October

October (Lat. octo, 'eight') was the eighth month of the so-called year of Romulus, but became the tenth when Numa changed the commencement of the year to the first of January, though it retained its original name, notwithstanding the attempts made by the Roman senate, and the emperors Commodus and Domitian, who substituted for a time the terms Faustinus, Invictus, Domitianus. Many Roman and Greek festivals fell to be celebrated in this month, the most remarkable of which was the sacrifice at Rome of the October horse to the god Mars.