August is the eighth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar – which we use -, and was originally named Sextillus because it was the sixth month in the ancient Roman calendar.
The Eighth Month
After Julius Caesar’s grandnephew, Augustus, defeated Marc Antony and Cleopatra and became emperor of Rome, the Roman Senate decided that he too should have a month named after him (for July was named in honour of Julius Caesar). The month Sextillus (sex = six in Latin) was chosen for Augustus in 8 BCE, and the senate justified its actions thus:
Because the Emperor Augustus Caesar, in the month of Sextillis . . . thrice entered the city in triumph . . . and in the same month brought Egypt under the authority of the Roman people, and in the same month put an end to the civil wars; it is for these reasons that the said month has been most fortunate to this empire, that it is hereby decreed by the senate that the said month be called Augustus.
Not only did the Senate name a month after Augustus, it also decided that since the month named in honour of Julius Caesar, July, had 31 days; Augustus’ month should also equal it.
In the Julian calendar, all the months of the year alternated evenly between 30 and 31 days (with the exception of February); but in the case of August, its length was permanently fixed to 31 days to prevent anyone from claiming that Emperor Augustus was saddled with an inferior month.
To accommodate this change, two other adjustments were necessary:
- The extra day needed to inflate the importance of August was taken from February, which originally had 29 days (30 in a leap year), and was now reduced to 28 days (29 in a leap year).
- Since the months evenly alternated between 30 and 31 days, adding the extra day to August meant that July, August, and September would all have 31 days. So to avoid three long months in a row, the lengths of the last four months were switched around, giving us 30 days in September, April, June, and November.
Among Roman rulers, only Julius and Augustus permanently had months named after them. The birth flower for August is the gladiolus or poppy which represents beauty, strength, love, marriage and family, while its birthstone is the peridot or onyx.
See Also: JULY, the Month That Was Named In Honour of a Roman General
