BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH

The ancient Roman calendar was a bit clunky. At one point, it only contained 10 months, not 12, and, rather than numbering the days within a month in consecutive order, like we do, the Romans were what you might call "fixed point reckoners." They had 3 fixed points in each month:


the Calends (also spelled Kalends) -- the first of the month (the reason we call the entire series of charts for the year a calendar);


the Nones -- the 9th, or in some months, the 7th; and, most famously,


the Ides -- the "middle" of the month, i.e., the 15th, or the 13th (in the months when the Nones were on the 7th).


The Romans would count backwards from each of these fixed points, and they would include the fixed point in the count. What we would call the 13th of March was to the Romans "the 3rd day before the Ides of March," and the next-to-last day of February (this year, the 28th, but usually the 27th) was "the 3rd day/3 days before the Calends of March." The last day of each month was called "the day before the Calends of [     ]." As I said, it was clumsy.


As for the Ides of March, the reason they are so famous (or, at least, notorious) is, of course, the assassination on this date, in 44 BCE, of Julius Caesar, who is remembered in connection with the calendar for two other reasons:


1. He issued the decree that established the version of the calendar that, with some revisions made in 1582, we still use today, the older, unrevised version being known as the Julian calendar in his honor; and


2. The month of July is named after him (because his birthday was in it).