The ancient Roman calendar was used until 46 B.C., when Caesar introduced the Julian ("Old Style") calendar. Eventually, the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar, sponsored by Pope Gregory XIII and now used throughout most of the world.

The Roman calendar, a lunar calendar, designated the day of the new moon as the kalends, the day of the full moon as the ides, and the ninth day before the ides as the nones.

Thus:
The kalends were the 1^st day of the month.
The ides were the 15^th day of March, May, July or October or the 13^th day of the other months.
The nones were the 7^th day of March, May, July or October or the 5^th day of the other months.

If the date was one of these three, it was expressed in the ablative, with the adjective of the month in agreement. Thus, January 1^st was Kalendis Ianuariis, or Kal. Ian.

The day immediately before any of these three was expressed by pridie with the accusative. Thus, February 4^th was pridie Nonas Februarias, or prid. Non. Feb.

All other days were expressed in the accusative as so many days before the next named day, with both the date and the named day counted in determining the interval. For example, the 12^th is the 4^th day before the 15^th. The words ante diem were placed before the date. Thus, March 12^th was ante diem quartum Idus Martias, or a.d. IV Id. Mar.

To guide you:

	April	May
1	Kal. Apr.	Kal. Mai.
2	a.d. IV Non. Apr.	a.d. VI Non. Mai.
3	a.d. III Non. Apr.	a.d. V Non. Mai.
4	prid. Non. Apr.	a.d. IV Non. Mai.
5	Non. Apr.	a.d. III Non. Mai.
6	a.d. VIII Id. Apr.	prid. Non. Mai.
7	a.d. VII Id. Apr.	Non. Mai.
8	a.d. VI Id. Apr.	a.d. VIII Id. Mai.
9	a.d. V Id. Apr.	a.d. VII Id. Mai.
10	a.d. IV Id. Apr.	a.d. VI Id. Mai.
11	a.d. III Id. Apr.	a.d. V Id. Mai.
12	prid. Id. Apr.	a.d. IV Id. Mai.
13	Id. Apr.	a.d. III Id. Mai.
14	a.d. XVIII Kal. Mai.	prid Id. Mai.
15	a.d. XVII Kal. Mai.	Id. Mai.
16	a.d. XVI Kal. Mai.	a.d. XVII Kal. Iun.
17	a.d. XV Kal. Mai.	a.d. XVI Kal. Iun.
20	a.d. XII Kal. Mai.	a.d. XIII Kal. Iun.
25	a.d. VII Kal. Mai.	a.d. VIII Kal. Iun.
30	prid. Kal. Mai.	a.d. III Kal. Iun.
31		prid. Kal. Iun.

Lesson I		The Alphabet
Lesson II		Pronunciation
Lesson III		Accent
Lesson IV		Declensions of Nouns
Lesson V		Conjugations of Verbs
Lesson VI		Irregular Verbs
Lesson VII		Vocabulary
Lesson VIII		Roman Numerals
Lesson IX		Dates

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Please teach Latin to your children.
You'll never regret it, even if they forget it.

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All content Copyright  © 1999 Jessie Gietl