Why Is August Called August?
Every summer, millions of people pronounce the name of Rome’s first emperor without realizing it.
August is not simply the name of a month. It is a surviving piece of Roman political history.
Before it became August, the month was known to the Romans as Sextilis — literally the sixth month.
That apparently strange name opens a much larger story: Rome’s earliest calendar, the rise of Augustus, the conquest of Egypt and even the origins of modern Italy’s Ferragosto holiday.
Rome Once Began the Year in March
Roman tradition attributed the earliest calendar to Romulus, the legendary founder of the city.
According to later Roman accounts, this early system contained ten named months and began with March.
That tradition explains something we still hear every day in modern English.
The ten-month calendar of Romulus is described by ancient authors writing centuries after Rome’s traditional foundation. It is best understood as part of Roman historical tradition rather than as a calendar whose original form survives directly.
Before August, There Was Sextilis
In the old sequence beginning with March, what we now call August occupied sixth place.
Its name reflected exactly that: Sextilis, from the Latin word for six.
When the Roman calendar later developed into a twelve-month system, Sextilis moved to eighth position — but its old numerical name remained.
When Sextilis Became Augustus
In 8 BC, Sextilis was officially renamed Augustus in honour of Rome’s first emperor.
This was not simply because Augustus wanted a month beside Julius Caesar’s July.
The surviving ancient explanation associates Sextilis with several decisive events in Augustus’ career: his first consulship, important triumphs, the incorporation of Egypt into Roman power and the conclusion of the civil wars.
The month therefore became a permanent monument to his political success.
An Emperor Who Built His Memory Into the City
Photography by Claudio Colis
Renaming a month fits a much larger pattern.
Augustus reshaped not only Roman politics but the physical and symbolic landscape of the city.
His Mausoleum, the Ara Pacis, the monuments of the Campus Martius and the great Augustan building programme all participated in the creation of a new imperial language.
Explore the monument in Mausoleum of Augustus .
Why Do July and August Both Carry Roman Names?
August was not the first Roman month to lose its old numerical name.
Quintilis, originally the fifth month, had already been renamed Julius — July — in honour of Julius Caesar.
With Julius and Augustus placed side by side, two of the most transformative figures in Roman history became embedded permanently in the calendar.
Did Augustus Add a Day to His Month?
A popular story claims that August originally had only thirty days and that Augustus added another because he refused to have a shorter month than Julius Caesar.
It is a good story. It is not the Roman calendrical evidence.
Sextilis already had thirty-one days after the Julian calendar reform, before the month was renamed for Augustus.
The familiar explanation that August gained its thirty-first day merely to flatter Augustus is a later myth, not the best reconstruction of the Roman calendar.
The Emperor Who Put Politics Into the Calendar
Augustus’ relationship with time went far beyond the name of one month.
In the Campus Martius, an Egyptian obelisk was incorporated into the monumental solar installation usually known as the Horologium Augusti.
Its shadow connected the movement of the Sun with monumental architecture, imperial imagery and the ordering of public space.
Discover the full story in Horologium Augusti .
Augustus Also Gave His Name to Ferragosto
The connection between Augustus and modern August did not end with the name of the month.
In 18 BC, Augustus instituted the Feriae Augusti — a period associated with rest and celebration during the agricultural calendar.
The phrase survived linguistically.
Feriae Augusti eventually became the Italian word Ferragosto.
Is Modern Ferragosto the Same Roman Holiday?
Not exactly.
Modern Ferragosto is celebrated throughout Italy on 15 August and coincides with the Catholic feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
Its name and distant roots preserve the Roman Feriae Augusti, but the modern celebration reflects centuries of later Christian and Italian cultural history as well.
This is typical of Rome: an ancient institution does not simply disappear. It changes meaning, acquires new traditions and survives in a different form.
How the Mausoleum of Augustus Once Appeared
Photography by Claudio Colis
The surviving monument reveals only part of the impression the Mausoleum once created.
Built on an enormous scale in the Campus Martius, the tomb announced the emergence of a dynasty even before Augustus became Rome’s first emperor.
Its architecture transformed personal memory into public and political memory — much as the emperor’s name would eventually become permanently embedded in the calendar.
From the Palatine to the Name of a Month
The emperor whose name now appears on calendars across the world once lived on the Palatine Hill.
His residence was far more restrained than the enormous imperial palaces built by later emperors.
Visiting the House of Augustus creates an unusual contrast: an intimate archaeological residence connected with a man whose political legacy eventually became embedded in the vocabulary of billions of people.
Explore the House of Augustus .
Ancient Rome Is Still in Your Calendar
The Roman Empire disappeared centuries ago.
Yet its calendar vocabulary survived.
Every time an English speaker says August, they pronounce the name of Rome’s first emperor.
Every time they say September, October, November or December, they preserve the numerical sequence of an older Roman calendar that began its year in March.
History does not always survive as ruins. Sometimes it survives in words we use without thinking.
Every August, the Roman Empire returns to our calendar.
Discover the monuments, ideas and people behind the words we still use two thousand years later.
Design Your Rome