The Roman Calendar from Numa to Constantine

This book provides a definitive account of the history of the Roman calendar, offering new reconstructions of its development that demand serious revisions to previous accounts.

• Examines the critical stages of the technical, political, and religious history of the Roman calendar
• Provides a comprehensive historical and social contextualization of ancient calendars and chronicles
• Highlights the unique characteristics which are still visible in the most dominant modern global calendar
  

“"This book is a very welcome addition to the study of Roman time. R. has long stood in the top tier of scholars working on the Roman calendar. This book is destined to become an indispensable resource for scholars and students wishing to understand the origins and development of the Roman calendar as a mechanism for marking time, but more particularly as a social construct at the mercy of the political powers of the time." ( Journal of Roman Studies , 1 August 2013)”

“This book is a very welcome addition to the study of Roman time. R. has long stood in the top tier of scholars working on the Roman calendar. This book is destined to become an indispensable resource for scholars and students wishing to understand the origins and development of the Roman calendar as a mechanism for marking time, but more particularly as a social construct at the mercy of the political powers of the time.”  (Journal of Roman Studies, 1 August 2013)

About the Author

Jörg Rüpke is Fellow in Religious Studies at the Max Weber Centre of the University of Erfurt. His publications include Fasti sacerdotum: A Prosopography of Pagan, Jewish, and Christian Religious Officials in the City of Rome, 300 BC to AD 499 (trans. David Richardson, 2008), Religion of the Romans (2007), A Companion to Roman Religion (2007), and Religion and Law in Classical and Christian Rome (co-edited with C. Ando, 2006).

About the Translator

David M. B. Richardson has previously translated Fasti sacerdotum: A Prosopography of Pagan, Jewish, and Christian Religious Officials in the City of Rome, 300 BC to AD 499 (Jörg Rüpke, 2008), and contributed to the English translation of Brill's New Pauly Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World (2002 onwards).

"It is excellent to see an updated and revised translation of J

The Roman calendar, in particular in the form of the Julian calendar of Julius Caesar, was used as the basis for what is, globally, the most important calendar today. This calendar evolved in a series of reforms and revolutions and many of its peculiar features, from the name of the months to the number of days, are still visible. This book traces the history and the peculiar form taken by the calendar. Offering new reconstructions of the critical stages of the technical, political, medial, and religious history of the Roman calendar, this book demands serious revisions to previous accounts and provides a definitive history of the Roman calendar. This new history enables a fresh understanding of the history of the Christian calendars and stimulates research on other calendars.

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