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Nilsson, whose Primitive Time-Reckoning is the most authoritative of the ancient history of the calendar, claims that the Greek calendar was not Greek in origin and that it was introduced no earlier than the 7th century, or at most the 8th. century BC. e. under the supervision of the Delphic priesthood.
The first part of this conclusion is undoubtedly correct in the sense that the Greek calendar did not belong to the local traditions of Greek-speaking immigrants in the Aegean region. They adopted it from those cultures with which they had previously come into contact. But when? If it was a product of religious belief, as Nilsson suggests, then it is highly likely that, like much else in Greek religion, it was inherited from the Minoan era. There are positive reasons for considering it more ancient and less dependent on Delphi than Nilsson admits.
If this calendar was compiled relatively recently at Delphi, we would expect to find some uniformity in the beginning of the calendar year and in the names of the months. But it's not. Only in Athens and Samos the year begins, as in Delphi, with the summer solstice. The Delphic names for the five months occur sporadically elsewhere, but the rest of the names are unique. Moreover, a comparison of the Attic-Ionian and Doric names suggests that their history followed the history of the dialects themselves.
The Attic names agree closely with the Delian ones, indicating an Attic-Ionic prototype older than the Ionian migration. We naturally turn to Boeotia. There we find the month of laziness, mentioned by Hesiod; it is found both in Delos and throughout Ionia. In Athens, the festival of Lenaeus was held in the same month, and no doubt, like other cults of Dionysus, this cult came to Athens from Boeotia. Likewise, the month of Poseidon, found only in the Ionian calendars, resembles the panionic cult of Poseidon Heliconios, who, as the name indicates, originated in Boeotia.

Athens Hecatombius* Metageitnius Boedromius Pianopsius Maimacterius Posideon Gamelius Anthesterius Elaphebolius Munichius Targelius Skyrophorius
Business with
Hecatombium
Metagateny
Bufonius
Apaturius
Aresius
poseideon
Leney*
Hieros
Galaxia
Artemisius
Targely
Panemos
Rhodes. Panamos Karney Daly
Thesmophorium*
Sminthia
Diostius
Theudeius
Pedagogical
Badromy
Artamity
Agrianius
Hyakinthius
Delphi Apellei* Bukatiy i
Boatoy; - Gerey
Daidophorium
Poitropius
Amaliy
Bisiy
Theoxenium
Endispoytropium
Heracles
Iley

* First month of the calendar year.
The Doric names are different, but within themselves they are surprisingly uniform. Carney and hyacinthia, related to the ancient Doric festivals, are almost everywhere. The same is true of Pedageitnia, Badromia, and Theudeisia. The first two, although placed in different places, are the same names as the Attic-Ionian metageitnia and boedromium, while badromium or boedromium correspond in their meaning to the Delphic boatoi. But, since they occupy different places in the calendar, it is difficult to assume that they were borrowed at Delphi so late - in the 8th or 7th century. And, finally, Doric agrianium, which is found in Aegina, Sparta, Rhodes, Kos, Kalymnos and Byzantium, is not found anywhere else, except for Thebes and three other cities of Boeotia (Cheronea, Libadeia, Oropos). Likewise, the feast of Agriania is known only in Boeotia and Argos (see Vol. I, pp. 192-193) and it is clear that it came to Argos from Boeotia. In Argos he contacted the Proitis, who repeated the Miniades from Orchomenus, and Melampus, who was descended from Minius (see Vol. I, p. 222). Where and when did this name of the month appear in the Doric calendar? Not in Argos, because that would not explain its widespread use in other Dorian communities. Most likely, the Dorians borrowed it from Boeotia before they entered the Peloponnese.
If the Attic-Ionian and Doric calendars go back to a common source in Boeotia, their origin should be attributed to the Minoan period. This brings us to the next question. What is the relationship between the Boeotian and Delphic calendars? We do not know what to answer to this, because the materials on Boeotia have been preserved only in fragments. If the calendars date back to the Minoan age, then there is no reason to give Delphi precedence over Thebes and Orchomenus. All we can say with certainty is that both the Attic-Ionian and Doric calendars derive from a prehistoric original located in central Greece.
If we accept this hypothesis, it will immediately provide us with the connection with the East that we were looking for. Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, was a Phoenician connected through Europe with Minos of Knossos. It should be remembered that Europa was abducted from Phoenicia by Zeus in the form of a bull and that one of the religious texts from Ugarit reports how the bull-god El was united with the mother goddess Asherat (see vol. I, pp. 376-377).
If the Greek calendar was of Minoan origin, how, one might ask, is it that only one name of the month is mentioned in Hesiod's Works and Days, a poem dedicated to the annual cycle of agricultural work, and none of the months is mentioned at all by Homer? As for Hesiod, the answer is "this: because of the Greek system of intercalation, which will be discussed in the next paragraph, the calendar names of the months were useless for his purpose, which was to prescribe the exact time of the year when the farmer should start different works. This could only be done by referring to the solar year, as it is revealed in the annual movement of the stars. As for Homer, it would be a mistake to assume, as Nilsson did, that the Greeks of Homeric times did not have names of months because these names are not mentioned in the Homeric poems.Because the purpose of the epic poets was to present an idealized picture of the heroic past, they avoided any mention of those institutions that had only a local or short-term significance, and on this basis references to the calendar were excluded, since the names of the months were different in different cities. *
In Works and Days we find some confirmation of the hypothesis that the Greek calendars, as we know them, come from prehistoric Boeotia; but before proceeding to this subject, we must disassemble the Greek system of insertion into the calendar.

vowed from deities or such holidays that were celebrated in these months. Finally, it should also be noted that in many states the priests or magistrates for religious affairs were the eponyms of the year. All this points to the close relationship in which the time calculation of the Greeks stood with their religious institutions, and this connection from ancient times forced them to pay great attention to the exact regulation of time calculation.

It goes without saying that the improvement of the calendar proceeded slowly, with the gradual development of astronomical and mathematical knowledge. In ancient times, they were content, especially in agricultural life, with approximate definitions of time according to the ascent and setting of heavenly bodies, the state of vegetation, the flight of birds, etc. signs. Hesiod advises to start harvesting at the rising of the Pleiades, plowing - when they set (Works and Days, 383), or when the cry of cranes is heard (Article 448). Already Homer's poems repeatedly mention the years (Il. II, 329; Od. II, 175, etc.). Since the course and phases of the moon are very easy to observe and, above all, should have attracted attention, the reckoning of the lunar months and years came into general use among the Greeks and, with very few exceptions, survived until the time of Christianity.

A lunar or synodic month (from new moon to new moon) has 29 days. 12 hours 44 minutes 3 seconds, therefore, the lunar year consists of 354 days. 8 hours 48 minutes 36 seconds and differs from the solar one (which includes 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 17.8 seconds) by 10 days and 21 hours without a few seconds. But the exact calculation of minutes and seconds, with imperfect means of observation, could only be done very slowly, over many centuries. Initially, they were content with an approximate definition of a lunar month of 29 or 30 days and a lunar year of 354 days, but this year lagged behind the solar year so much that after a short period of time the months and holidays would no longer correspond to the seasons in which they originally fell. Therefore, it became necessary to find ways of matching or equating the lunar years with the solar years as closely as possible, and this question preoccupied Greek astronomers for many centuries. The usual method of reconciliation was that from time to time a thirteenth intercalary month (mhn embolimoV) was added to the ordinary lunar year, so that the year then had 384 days. Initially, this month was added to every third year (triethriV). A somewhat more accurate way of equating is attributed to the Athenian legislator Solon (Rogue. Sol. 25; Cen-

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Calendar of Ancient Greece

Initially, various Greek centers had their own time counting systems, which led to considerable confusion. This was due to the independent adjustment of the calendar in each policy. There were differences in the definition of the beginning of the calendar year.

The Athenian calendar is known, which consisted of twelve lunar months, the beginning of each of which approximately coincided with neomenia. The duration of the months varied within 29-30 days, and the calendar year consisted of 354 days.

Since the true lunar year includes 354.36 days, the phases of the moon did not exactly correspond to the calendar dates to which they were attributed. Therefore, the Greeks distinguished between the calendar "new moon", that is, the first day of the month and the actual new moon.

The names of the months in Greece were in most cases associated with certain holidays and only indirectly correlated with the seasons.

The beginning of the Athenian year fell on the month of Hecatombeon (July-August), associated with the summer solstice. To align the calendar year with the solar year, the 13th (embolismic) month, the 2nd Poseideon, was inserted in special years, lasting 29-30 days.

In 432 BC Athenian astronomer Meton developed a new 19-year cycle with seven embolismic years: 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th. This order, called the "Metonic cycle", provided a fairly high accuracy. The daily discrepancy between solar and lunar years accumulated over 312 solar years.

Later, the cycles of Calippus and Hipparchus were developed, which further refined the lunisolar calendar. However, in practice, their amendments were almost never applied.

Up to the II century. BC e. The 13th month was added as the need arose, and sometimes for political and other reasons.

The Greeks did not know the seven-day week and counted the days within a month by decades.

The dating of the events in Athens was carried out according to the names of the archon officials. From the 4th century BC e. The chronology according to the Olympiads, which were held once every four years, became generally accepted.

The beginning of the era was considered the first Olympiad, held in the summer of 776 BC.

In the Hellenistic era in Greece, various eras were used: the era of Alexander, the era of the Seleucids, etc.

The official calendar, due to deviations from the solar year, was inconvenient for agriculture. Therefore, the Greeks often used a kind of agricultural calendar based on the apparent movements of the stars, on the change of seasons. A detailed description of such a calendar in the form of advice to the farmer was given back in the 8th century. BC e. Hellenic poet Hesiod.

Such a folk calendar was of great practical importance and was preserved along with the official account of time throughout many centuries of Greek history.

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Types and types of calendars

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Types and types of calendars

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ancient greek calendar

At the beginning of the first millennium BC. e. in ancient Greece, lunisolar calendars began to be created, and each policy (city-state) had its own calendar system. Despite their similarities, each calendar had its own peculiarity and was somewhat different from all the others. The year was divided into 12 months, each of which began with neomenia. To connect with the seasons, an additional, 13th month was periodically inserted.

In different cities of Greece, the months had their own names, but the Athenian names were most common, namely:

Approximate correspondence to our months is indicated in brackets.

The year most often began with the month of the summer solstice, which at that time fell on the hecatombeon (July).

In leap years, a second poseideon was inserted as the embolismic month; sometimes the second skyrophorion was an additional month.

At different times, embolic years alternated in different ways. So, in the VI century. BC e. in some places in Greece, an octaetheride was used, in which 3 out of 8 years were leap years - the 2nd, 5th and 8th years of the cycle.

The most popular in Greece was the calendar developed by Meton. In 432 BC. e., during the festivities dedicated to the 86th Olympiad, a parapegma was installed in the center of Athens - a stone slab with holes into which pins were inserted with the numbers of the current month. Close to holes there was a text carved on a stone indicating upcoming astronomical phenomena, such as the rising and setting of certain stars, the position of the Sun in the constellations, and other phenomena.

Further improvement of the Greek calendar is associated with the names of Calippus and Hipparchus, which we discussed in the section on the mathematical theory of lunar and lunisolar calendars.

Chronology. In Ancient Greece until the middle of the first millennium BC. e. events were dated by the names of officials. So, in Athens, years were counted according to the names of eponyms - heads of executive power (archons) responsible for the correctness of the calendar.

In the IV century. BC e. the common Hellenic chronology for the Olympiads spread. The history of this reckoning is as follows. Sports games were widely developed in Ancient Greece. Starting from 776 BC. e. in the city of Olympia, once every 4 years, games took place that took on the character of large national celebrations. According to the place where they were held, they were called Olympic. The Olympic Games were timed to coincide with the beginning of the year, but since this time was not associated with a specific date due to the abundance of calendar systems, messengers had to be sent to all cities before the games to notify the population about the upcoming celebrations.

The Olympic Games entered the life of the ancient Greeks so much that they began to count the time according to the Olympiads and conditionally attributed the beginning of their era to July 1, 776 BC. e. It is believed that the first Olympic Games took place on this day.

The chronology according to the Olympiads was first applied in 264 BC. e. by the ancient Greek historian Timaeus, and this account lasted for about seven centuries. Although in 394 AD. e. Emperor Theodosius I canceled the Olympic Games, the calculation of time according to the Olympiads was applied a little later.

In the chronology of the Olympiads, the years were designated by the serial number of the Olympiad and the number of the year in the four years. So, the victory of the Greeks over the Persians in the naval battle in the Salamis Strait dates back to the numbers “75. 1", which means "the first year of the 75th Olympiad".

The translation of these dates into our summer calendar is carried out according to the formula

A \u003d 776 - [(Ol - 1) × 4 + (t - 1)],

where A is the desired date, O1 is the number of the Olympiad, (t is the number of the year in the Olympiad.

The Battle of Salamis took place in the first year of the 75th Olympiad. Let's translate this date into our chronology.

Substituting the values ​​O1 = 75 and I = 1 into the formula, we obtain

A \u003d 776 - [(75 - 1) × 4 + (1 - 1) 1 \u003d 480.

Indeed, the Battle of Salamis took place in September 480 BC. e.

If the expression in square brackets in this formula turned out to be 776 or more, then 775 would have to be subtracted from it. In this case, we would get the year of our era.