"Happy he who has passed his whole life mid his own fields, he of whose birth and old age the same house is witness....For him the recurring seasons, not the consuls, mark the year; he knows autumn by his fruits and spring by her flowers."

Claudian, Carmina Minora (XX)

The Roman calendar originally was determined by the cycles of the moon and the seasons of the agricultural year, and was said to be invented by Romulus, the first king of Rome, around 753 BCE. After several changes over the course of the centuries, the current formula was worked out. According to Livy (I.19), it was Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome (715-673 BC), who divided the year into twelve lunar months. Later, in honor of his reform, the month of Sextilis was renamed Augustus. It was that month, says Macrobius (I.12), that Augustus first had been elected consul, Egypt had become part of the Roman empire, and the civil wars ended. August also was the eighth month and appropriate for someone who earlier had been named Octavian.

Calendarium Perpetuum, or Perpetual Calendar in Latin, contains all the elements of the original calendar; i.e., Latin dies, nundinal letters, market days, and Roman Festivals and Ludi (Games). It also contains explanations on the Kalends, Nones, and Ides of the month, plus Moribus diérum, or Character of Days in the Calendar. From the modern perspective, the calendar lists modern and nundinal year conversion tables, current days, and has been designed for use year after year.
About the Author:

The author, Lucius Vitellius Triarius, aka Chip Hatcher, is a Graduate (cum Laude) in Political Science, focusing in Ancient Mediterranean Political Systems, from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and resides in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in Eastern Tennessee.

He is also a member of Nova Roma (www.novaroma.org), the global Roman Reconstruction project, advocating the via Romana, or Roman Way, where he serves as a Provincial Governor and Senator of Nova Roma.

The Roman Way is the study and practical application of "Romanitas" and the "mos maiorum", the revival of all aspects of Roman life, culture, virtues, ethics and philosophies in our everyday lives.

It is as part of the mos maiorum that citizens are expected to take up Roman names for use within the society. Learning Latin, the language of Roman culture, is also an equally important step towards becoming a modern Roman.

One of the cornerstones of Romanitas are the Roman virtues; those qualities which define the ideal state of being and behavior of the Roman citizen. These age old precepts guided the Roman Republic for centuries, and after being somewhat forgotten in the technology, hustle, and bustle of the modern age, are finding their way back into the hearts, minds, and homes of many people today. They are the foundation of a good and wholesome society, and should be consistently used to further advance the knowledge, behavior and ethics of our children and succeeding generations.

He believes that we must remember and preserve the good parts of the past in the present, so that others will remember it in the future.

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