Interestingly, the modern Gregorian calendar with the names of the months is a merit of Ancient Rome. It was there that the year was divided into 12 months, each of which received its own name.
In a year, the planet Earth makes one revolution around the Sun. There are 365 days and 6 hours in a year. For convenience, the year is divided into 12 months, of which 3 are summer, 3 winter, 3 spring and 3 autumn. And every month it bears its own name. All this information is easy to find in any textbook for the youngest schoolchildren. But not everywhere is it mentioned why the months are called exactly as they are written in the calendars, and not otherwise.
In fact, in some countries, the names of the months differ from those familiar to the whole world of January, February, March, and so on. Such countries include, for example, Ukraine. But most of the world lives according to a calendar in which the names of the months are of Latin origin, which they owe to Ancient Rome. It was the Romans who divided the year into months, which were originally only ten.
On March 1, the rites of the expulsion of winter - "old Mars" were performed. And it was in honor of the warlike god that the first month of the Roman calendar was named. April comes from apricus - "warm". May bears the name of Maya (Mayesta) - the goddess of fertility. June is dedicated to Juno, the consort of Jupiter, revered by the Romans as the goddess of motherhood and marriage.
The first four months were considered the most important of the year, since they were directly related to the harvest, land work, family. The rest of the names derive their names from Latin numerals. So, for example, sepiimus - in Latin "seventh", which was September in the 10-month Roman calendar. October comes from octavus - "eighth", novem - "ninth", November. Etc.
Quintile and Sextilius - the fifth and sixth months of the Roman calendar, later changed their names to July (in honor of Gaius Julius Caesar) and August (in honor of Emperor Augustus).
Later, the Romans expanded their calendar to 12 months. The new 12-month calendar appeared thanks to the second king of Rome - Numa Pompilius. It was his reforms that made it possible to subsequently introduce the Julian calendar. The additional two months were called January and February. January was dedicated to Janus - the god of the beginning. After all, it was from January that the year began to begin. February also comes from the Latin februarius - "cleansing", because in February in Rome there were cleansing sacrifices.
With the fall of the Roman Empire, Byzantium became one of the largest states in the world. It was with her submission that the Roman names of the months appeared and took root in Russia.
