page_title: Ianuarius
hierarchical_section_title: Ianuarius
caption_attribution_description: Fasti Antiates Maiores — Miniature black and white image of a 1 m high by 2.5 m wide fragmentary fresco of a pre-Julian Roman calendar (black and red letters on a white background) found in the ruins of Nero's villa at Antium (Anzio). The lengths of January to December are 29, 28, 31, 29, 31, 29, 31, 29, 29, 31, 29, 29 days each in years without the leap month Intercalaris. Now in the Palazzo Massimo. See Fasti Antiates. Adapted for legibility from a class handout.
context_page_description: Ianuarius, fully Mensis Ianuarius, was the first month of the ancient Roman calendar, from which the Julian and Gregorian month of January derived. It was followed by Februarius. In the calendars of the Roman Republic, Ianuarius had 29 days. Two days were added when the calendar was reformed under Julius Caesar in 45 BCE.
  In the oldest Roman calendar, which the Romans believed to have been instituted by their legendary founder Romulus, the first month was Martius, and the calendar year had only ten months. Ianuarius and Februarius were supposed to have been added by Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, originally at the end of the year. It is unclear when the Romans reset the course of the year so that January and February came first. Ianuarius is conventionally thought to have taken its name from Janus, the dual-faced god of beginnings, openings, passages, gates and doorways, but according to ancient Roman farmers' almanacs Juno was the tutelary deity of the month.
context_section_description: Ianuarius, fully Mensis Ianuarius ("month of Janus"), was the first month of the ancient Roman calendar, from which the Julian and Gregorian month of January derived. It was followed by Februarius ("February"). In the calendars of the Roman Republic, Ianuarius had 29 days. Two days were added when the calendar was reformed under Julius Caesar in 45 BCE.
  In the oldest Roman calendar, which the Romans believed to have been instituted by their legendary founder Romulus, the first month was Martius ("month of Mars", March), and the calendar year had only ten months. Ianuarius and Februarius were supposed to have been added by Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, originally at the end of the year. It is unclear when the Romans reset the course of the year so that January and February came first. Ianuarius is conventionally thought to have taken its name from Janus, the dual-faced god of beginnings, openings, passages, gates and doorways, but according to ancient Roman farmers' almanacs Juno was the tutelary deity of the month.
caption: Drawing of the fragmentary Fasti Antiates, a pre-Julian calendar showing Ianuarius (abbreviated IAN) at the top of the first column
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