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Question: Why are July and August in the summer!?
July is named after Julius Caesar!. August is named after Augustus Caesar!. I get this, and I'm okay with that!. But I don't understand something else!.

Why are they in the middle of summer! It throws everything off! If you look at the months after it, they no longer make sense!. September is supposed to be the seventh month, as the prefix Sept is seven!. Oct should be eight, Nov nine, and Dec, ten!. But for some reason, someone thought it to be a good idea to put these two months in the middle of summer, and it throws everything off!

Why is this!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Basically, it's because we're on a different calendar system!. The Roman calendar had ten months: Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Iunius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December!. Under this system, Martius (March) was the first month of the year!.

This ten month calendar contained about 304 days, and the winter was composed of 61 non-month days!. Reason: the Romans considered winter to be a monthless period of time!. (More or less!. It's more complicated than what I'm writing here, but anyhow!.)

The calendar was reformed in 713 BC, and Ianuarius (January) and Februarius (February) were added to the *end* of the calendar, accounting for those heretofore monthless days!. The calendar was again reformed again in 450 BC, wherein January was made the first month instead of March!.

During yet another reformation in 46 BC, Quintilis was renamed Iulius (July)!. And Sextilis was renamed Augustus (August) by the man himself in 8 BC!. Prior to those renamings, the months were in a noticeable eponymous numerical order!. (And that's when the days within months got shifted about as well!.)

Thus, it isn't that July and August were upstart additions!. It's that January and February were the newbies who ended up at the head of the class!. :)Www@QuestionHome@Com

July and August weren't added for the occasion, their names were Quintilis (Quinque - 5) and Sextilis (Sèx - 6), and were renamed because the first was the month of birth of Julius Caesar (born the 13th of the month), the choose of the second is explained in Suetonius 31: "and in making this arrangement he called the month Sextilis by his own surname, rather than his birth-month September, because in the former he had won his first consulship and his most brilliant victories", referring probably to the conquest of Alexandria!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Everyone is giving you these complicated and convoluted answers!. You ask a simple question, and everyone ignores it!.

The reason these months were put in the Summer is because they were to honor two "gods!." Therefore, they were put into the growing season!. It wouldn't do to honor a god with a month without growth!. These months represent the height of the power of the sun!. That is why they were chosen!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The summer season has nothing to do with the names of the months, it has to do with the position of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun!. Summer solstice begins around June 21, when the Sun begins its apparent move from 23 degrees North toward 23 degrees south!.

For us in the northern hemisphere, the Sun is "moving" back up!. At the Spring and Fall equinox is when the Sun is at the equator, hence giving equal day and night hours!.

So in reality, if the months were called, say!.!.!.Larry, Curly, Moe and mickey mouse and so on, it would not change the position of Earth in its orbit around the Sun or the seasons!.

Hope that made sense!.

Try these links for more info and illustrations:

http://daphne!.palomar!.edu/jthorngren/tut!.!.!.

http://www!.classzone!.com/books/earth_sci!.!.!.

http://aa!.usno!.navy!.mil/faq/docs/seasons!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Julian_cale!.!.!.

The numbering is off because the Romans originally started the year in March, so October was at one time the 8th month, for example!.

With July, there's probably another part of the story, which is the strange coincidence that "June" in Latin (Junius) has the same name as the chief assassin of Caesar, Marcus Junius Brutus!. As far as I know, the Romans didn't cite this as a reason for naming the next month after Caesar, but I kind of doubt that it's totally accidental!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

They were either born then, or won important battles then!. Winter was not a campaigning season in those days!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Because they wanted to!.
It was completly random!.

Who the hell cares!?
Why does this effect you in your daily life!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

For Australia
Summer: December to February
Autumn: March to May
Winter: June to August
Spring: September to NovemberWww@QuestionHome@Com