Introduction to Athens calendar

The word "Athenian calendar" (also known as "attic calendar") is a bit of a misnomer, because the ancient Athenians never really used a method to calculate the passage of time. The Athenians, especially since the 3rd century BC, can refer to any of the five independent "calendars": Olympics, Seasons, Civil Affairs, Parliament and finally Merton Nick-depending on the events or types of events they wish to record. In addition, the Athenians either created these calendars for specific purposes or borrowed them from others.

However, all Athenian calendars use the moon period and/or solar events (usually solstice and vernal equinox, but there are also some stars or constellations) to determine the date. These calendars are also roughly from midsummer to midsummer, and the days are from sunrise to sunrise. Every Greek city-state and other Mediterranean countries, such as Babylon and Egypt, use their own unique calendars and are independent of each other. Athenian writers like Thucydides and Xenophon understood the difficulties and limitations of the competition system.

Every Greek calendar has its own rules and methods, and they all start from different dates: Delphi's era begins from summer to the first new moon in the future; Pio and Deloose begin after the winter solstice; Theos started from the vernal equinox; Sparta, Rhodes, Crete and Mile all started at the autumnal equinox. In any case, all Greek polar people originally adjusted their calendars through the moon.

The lunar calendar (the first month of the lunar calendar) contains 29.53 days per month (a lunar cycle). Therefore, a twelve-month lunar calendar contains 354.36 days. However, a solar astronomical year has 365.24 days. The Athenians have long known that, especially with the emergence of agriculture, the lunar year is less than the sun 1 1 day. Therefore, in any strict lunar calendar, there will be a little more new moon every three years, with a cycle of 33 years changing with the seasons.

However, the Athenians did not give up their lunar calculation, because most annual festivals have become fixed on the moon (Geminus 8.7-8)-thus the Athenians' practice of regularly layering (deleting/inserting days, which will be next month) began to align the lunar and solar cycles. The Athenians just tried to minimize this fluctuation. Therefore, scholars call the Athens calendar "Yin-Yang calendar".

To understand how the Athenian calendar (or the calendar of any ancient Greek city-state) works, or why they might use any one of them, it is necessary to first understand the nature of the recorded events, the accuracy required by ancient chroniclers, the time period in which they lived, and the time period they needed to refer to. For different reasons and purposes, different calendars became popular in different periods. The Athenians also used these calendars at different times in ancient times.

Olympic calendar

The ancient Athenians and other Greeks used the Olympic calendar only for historical purposes.

The modern Olympic calendar doesn't count dates, because it doesn't count days or even months, but only years. Greek historians designed the Olympic calendar to provide a * * * same frame of reference when coordinating historical events recorded by local calendars in different polar regions. This calendar was welcomed by later historical writers, such as Dior Ross.

According to Plutarch (Numa 1.4), Hippocrates, a sophist in Elis in the 5th century BC, first recorded and thus established the standardized sequence of Olympic winners. This method was soon used sporadically (for example, Thucydides 3. 8.1; Xenophon, Greece 1.2. 1). In the 3rd century BC, Eratosthenes of Cyrene completed the final form of the Olympic competition sequence. For example, the Olympic calendar has become particularly important for explaining the Ptolemaic reign period circulated in Eusebius's works.

The Olympic calendar uses the four-year sports competition held in Olympia, the Peloponnesian city, to indicate the acceptable universal year. The four years between these consecutive competitions constitute an Olympic Games. The ancient Greeks, including the Athenians, first calculated their year by recording the continuity of celebrating the Olympic Games, and then calculated the year of the next celebration.

Pias also confirmed that Olympia held these competitions for the first time in the summer of 776 BC. Since the Greek year is from summer to summer, historians describe the first year of the first Olympic Games (that is, Ol. 1. 1) as 776/5 BC. Therefore:

oh 1.2 = 775/4 BC

Oh 1.3 = 774/3 BC

Oh 1.4 = 773/2 BC

Oh 2. 1 = 772 BC/1

The exact month and date of the annual start, that is, the nominal starting point of the Olympic Games, is still uncertain. We know that the lunar month in which Olympia holds competitions and festivals is usually between the summer of the relevant year and the first and second full moons in the future (about mid-August). In addition, the second full moon will hold a celebration festival, and the actual sports competition will be held a few days ago. We also know that because the Olympic Games were pan-Greek (participants came from all over Greece), the ancient Greeks decided that the next festival would be held alternately between 49 and 50 lunar cycles every four years. Therefore, they know when to return. The ancient Athenians and other Greeks only used the Olympic calendar for historical purposes, because its inherent inaccuracy made it completely unsuitable for daily life.

Parapegma (seasonal) calendar

PARAPEGMATA recorded the seasonal repeated weather changes related to the first and last appearance of stars.

The ancient Athenians also referred to the seasonal calendar, that is, π α ρ? ψ π γ μ α (auxiliary pegma; Parapegmata is sometimes called "Greek Yearbook" by scholars. However, unlike the Olympic calendar, the seasonal calendar does not calculate the dates of consecutive years, but records the specific visible astronomical phenomena in a specific year. Therefore, we think it is not a real calendar in the modern sense.

For centuries, parapegmata, cataloged by different astronomers, has recorded seasonal repeated weather changes related to the first and last appearance of stars and/or constellations, as well as solar events such as the vernal equinox and solstice-and in many cases, the phase of the moon. The main demand for seasonal calendars emerged, because the ancient Greeks needed to mark the beginning of weather changes to regulate certain human activities, such as agriculture, navigation and war.

More specifically, seasonal calendars observe the first and last rises of some stars and certain constellations (at sunrise or sunset) on the horizon, which are related to the vernal equinox and the winter solstice to mark important dates. The Athenians then took the first appearance of specific stars and constellations as the key to a specific task. For example, hesiod (Works and Days) told farmers to harvest when the Pleiades rose. In addition, Ptolemy believes that astronomical phenomena are actually the cause of seasonal weather changes.

Some parapegmata include observations of other annual phenomena, such as solar eclipses and bird migration, or they may follow the path of the sun through signs of the ecliptic. Some of them also make the lunar cycle coincide with the solar cycle by alternately inserting 12 and 13 in the 19 cycle (see Mertonnik calendar below). An example of parapegma might look like this:

We start from the solstice of summer.

The sun passes through Cancer in 3 1 day.

Day 1 day: Cancer begins to rise. Signs of weather change.

Day 9: The south wind begins.

Day 1 1 day: Orion rises as a whole in the morning.

Day 16: The corona began to solidify in the morning.

Day 23: Sirius first appeared in Egypt.

Day 25: Sirius gets up in the morning.

Day 27: Cancer ends and rises. In the next 53 days, the Ethiopian wind will blow.

Day 28: Aquila falls in the morning. There will be a storm at sea.

Day 30: Leo begins to rise. The south wind blows.

The Athenians and other Greeks carved important astronomical events on stone tables and drilled holes for movable wooden nails to track the required star observation process. In other cases, as mentioned above, they just put forward their opinions in writing. We know several parapegmata, some of which were written by one person and some were compiled by several authors. The ancient Greek astronomer Euclid Mond observed the summer solstice in Athens in 432 BC, and he created the earliest known systematic lateral deflection. We also found the oldest known specimens of stones and nails in the Ceramicus district of Athens.

Athens calendar

Every month begins with a new moon, lasting 29 or 30 days, showing 354/5 days of the year.

However, the most common usage of the word "Athens calendar" today usually refers to the folk (or festival) calendar in Athens. It has become our calendar with the most information and details. The calendar of Athens folk festivals is also the closest to what we think of as a "real" calendar today. The Athenians mainly used this calendar to stipulate many Athenian festivals in a year. The Athenians divided their festivals into two types: about 80 repeated celebrations every year, and then a monthly celebration at the beginning of each new moon.

Much like some parapegmata, the Athens calendar uses yin and yang years and consists of 12 or 13 lunar months. The Athenians named their new moon after the main festivals in the moon cycle. Then the Athenians used interpolation (inserting a periodic 13 lunar month) to make these annual cycles as close as possible to the summer solstice of the next year.

Like the Olympic calendar, the Athenians tracked the civil calendars for the following years. They recorded the names of the consuls of the same name (or simply consuls) who served in a certain year. By the 5th century BC, the consul began to supervise the annual religious festivals, so he was responsible for maintaining the folk calendar. However, the real term "eponymous consul" did not enter the Greek text until Roman times.

Evidence shows that the Athenians carved their consuls on stones and listed them on the official list. Today's scholars usually divide this consular list into three periods:

+0/0 since 4865438 BC.

480/79 BC to 302 BC/1year

The Greek period of BC1010.

In addition, Greek historians will quote the events of their consuls in one of the following two ways:

Just to pay attention to the connection between some events and the record of consular names; or

Use the name of the consul to indicate the specific year of the event.

For example, Thucydides set the starting date of the Peloponnesian War as the last month of the reign of Pythus (2.2. 1).

In addition, after Hippias in Elis published his list of Olympic champions, various ancient Greek timekeepers began to compare with other annual lists kept by consuls in Athens and other polar regions (for example, Evras in Sparta and Agif, the priestess of Hera).

The ancient Athenians can (and today's scholars can) determine the year like this:

Oh 72. 1 = Hippaxia of power = 492/ 1 BC

Oh, 72.2 = half-blood consul = 49 1/0 BC

Oh 72.3 = the dominant power of Phaenippus = 490/89 BCE

Oh 72.4 = Aristide in power = 489/8 BCE

Oh 73. 1 = consul = 488/ 7 BC

The twelve months in Athens (in order) are:

He cartoon baoweng

metacognition

Bionic human

Visual hallucination; sight

Mike Trion

Poseidon

Game lion

fragrance of a flower

Elabolion

communication

Tagilion

Herofurong

Every month begins with a new moon and lasts for 29 or 30 days (one moon cycle) to present 354/5 days of the year. The eponymous archon occasionally (obviously a little casually) inserts the year by inserting 13 lunar month, which usually (though not always) becomes the second Poseidon. This process keeps the civil calendar in line with the seasons. Therefore, the inserted year is 384 days. Each civil year will begin at the first new moon after the summer solstice (Hekotombaion 1).

The Athenians used two different months to represent each moon cycle: a 30-day full moon and a 29-day empty moon. Omitting some days in some months makes up for the fact that two lunar cycles are equal to 59.06 days. The exact method used by consuls to determine when to omit a day, and then which day to omit, has become a controversial issue for scholars. We only know that the omission occurred in the last third of the lunar cycle.

The Athenians divided each new moon into two stages, each stage is 65,438+00 days, and then the third stage, the number of which varies between the full moon and the empty moon: the first quarter moon, the full moon and the waning moon. They call the first day of every month ν ν ν? α(noumenia) or "new moon". They count down to the 20th day, and then count down to the last day of each moon cycle. Strictly speaking, the Athenians only counted their days in the second stage (1 1 to 19 every month). For example, the Athenians called the 5th of each month "the rise in May" and the 24th of each month "the loss in July". In addition, the Athenians sometimes called the 20th the 20th or before 10. They call the last day of this month? νη κα? ν? α (hene kai nea) or "old and new".

Scholars also disagree that the Athenians paid too much attention to the strict mathematical calculation of continuous astronomical observation, no matter when the full moon or hollow moon was announced and when the 13 moon period was inserted. Nevertheless, the ancient Athenians had realized that by the middle of the 5th century BC, their festival calendars had become very complicated, often deviating from the key events of the solar year, and in many cases inconsistent with the seasons. On their own. They tried to reform this calendar in 407/6 BC (see Mertonik calendar), although they never really gave up.

Meeting calendar

The Athenians only used the Gregorian calendar for one practical purpose: recording financial transactions and determining dates.

From the end of 6th century BC (or the middle of 5th century BC), the ancient Athenians also used the independent 10 calendar, in which each month marked the continuous rotation of the presidency of Puritani. Each Pritonian represents one of the ten Attica families in the Athenian city-state.

Today, we still think that the Conciliar calendar is a "real" calendar, but the Athenians only used it in a practical capacity: recording and determining the date of financial transactions according to Boule's suggestion and approved by Ekklesia (Parliament). These transactions may include: taxes, distribution of public funds (buildings, festivals), loans to cults, payment of wages and calculation of interest. Therefore, some scholars refer to the parliamentary calendar as Senate calendar, fiscal calendar or Burti calendar.

The first ten parliamentary months are:

Elktes

Ikiss

Pandionis

Leontis

mantis

Aarnes

Kekropis

globefish

Yantis

Antioqis

Then every month will last 35-38 days, more or less evenly distributed, although it is obviously temporary to present 365/6 days a year. The Gregorian calendar year also lasted from midsummer to midsummer, but it was not formally merged with the civil calendar until 407/6 BC. The Athenians decided the actual order of Puritani's annual service by drawing lots, starting from summer to the next week (Puritani 1, 1). Therefore, it became an Athenian calendar close to the real solar calendar.

Aristotle (Ath. Pol。 43.2) It is written that the first four Puritani cities each have 36 days, and the last six Puritani cities each have 35 days. This can only be applied after the Athenians aligned the first day of the Concorde and civil calendars in 407 BC (that is, Hekatombaion 1 = pry1,1), and then Unisolar, a harmonious calendar, was also made. However, even so, they did not strictly follow this formula. In addition, before the 4th century BC, Gregorian calendar and folk calendar only started to align occasionally and sporadically. Scholars also dispute whether the Athenians intended to achieve these alliances through manipulation, or whether these alliances just happened by accident.

In addition, the number of tribes has not remained unchanged, and the length of each glorious month has been adjusted accordingly. Athens established two Macedonian tribes in 307/6 BC, so the parliamentary year was divided into 12 Nice, Prita. They established the 13 tribe in 224/3 BC, and then abolished two Macedonian tribes in 2010 BC, resulting in 1 1 Prita Nice. The Athenians soon established a new 12 tribe, which remained until AD 126/7, and then they established another tribe. This resulted in 13 Pritoni until Boule was dissolved.

Most of our information about the Gregorian calendar comes from various inscriptions. The Athenians will record the names of tribes, secretaries and judges represented by Puritani in the preface of their financial laws. We can determine the year when a particular financial transaction took place, as long as we know who was Boule's secretary in that year. In addition, there are several inscriptions that rate accounts according to Prytany, and the consul determines the transaction date. If the Athenians recorded the accumulated interest of any loan, we can also reveal the length of a month in a particular year, but these references are only sporadic at best.

However, apart from the only exception on the first day, the Athenians never systematically adjusted their Gregorian calendar and Gregorian calendar (that is, 12 meeting month and 10,1or 13 boolean month), and they never designed a formulaic method to make the dates between their independent calendars equal. Scholars can approximate the equivalence of the two by calculating the number of days between transactions recorded in one or two calendars, but this equation has become very complicated and cumbersome (especially before 407 BC).

Default calendar

Mayton seems to have followed the early Babylonian astronomers and then adopted his calendar as the civil calendar of Athens.

The Athenians also used the ENNEAKAIDEKAETRIS: 19 Yin-Yang cycle or Metonic calendar. Mayton, an Athenian astronomer in the 5th century BC, invented this calendar in 432 BC. He calculated that the period of 19 solar year is almost exactly equal to 235 lunar months (a few hours apart). After rounding, each cycle is 6940 days. Every 2 19 years, there will be a whole day error in a modulation period.

Then, the Athenians can use the formulas of 125 full month (30 days) and10 empty month (29 days) to align their two astronomical calendars (solar calendar and lunar calendar) systematically and accurately, and at the same time insert 7 years (235 =1) The first period of silence was from the summer solstice in 432 BC to the summer solstice in 4 13 BC.

Mayton seems to have followed the early Babylonian astronomers and then adopted his calendar as the civil calendar of Athens. The 19 cycle of 235 lunar months in Mayton begins from summer to the new moon in the future. On the other hand, Babylon's 19 cycle began with the first new moon after the vernal equinox. However, by the end of the 6th century BC, Babylon had included their cycles. How close the consul of the same name is to Merton's new plan is still controversial.

Karipik cycle

A century later, Callippus of Cyzicus, who studied at Plato's Institute, calculated more accurately that the duration of a solar year was 365+ 1/4 days. Therefore, he simply multiplied the Merton period of 19 by 4, and then omitted 1 day from the last period of 19. Therefore, he discovered another 76-year solar cycle, which consisted of 940 lunar cycles or 27,759 days. The first calico cycle began from the summer solstice in 330 BC. He also used the first lunar month of the Athens Gregorian calendar to establish this kind of yin-yang calendar. Later, astronomers like Ptolemy used the Calipi cycle.

Comparative calendar

When scholars try to convert the known dates in various calendars used by the Athenians into their julian calendar, the difficulties they encounter range from simple and direct determination at one end of the pendulum to abnormal Byzantine and extremely complicated equations at the other end.

On the one hand, the year of each Olympic Games and the list of Athens consuls have been determined (except for occasional controversial mistakes) and are generally recognized in most cases. In addition, if the ancient author cited a known astronomical event (solar eclipse, winter solstice, vernal equinox, etc.). ), then this transformation is proved to be direct and accurate. For example, Thucydides (4.52) recorded a partial solar eclipse, which occurred in the first few days of the eighth summer after the Peloponnesian War in Greece. He has designated this partial solar eclipse as the archon of Pedros (2.2. 1). This eclipse occurred on March 24th, 424 BC.

On the other hand, when scholars began to study the equivalent relationship between Athens season, civil affairs and conference calendar, the problem became more complicated. The synchronization established between Athens' seasonal calendar and civil calendar and their corresponding julian calendar only exists in the widest form, because the insertion process is accidental (even after the introduction of the silent period). For example, the most widely accepted model currently available provides that:

summer

Hekatombaion: July/August

August/September

September/1October

autumn

Pyanepsion October/November

Maimakterion month/1February

December/January in Poseidon

winter

Gamelion January/February

Anther culture in February/March

March/April

spring

Munikin April/May

May/June

June/July

The ancient Athenians only followed it loosely. The actual date of Hekatombaion 1, that is, the new moon of 13 or 14, which appeared continuously from the previous year, may appear from the middle of June to the middle of August of the following year at the earliest. Besides, in his description of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides is still notoriously loose in quoting seasons.

Besides, there is no such equation in the cooperative year except the summer solstice. The numbers of Prytany 1 and 1 decreased more or less in the first week of July (before 407 BC), but the parliamentary year may start anywhere from the middle of Tagliam to the late Bourne in Katom.

In addition, the exact length of any subsequent month in any given year is still unknown, because the interest on specific loans is not calculated.

If scholars want to find a more accurate date of julian calendar for a specific Athens or Greek event, they must first establish a table between the Gregorian calendar and the Gregorian calendar (if possible), and fill in as much information as possible from inscriptions and Greek events. Written evidence. However, even for experts, getting involved in an overly complicated and professional argument about these two calendars is still the most dangerous trip. Professor Benjamin Mei Lite and Professor William pritchett had a notorious long-term (and often fierce) argument on the calculation of attic time.

Occasionally, these arguments go beyond the study of the calendar itself, including differences on specific assumptions and methods, proposed restoration, and even the attic stone itself. Scholars will encounter the reconstruction of inscriptions, the judgment of written evidence, and then the disagreement on specific equations (full moon and hollow month and leap year), which try to align the two calendars with known fixed points. The difference is so great that few scholars dare to set foot in the jungle for decades. However, reconstructing this method is very important for any accurate conversion to Julian day, but there is still a large error range for any conclusion.

Finally, historians and classicists usually provide the date of the year before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in A.D. 1582 (if known). Determine the Gregorian calendar dates of the classical period and the early Hellenistic period (500-300 BC), minus 5 days; From the late Hellenistic period to the early Roman period (300-200 BC), minus 4 days; For the middle and late Roman Republic (200- 100 BC), subtract 3 days.

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