Nisannu

Nisannu (also Nissan, Nisan, nesag ) was in the Babylonian calendar the Akkadian name of the first month and the first Akitifest of the firstlings of the year . The term Nisannu is first used in the 14th century BC. In Ugarit . Possibly it was derived from the month name ^iti ni-ni-sag, which was used in Mari's calendar . In the Sumerian language , Nisannu could therefore have been used in the spelling waraḫ isin / ša nisanni .

Beginning of Nisannu

Leap months by proclamation of the king

In agriculture, it also marked the start month of the first half of the year, before the second Akitu festival of the year with the celebrations of the sowing began in Tašritu according to the entries on the cuneiform tablets of Astrolabe B. With the month of Nisannu from the first millennium BC The additional term “beginning of a new year” ( SAG MU.AN.NA ), also used in connection with the month of Tašritu .

Since, according to the Babylonian sources, the month of Nisannu was either the first new light or the first full moon of spring , the month of Nisannu usually began on March 7th at the earliest and April 19 at the latest . With the leap month Ululu II, this systematic resulted in either the first new light or the first full moon of autumn falling in the month of Tašritu .

Scheduled switching cycle from 424 BC Chr.

In 424 BC Chr. Became of Artaxerxes I introduced a scheduled switching cycle. In years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14 and 19, the month Addaru II was inserted ; in the 17th year, on the other hand, as the 13th month of Ululu II . The successors of Artaxerxes I also followed the circuit diagram.

In contrast to the earlier circuits, the time of the new year was now basically determined by the first new light , which fell at the earliest on the day of spring (March 21) in the first month of Nisannu.

Due to the planned circuits of the calendar New Year was only a fluctuation band of 28 days (21 for the time  in March to 18  April ); the average was 14 days (April 4th). After 19 years the next switching cycle began, which again showed the same dates.

Switching cycle in the Babylonian calendar
Cycle year	Dating	Leap month	Beginning of the leap month	Beginning of the next nisannu	Cycle year
19th	425 to 424 BC Chr.	Addaru II	March 19, 424 BC Chr.	April 18, 424 BC Chr.	1
1	424 to 423 BC Chr.	without leap month
April 7, 423 BC Chr.	2
2	423 to 422 BC Chr.	without leap month
March 27, 422 BC Chr.	3
3	422 to 421 BC Chr.	Addaru II	March 16, 421 BC Chr.	April 15, 421 BC Chr.	4th
4th	421 to 420 BC Chr.	without leap month
April 4, 420 BC Chr.	5
5	420 to 419 BC Chr.	without leap month
March 24, 419 BC Chr.	6th
6th	419 to 418 BC Chr.	Addaru II	March 12, 418 BC Chr.	April 11, 418 BC Chr.	7th
7th	418 to 417 BC Chr.	without leap month
March 30, 417 BC Chr.	8th
8th	417 to 416 BC Chr.	Addaru II	March 18, 416 BC Chr.	April 17, 416 BC Chr.	9
9	416 to 415 BC Chr.	without leap month
April 6, 415 BC Chr.	10
10	415 to 414 BC Chr.	without leap month
March 26, 414 BC Chr.	11
11	414 to 413 BC Chr.	Addaru II	March 15, 413 BC Chr.	April 14, 413 BC Chr.	12
12	413 to 412 BC Chr.	without leap month
April 3, 412 BC Chr.	13
13	412 to 411 BC Chr.	without leap month
March 23, 411 BC Chr.	14th
14th	411 to 410 BC Chr.	Addaru II	March 13, 410 BC Chr.	April 12, 410 BC Chr.	15th
15th	410 to 409 BC Chr.	without leap month
April 1, 409 BC Chr.	16
16	409 to 408 BC Chr.	without leap month
March 21, 408 BC Chr.	17th
17th	408 to 407 BC Chr.	Ululu II	September 13, 408 BC Chr.	April 9, 407 BC Chr.	18th
18th	407 to 406 BC Chr.	without leap month
March 29, 406 BC Chr.	19th
19th	406 to 405 BC Chr.	Addaru II	March 19, 405 BC Chr.	April 18, 405 BC Chr.	1
19th	387 to 386 BC Chr.	Addaru II	March 19, 386 BC Chr.	April 18, 386 BC Chr.	1
8th	398 to 397 BC Chr.	Addaru II	March 18, 397 BC Chr.	April 17, 397 BC Chr.	9
8th	379 to 378 BC Chr.	Addaru II	March 18, 378 BC Chr.	April 17, 397 BC Chr.	9
19th	368 to 367 BC Chr.	Addaru II	March 17, 367 BC Chr.	April 16, 367 BC Chr.	1
7th	361 to 360 BC Chr.	without leap month
March 30, 360 BC Chr.	8th
14th	354 to 353 BC Chr.	Addaru II	March 13, 353 BC Chr.	April 11, 353 BC Chr.	15th

See also

• Nisan (month)

literature

• Lis Brack-Bernsen: On the emergence of the Babylonian moon theory - observation and theoretical calculation of moon phases . Steiner, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-515-07089-3 .
• Hermann Hunger : Calendar . In: Dietz-Otto Edzard u. a .: Real Lexicon of Assyriology and Near Eastern Archeology . Vol. 5. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1980, ISBN 3-1100-7192-4 , pp. 297-303.
• Jean Meeus : Astronomical Algorithms - Applications for Ephemeris Tool 4,5 . 2nd Edition. Barth, Leipzig 2000, ISBN 3-335-00400-0 .
• Otto Neugebauer : A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy . Springer, Berlin 1975 (reprint 2006, ISBN 3-540-06995-X ).
• Otto Neugebauer: The exact sciences in antiquity . Brown University Press, New-York 1957 (Reprint 2004, Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-22332-9 ).
• Richard Anthony Parker , Waldo H. Dubberstein: Babylonian Chronology 626 BC - AD 75 . Brown University Press, Rhode Island 1956

Web links

Wiktionary: Nisannu  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Dating in the Gregorian calendar taking into account the cross-day system of the Babylonian calendar.
2. ↑ Hermann Hunger: Calendar . P. 298.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao} Date specification in the Gregorian calendar : in the Julian calendar system 5 days are to be added to the Gregorian date. The date is based on NASA information ( Memento from November 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) taking into account the T-Delta. For Babylonia, the time zone surcharge of 3 hours must be taken into account for Universal Time (UT); according to Jean Meeus : Astronomical Algorithms - Applications for Ephemeris Tool 4,5 - , Barth, Leipzig 2000 for: Ephemeris Tool 4,5 according to Jean Meeus, conversion program, 2001 .