Quintilis

In the ancient <a href="/facts/Roman_calendar/RbyBpk9K">Roman calendar</a>, Quintilis or Quinctilis was the month following <a href="/facts/Junius_(month)/KEI7fFNB">Junius</a> (June) and preceding <a href="/facts/Sextilis/Emp0nH16">Sextilis</a> (August). Quintilis is <a href="/facts/Latin/pM3Kge85">Latin</a> for "fifth": it was the fifth month (quintilis mensis) in the earliest calendar attributed to <a href="/facts/Romulus/hkfGLmHv">Romulus</a>, which began with <a href="/facts/Martius_(month)/7AMAYBfk">Martius</a> ("<a href="/facts/Mars_(god)/WVcruI6z">Mars'</a> month," March) and had 10 months. After the calendar reform that produced a 12-month year, Quintilis became the seventh month, but retained its name. In 45 BC, <a href="/facts/Julius_Caesar/ptR603Gv">Julius Caesar</a> instituted a new calendar (the <a href="/facts/Julian_calendar/EQBtA1ML">Julian calendar</a>) that corrected astronomical discrepancies in the old. After his death in 44 BC, the month of Quintilis, his birth month, was renamed Julius in his honor, hence July.
Quintilis was under the guardianship (<a href="/facts/Tutelary_deity/0lSpfdoP">tutela</a>) of the Romans' supreme deity <a href="/facts/Jupiter_(mythology)/JPetM2m9">Jupiter</a>, with sacrifices made particularly to <a href="/facts/Neptune_(mythology)/wc03adCP">Neptune</a> and <a href="/facts/Apollo/eBJV1wsJ">Apollo</a>. Agricultural <a href="/facts/Roman_festivals/xfrT3fx9">festivals</a> directed at the harvest gradually lost their importance, and the month became dominated in <a href="/facts/Roman_Empire/l4E1aUuV">urban Imperial Rome</a> by the <a href="/facts/Ludi_Apollinares/cfchCfu7">Ludi Apollinares</a>, games (<a href="/facts/Ludi/rxBBUeKl">ludi</a>) in honor of Apollo. Ten days of games were celebrated in honor of Julius Caesar at the end of the month.

Quintilis open-in-new

Quintilis