Roman Chronology

8/13/2019 Roman Chronology

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oman DatesIntro page | How to Read the Tables | The Roman

Calendars | Sources | AnalysisConversion table: (Excel) (HT!)

(CS") #asti consulares: (Excel) (HT!)

How to Read the Conversion Table

Each row in the conversion table corresponds to a Roman civil year, in principleidentified by its Varronian year number. The Julian years correspondin to thefirst and last day of the correspondin Roman year are iven on either side. Theentries in the row ive the Julian date for the start of each Roman month in thecorrespondin Julian year. !dditionally, the nundinal letter(s)for the mar"et day

in each civil year are also iven.

#inally, supplementary infomation useful for interpretin the tables is colour$coded, or encoded in the font style. The details of this is e%plained further below&see herefor the colour codin of the body of the table.

Roman 'onth ames

The Roman month names are iven across the top in the form used in the

Republic. They are repeated on the boundary between years .*. and !.+. in theform used in the early Empire. The followin chanes occurred in the period

covered by the tables:

$uintiliswas renamed Iuliusin !..*. -/ 0 11.

Sextiliswas renamed Augustusin connection with the !uustancalendar reform of !..*. -12 0 3 .*.

Septemberwas renamed %ermanicuson the accession of *aliula in

!..*. -/ 0 !.+. 4-, but reverted to Septemberafter a few years,

probably on his death.

Intercalarisis the occasional intercalary month of the Republican

calendar. 5t was abolished in the *aesarian reform of !..* -3 0 12 .*.The two intercalary months inserted after ovember of !..* -3 0 12*, whose individual lenths are un"nown, are combined under theheadin Int& I'II.

E6uivalent Julian 7ears

The left hand column ives the Julian year .*. in which the correspondin

Roman year bean. This may be the same as the Julian year usually e6uated withthe Roman year, or one year earlier.

5f the Julian year is that which conventionally corresponds to the Roman

civil year, the Julian year number is bolded.

5f 8 January of the correspondin Julian year fell after 9al. 5an. of the

Roman civil year then the column ives the year before the conventionalJulian year& this is sinalled by italicisingthe year number.

5n some cases a Roman civil year completely subsumes a Julian year. 5n

these cases the ne%t Julian year entry chanes by , not 8. Thisdiscontinuity is indicated by hihlihtin the ne%t Julian year in red.
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*onversely, a Julian year may completely subsume a Roman civil year, so

that the followin 9al. 5an. will fall in the same Julian year, and the ne%t

Julian entry does not chane value. This discontinuity is also indicated byhihlihtin the ne%t Julian year in red.

The rihtmost column but one ives the Julian year .*. in which thecorrespondin Roman civil year ended. This may be the same as the Julian yearusually e6uated with the Roman civil year, or one year later.

5f the Julian year is that which conventionally corresponds to the Roman

civil year, the Julian year number is bolded.

5f 8 January of the correspondin Julian year fell before the end of the

Roman civil year then the column ives the year after the conventionalJulian year& this is sinalled by italicisingthe year number.

5n some cases a Roman civil year completely subsumes a Julian year. 5n

these cases the ne%t Julian year entry chanes by , not 8. This

discontinuity is indicated by hihlihtin the ne%t Julian year in red.

*onversely, a Julian year may completely subsume a Roman civil year, sothat the followin 9al. 5an. will fall in the same Julian year, and the ne%tJulian entry does not chane value. This discontinuity is also indicated by

hihlihtin the ne%t Julian year in red.Varronian 7ear

The second column ives the Varronian year number !..*. (ab urbe condita) forthe Roman civil year on 9al. 5an., assumin that !..*. 8 0 -;4 .*. The third

column from the riht ives the Varronian year number for the Roman civil yearon 9al. +ec. The bolded Varronian year number is the number that identifies the

civil year.

The two columns differ before !..*. 28 0 8;4 .*. because the Varronian yearis accounted as the consular year. The start of the consular year chaned fromtime to time. 5t started on 5d. 'art. before !..*. 28 0 8;4 and 9al. 5an.thereafter& !* 2 was a short year runnin from 5d. 'art. to prid. 9al. 5an. 5tis held here, as by most chronoloists (thouh not by rind


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convention not only does not represent the mar"et day, e%cept by coincidence,but it is also anachronistic. The values shown here reflect actual Roman practicerather than the normal modern convention. The two may be converted as follows:

Roman: ! * + E # C B

Conventional: ! B C # E + *




The Roman *ear

?tructure of the 7ear

The Roman civil year was normally divided into 8 months: 5anuarius, #ebruarius,'artius, !prilis, 'aius, 5unius, Auintilis (later 5ulius), ?e%tilis (later !uustus),?eptember (later briefly Cermanicus), Dctober, ovember and +ecember. Thelenths of the months and the means by which the calendar was alined to thetropical year chaned durin Roman history, most notably beforeand afterthe

reforms introduced by Julius *aesar in !..*. -3 0 12 .*.

Varronian 7ears

The primary method of identifyin a Roman year used today is by the number of

years from the year Rome was founded $$ !..*. (ab urbe condita). The festivalof the >arilia, held on a.d. 9al. 'ai., mar"ed the actual anniversary of thefoundin of Rome. Bowever, in practice, years !..*. after the foundation of theRepublic are e6uated to the eponymous yearsof the consular fasti, i.e. they runfrom the start to the end of the consular term.

The convention used by modern scholars is that which was introduced by the lateRepublican scholar '. Terentius Varro, in which !..*. 8 corresponds to -;4 .*.

y convention, since Roman years and Julian years are appro%imatelysynchronised, Varronian years (and by e%tension eponymous years, to which theyare e6uated) are mapped to the Julian year which covers the bul" of the Romancivil year. 5n the te%t here, this dual datin is usually iven e%plicitly in the form

A&+&C& nnn , mmm -&C&This convention should be read as =the Roman year ofthe eponymous consuls, not named here, which corresponds to A&+&C& nnn, andwhich mostly overlaps the Julian year mmm -&C&=

Fhile the Varronian date of !..*. 8 0 -;4 .*. is by far the most well$"nown

e6uation today, it was not the only !..*. system on offer, nor even the systemmost widely used in classical times. The #asti *apitolini, which e%plicitly record

the !..*. date of every 8th year in the #asti *onsulares and of every triumph inthe #asti Triumphales, use a system correspondin to !..*. 8 0 -; .*. >.rindiso) to -3 .*. (@.*incius !limentus). 5n De Re Publica.8-, *icero follows >olybius 4.in datin

the foundation of Rome to Dl. -. 0 -;8G& the same view was held by @ivy. utthe Cree" historian Timaeus dated the foundation of Rome and *arthae to the
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same year, 381 .*., and the early annalist Ennius seems to have held an evenmore radical view. Varro, De Re Rustica4.8, 6uotes some lines of Ennius whichrefer to Rome as havin been founded around - years earlier. Fhile we do not"now when these lines were written, they suest that Ennius himself dated thefoundation of Rome seven centuries before his own adult life, i.e. to the period c./$3- .*.

Eponymous 7ears

The Romans themselves normally identified their civil years eponymously, by the

names of the consuls who were elected annually. This system was used from thestart of Roman history until the empire, and a lare number of eponymous tables(fasti consulares) are "nown. The earliest such tables "nown to us were compiledin late republican times and canonised under !uustus, but are enerally areedto be accurate after 4 .*., which covers the period of interest here. !s well asthe internal evidenceof the fasti, some confirmation of their accuracy comes fromthe calculated dates for consuls named by >olybius, who wrote in the mid secondcentury .*., which correspond with those in the fasti consulares& see further

discussion here.

The consular eponyms for a year would normally be "nown in advance, thouh in

times of disorder (e.. !..*. 2-- 0 --, the year of the tumultus Lepidianus) thiswould not be the case. 5f a consul died or was otherwise replaced by anotherconsul (a =suffect= consul), the replacement did not usually affect the annualeponym, thouh e%ceptions are "nown. 5f a consul desinate died before ta"inoffice, or was removed in disrace, the situation is more ambiuous& the availablesources brea" both ways.

This system effectively ties the start of the eponymous year to the nominal startof the consular term. !ccordin to @ivy, Periochae1-, the Roman consular year

started on 9al. 5an. after !..*. 2 0 8;1. Bowever, earlier consular yearsstarted on 5d. 'art. (!..* 2 was a short year runnin from 5d. 'art. to prid.9al. 5an.). There is also stron, if controversial, evidence that the consular yearstarted on 9al. 'ai. before !..*. ;4 0 .

The relationship of the consular year to the civil year is also controversial. Thetwo choices are that the two were always identical, or that the civil year alwaysstarted on 9al. 5an. even in the period before !..*. 28 0 8;4. 5f the two arenot e6uated, then the first few months of the civil year are eponymously assined

to the previous consular year. !. 'ichels, The Calendar of the Roman Republic/-ff, cites the followin evidence that the civil year bean in 5anuarius even

before !..*. 2 0 8;1:

Varro, De Lingua Latina2.44, cites #ulvius obilior, cos.83/, as statin

that 5anuarius is named after 5anus because the od faces both forwardsand bac"wards, which implies that 5anuarius was the first month of theyear in obilior


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!ccordin to our literary sources, the Roman day bean at midniht (e.. >liny,Hist. Nat..-/), althouh in the few horoscopes from Eypt that ive Romandates the start of the day is set at sunset, in the Cree" fashion.

The Romans had what is for us a very unusual method for countin days in amonth, althouh similar methods were used in several Cree" calendars. Eachmonth contained three special days: the 9alends, which was always the first of

the month& the 5des, which was on the 84th or 8;th day of the month, dependinon the month& and the ones, which was 3 days before the 5des. Dther days were

identified by countin the days up to and includin the ne%t reference point, in anabbreviated form (=a.d.= 0 =ante diem= 0 =days before=). Thus, a typical date

would be:

a.d. V 5d. 'art. 0 the fifth day before the 5des (8;th day) of 'artius, inclusive 0the 88th day of 'artius

This system was modified for the day before a reference point, which was simply

"nown as =the day before= (pridiem), so:

prid. 5d. 'art. 0 the day before the 5des of 'artius 0 the 81th day of 'artius

This system has an effect that seems rather odd to us. +ays after the 5des areiven with reference to the 9alends of the ne%t month. Thus, in the Juliancalendar:

a.d. V55 9al. !pr. 0 the 8-th day before the 9alends of !prilis, inclusive 0 the82th day of 'artius

!dditionally, in the Julian calendar, at least after the !uustan reform of 3 .*.,

the leap day was intercalated, in effect, by ma"in a.d. V5 9al. 'art. a 13$hourday, the so$called bisse%tilis (bis. a.d. V5 9al. 'art.).

'any days were also festival days and were "nown by their festival name(Auirinalia, @upercalia, ?aturnalia etc). ! maHor issue in the desin of the*aesarian reform of !..*. -/ 0 1; .*. was to insert e%tra days in such a waythat the relationship between the festival days and their day numbers wereunchaned. #or a detailed wor"ed e%ample of the Roman festivals (in a Juliancalendar), see here.

The /ulian Calendar

'onth @enths

The structure of the Roman calendar after the reform of !..*. -/ 0 1; is ivenin detail by the fifth century author 'acrobius, and is confirmed by a number offasti (calendars) survivin from the reins of !uustus and Tiberius. 5t isessentially that of the modern Festern calendar. The year was normally 42; days

lon, and the months had the modern lenths. The followin table shows the daynumber for the ones and 5des of each month, and the lenth of the month, with

lenths in leap years shown in brac"ets:

5an. #eb. 'art. !pr. 'ai. 5un. Auin.(5ul.)

?e%.(!u.)

?ept.(Cerm.)

Dct. ov. +ec.

ones ; ; - ; - ; - ; ; - ; -

5des 84 84 8; 84 8; 84 8; 84 84 8; 84 84
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@enth 48 3(/)

48 4 48 4 48 48 4 48 4 48

'onth ames

Fhen the Julian reform was introduced, the months retained the names they had

had under the republican calendar. Bowever, several months chaned namesunder the early Empire, most only for a few years.

Auintilis was renamed 5uliusin !..*. -8 0 11 in *aesar


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ones ; ; $ (;) - ; - ; - ; ; - ; ;

5des 84 84 $ (84) 8; 84 8; 84 8; 84 84 8; 84 84

@enth / 3 (4or 1)

(-) 48 / 48 / 48 / / 48 / /

This account is confirmed and refined by the survivin framents of the

contemporary calendar "nown today as the asti Antiates !aiores.

5ntercalation

The Republican calendar maintained an appro%imate alinment to the solar yearthrouh a comple% process of intercalation. or 4 days $$ as determined by the

pontifex maximusto be appropriate $$ were inserted at intervals determined by

him. The central problem of Republican chronoloy in the period covered here isto determine which years had intercalary months, and how lon they were.

The e%act method by which intercalation was done is controversial. 5t was lonheld that the intercalary month (=5ntercalaris=) itself was of variable lenth, and

was inserted on the day after the Terminalia. or 4 days were then combinedwith the final ; days of #ebruarius to form an intercalary month of - or 3 days.Bowever, the asti Antiates !aioresshows a fi%ed 5ntercalaris of - days, withthe 9alends bein assined a nundinal letter of %, and endin with a nundinalletter of A, as in a standard #ebruarius, so we must conclude that the intercalarymonth itself was fi%ed, and the variability was handled in a different way.

!ccordinly, the model proposed by !. 9. 'ichels, The Calendar of the RomanRepublic82ff., accepted also by rind

one. Bowever, it was always days that were intercalated. The days werethen combined with the final ; days of #ebruarius to form an 5ntercalaris of -days. !ain, there are two ways this could have been done: throuh insertion of

an e%tra day followin the 5des of #ebruarius (i.e. an a.d. 55 9al. 5nt. or an a.d.5 9al. 5nt.), or throuh an additional day after the Terminalia, similar to the

bisse%tile day of the Julian calendar.

'acrobius, Saturnalia8.84.8/, describes an additional intercalary day that couldbe inserted, also around the Terminalia or into an intercalary month, in order toavoid havin a mar"et day fall on the ones, or on the first day of the year. Thisaccount is clearly bous. 5f the intercalary month was days, the effect of thee%tra day would be to convert it to a reular 4$day intercalary month. 5f the

intercalary month was 4 days, the effect of the e%tra day would be to convert itto a 1$day intercalary month& since 1 is a multiple of 3, this would not chane

the relationship of the mar"et day to the ones. Therefore we need only considerthe reular year of 4;; days. ?ince 9al. 5an. had a nundinal letterof A, the

nundinal letters of the ones are, in order: E, -, H, E, ., A, H, E, -, A, #, C&Thus, the need for this alleed intercalation would only be avoided if the nundinalletter for the year was %.

!. 9. 'ichels, The Calendar of the Roman Republic82;ff., notes that 'acrobiusdescribes the day as bein =in the middle= of the festival of the Terminalia $$ aone$day festival, at least in Republican times $$ which shows he was confused.The only literary passaes that appear to support this practice are @ivy 14.88.84,

which states that in !..* ;31 0 8- an intercalation was inserted on the thirdday (counted inclusively) after the Terminalia, and @ivy 1;.11.44, which states
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that in !..* ;3- 0 82- an intercalation was inserted on the day after theTerminalia, but these appear to be e%plained by the mechanism described abovefor varyin the date for insertin intercalary months. 5ndeed, the traces of5ntercalaris survivin in the asti Antiates !aioresshow that the festival ofReifuium, which normally fell on the day after the Terminalia, was alsocelebrated in 5ntercalaris. Bence in 4$day intercalary years, there could be two

celebrations of Reifuium, while in $day years there was only one. Thisappears to be the oriin of 'acrobius< account.

*ertain formal events, e.. triumphs and laws, are sometimes dated with respectto festivals in late #ebruarius (Auirinalia, #eralia, Terminalia $$ no e%ample of

@upercalia$based datin yet "nown), rather than bein antedated to 9al. 'art.Fhile the e%act festival day is used as early as the fourth century, the earliest"nown e%ample of antedatin with respect to a festival is a date a.d. 555 #eraliafrom !..*. 2;; 0 8 .*.

This custom ensures that the date in 6uestion is understood to be in #ebruariusrather than in 5ntercalaris. Bowever, that need not imply that the year was

intercalary. !..*. -1 0 ; is a case where such dates were used& the year is"nown to have been a candidate for intercalation but intercalation did not occur.

5n these paes it is assumed that such dates indicate a candidate intercalaryyear. Bowver, it may simply be that this was a customary way to date thins inlate #ebruarius, reardless of whether the year was a candidate intercalary year,and that it e%isted alonside antedatin to 'artius.

#inally, we are told by +io *assius 14.2and *ensorinus .3that *aesarinserted two e%traordinary intercalary months, totallin 2- days, betweenovember and +ecember !* -3 0 12. The individual lenths of each monthare not "nown. The total matches three reular intercalary months (2- 0

II4), so it is possible that that they were intended to compensate for

intercalary months that were omitted in *aesar


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5n the Republican calendar, the cycle was further reset to %on 9al. 5nt. 5f

the intercalation was days the se6uence Humped from .to %& this had

the effect of movin the nundinal letter for the mar"et day forwards bytwo letters after 9al. 5nt& if it was 4 days the se6uence Humped from Eto%& the nundinal letter for the mar"et day moved forwards by one. #or thisreason, each Republican year is associated in the tables with one nundinal

letter in a reular year and two in an intercalary year. The letter(s)effectively represent the phase shift between the nundinal cycle and themar"et cycle caused by the annual reset of the nundinal cycle.

5t is unclear how the bisse%tile day introduced by the Julian reform was

reflected in the nundinal cycle, since survivin early imperial fasti do notinclude the bisse%tile day. Three possibilities seem reasonable:

o >ost a.d. V5 9al. 'art. too" the same letter as prior a.d. V5 9al.

'art. 5n this case, the nundinal letter of mar"et days after the

bisse%tile would move bac"wards by one letter, and the calendardates would also move bac"wards by one day for the remainder of

the year.o >ost a.d. V5 9al. 'art. and prior a.d. V5 9al. 'art. had consecutive

letters. 5n this case, the nundinal letter of mar"et days after thebisse%tile would be unchaned, but the calendar dates would stillmove bac"wards by one day for the remainder of the year.

o >ost a.d. V5 9al. 'art. had no letter and was omitted from the

nundinal cycle. 5n effect, the mar"et cycle was interrupted for oneday. 5n this case both the nundinal letter and the calendar dates ofmar"et days after the bisse%tile would be unchaned.

The third possibility can be e%cluded between the Julian and !uustan

reforms, since if it were true the intercalation described by +io *assius13.44.1would not have had the desired effect. Bowever it is very li"ely

that ambiuity introduced by the bisse%tile day was addressed this way as

part of the !uustan reform.

!fter !..*. 2 0 8;1, the civil year was the same as the consular year. #rom!..*. ;4 0 to !..*. 2 0 8;1, the consular year bean on 5d. 'art.efore then it most li"ely bean on 9al. 'ai. in the period covered here. ?urvivinannals are oranised by the consular year. 5t is not "nown for sure whether thecivil year trac"ed the consular year or whether it continued to start on 9al. 5an.Bence it is not clear e%actly how the nundinal cycle operated at this time, e..

whether it was reset to Aon 5d. 'art. instead of 9al. 5an. Bowever, the consularreform did not chane the phase relationship between the nundinal cycle and the

calendar, so for chronoloical purposes we may assume a (possibly proleptic)reset of the nundinal letters on 9al. 5an. throuhout the Republican period.




This pae provides a brief overview of the maHor sources used to prepare theconversion table.

Calendrical
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/48*.html#33.4http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/48*.html#33.4http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_intro.htmhttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_howto.htmhttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_cal.htmhttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_cal.htmhttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_anl_frame.htmhttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/roman_civil.xlshttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/roman_civil.htmhttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/roman_civil.txthttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_src_fs.htmhttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/roman_consuls.xlshttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/roman_consuls.htmhttp://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/48*.html#33.4http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/48*.html#33.4http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_intro.htmhttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_howto.htmhttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_cal.htmhttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_cal.htmhttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_cal.htmhttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_cal.htmhttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_anl_frame.htmhttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/roman_civil.xlshttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/roman_civil.htmhttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/roman_civil.txthttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_src_fs.htmhttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/roman_consuls.xlshttp://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/roman_consuls.htm


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The most important sinle source for Roman calendrics is 'acrobius, Saturnalia.?everal chapters of this wor" discuss the evolution of the republican and Juliancalendar in reat detail. 'acrobius wrote in the fifth century !+, but he drew on alare number of earlier sources, mostly now lost, most of which he names. 'anyof these were directly contemporary with the usae he describes, and werewritten by people who, by virtue of their position and e%pertise, were spea"in

with reat authority. ot all of 'acrobius< statements are reliable. Bis descriptionof the manaement of intercalation in the republican calendar is confused, and his

description of the mismanaement of the Julian reform does not appear to becompletely correct. Bowever, 'acrobius remains central to any study of the

Roman calendar.

?everal authors provide additional information, most notably *ensorinus.!dditionally, survivin contemporary calendars $$ fasti$$ provide much additionaldetail. The most important of these are the asti !affeiani and the asti Antiates!aiores. The asti !affeiani, when first discovered in the 82th century, was analmost complete Julian calendar from the !uustan epoch. !lthouh manyframents have been lost, it can still be studied throuh reproductions made in

the 82th century. The asti Antiates !aiores, discovered in the 8/s, are theonly pre$Julian fasti yet "nown, datin from the 2s .*. !lthouh they are 6uiteframentary, enouh survives that the structure of the oriinal fasti can be

recovered, allowin us to supplement and correct 'acrobius.

The primary modern study used here is !. 9. 'ichels, The Calendar of the RomanRepublic(>rinceton, 8/;-). 5 stronly recommend this boo" to anyone interestedin calendrics. 5t is well$researched, hihly "nowledeable, full of useful detail, wellwritten, and sane. !dditional papers on particular topics have been addressed asappropriate in the analysis section.

Chronological

*alendrical data is not sufficient to recover Julian e6uivalents of Roman datesbefore the !uustan reform of 3 .*. too" full effect. This is because theoccurrence and lenths of intercalation were not finally fi%ed until that time. 5norder to recover them for the purposes of constructin conversion tables, it isnecessary to study Roman chronoloy in some depth.

The fasti consularesallows a rouh e6uivalence of Julian year and Roman yearsto be established& the source issues for these are discussed here. 5n order to

establish an e%act Julian date, however, it is necessary to establish more e%actsynchronisms between Roman and Julian dates. This problem has been studied in

depth at intervals since the 82th century, most intensively in the late 8/th

century. The main uide for these paes, considered here $$ surely not 6uiteaccurately as the =standard= view $$ is >. rind


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data from a >ompeian raffito (C$L5V 183), an Eyptian papyrus (pLond.84) and a temple dedication (C$LV555 2/-/) that confirms date alinmentand intercalary phase loc".

The second concern is the nundinal cycle, which is important forRepublican chronoloy. The main facts here are iven by the same>ompeian raffito (C$L5V 183) and an obscure notice in +io *assius. This

issue has not received much study: C. Tibiletti, RSA2G- (8/-2G-) -, anda brief but faulty discussion in rind

a new solution to this problem.

Early Julian years (1; .*.$!.+.3): The main ancient literary source is

'acrobius, with some critical additional data in +io *assius. There hasbeen eneral, thouh not 6uite universal, areement on the se6ence ofearly Julian leap years since ?calierlutarch, for -- and 32 .*. respectively, and theinscription C$L5;88, ivin a lunar synchronism in 2- .*. These items,combined with the inferred reulatory principles of the Lex Acilia, allow theprecise chronoloy for these three decades to be accurately recovered.rind


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allowin us to reconstruct the principles on which intercalation wasreulated under the Lex Acilia, and to fi% the total number of intercalationsand the distribution of :4 day intercalations in this period. This allows aconsiderable fraction of the period from 8/8 to ;3 .*. to be reconstructedprecisely, and also enhances the value of any future calendricalsynchronisms.

The reconstruction iven here for this period is entirely new.

The early second century (8/8$823 .*.): The primary source for this

period is @ivy, who ives two e%act eclipse synchronisms in 8/ and 823.*. These synchronisms are bac"ed up by contemporary inscriptions from

Creece which confirm that the rouh Julian chronoloy implied by thesesynchronisms for se6uence of events iven by @ivy, which is in turn larelyderived from lost boo"s of >olybius, is essentially correct.

@ivian and >olybian chronoloy is a hihly specialised cottae industrybased on close analysis of the narrative. 5 do not pretend to havemastered it. 5n this section, 5 have in part used rind

more closely been uided by several chronoloical papers on @ivy writtenby V. '. Farrior, notablyA(AH2 (8/38) 8, Chiron83 (8/33) 4;,

Latomus; (8//8) 3, and in *. +erou% (ed.) Studies in Latin Literatureand Roman Histor& )$(russels, 8//) 88/. Bowever, 5 do not accept all

her conclusions. >. ?. +erow, Phoenix- (8/-4) 41; and >. 'archetti*+CH8 (8/-2) 18 have useful observations althouh both papers arefundamentally flawed for different reasons.

This section presents a new analytical techni6ue which is purely calendricalin nature. 5t is based on interactions between the dates @ivy ives forRoman elections in this period and the 3$day nundinal cycle. This

techni6ue has been made possible by the adHustments to early Julianchronoloy necessitated byp%x&28.18-;, and has doubled the number of

years whose e%act chronoloy can be fi%ed.

!dditionally, the reulatory principles of the Lex Acilia, which can bededuced from the data in this section and the previous section, allows thenumber of years whose e%act chronoloy can be fi%ed to be increased stillfurther.

The late third century (4$8/ .*.): !ain, the primary source is @ivy,

with additional data from >olybius and some from +io *assius. #rom this

point on, we are entirely reliant on literary sources.

#or analysis of this decade 5 have primarily used rindrac", Der r,mischer -alender

/012304 5. Chr.6" )erlauf und S&nchronisation(?inheim, 8//2). J.riscoe,A Commentar& on Li5& +oo7s 888$)2888)$$(D%ford, 8/38). >.'archetti* AC1 (8/-4) 1-4 and >. ?. +erow, Phoenix4 (8/-2) 2; alsodiscuss this period, thouh each discussion contains serious problems inmy view.

5n this section 5 have introduced the analytical techni6ue of estimatin the

number of intercalations since the last fi%ed point, 8/ .*., rather than

estimatin the number of intercalations beteen consecutive synchronisms.This variant is less prone to propaatin errors and also allows one to fi%the error bounds on the Roman side of the synchronistic e6uations.


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The ?econd >unic Far (83$4 .*.): The primary sources are @ivy and

>olybius. The modern sources used are primarily rindrac".

>. ?. +erow, Historia4 (8/-2) 2; also discuss this period with someuseful comments, althouh the paperunic

Far (21$1 .*.), for which we have a lot of chronoloical data, and theinterval between the >unic wars, for which we have much less. Dur

primary source is >olybius, who in turn was drawin on now$lost Romanannalistic historians. !dditionally, +io *assius supplies some "ey material,

and an important datum is "nown only throuh the fourth century @ivianepitomiser Eutropius.

rindrac"

Roman Chronology

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