Ancient calendars

The ancient Egyptian calendar

The ancient Egyptians were the first civilization to create a calendar which organised the year into 365 days. This calendar is believed to date back to the 3 ͬ ͩ millennium BC. The year consisted of 12 months of 30 days each one plus five holy days. The months were divided into three weeks of ten days each.

The Egyptian year was divided into three seasons of four months. These seasons were:

1. The season of Akhet (Inundation)
2. The season of Peret (Growth-Winter)
3. The season of Shemu (Harvest-Summer)

 The Egytian calendar was known to be imperfect as it was almost a quarter of a day shorter than the true solar year.

Image representing the sky and the constellations

The ancient Greek calendar

The Greek calendar includes a variety of dating systems used by the several city-states in the time of classical Greece. There was no uniform calendar imposed upon all of the Hellenic territory. Each polis had its own method to measure the passage of time differing in the names of their months and in the times of beginning of the year. Each of these calendars attempted to combine in a single system the lunar year of 12 cycles of phases of the moon, totalling about 354 days, and the solar year of about 365 days. Generally, three extra months were intercalated in every period of eight solar years.

The year began after the June solstice.

In the Athenian (also known as Attic) calendar the months began with the new moon and lasted 29 or 30 days. The Athenian months were called:

1. Hekatombaion (June-July)
2. Metageitnion (July-August)
3. Boidromion (August-September)
4. Pyanopsion (September-October)
5. Maimakterion (October-November)
6. Poseidon (November-December)
7. Gamelion (December-January)
8. Anthesterion (January-February)
9. Elaphebolion (February-March)
10. Mounikhion (March-April)
11. Thargelion (April-May)
12. Skirophorion (May-June)

The most important poleis

Sanctuary at Delphi

The Roman calendar

The Roman calendar changed several times between the founding of the city of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire.

The first calendar was said to be invented by Romulus, the first king of Rome, around the year 753 BCE. It was a lunar calendar.

The calendar started the year in March (Martius) and consisted of 10 months, with 6 months of 30 days and 4 months of 31 days. The winter season was not assigned to any month, so the calendar year only lasted 304 days with 61 days unaccounted for in the winter.

The names of the months were:

1. Martius (in honour of Mars, god of war) - 31 Days
2. Aprilis  (from aperio, to open, in relation to the Earth receiving the seed) - 30 Days
3. Maius (from Maia, godess of growth) - 31 Days
4. Iunius (from iunior, younger) - 30 Days
5. Quintilis (from quinque, five, after its position on the calendar) - 31 Days
6. Sextilis (from sex, six after its position on the calendar)- 30 Days
7. September (from septem, seven) - 30 Days
8. October (from octo, eight) - 31 Days
9. November (from novem, nine) - 30 Days
10. December (from decem, ten) - 30 Days

The Roman calendar had a different system for numbering the days of the month. The months were divided into day markers that fell at the start of the month, the fifth or seventh day, and in the middle of the month. These 3 markers were called Calends, Nones and Ides.

Calends (Kalendae, Kalends) signify the start of the new moon cycle and was always the first day of the month. It is derived from the Greek word καλειν, “to announce” the days of the full and new moon.

Nones (Nonae) were known to be the days of the half moon which usually occur 8 days before the Ides.

Ides occurred on the 15th day of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th day of the other months. They are thought to have been the days of the full moon.

Each day was referred to by how many days it fell before the Calends, Nones or Ides. For example, March 11 would be known as “Five Ides” to the Romans because it is four days before the Ides of March (March 15).

The 304-day Roman calendar didn’t work for long because it didn’t align with the seasons. King Numa Pompilius reformed the calendar around 700 BCE by adding two new months: Ianuarius (January) and Februarius (February) to the original 10 months, which increased the year's length to 354 or 355 days.

The addition of January and February meant that some of the months' names no longer agreed with their position in the calendar (July to December). The month Quintilis was renamed Iulius (July) in honor of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE and Sextilis was renamed Augustus (August) in honour of Augustus in 8 BCE.

 With a year of 355 days, many attempts were made to align the calendar with the solar year. An extra month, the intercalary month, was added (after February) to the calendar in some years to make up for the lack of days in a year.

The days of the week were dedicated to the sun, the moon and some of the gods:

Sunday - Dies Solis (day of the sun)

Monday - Dies Lunae (day of the moon)

Tuesday - Dies Martis (day of Mars)

Wednesday - Dies Mercuri (day of Mercury)

Thursday - Dies Iovis (day of Jupiter)

Friday - Dies Veneris (day of Venus)

Saturday - Dies Saturni (day of Saturn)

Roman calendar

Fasti Antiates

 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND WEBGRAPHY:

Some classic authors

www.en.wikipedia.org
www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk
www.crystalinks.com
www.penelope.uchicago.edu
www.latin.org
www.calendarhome.com
www.ancient.eu
www.webexhibits.org

ACTIVITIES:

                                              Roman calendars made by the students

Questions about our Ancient calendars:

1.-How many seasons did the Egyptian calendar have?
2.- The season of harvest was ...................................
3.- Was there a uniform calendar in Ancient Greece?
4.- Who invented the first Roman calendar?
5.- How many months did the Roman calendar have?
6.- Can you name some of the months?
7.- What were the calends?
8.- What months were called like nowadays?
9.- The month Augustus was named like that in honour of ......................................
10.- Saturday was dedicated to the God .....................................


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