The Time Leap Years Caused a Major Headache for Caesar
Much like the Daylight Savings headache, Leap Years are something that people continue to question until this day. And it turns out, they weren’t created with the world in mind, only Ancient Roman Culture and Holidays. “TIL Leap year was introduced in 46 BC, but around 10 BC, it was found that the priests in charge of computing the calendar had been adding leap years every three years instead of the four decreed by Caesar. As a result of this error, no more leap years were added until 8 AD.” – Obscure Fact by milchrizza
Julius Caesar was behind the origin of leap year in 45 BCE. The early Romans had a 355-day calendar and to keep festivals occurring around the same season each year, a 22- or 23-day month was created every second year. Julius Caesar decided to simplify things and added days to different months of the year to create the 365-day calendar; the actual calculations were made by Caesar’s astronomer, Sosigenes. Every fourth year following the 28th day of Februarius (February 29) one day was to be added, making every fourth year a leap year.