August, the eighth month of the year. Beginning the year with March the Romans called August Sextilis, or the sixth month. Quintilis, or the fifth, was renamed July, in honor of Julius Caesar. The Roman senate renamed the sixth month, August, in honor of Caesar's successor, the Emperor Augustus. August had originally but thirty days; July had thirty-one; so an additional day was added to August in order that the month of Augustus might not seem inferior in any respect to the month named in honor of Julius Caesar. This is one reason why the months of the year are so unequal in length, it being impossible to give them all thirty-one days apiece. In the north temperate zone August is preeminently the month of harvest. It is a winter month in Tasmania.