Roman calendar ancient Greek calendars; and the Gregorian calendar, which refined the Julian system to bring it into still closer alignment with the solar year and is the basis of the current international standard. Roman dates were counted inclusively forward to the next of three principal days: the first of the month (the kalends), a day less than the middle of the month (the ides), and eight days—nine, counting inclusively—before this (the nones). The original calendar consisted of 10 months beginning in spring with March; winter was left as an unassigned span of days. These months ran for 38 nundinal cycles, each
Gregorian calendar to globalization in the 20th century, the calendar has also been adopted by most non-"Western" countries for civil purposes. The calendar era carries the alternative secular name of "Common Era". The Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar with 12 months of 28–31 days each. A regular Gregorian year consists of 365 days, but in certain years known as leap years, a leap day is added to February. Gregorian years are identified by consecutive year numbers. A calendar date is fully specified by the year (numbered according to a calendar era, in this case "Anno Domini" or Common Era), the month