Aug 13 min read

Did You Know...?

I love history, especially the more ancient one and sometimes I just read up on random topics to do with that. One of my exploits was going down the rabbit hole on the month of August because I knew it was named after a Roman emperor and I wanted to find out a little more.

There are some cool historical things you may not know about the month of August (last full summer month in the Northern and last full winter month in the Southern hemisphere. So I thought, I'd share them here with you here. (If you're not a random nerd like me, you can just scroll further down for more free books, of course.)

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In the original ten-month Roman calendar, the month went by the name of Sextilis, meaning “the sixth month” in Latin. It wasn’t until around 700BC that August was rudely shoved back in the order of months when January and February were added to the beginning of the year by King Numa Pompilius.

August has also changed its number of days multiple times. In the ten-month Roman calendar, the months all had either 30 or 31 days, totaling 304 days in the year. Not only did Pompilius add January and February to the calendar, but he also reduced the number of days in August down to 29. It wasn’t until Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar that it was left with 31 days, and it’s stayed the same ever since.

In 8 BC, the month was named Augustus, in honor of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus Caesar. Augustus (born Gaius Octavius) was the adopted son of Julius Caesar and ruled from 27 BCE until his death in 14 CE. He was born on the 23rd of September, 63 BCE, but he was named Augustus in honor of the month of August.

Back in the days of the Anglo-Saxons, the month was called Weod Monath. Its translation of “weed month” is quite literal – in this month weeds and other plants grow the fastest in the northern hemisphere. (Incidentally, the German word for month is Monat, so it's pretty obvious that it stems from the same root word.)

On the 1st of August, Lammas day is celebrated as the first day of harvest in the UK. Traditionally it was the day in which harvested wheat would be baked into bread and given to the church. The bread was used as the Communion bread for a special mass to celebrate the beginning of the harvest. This tradition ended when Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church.

On the 6th of August, 1762, the first-ever sandwich was created, at least with such a name. It was named after the Earl of Sandwich when he requested a dish involving meat between two pieces of bread. As the story goes, he requested it as he was in the middle of a gambling game and didn’t want to interrupt it.

The Perseid Meteor Shower is one of the most popular meteor showers. It usually peaks around August 11th to 13th and can be visible from most parts of the world and draws many stargazers and astronomy enthusiasts.

August was a fateful month for the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. On the 24th of August 79AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted near the city. The mountain spewed out great clouds of ash, smoke, and pumice, which rained down on Pompeii’s citizens. Unfortunately for Pompeii, that wasn’t the end of it either – next came molten lava, which buried the remaining residents 7 feet (2.1 m) deep!

In many cultures, August is known as the month of the Honey Moon. This is because it is the time of year when honey is harvested from beehives. And if you are the superstitious type, plan your honeymoon to fall on this month as well.

An old Irish legend tells that a witch could turn herself into a cat eight times, but on the ninth time (August 17), she couldn’t regain her human form. This bit of folklore also gives us the saying, “A cat has nine lives.” Because August is a yowly time for cats, this may have prompted the speculation about witches on the prowl in the first place.

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There was a lot more, but I think that will do for the scope of a newsletter. ;)