Greek calendar

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As Greek calendar are calendar systems designated by the various city-states of ancient Greece used.

Although the Poleis each used their own calendar, they are all lunisolar calendars (→ Meton cycle ), which encompassed twelve lunar months per year. Months were switched on more or less regularly for the necessary adjustment to the solar year . What all calendars had in common was that the civil year and the festival year coincided. At least up to Hellenism , the months were named after a religious festival that took place in them, which was usually named after the epithet of the deity revered. However, a corresponding festival cannot be documented for every month, which means that it can occasionally be named after the epithet of a deity without a festival taking place in that month.

The naming of the months differed, but some month names were identical within the different Greek dialects or regional cult communities. This appears most pronounced among the Ionians , of whom most calendar dates have been passed down. Their most famous calendar is the Attic calendar , which is also used as a reference calendar for determining the monthly sequences of other Ionic calendars. Border towns and other cities that maintained a lively cultural exchange with other regions occasionally adopted month names from other calendars; colonies usually used the calendar of the mother city or used a modification of it.

The Ionic and Western Greek calendars are distinguished as calendar groups that include a large number of individual calendars . In addition, various calendar systems are distinguished from one another, some of which are only little known. A relationship can be seen in the calendars of Thessaly , Malis , Boeotia and Lesbos . There is also a connection between the Arcadian and Cypriot calendars . During the Hellenistic period, the Macedonian calendar became more widespread in Asia Minor and partly supplanted the Ionic calendar. The twelve gods calendar , which was only introduced in the post-classical period, must be distinguished from the traditional Greek calendars .

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