The Greatest Stories From History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy 1

The Humans Who Stole Time

The early Romans used the moon as a guide to measure the months. That led to a twelve-month year that came up short, with only 355 days. To keep the four seasons at the right time, the habit of occasionally adding extra weeks and days began. But corrupt public officials used this as an advantage. They began to change the calendar to lengthen their own terms in office and shorten the terms of detested rivals. So they were in fact stealing time to selfishly expand their own political purposes.

By 46 B.C., the Roman year was more than two whole months off the actual date. That is when the leader of the Romans – Julius Caesar – took charge and invented a new solar calendar. This resulted in a year that is 365 days long. He also changed New Year’s Day from the start of March to January 1, and added one extra day every four years. Rivals complained that Caesar was not satisfied in ruling the earth, but had to control the heavens as well.

To bring the calendar back to normal, Caesar plunked two extra months to the year 46 B.C between November and December and three weeks between February and March. The consequence was a year that no one had seen before – 445 days long! This year in Rome was forever known as the “year of confusion,” but Caesar himself was quick to point out that it was actually the year the confusion came to an end.

Source: The Greatest Stories Never Told, by Rick Beyer

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