- According to Greek-born historian and philosopher Plutarch, Romulus, the first king of Rome, who was “a warrior and lover of battle”, was believed to be the son of Mars and preferred March. Whereas, another king named Numa, who was “a lover of peace and whose ambition was to turn the city towards husbandry and to divert it from war, gave precedence to January”. The name of the month stems from Janus, the two-faced Roman god of beginnings or gates.
- Later, during the time of Julius Caesar, the lunar-based Roman calendar went out of sync with the seasons. Hence, the leader along with an Alexandrian astronomer used the Egyptian solar calendar as the foundation and created the Julian calendar around 46 B.C. The New Year, as per this calendar, started on January 1.
- The Julian calendar was quite lengthy and it was reformed by Pope Gregory XII leading to the creation of the Gregorian calendar. In this system too, the New Year officially began on January 1.
