Ancient greek calendar

At the beginning of the first millennium BC. e. In ancient Greece, lunisolar calendars began to be created, and each polis (city-state) had its own calendar system. Despite their similarities, each calendar had its own peculiarity and was somewhat different from all the others. The year was divided into 12 months, each of which began with no feeling. To connect with the seasons, an additional, 13th month was periodically inserted.

In different cities of Greece, the months bore their own names, but the Athenian names were most widespread, namely:

The approximate correspondence to our months is indicated in brackets.

The year most often began with the month of the summer solstice, which at that time fell on the hecatombeon (July).

In leap years, a second Poseideon was inserted as the embolismic month; sometimes the second skiroforion was an additional month.

At different times, the embolismic years alternated in different ways. So, in the VI century. BC e. in some places in Greece, the octaetheride was used, in which 3 years out of 8 were leap years - the 2nd, 5th and 8th years of the cycle.

The most popular in Greece was the calendar developed by Meton. In 432 BC. BC, during the festivities dedicated to the 86th Olympiad, a parapegma was installed in the center of Athens - a stone slab with holes into which pins were inserted with the designation of the numbers of the current month. Near the holes there was a text carved in stone indicating the upcoming astronomical phenomena, for example, the rising and setting of some stars, the position of the Sun in the constellations, and other phenomena.

Further improvement of the Greek calendar is associated with the names of Calippus and Hipparchus, which we talked about in the section on the mathematical theory of lunar and lunisolar calendars.

Chronology. In ancient Greece, until the middle of the first millennium BC. e. the events were dated by the names of officials. So, in Athens, years were counted according to the names of the eponyms - the heads of the executive power (archons) responsible for the correctness of the calendar.

In the IV century. BC e. the general Hellenic chronology spread among the Olympiads. The history of this chronology is as follows. Sports games were widely developed in ancient Greece. Since 776 BC e. in the city of Olympia, once every 4 years, games took place that took the character of large national celebrations. In the place where they were held, they were named Olympic. The Olympic Games were timed to coincide with the beginning of the year, but since this time was not associated with a specific date due to the abundance of calendar systems, before the games were held, messengers had to be sent to all cities to notify the population about the upcoming celebrations.

The Olympic Games entered the life of the ancient Greeks so much that they began to count the time according to the Olympiads and the beginning of their era was conditionally attributed to July 1, 776 BC. e. It is believed that the first Olympic Games took place on this day.

The olympiad chronology was first used in 264 BC. e. the ancient Greek historian Timaeus, and this count continued for about seven centuries. Although in 394 AD. e. Emperor Theodosius I canceled the Olympic Games, and the reckoning of time for the Olympiads was applied somewhat later.

In the chronology of the Olympiads, the years were designated by the ordinal number of the Olympiad and the number of the year in the four years. Thus, the victory of the Greeks over the Persians in the naval battle in the Strait of Salamis dates back to the numbers “75. 1 ”, which means“ the first year of the 75th Olympiad ”.

The translation of these dates to our time is made according to the formula

А \u003d 776 - [(Оl - 1) × 4 + (t - 1)],

where A is the required date, O1 is the number of the Olympiad, (t is the number of the year in the Olympiad.

The Battle of Salamis took place in the first year of the 75th Olympiad. Let's translate this date into our chronology.

Substituting the values \u200b\u200bO1 \u003d 75 and I \u003d 1 into the formula, we get

A \u003d 776 - [(75 - 1) × 4 + (1 - 1) 1 \u003d 480.

Indeed, the Battle of Salamis took place in September 480 BC. e.

If the expression in square brackets in this formula were equal to 776 or more, then 775 would have to be subtracted from it. In this case, we would get the year of our era.

11.01.2016

The ancient Greek calendar is a system of calculus that was used in Ancient Greece and neighboring states in the first millennium BC. This calendar is not currently in use. Any familiar wall calendars, desk calendars, loose-leaf and pocket calendars represent the Gregorian system of number, adopted several centuries later than the Hellenic one.

What is the ancient Greek calendar

The solar-lunar calendar used by the ancient Greeks was created taking into account astronomical cycles. The year consisted of 12 months oriented to the lunar cycle. Each month contained 29 or 30 days, the year was 354 days. About once every three years, another month was added.

The calendar of the ancient Greeks was corrected several times. A cycle of 8 years was introduced, in which an additional month was inserted at 3, 5 and 8 years. The 8-year cycle was first introduced in Athens in 594 BC, the idea belonged to the politician and poet Solon. About 50 years later, the astronomer Meton proposed using a more accurate 19-year cycle, which had 7 insert months. The new style was introduced for a long time; later they decided to abandon its use.

Features of use

The disadvantage of the ancient Greek system was that each city had its own calendar and month names. They usually coincided with the names of the holidays that were celebrated that month.

In theory, each new moon was supposed to give rise to a new month, but in practice this did not happen every time, which caused confusion and forced the use of terms such as "lunar new moon" and "civil". Thus, the astronomical calendar was at odds with the public one.

Confusion arose at the beginning of the year as well. According to the calendar of Athens, the first new moon after the summer solstice was considered the beginning of the year; according to the calendar of the city of Thebes (Boeotian calendar), the year began after the winter solstice. The Boeotian calendar was the closest to the modern Gregorian system.

The common Hellenic chronology was based on the traditional Greek sports - the Olympic Games. Competitions were held every 4 years in the city of Olympia and took on the character of folk celebrations. The opening of the games was timed to coincide with the beginning of the year. The beginning of the ancient Greek chronology dates back to the year of the first Olympic Games.

The euphonic names of the Hellenic months - Poseidon, Hecatombeon, Elaphebolion, etc. - are now almost forgotten. People use the Gregorian calendar, which is more accurate in terms of astronomy and easier to use. This system of calculating time is firmly entrenched in the public consciousness. Each of us uses calendars - this is an affordable and useful device.

The printing industry has achieved unprecedented development in recent decades. Today, printing calendars has become a fast and relatively inexpensive activity.

Ancient greek calendar

At the beginning of the first millennium BC. e. In ancient Greece, lunisolar calendars began to be created, and each polis (city-state) had its own calendar system. Despite their similarities, each calendar had its own peculiarity and was somewhat different from all the others. The year was divided into 12 months, each of which began with no feeling. To connect with the seasons, an additional, 13th month was periodically inserted.

In different cities of Greece, the months bore their own names, but the Athenian names were most widespread, namely:

The approximate correspondence to our months is indicated in brackets.

The year most often began with the month of the summer solstice, which at that time fell on the hecatombeon (July).

In leap years, a second Poseideon was inserted as the embolismic month; sometimes the second skiroforion was an additional month.

At different times, the embolismic years alternated in different ways. So, in the VI century. BC e. in some places in Greece, the octaetheride was used, in which 3 years out of 8 were leap years - the 2nd, 5th and 8th years of the cycle.

The most popular in Greece was the calendar developed by Meton. In 432 BC. BC, during the festivities dedicated to the 86th Olympiad, a parapegma was installed in the center of Athens - a stone slab with holes into which pins were inserted with the designation of the numbers of the current month. Next to the holes was a text carved in stone indicating impending astronomical phenomena, such as the rising and setting of certain stars, the position of the Sun in the constellations, and other phenomena.

Further improvement of the Greek calendar is associated with the names of Calippus and Hipparchus, which we talked about in the section on the mathematical theory of lunar and lunisolar calendars.

Chronology ... In ancient Greece, until the middle of the first millennium BC. e. the events were dated by the names of officials. So, in Athens, years were counted according to the names of the eponyms - the heads of the executive power (archons) responsible for the correctness of the calendar.

In the IV century. BC e. the general Hellenic chronology spread among the Olympiads. The history of this chronology is as follows. Sports games were widely developed in ancient Greece. Since 776 BC e. in the city of Olympia, once every 4 years, games took place that took the character of large national celebrations. In the place where they were held, they were named Olympic. The Olympic Games were timed to coincide with the beginning of the year, but since this time was not associated with a specific date due to the abundance of calendar systems, before the games were held, messengers had to be sent to all cities to notify the population about the upcoming celebrations.

The Olympic Games entered the life of the ancient Greeks so much that they began to count the time according to the Olympiads and the beginning of their era was conditionally attributed to July 1, 776 BC. e. It is believed that the first Olympic Games took place on this day.

The olympiad chronology was first used in 264 BC. e. the ancient Greek historian Timaeus, and this count continued for about seven centuries. Although in 394 AD. e. Emperor Theodosius I canceled the Olympic Games, and the reckoning of time for the Olympiads was applied somewhat later.

In the chronology of the Olympiads, the years were designated by the ordinal number of the Olympiad and the number of the year in the four years. Thus, the victory of the Greeks over the Persians in the naval battle in the Strait of Salamis dates back to the numbers “75. 1 ”, which means“ the first year of the 75th Olympiad ”.

The translation of these dates to our time is made according to the formula

А \u003d 776 - [(Оl - 1) × 4 + (t - 1)],

where A is the required date, O1 is the number of the Olympiad, (t is the number of the year in the Olympiad.

The Battle of Salamis took place in the first year of the 75th Olympiad. Let's translate this date into our chronology.

Substituting the values \u200b\u200bO1 \u003d 75 and I \u003d 1 into the formula, we get

A \u003d 776 - [(75 - 1) × 4 + (1 - 1) 1 \u003d 480.

Indeed, the Battle of Salamis took place in September 480 BC. e.

If the expression in square brackets in this formula were equal to 776 or more, then 775 would have to be subtracted from it. In this case, we would get the year of our era.

test

Ancient Greece calendar

Initially, the various Greek centers had their own time systems, which led to a lot of confusion. This was due to the self-adjustment of the calendar in each policy. There were differences in the definition of the beginning of the calendar year.

The Athenian calendar is known, which consisted of twelve lunar months, the beginning of each of which approximately coincided with neomeny. The length of the months varied within 29-30 days, and the calendar year consisted of 354 days.

Since the true lunar year includes 354.36 days, the phases of the moon did not exactly correspond to the calendar dates to which they were assigned. Therefore, the Greeks distinguished the calendar "new moon", that is, the first day of the month and the actual new moon.

The names of the months in Greece were in most cases associated with certain holidays and only indirectly related to the seasons.

The beginning of the Athenian year fell on the month of Hecatombeon (July-August), associated with the summer solstice. To align the calendar year with the solar year, the 13th (embolismic) month, the 2nd Poseideon, was inserted in special years, lasting 29-30 days.

In 432 BC. The Athenian astronomer Meton developed a new 19-year cycle with seven embolismic years: 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th. This order, called the "Meton cycle", provided a fairly high accuracy. The discrepancy per day between the solar and lunar years accumulated over 312 solar years.

Later, the cycles of Calippus and Hipparchus were developed, further refining the lunisolar calendar. However, in practice, their amendments were hardly applied.

Until the II century. BC e. The 13th month was added as the need arose, and sometimes for political and other reasons.

The Greeks did not know the seven-day week and counted the days within a month for decades.

The events in Athens were dated by the names of the Archon officials. From the IV century. BC e. The chronology of the Olympiads, held once every four years, has become generally accepted.

The beginning of the era was considered the first Olympiad, held in the summer of 776 BC.

In the Hellenistic era, various eras were used in Greece: the era of Alexander, the era of the Seleucids, etc.

The official calendar, due to deviations from the solar year, was inconvenient for agriculture. Therefore, the Greeks often used a kind of agricultural calendar based on the apparent movements of the stars, on the change of seasons. He gave a detailed description of such a calendar in the form of advice to the farmer back in the 8th century. BC e. Hellenic poet Hesiod.

Such folk calendar was of great practical importance and persisted along with the official time count for many centuries of Greek history.

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Nilsson, whose work "Primitive Time-Reckoning" is the most authoritative in matters of ancient history calendar, states that the Greek calendar was not Greek in origin and that it was not introduced until the 7th century or at most in the 8th century BC. e. under the supervision of the Delphic priesthood.
The first part of this conclusion is undoubtedly correct in the sense that the Greek calendar did not belong to the local traditions of the Greek-speaking immigrants in the Aegean Sea region. They adopted it from those cultures with which they came in contact earlier. But when? If it was a product of a religious belief, as Nilsson suggests, then it is highly likely that, like much else in Greek religion, it was inherited from the Minoan era. There are positive reasons for considering it more ancient and less dependent on Delphi than Nilsson admits.
If this calendar was compiled relatively recently in Delphi, one would expect that we will find some uniformity in the beginning of the calendar year and in the names of the months. But this is not the case. Only in Athens and Samos does the year begin, as in Delphi, with the summer solstice. The Delphic names of the five months occur sporadically elsewhere, but the rest are unique. Moreover, a comparison of Attic-Ionian and Doric names suggests that their history followed the history of the dialects themselves.
The Attic names are in close agreement with those of the Delian, which indicates an Attic-Ionian prototype, older than the Ionian migration. We naturally turn to Boeotia. There we find the month of laziness mentioned by Hesiod; it is found in Delos and throughout Ionia. In Athens, the festival of Leneas was celebrated in the same month, and, no doubt, like other cults of Dionysus, this cult came to Athens from Boeotia. Likewise, the month of Poseidon, which can only be found in the Ionian calendars, resembles the panionic cult of Poseidon Heliconius, which, as the name indicates, originated from Boeotia.

Athens Hecatombium * Metageitnium Boedromium Pianopsius Maimacteria Poseideon Hamelius Anfesterius Elaphebolius Munychius Targelium Scyrophorium
Business with
Hecatombium
Metageitnium
Buphonius
Apatury
Aresius
Poseideon
Lenya *
Hieros
Galaxius
Artemisy
Targelium
Panemos
Rhodes. Panamos Karney Daliy
Thesmophorium *
Sminty
Diostius
Teudeysiy
Pedagogy
Badromy
Artamity
Agrianiy
Hyakinthium
Delphi Apelley * Bukatii i
Boatoy; - Gerey
Daidophorium
Poitropium
Amalia
Bisiy
Theoxenius
Endispoitropium
Heraclius
Iley

* First month of a calendar year.
Doric names are different, but within themselves they are surprisingly uniform. Carnei and hyacinthia, related to ancient Doric festivals, are almost everywhere. The same is true with regard to pedagogy, badromy and teudeisia. The first two, although placed in different places, are the same names as the Attic-Ionian metageitnium and boedromium, and the badromium or boedromium correspond in meaning to the Delphic boatoy. But, since they occupy different places in the calendar, it is difficult to assume that they were borrowed from Delphi so late - in the 8th or 7th century. And finally, Doric agrianium, which is found in Aegina, Sparta, Rhodes, Kos, Kalymnos and Byzantium, is not found anywhere else except Thebes and three other cities of Boeotia (Chaeronea, Libadea, Oropos). Likewise, the Feast of Agriania is known only in Boeotia and Argos (see Vol. I, pp. 192-193) and it is clear that it came to Argos from Boeotia. In Argos he contacted the Proytids, who were repeating the Miniads from Orchomenes, and with Melampus, who descended from Minius (see Vol. I, p. 222). Where and when did this month name appear in the Doric calendar? Not in Argos, because that would not explain its widespread distribution in other Dorian communities. Most likely, the Dorians borrowed it from Boeotia before they entered the Peloponnese.
If the Attic-Ionian and Doric calendars go back to a common source in Boeotia, their origin should be attributed to the Minoan period. This poses the following question for us. What is the relationship between the Boeotian and Delphic calendars? We do not know what to answer to this, because materials on Boeotia have survived only in fragments. If the calendars date back to the Minoan age, then there is no reason to ascribe priority to Delphi over Thebes and Orchomenos. All we can say with certainty is that both the Attic-Ionian and Doric calendars derive from a prehistoric original in central Greece.
If we accept this hypothesis, it will immediately provide us with the connection with the East that we were looking for. Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, was a Phoenician associated through Europe with Minos of Knossos. It should be remembered that Europa was abducted from Phenicia by Zeus in the form of a bull and that one of the religious texts from Ugarit tells how the bull-god El united with the mother goddess Asherat (see Vol. I, pp. 376-377).
If the Greek calendar was of Minoan origin, how, one might ask, is it that only one name of the month is mentioned in Hesiod's Works and Days, a poem dedicated to the annual cycle of agricultural work, and none of the months is mentioned at all in Homer? As for Hesiod, the answer “is this: because of the Greek insertion system, which will be discussed in the next paragraph, the calendar names of the months were useless for his purpose, which was to prescribe the exact time of the year when the cultivator should start different This could only be done by referring to the solar year, as it is revealed in the annual motion of the stars.As for Homer, it would be a mistake to assume, as Nilsson did, that the Greeks of Homeric times did not have the names of the months because these names are not mentioned in Homeric poems.Since the goal of the epic poets was to present an idealized picture of the heroic past, they avoided all mention of those institutions that had only local or short-term significance, and on this basis they excluded references to the calendar, since the names of the months were different in different cities. *
In Works and Days we find some support for the hypothesis that the Greek calendars, as we know them, come from prehistoric Boeotia; but, before moving on to this question, we must disassemble the Greek system of calendar insertion.