Egyptian calendar
The ancient civil Egyptian calendar had a year that was 365 days long and was divided into 12 months of 30 days each, plus 5 extra days (epagomenes) at the end of the year. The months were divided into 3 "weeks" of ten days each. Because the ancient Egyptian year was almost a quarter of a day shorter than the solar year and stellar events "wandered" through the calendar, it is referred to as Annus Vagus or "Wandering Year".
Early use
This calendar was in use by at least 2700 BCE, but probably before that. A text from the reign of First Dynasty King Djer indicates that the Egyptians had already established a link between the heliacal rising and the beginning of the year. The Egyptians seem to have used a lunar calendar at an earlier date, but when they discovered the discrepancy between the lunar calendar and the actual passage of time, they switched to a calendar based on the Nile inundation. The first inundation according to the calendar was observed in Egypt's first capital, Memphis, at the same time as the heliacal rising of Sirius (Egyptian Sopdet, Greek Sothis). The Egyptian year was divided into the three seasons of akhet (Inundation), peret (Growth - Winter) and shemu (Harvest - Summer).
The heliacal rising of Sothis returned to the same point in the calendar every 1460 years (a period called the Sothic cycle). The difference between a seasonal year and a civil year was therefore 365 days in 1460 years, or 1 day in 4 years. Similarly, the Egyptians were aware that 309 lunations nearly equalled 9125 days, or 25 Egyptian years, which was likely used in the construction of the secondary lunar calendar.
For much of Egyptian history, the months were not referred to by individual names, but were rather numbered within the three seasons. As early as the Middle Kingdom, however, each month had its own name. These finally evolved into the New Kingdom months, which in turn gave rise to the Hellenized names that were used among others for chronology by Ptolemy in his Almagest.
Astronomers in the Middle Ages used the Egyptian calendar because of its mathematical regularity—Copernicus for example constructed his tables for the motion of the planets based on the Egyptian year. The convention amongst modern Egyptologists is to number the months consecutively using Roman numerals.
Ptolamic and Roman
According to Roman writer Censorinus, the Egyptian New Year's Day fell on July 20 in the Julian Calendar in 139 CE, which was a heliacal rising of Sirius in Egypt. From this it is possible to calculate that the previous occasion on which this occurred was 1322 BCE, and the one before that was 2782 BCE. This latter date has been postulated as the time when the calendar was invented, but Djer's reign preceded that date. Other historians push it back another whole cycle, to 4242 BCE.
In 238 BCE, the Ptolemaic rulers decreed that every fourth year should be 366 days long rather than 365. The Egyptians, most of whom were farmers, did not accept the reform, as it was the agricultural seasons that made up their year. The reform eventually went into effect with the introduction of the "Alexandrian calendar" by Augustus in 26/25 BCE new year Aug 30 to Aug 29, which included a sixth epagomenal day for the first time in 22 BCE. The Coptic calendar since 284 AD is based on this new year Thoth 1 being on Aug 30 in 26 BC and Aug 29 in 25 BC. This was derived from Creation mythology of NeoBabylon on 747 BC Feb 26 placing the Creation of the world at 2947 BC with a Creation Marduk at 2945 BC as 740 years 185 leap days before 2207 BC Feb 26. The world trade center was attacked on Greg Feb 26 the first time as if an attempt as Julian Feb 26, and the second time on Aug 29 which is our Sep 11. [1]
Reformed calendar
The reformed Egyptian calendar continues to be used in Egypt as the Coptic calendar of the Egyptian Church and by the Egyptian populace at large, particularly the fellahin to calculate the agricultural seasons. Contemporary Egyptian farmers, like their ancient predecessors, divide the year into three seasons, namely winter, summer and inundation. It is also associated with local festivals such as the annual Flooding of the Nile and the ancient Spring festival sham en nisim.
The Ethiopian calendar is based on this calendar but uses Amharic names for its months and uses a different era. The French Republican Calendar was similar, but began its year at the autumnal equinox. British orrery maker John Gleave represented the Egyptian calendar in a reconstruction of the Antikythera mechanism.
| No. | Seasonal Names | Middle Kingdom | New Kingdom | Greek | Coptic | Egyptian Arabic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | First of Akhet | Tekh | Dhwt | Thoth | Thout | Tout |
| II | Second of Akhet | Menhet | Pa-n-ip.t | Phaophi | Paopi | Baba |
| III | Third of Akhet | Hwt-hwr | Hwt-hwr | Athyr | Hathor | Hatour |
| IV | Fourth of Akhet | Ka-hr-ka | Ka-hr-ka | Choiak | Koiak | Kiahk |
| V | First of Proyet | Sf-bdt | Ta-'b | Tybi | Tobi | Touba |
| VI | Second of Proyet | Rekh wer | Mḫyr | Mechir | Meshir | Amshir |
| VII | Third of Proyet | Rekh neds | Pa-n-amn-htp.w | Phamenoth | Paremhat | Baramhat |
| VIII | Fourth of Proyet | Renwet | Pa-n-rnn.t | Pharmouthi | Paremoude | Baramouda |
| IX | First of Shomu | Hnsw | Pa-n-ḫns.w | Pachon | Pashons | Bashans |
| X | Second of Shomu | Hnt-htj | Pa-n-in.t | Payni | Paoni | Ba'ouna |
| XI | Third of Shomu | Ipt-hmt | Ipip | Epiphi | Epip | Abib |
| XII | Fourth of Shomu | Wep-renpet | Msw-r' | Mesore | Mesori | Mesra |
Notes
References
- Grimal, Nicolas. A History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1997.
- Shaw, Ian. ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
- Watterson, Barbara. The Egyptians. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. 1997.
- Youssef, Ahmad Abdel-Hamid. From Pharaoh's Lips: Ancient Egyptian Language in the Arabic of Today. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2003.
External links
- Date Converter for Ancient Egypt
- Calendrica Includes the Egyptian civil calendar with years in Ptolemy's Nabonassar Era (year 1 = 747 BC).
- CIVIL4.0 On this page CIVIL4.0 may be found, a tiny DOS program (Zipped, 25kB) to convert Egyptian Civil dates into Julian and Gregorian dates, B.C. and A.D.
- Detailed information about the Egyptian calendars, including lunar cycles