Posted on 10/17/2018 12:27:06 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The inscription discovered in the new excavations is nothing more than a scrawl in charcoal, likely made by a worker renovating a home.
But it is dated to 16 days before the "calends" of November in the old Roman calendar style - which is 17 October in our modern dating method.
"Since it was done in fragile and evanescent charcoal, which could not have been able to last long, it is highly probable that it can be dated to the October of AD 79," the archaeology team said in a statement.
They believe the most likely date for the eruption was, in fact, 24 October.
There has long been some speculation that the eruption happened later than August, particularly centred around evidence of autumnal fruits and heating braziers discovered in the ruins.
The charcoal inscription supports that theory, the Pompeii archaeology team said.
So did Pliny the Younger record things incorrectly?
His letter to Tacitus was written some 20 years after the eruption in 79 AD. And the original copies have not survived the intervening 1,939 years.
Instead, our modern reading of the text is based on translations and transcriptions made over the centuries. In fact, various copies of the letters have contained dates ranging anywhere from August to November - though 24 August has long been accepted.
The differences between the texts could easily have been influenced by confusion over the ancient and modern systems of counting days.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
September = '"seventh month"
October = "eighth month"
November = "ninth month"
December = "tenth month"
It's pretty clear the calendar used to start on March 1st. I'm guessing March first was originally at the spring equinox, the annual equivalent of dawn, and not near the winter solstice, the annual equivalent of midnight.
Going way, way, way out on a limb, I assert (with absolutely no solid evidence!) that Jesus was born on the 1st of March, that is to say the man who's symbol was a fish was born a Pisces!
It makes sense that the most singular event in history, the start of a new era, would coincide with the start of a new year.
In like a Lion (of Judah), out like a Lamb (of sacrifice)...
Why ruin a perfectly good story?
(What a mess! Ten months, 31 or 30 days each, 10 day weeks, one day of 'weekend', and 51 days left over at the end of the year! yuck!)
After Caesar's assassination, Mark Antony had Caesar's birth month Quintilis renamed July (Iulius) in his honor.
So July wasn't added, just renamed.
And more worserer:
In 8 bc, the plebiscite Lex Pacuvia de Mense Augusto caused Sextilis to be renamed August (Augustus) in his honor.
8 BC, well within the 'fuzz' of the uncertainty of the exact year of His birth.
With further chaos caused by the insertion and removal of intercalary months and near random leap days...
I thought the months moved back because Julius inserted his July and Augustus his August. Not true?
It was a pin-up calendar, hot Roman chicks in togas and sandals.
Quintilis ("five") was renamed July in honor of Caesar, after the criminals of the Roman Deep State assassinated him. [1st link]
in 153 BC the new year was moved from the Ides of March to the Kalends of January (January 1) so that newly elected consuls could assume office.
The Roman Calendar
The Romans borrowed parts of their earliest known calendar from the Greeks. The calendar consisted of 10 months in a year of 304 days. The Romans seem to have ignored the remaining 61 days, which fell in the middle of winter. The 10 months were named Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December. The last six names were taken from the words for five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten. Romulus, the legendary first ruler of Rome, is supposed to have introduced this calendar in the 700s B.C.E.
According to tradition, the Roman ruler Numa Pompilius added January and February to the calendar. This made the Roman year 355 days long. To make the calendar correspond approximately to the solar year, Numa also ordered the addition every other year of a month called Mercedinus. Mercedinus was inserted after February 23 or 24, and the last days of February were moved to the end of Mercedinus. In years when it was inserted, Mercedinus added 22 or 23 days to the year.
Early Roman Calendar | Calendars
And now I've got to ping another list...
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Nope, sorry. Those two months were merely renamed.
Other than the date, I wonder what else is in that scrawl. Probably trying to read the message with different spectra will yield some results — unless the guy writing it was only able to scrawl the date before the eruption killed him. :^)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3697309/posts?page=9#9
The year started on the Ides of March.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3697309/posts?page=28#28
The English year (Old Style) was similar...Lady’s Day, March 25. I think there’s something nice about starting a new year in the spring (Northern Hemisphere, of course).
:’) Seems like a good day to throw on a Billie Holiday CD.
Jesus is said to have been conceived on March 25, “Annunciation Day.” It was once celebrated as New Year’s Day:
https://www.daytranslations.com/blog/2013/01/march-25-was-the-new-year-once-upon-a-time-2-305/
The Ides of March and Annunciation day neatly bracket the vernal equinox.
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