| This calendar was based on the "Eight years time" (Oktaetiris) of Kleostrates |
Introduction
The calendar in ancient Greece
Intercalation
Cycle of Meton
Lunar months of Attica
Lunar months of Greece
The ancient calendar of Attica
Introduction
This page is going to deal with the ancient calendars and is going to focus on the ancient calendar of Attica. The visitor will be informed on which month and which day of the ancient calendar of Attica corresponds to the current mont and day. Also will be able to Know which celebration of the ancient Greek was held on the specific date.
The calendar in ancient Greece
The calendar in ancient Greece was following the phases of the moon. The month started when the new moon appeared and it ended when it disappeared. "Dihominia" (the middle of the month) was dyring the full moon. The moon year had 354 days and it was consisted of 12 months either of 29 or of 30 days each time. The month of 30 day was called "pliris" (full) and the moon of 29 days was called "Kilos" (hollow). In every day life, though, they were considered to have 30 days each.
Intercalation
Because of the difference between the solar (tropical) and the mmon year, a problem appeared. The moon year was approximately 11 days shorter than the solar. In that way after three years the difference was longer than a month. That had as a consequence the transferring of the celebrations to another season of the year. A lot of agriculturar celebrations could not agree to this calendar. For the above reasons they established the addition of a thirteenth, intercalary, month every third, fifth and eight year. This month was called "emvolimos" or "emvolimeos". With this month the year was consisted of 384 or 383 days. This cycle was called "Megas Heniaftos" and it was completed in eight years time. The balance between calendar and seasons was accomplished within that time period. The regular 96 moon months with the addition of the three extra months, disseminated in the eight years time, (totally 99 moon months) would balance equally the corresponding eight solar years (consisting of 2922 days). So, in the eight years time we had 8 years of 354 days pluw three extra months, ie. 90 extra days. Thiw leads to the following calculations: 8*354=2832 days and 3*30=90 days, so 2832+90=2922 days that correspond to eight solar years. The date of the big religious celebretions as well as that of the festivals at the Greek sanctuaries, were settled on the basis of that eight years time calendar. Some of them were held every eight years, others every four and some other celebrations every two years. Everything concerning the extra month had been settled since 500 B.C. The regular For practical reasons they calculated that every year lasted 360 days.
Cycle of Meton
This arrangement was also imperfect. So. Meton, dyring Perikles era, tried to improve the moon calendar, establishing a cycle of 19 years, consisting of 235 months (135 "full" months and 110 "hollow" months). Their interchange, though, in contrast to the former moon months, was not regular, but it was accomplished by the omission, each time, of the 64th day. So Meton's cycle consisted of 6940 days and the average duration of a year was 365 days, 6 hours, 18 minutes, 5.6 seconds and 16/19 of the second. So it was a little longer than the regular.
Lunar months of Attica
| Lunar months of Attica | |