Candy Johnson, age 14, of Quincy, I11., for her question:

WHAT WAS THE JULIAN CALENDAR?

Before the time of Julius Caesar, the Roman religious officials had distorted the calendar so that it differed from the solar year by three months. The Julian calendar came along with 12 months alternating from 30 to 31 days, except February. To readjust the calendar, three months were added to the year 46 B.C., making it 15 months long.

The first Julian year then began on January 1, 45 B.C. Caesar changed the Roman month Quintilis to Julius (now July) in honor of himself and made it a 31 day month. Later Augustus made his month, August, 31 days long also. The Julian year was 365 and a quarter days long. By the year 1580, the calendar was 10 days off of the solar year. Two years later, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII corrected the calendar with the newly developed Gregorian calendar.