules Invictus near the Circus Maximus • dies natalis for the Temple of Venus Victrix built by Pompeius Magnus, accompanied by Honos et Virtus, Felicitas, and possibly Vesta • Lychnapsia (added after mid-1st century AD)Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 123.

• ovis idulis, the monthly sacrifice of the Ides sheep for Jupiter • festivals for Diana and Vortumnus on the Aventine Hill • dies natalis for the Temple of Fortuna Equestris • dies natalis for the Temple of Hercules Victor or Hercules Invictus near the Porta Trigemina; for the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Circus Flaminius; for the Camenae on the Caelian Hill; and for the Temple of Flora near the Circus Maximus

• Portunalia ( XIV Kal. Sept. on the pre-Julian calendar) • TiberinaliaSalzman, On Roman Time, p. 123. • dies natalis for the Temple of Janus near the Theater of Marcellus

• Vinalia for Venus at the Circus Maximus, and Feriae Iovi (pre-Julian XII Kal. Sept.) • dies natalis and circus games for Probus (Calendar of 354)Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 134.

• Consualia (pre-Julian X Kal. Sept. )

• Volcanalia (pre-Julian VIII Kal. Sept.) in honor of Volcanus (Vulcan), with circus games added after the mid-1st century ADSalzman, On Roman Time, pp. 122, 126. • sacrifice to Maia in the precinct of Vulcan • sacrifice to the , recorded only in the Fasti Arvales • dies natalis for a temple of Ops, and for a temple of the Horae of Quirinus

• sacrifices for Luna at the GraecostasisMentioned only in the Fasti Pinciani. • mundus patet, one of three days in the year when a mysterious pit or underground chamber was opened

• Opiconsivia for the goddess Ops (pre-Julian VI Kal. Sept.)

• Volturnalia for Volturnus (pre-Julian IV Kal. Sept.)

• dies natalis for the Temple of Sol and Luna, the Sun and the Moon (pre-Julian III Kal. Sept.), with circus games added after the mid-1st century ADSalzman, On Roman Time, p. 122.

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