Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit! - So let it be written

Did the Romans make more appointments before the nones and ides than before the Kalends? I'm just guessing, since Wikipedia hints at more days before Kalends than the other two.

I added you as a friend. Hope I will instantly see your entries in email.

Sean Kelly

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Do you mean political appointments? Or what?

The kalends, nones, and ides were important days in the Roman calendar. Those were the three days in each month when the Senate was required to meet, at least ceremonially. They also had religious significance.

As for there being more days before the kalends, I think you mean that there's a longer countdown to the kalends. The Romans generally counted backward to the next significant date, and there were typically 15 days between the ides (mid-month) and the kalends (first of the month). But since the nones came between the kalends and the ides, the days between the ides and the nones were counted as "x number of days before the nones" and only after the nones did you see "y number of days before the ides."

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Yes, I meant any day of the month that was reserved for any purpose, such as farmer's market is on weekends now. Several years ago the leading pizza restaurant delivered in a box that explained what American farmers did on each day of the week except Tuesday, and concluding that's why we vote on that day. Those were the kinds of things I had in mind, like you said, like church on (Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.)

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In addition to the three regular monthly days of importance, there were also "market days" every 8 days. So in some respects, you can think of the Romans having a eight day week. Additionally, the kalends, nones, and ides were originally lunar phases, with the kalends corresponding to a new moon (where the Pontifex Maximus or his designated representative would call out when they saw the thin crescent of the new moon), first quarter for the nones, and full moon for the ides. The strict correspondence between lunar phases and days for public business went by the wayside during the middle republic (~200 - 150 BCE) when the Romans began trying to bring their calendar into agreement with the seasons. This was finally accomplished by Julius Caesar, who aligned the Roman year with the Egyptian year of 365.25 days, placing a leap year every fourth year.

But getting back to the market day schedule, for ordinary Roman farmers and shopkeepers, market day was kind of like Sunday is for us, in that people took a break from their daily labors and they all went into town to the market to trade goods and services.

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