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Julius Caesar Introduces a Calendar and Plans a Great Library

46 BCE
Gaius Iulius Caesar Vatican

Head of Julius Caesar Roma Musei Vaticani (Museo Pio Clementino).

In 46 BCE Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar. The Julian Calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months, and a leap day is added every four years, so the average Julian year is 365.25 days. This calendar remained in use into the 20th century in some countries and is still used by many national Orthodox churches. "However with this scheme too many leap days are added with respect to the astronomical seasons, which on average occur earlier in the calendar by about 11 minutes per year, causing it to gain a day about every 128 years. It is said that Caesar was aware of the discrepancy, but felt it was of little importance."

Caesar planned to establish a public library to equal or surpass the one at Alexandria. He appointed Marcus Terentius Varro, a noted scholar and book collector, to gather copies of the best-known literature for a Roman public library. However these plans were, of course, shelved when Caesar was assassinated in 44 BCE.

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