Dates and events

Image details: viii K Iulias, the 8th Kalends of July, i.e. June 24th Image ownership: © CSAD

The modern calendar is still fundamentally the Roman calendar, in the form in which it was reformed by Julius Caesar. He established the 365 day year as the basis for the calendar at Rome, with an added 'intercalary'day (an extra day to compensate for the discrepancy with the solar year) every four years. His 'Julian' calendar was reformed by Pope Gregory in 1582 (the name for the modern calendar is therefore the Gregorian calendar ). Pope Gregory removed a small number of 'intercalary' days (three every 400 years, hence 1600 and 2000 are leap years, but not 1700, 1800 and 1900) to adjust for the very slight deviation from the solar year in Caesar's system. Other calendrical systems also operated in the Roman empire. Most evidence of these alternative systems survives in the eastern Roman empire, but a fragmentary calendar on bronze was found at Coligny in Gaul. This is based on the lunar, not the solar year.

Years

The year was generally known by the names of the consuls who took up office on the first of January. References to the new consuls occur in only a very small number of Vindolanda tablets. For example, an account (186) that records the sale or distribution of miscellaneous items over several days spans the transition to the New Year, and records the new consuls (abbreviated to cos), Calpurnius Piso and Vettius Bolanus. We know from other sources that these are the consuls for the year AD 111. Only in exceptional circumstances can tablets otherwise be dated to a precise year.

Months

The year was divided into twelve months, the lengths of which were the same as they are now. To express individual days, the months were divided into units with reference to the Kalends (Kalendae), the first day of the month, (abbreviated to K or Kal), Nones (Nonae), the fifth or seventh day of every month (abbreviated to Non) and the Ides (Idus) (thirteenth or fifteenth day). The variation in the Nones and Ides is a relic from the pre-'Julian calendar', the later dates falling in the four months that had originally contained 31 days.

The dates of individual days were derived from counting back, inclusively, from the Kalends, Nones or Ides. Several accounts from Vindolanda bear entries for a named sequence of days. 190 for example lists barley, beer and wine consumed over seven days from the 13th Kalends of July to the 7th Kalends of July, in other words from 19th to 25th June. The day before the Kalends, Nones or Ides, is not expressed as the 'second Kalends etc', but as 'the second day before the Kalends', or pridie (abbreviated to pr) Kalendas, Nonas or Idus. In Latin the days before the Kalends, Nones or Ides are expressed in the accusative plural, viii K(alendas) Martias. The days of the Kalends, Nones or Ides themselves are expressed in the ablative. Individual days could also be identified by the feasts which fell on them. There are occasional references to feast days in the Vindolanda tablets, including the Saturnalia (301), and New Year's Day, the Dies Kalendarum (265).

The following table records the days on which the Kalends, Nones and Ides fall in each month. A (not very memorable) rhyme for remembering the days on which they fall runs as follows.

'In March July October May
the Nones fall on the 7th day…'

Events - Vindolanda, Britain and Rome - first and second centuries AD

The table presents a timeline relating imperial reigns, events in Britain and phases of construction at Vindolanda. The busts of the emperors are all on silver denarii. When they describe dates, archaeologists may refer to the century, for example second half of the first century AD or the reign of an individual emperor or an imperial dynasty, for example the Julio-Claudian (from Augustus to Nero) or Flavian (Vespasian to Domitian) houses.

Emperor Britain Vindolanda AD 41 - 54 Claudius AD 43 Claudius invades Britain AD 43-60 Campaign and conquest in south-west England, Wales and Midlands AD 60 Boudicca rebels AD 61 Pacification of revolt in southern England   AD 54- 68 Nero Obverse of denarius of Nero, with head of emperor (coin) Image ownership: Portable Antiquities Scheme   AD 68 - 70 Galba, Otho, Vitellius AD 69 - 71 Campaigns vs Brigantes northern England AD 77/78 Agricola campaigns in Wales and northern Britain AD 78/79 - 83/84 Agricola campaigns in Scotland, defeats Caledonians at Mons Graupius AD 84 - Agricola recalled AD 84 - c. AD 100 Retreat from Scotland and establishment of 'Stanegate' frontier   AD 70 - 79 Vespasian Obverse of denarius of Vespasian, with head of emperor (coin) Image ownership: Portable Antiquities Scheme   AD 79-81 Titus   AD 81-96 Domitian Obverse of denarius of Domitian, with head of emperor (coin) Image ownership: Portable Antiquities Scheme (Early fort?) c. AD 85 -92 Period 1 c. AD 92-97 Period 2 c. AD 97-105 Period 3 c. AD 105-120 Period 4 c. AD 120 - mid second century Period 5 AD 96-98 Nerva AD 98-117 Trajan Obverse of denarius of Trajan, with bust of emperor (coin) Image ownership: Portable Antiquities Scheme Wars in Britain? AD 117- 138 Hadrian Obverse of denarius of Hadrian, with bust of emperor (coin) Image ownership: Portable Antiquities Scheme AD 122 Construction of Hadrian's Wall begins AD 138-161 Antoninius Pius AD 142 Antonine Wall constructed c. Mid second century Period 6

For further information see the History of Vindolanda section of the exhibition.