August

August is the 8th month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days.

This month was originally named Sextilis in Latin, because it was the sixth month in the ancient Roman calendar, which started in March about 735 BC under Romulus. It became the eighth month either when January and February were added to the beginning of the year by King Numa Pompilius about 700 BC or when those two months were moved from the end to the beginning of the year by the decemvirs about 450 BC (Roman writers disagree). It was renamed in honor of Augustus in 8 BC because several of the most significant events in his rise to power, culminating in the fall of Alexandria, which fell in this month. Lore claims August originally had 29 days in the Roman Republican calendar. Augustus took two days from February and gave it to August when Sextilis was renamed in his honor. See Month lengths how this commonly believed lore was proven wrong.

August's flower is the gladiolus or poppy, and its birthstone is the peridot.

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  Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry
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  Assumption of the Virgin Mary by Pieter Paul Rubens