Julian << JOOL yuhn >> calendar was devised in 46 B.C. by the order of Julius Caesar. Errors in Rome’s earlier calendar, and the occasional failure by Roman religious officials to add extra days at the proper times, had made the calendar about three months ahead of the seasons. To readjust the calendar, three months were added to the year 46 B.C., making it 15 months long. The first “Julian year” then began on Jan. 1, 45 B.C. The Julian calendar divided the year into 12 months either 30 to 31 days long, except February, which ended up with 28 days. Every four years, February was to have 29 days.
The Roman Senate renamed Quintilis—the month of Caesar’s birth—Julius (now July) in his honor. Later, it renamed Sextilis to honor the emperor Augustus. That month became August. Nevertheless, the Julian year of 3651/4 days was still 11 minutes and 14 seconds longer than the solar year. By 1580, the calendar was 10 days off. Two years later, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII corrected the calendar with the newly developed Gregorian calendar.
