The Birthday of Augustus and the Julian Calendar

Abstract

Suetonius says that Augustus was born on the ninth day before the Kalends of October ( a. d . VIIII. Kal. Oct .), in the year when Cicero and Antonius were consuls (691 [63 B.C.]), a little before sunrise, 1 and also that he was born under Capricorn. 2 Mr. H. W. Garrod, in his recent edition of Manilius, 3 maintains that the date which Suetonius gives belonged to the pre- Julian calendar, and corresponded with December 20 of the Julian. Remarking that, ‘ according to our present reckonings,’ the sun enters Capricorn on December 22, he adds that ‘the astronomers of Cicero's time placed the beginnings of the sign some 7 degrees in advance of our reckonings. If, therefore,’ he concludes, ‘ Augustus was born on Sept. 22 paulo ante solis exortum , Capricorn was his natal sign.’