Attic calendar

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The Attic calendar was in ancient Athens common Lunisolar Calendar . It is the most accurately recorded calendar of the poleis of ancient Greece.

Attic year

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Numerous texts show that Alexandrian records regarding the actual phases of the moon were not in accordance with the civil Attic calendar. The names of the months of the Attic calendar mentioned in the sources therefore probably refer to an additional Attic lunar calendar . The lunar dates recorded in connection with the Callippian cycle also deviate from the normal bourgeois calendar; for example, dated in the year 283 BC The 1st Anthesterion, equated with the 22nd and 23rd Achet III in the Egyptian calendar , from the evening of the 22nd to the sunset of January 23rd jul. , although the new light in Athens only after sunset on January 23rd jul. was visible.

Normal year

The year started with the first new light after the summer solstice . Each of the twelve months of a normal year consisted of arithmetically based on the phases of the moon , 29 or 30 days, whereby the days of a month were formally counted in three decades of ten days. The respective day of the month began after sunset , whereby the first day of the month always fell on the first evening of new light. The new moon was thus on the last or penultimate day of the month.

In months with 29 days, a day was skipped in the third decade. The days within a decade were counted. The last day was always named the thirtieth - even in months with 29 days. In the third decade the days were sometimes counted backwards.

Leap year

Since a lunar year with twelve months only has a length of slightly more than 354 days on average and the length of the year should correspond to the solar year , the leap month second Poseideon was occasionally inserted after the month Poseideon (hence the name kat archonta in contrast to kata theon , the calculation according to the "natural calendar"). For this reason it is assumed that the Attic beginning of the year was originally in winter and that the second Poseideon was added at the end of the year.

There are also years in which the leap month was inserted elsewhere. Individual leap days have also been added. The uneven switching could serve to correct deviations in the calendar that had previously occurred.

Month names

  1. Hekatombaion ( Ἑκατομβαιών , July-August)
  2. Metageitnion ( Μεταγειτνιών , August – September)
  3. Boëdromion ( Βοηδρομιών , September – October)
  4. Pyanopsion ( Πυανοψιών , October – November)
  5. Maimacterion ( Μαιμακτηριών , November – December)
  6. Poseideon ( Ποσειδεών , December – January), also as a leap month
  7. Gamelion ( Γαμηλιών , January – February)
  8. Anthesterion ( Ἀνθεστηριών , February – March)
  9. Elaphebolion ( Ἐλαφηβολιών , March-April)
  10. Munichion ( Μουνυχιών , April – May)
  11. Thargelion ( Θαργηλιών , May-June)
  12. Skirophorion ( Σκιροφοριών , June-July)

Year counting

The Attic calendar was mainly used to calculate the date within the year. It did not envisage numbering the years as we know it today. The year was indicated by adding the name of the incumbent Archon eponymos . A year was therefore "in the year when X was Archon". This made it possible to date a few generations into the past, but not into the future. Since the list of the Athenian archons has largely been handed down, it is now possible to date texts precisely. The Parish Chronicle says that she was in Athens as Diognetus Archon - that is, in 264/3 BC. Was written.

Since the calendar was only used locally in Athens, it was not possible to write down times and dates "internationally", i.e. throughout Greece, in an understandable and comprehensible manner. In addition, around the year 310 BC BC by Timaeus of Tauromenion introduced the Olympiad as an all-Greek calendar. This four-year period was used in Greek history from then on. The first Olympiad begins in 776 BC. Chr.

Festivals

There were numerous festivals in the Attic year. The most important were Panathenaia , Aphrodisia , the Eleusinian Mysteries , Kallynteria and Olympia .

Octaeteris

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Simple octaheter

As early as around 800 BC Chr. The Oktaeteris found (from ancient Greek ὀκτώ = eight ) use. This is an eight-year cycle in which a leap month of 30 days is inserted in the third, fifth and eighth year. This cycle of 99 months or 2922 days corresponds to a month length of 29.51515 days and a year length of 365.25 days.

This period therefore came very close to the actual length of the year. However, the lunar cycle got out of step by about one and a half days, which is why leap days had to be inserted at regular intervals, which increased the deviation from the length of the year. That cycle is also called Ennaeteris (from ancient Greek ἐννέα = nine ) because the year was renewed in the ninth year.

Double octahedron

A sixteen-year period developed from the Oktaeteris, which is also sometimes called "Hekkaidekaeteris" in the specialist literature . It corresponds to the doubling of the eight-year period and contains three more leap days. This results in 198 months with a total length of 5847 days, an average month length of 29.5303 days and an average annual length of 365.4375 days.

The latter is excessive with regard to the Julian year length of 365.25 days, which is why the so-called epacts are shifted by three days after sixteen years. In order to match the average Julian year length, a leap month [3x10 = 30] was omitted after every ten cycles, i.e. 160 years. The exact day-to-day agreement with the average Julian year length was thus achieved. 

Summary

Surname Years Months Days Mean
year length 		Mean
month length
Octaeteris 8th 99 2922 365.25 29.51515
16 year cycle 16 198 5847 365.4375 29.5303
160 year cycle 160 1979 58440 365.25 29.5301
Values ​​in 2000 - - - 365.24219052 29.53059

See also

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literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Alexander Jones: Calendrica I: New Callippic Dates . P. 143.
  2. ↑ Friedrich Karl Ginzel : Handbook of mathematical and technical chronology , Vol. II: Time calculation of the Jews, the primitive peoples, the Romans and Greeks . P. 384.