Why September is no longer the seventh month
According to later Roman tradition, the earliest year had ten months and began in March. This calendar was attributed to the legendary king Romulus, but the details of early Roman calendar history are uncertain: the account comes from later Roman writers, not contemporary records from Rome’s foundation.
Illustration is AI-generated and conceptual, not a reconstruction of a specific historical artifact.
In the traditional explanation, January and February were added by Numa Pompilius. The names September, October, November, and December come from the Latin numerals septem (7), octo (8), novem (9), and decem (10). They retained their old ordinal names although they are now the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th months.