The Birthday of Augustus and the Julian Calendar
Year: 1912
Type: article
Abstract: Suetonius says that Augustus was born on the ninth day before the Kalends of October (a. d. VIIII. Kal. Oct.), in the year when Cicero and Antonius were consuls (691 [63 B.C.]), a little before sunrise,1 and also that he was born under Capricorn.2 Mr. H. W. Garrod, in his recent edition of Manilius,3 maintains that the date which Suetonius gives belonged to the pre- Julian calendar, and corresponded with December 20 of the Julian. Remarking that, ‘ according to our present reckonings,’ the sun enters Capricorn on December 22, he adds that ‘the astronomers of Cicero's time placed the beginnings of the sign some 7 degrees in advance of our reckonings. If, therefore,’ he concludes, ‘ Augustus was born on Sept. 22 paulo ante solis exortum, Capricorn was his natal sign.’
Source: The Classical Quarterly
Author: T. Rice Holmes
Language: English
Topic: Classical Antiquity Studies
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2069252102