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:
- The
season of Akhet (Inundation)
- The
season of Peret (Growth-Winter)
- 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.
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| 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
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:
- Hekatombaion (June-July)
- Metageitnion (July-August)
- Boidromion (August-September)
- Pyanopsion (September-October)
- Maimakterion (October-November)
- Poseidon (November-December)
- Gamelion (December-January)
- Anthesterion (January-February)
- Elaphebolion (February-March)
- Mounikhion (March-April)
- Thargelion (April-May)
- Skirophorion (May-June)
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| The most important poleis |
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| 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
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:
- Martius
(in honour of Mars, god of war) - 31 Days
- Aprilis
(from aperio, to open, in relation to the Earth receiving the seed) - 30 Days
- Maius (from
Maia, godess of growth) - 31 Days
- Iunius (from
iunior, younger) - 30 Days
- Quintilis (from quinque, five, after its position on the calendar) - 31 Days
- Sextilis (from
sex, six after its position on the calendar)- 30 Days
- September (from septem, seven) - 30 Days
- October
(from octo, eight) - 31 Days
- November (from
novem, nine) - 30 Days
- 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)
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| Roman calendar |
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| 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:
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 .....................................
Satisfaction Survey Questions:
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• Could you sugest any subject or topic for future projects?
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