The Roman Week
The first thing to know about the Roman week is there wasn’t one.
During Insubrecus’ times the Romans recognized nundinae, “market days,” which were like a modern one-day weekend during which certain social classes could rest from work. The nundinae were originally market days when farmers brought goods into a settlement; think of modern weekend flea markets. When urban settlements established permanent markets, the nundinae lost their meaning as “market days.”
The nundinae were separated by a seven-day period called nundinum forming a recurring cycle. The days between the nunindae, were called internundina and displayed on the fasti, the official calendar, in a publicly accessible location, designated from A to H.
To help in identifying a specific internundinum day, other than by its letter designation and, even more importantly, to identify the day’s “nature,” whether auspicious or inauspicious, the author has introduced a naming convention based on a later Roman convention when the seven-day week began to replace the nundinal cycle.
Dies Saturni and Dies Veneris were generally considered inauspicious. Since Saturn reputedly devoured his own children, was remote and cold, and involved himself in sinister plots, actions and decisions made on his day were not likely to prosper. Venus was capricious; she betrayed her husband Vulcan with Mars. So, any promise offered on her day was likely to be frustrated or withdrawn. The exception to Venus’ infidelity was Caesar, whose Julian line was supposedly descended from her.
The days of the Sun, Mars, Mercury and Jove were generally auspicious.
The day of the Sun became increasing auspicious as the cult of Sol Invictus spread across the imperium. In an attempt to create a separate identity from the Jewish religion, Christians selected this day as their “sabbath” because converts from per-Christian cults would readily accept its auspicious nature.
The promise of the day of the Moon waned and waxed.
DIES LUNAE DIES LUNAE
NOLITE CONFIDERE DIEI IPSI