Well, apparently it is The Day – The Ides of March, that is. So think of today and…beware…;-)
Somehow a famous day of sinister premonitions. Although it seems to affect only those whose name is Julius Ceasar…This day was marked into fame because that was when Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44BC, but of course, mostly because of Master Will’s magic way with words : in one of the scenes of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Caesar asks a soothsayer what the future holds.
Caesar: Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music
Cry "Caesar!" Speak. Caesar is turn'd to hear.
Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March.
So since it is today’s curious date, I felt compelled to look it up, of course. And on my way discovered things I didn’t knew before…sometimes a journey to wonderland of words gives us completely new perspective of the things we always thought we knew. Like, for example, everyone knows what Roman Calendar is, but are we all aware just how damn complicated Romans made it?!
The Romans did not count the days of the month retrospectively, looking back to the first of the month (that is: 1st, 2nd day since the start of the month, 3rd day since the start of the month). They counted forward to their named days. Also, to the distress of moderns trying to work out dates in Roman calendar documents, they counted inclusively, so that 2 September is considered 4 days before 5 September, rather than 3 days before.
So, it took me some working to work out how my date of birth in roman calendar would sound like:
a.d. III Non. Ian – which means, apparently, “three days before the 5th of January” [*scratches her head*]
a bit longer, then the modern system, but what a fun to use and confuse! And of course, it was only AFTER I’ve bend my brains to the impossible stretch to work it out, I’ve found this converter, which does it for you nicely. I doubt that in modern days many would be capable of coping with this odd system though!
Somehow a famous day of sinister premonitions. Although it seems to affect only those whose name is Julius Ceasar…This day was marked into fame because that was when Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44BC, but of course, mostly because of Master Will’s magic way with words : in one of the scenes of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Caesar asks a soothsayer what the future holds.
Caesar: Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music
Cry "Caesar!" Speak. Caesar is turn'd to hear.
Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March.
So since it is today’s curious date, I felt compelled to look it up, of course. And on my way discovered things I didn’t knew before…sometimes a journey to wonderland of words gives us completely new perspective of the things we always thought we knew. Like, for example, everyone knows what Roman Calendar is, but are we all aware just how damn complicated Romans made it?!
The Romans did not count the days of the month retrospectively, looking back to the first of the month (that is: 1st, 2nd day since the start of the month, 3rd day since the start of the month). They counted forward to their named days. Also, to the distress of moderns trying to work out dates in Roman calendar documents, they counted inclusively, so that 2 September is considered 4 days before 5 September, rather than 3 days before.
So, it took me some working to work out how my date of birth in roman calendar would sound like:
a.d. III Non. Ian – which means, apparently, “three days before the 5th of January” [*scratches her head*]
a bit longer, then the modern system, but what a fun to use and confuse! And of course, it was only AFTER I’ve bend my brains to the impossible stretch to work it out, I’ve found this converter, which does it for you nicely. I doubt that in modern days many would be capable of coping with this odd system though!