I appreciated Ann Butler’s explanation of how we got leap year (“One giant leap for mankind,” Herald, Feb. 29). It is especially remarkable that Julius Caesar was able to change the calendar in AD 45, since he died in 44 BC. But what the heck, people have been messing with the calendar for ages. Changing the name for BC (Before Christ) to BCE (Before Current Era) and AD (Anno Domini in Latin, meaning ‘in the year of the Lord’) to CE (Current Era) is a modern example. Nevermind that Jesus was born in 4 BC, I mean 4 BCE.
My Spanish teacher says Caesar added a couple of months (July, after, you guessed it, Julius, and August, after Augustus) to clear things up in the Roman calendar. And, believe me, what she says in her classroom is the truth. Wikipedia’s alternative version says Caesar had just conquered Egypt and at the victory party he asked some dude named Acoreus to fix up the calendar, but Acoreus just renamed a couple of existing months. After Caesar announced those changes, Acoreus redid his math and realized that 1,627 years later (45 BC + AD 1582 = 1627) some pope named Gregory would likely catch his mistake and throw him into one of those Roman dungeons. Acoreus decided to get the heck out of Dodge, I mean Alexandria; I think he sailed with Columbus. Meanwhile, Caesar sailed the Nile with Cleopatra. In fact, the Roman senators got wind of the mistake early on and were really ticked off, so to speak. That’s why they assassinated Caesar back in 44 BC (or BCE, if you like). I bet they were just mad they couldn’t sail with Cleopatra themselves.
Ross A. Worley
Durango
