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The Greek Calendar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Extract

The Greek calendar has not received as much attention from students of Greek religion as it deserves. The data have been collected by Bischoff. Nilsson has always appreciated its importance, and his contributions to the subject have laid a broad and solid foundation for further research. Both Farnell and Harrison neglected it, and Deubner's Attische Feste (1932) is less adequate in this respect than Mommsen's Feste der Stadt Athen (1898). The question of intercalation was raised in an acute form by Fotheringham, and has never been satisfactorily solved. Meanwhile progress has been made in the study of the Egyptian and Babylonian calendars, with results that have an important bearing on the Greek. This paper does not pretend to be exhaustive. It is merely a discussion of some of the wider issues that arose in the course of an attempt to solve a particular problem—the peculiar method adopted at Olympia for fixing the date of the Games.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1943

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References

1 L. Bischoff in Pauly-Wissowa s.v. Kalender (1919); Nilsson, M. P., Entstehung und religiöse Bedeutung des griechischen Kalenders (1918)Google Scholar, Primitive Time-Reckoning (1920), Sonnenkalender und Sonnenreligion,’ Archiv für Religionswissenschaft 30. 141 (1928)Google Scholar; Fotheringham, J. K., ‘Cleostratus,’ JHS 39. 179 (1919)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 For the Egyptian calendar I have relied on Sewell, J. W. S., ‘The Calendars and Chronology,’ in Glanville, S. R. K., The Legacy of Egypt (1942)Google Scholar, and for the Babyonian on Langdon, S., The Babylonian Menologies and Semitic Calendars (1935)Google Scholar, cf. F. Hommel in Hastings s.v. Calendar, Babylonian.

3 PTR 148–223.

4 Gem. 8. 7–8.

5 Langdon, BMSC 107–9Google Scholar.

6 Langdon, in Cambridge Ancient History 1. 461–2Google Scholar.

7 In addition there was a discrepancy of ·36 days between the calendar year and the true lunar year, which meant that the lunar phases did not always coincide with those days of the calendar month to which they were traditionally assigned. Hence, for example, the distinction between the actual new moon and the nominal new moon (Th. 2. 28). This is why, in the last section of the Works and Days (765–828), dealing with the traditional associations of particular days, all of which had their origin in the lunar phases, there is no mention of the moon.

8 PTR 366–8, Griechische Feste 397.

9 Langdon 86–7.

10 Ib. 105–6, 138.

11 Gadd, C. J., ‘Babylonian Myth and Ritual,’ Myth and Ritual (1933) 46Google Scholar.

12 Langdon, in CAH 1. 462Google Scholar.

13 Str. 420, cf. D. 18. 154–5.

14 Plu., Thes. 18, 22Google Scholar.

15 Serv. ad Verg. A. 4. 143, cf. Hdt. 1. 182, D.S. 2. 47.

16 Hdt. 4. 35, Call. Del. 296–315, Paus. 1. 18. 5, 8. 21, 9. 17. 2, 10. 5.

17 Hdt. 1. 147.

18 Mommsen, FSA 176Google Scholar.

19 CIA 2. 471Google Scholar = IG 2. 471. 12 (sc. ) , cf. CIA 4. 318bGoogle Scholar = IG 2. 478 .

20 SIG 589. Kronion is identified with Pyanopsion by the fact tha t it coincided with the sowing (), while the equation of Artemision with Mounychion can be inferred from the position of Artemision at Delos, Artamitios at Rhodes, Kos, and elsewhere, and Artemisios in the Macedonian calendar.

21 Str. 648, cf. 633.

22 SIG 589. 1.

23 Hsch. .

24 Paus. 6. 20. 1.

25 Harrison, J. E., Themis 241 fig. 61Google Scholar. E. N. Gardiner, who contended that the Olympian cult of Sosipolis was a late innovation ‘typical of the superstitious credulity of the fourth century’ (Olympia 125), forgot that an almost identical cult had flourished from prehistoric times on the Athenian acropolis (Hdt. 8. 41. 2–3, Hsch. , cf. Apld. 3. 14. 6).

26 SIG 1025. This last example resembles the Attic Bouphonia, in which an ox was dedicated to Zeus Polieus. But the Bouphonia fell on the 14th of Skirophorion, the last full moon of the Attic year, and so was related to the summer solstice. At Samos, where the year also began after the summer solstice, the last month was Kronion (SIG 976). The Attic Kronia fell on the 12th of Hekatombaion, before the first full moon of the New Year, and this month had formerly been called Kronion (Plu., Thes. 12Google Scholar). Considering the extreme antiquity of the cult of Kronos and its affinity to the Babylonian Sakaia (see Langdon, , The Babylonian Epic of Creation 57Google Scholar), I suspect that there is an underlying thread here which has not yet been disentangled.

27 Gadd 54, Langdon, BEC 26Google Scholar.

28 Nilsson, ERBGK 29Google Scholar, PTR 365.

29 Some are very difficult to explain, e.g. , . The Attic for would be , but wha t does it mean?

30 In addition to the actual homonyms, the Delian Apatourion, Lenaion, and Galaxion all correspond to Attic feasts. is Macedonian.

3l Hes. Op. 504.

32 Plu. M. 299e, 717a, Hsch. .

33 Apld. 2. 2. 2.

34 Hom. H. 3. 388–96. The seven-stringed lyre appears on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus (Evans, , Palace of Minos 2. 834–6Google Scholar).

35 Nilsson, PTR 367–8Google Scholar, Minoan-Mycenean Religion 443–4; Picard, C., Ephèse el Clans 458–9, 463Google Scholar. With the Carian , ‘the woman,’ cf. Mu-al-li-da-at (), ‘the woman who bears,’ a title of the Babylonian goddess of childbirth (Langdon, BEC 217Google Scholar).

36 Hdt. 5. 57, 61, Apld. 3. 1. 1.

37 For the latest bibliography see Hooke, S. H., The Origins of Early Semitic Ritual (1938) 6972Google Scholar.

38 Schaeffer, C. F. A., Cuneiform Texts of Ras Shamra 60–1Google Scholar.

39 PTR 345–6.

40 There is, it appears, one allusion to a calendar feast in the Odyssey. Odysseus landed in Ithaca ‘at the turn of the month’ (14. 162, 19. 306), when there was no moon (14. 457), and five days later the towncriers announced a festival at which a hecatomb was to be offered to Apollon Noumenios (20. 276–8, 21. 258–9 et sch.). This must have been the Hekatombaia, which was observed at Athens on the 7th of Hekatombaion (SIG 615) and also at Delphi (CIG 1715). That is why Odysseus prays to Apollo to direct his aim against the suitors (22.7), who, since there were 108 of them (16. 247–61), made a symbolic hecatomb.

41 Op. 479, 564, 663. The convention of the , designed originally to neutralise the 30th of the ‘full’ months so as to adjust them to the true lunar month of 29½ days, is said to have been introduced at Athens by Solon (D.L. 1. 57, Plu. Sol. 25), but it was already known to Hesiod (Op. 771, cf. Nilsson, ERBGK 27Google Scholar) and is implied in the Homeric phrase (Od. 14. 162, 19. 306) . This, taken in conjunction with what has been said in note 7, shows that the Greek calendar year of 12 × 29½ days was at least as old as the eighth century. One of the factors which gave the Works and Days its popularity and importance was that it made accessible to all astronomical knowledge which had hitherto been a perquisite of the priesthood.

42 See Nilsson, PTR 260Google Scholar.

43 Fotheringham 179, Langdon, BMSC 109Google Scholar.

44 ERBGK 41, cf. Studia de Dionysus Atticis 1–5.

45 Procl. ad loc., Hsch. .

46 Fowler, W. W., Roman Festivals 4Google Scholar.

47 As Langdon points out, Babylonian astronomers of the sixth century had worked out the length of the lunar month to a degree of accuracy comparable with that of modern science, and ‘such precise calculations were the result of more than 2000 years of observation and continuous records’ (BMSC 11). That being so, they must have long possessed an accurate knowledge of the difference between the solar an d lunar years, which is the prerequisite for systematic intercalation.

48 Gem. 8. 26 (sc. ) .

49 Gem. 8. 33 .

50 See L. and S., and cf. Hdt. 1. 32. 3 .

51 Procl. Chr. 26, Paus. 9. 10. 4, Plu. M. 293c, 418a, Ael. VH 3. 1.

52 Cens. ND 18. 6. The Pythia began as a music festival (Str. 421) correlated with the Stepteria both in myth and ritual (FHG 2. 189, 4. 539, Ael. VH 3. 1). There was an in Pisidia as late as the 2–3rd cent. A.D. (BSA 16. 117Google Scholar).

53 Nilsson, PTR 364–5Google Scholar.

54 Cens. ND 18. 4 octaeteris facta, quae tune ennaeteris vocitata, quia primus eius annus novo quoque anno redibat.

55 Fotheringham 176. He adds: ‘And in fact it is easier to explain the festival periods as mere powers of two. We have two-year festivals, and four-year festivals, and eight-year festivals.’ This explanation explains nothing.

56 Sloley, R. W., ‘Science,’ Legacy of Egypt 171Google Scholar.

57 Farnell, , Cults 4. 421Google Scholar.

58 Porph. ad Il. 10. 252 , Ba. 7. 2–3 , Pi. O. 3. 33 sch. Ambr. (Weniger's text) , 35. sch. , 5. 14. sch. , , 3. 35. sch. , .

59 E. Alc. 445–51.

60 may be corrupt. Boeckh. would be closer to the text.

61 Weniger, L., ‘Das Hochfest des Zeus in Olympia,’ Klio 5. 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Cornford, F. M., ‘The Origin of the Olympic Games,’ Harrison Themis 212Google Scholar.

62 Jo. Lyd. de mens. 36.

63 Fotheringham 178.

64 PTR 365.

65 Paus. 5. 7. 6, quoting .

66 Paus. 8. 28. 2, 38. 2, 41. 2, Str. 387, cf. Paus. 4. 31. 9, 33. 1. They may have been brought to the Peloponnese by the Kydones (Str. 348, Od. 19. 176).

67 Nilsson, , Griechische Feste 118Google Scholar.

68 An intermediate stage in the same process can be seen in the Lesser (annual) and Greater (quadrennial) Panathenaia.

69 Paus. 5. 7. 7, 15. 3, Str. 353.

70 Iamos was a son of Euadna, daughter of Pitana (Pi. O. 6. 28–30, cf. Paus. 6. 2. 5), and Eurotas, father of Pitana, was a son of Lelex (Apld. 3. 10. 13), king of the Spartan Leleges (Paus. 3. 1. 1). Pitana was a Spartan townland (Paus. 3. 16. 9) and repeats Pitana in N.W. Anatolia (Str. 587, 607), which was one of the main centres of the Leleges (Str. 605–10). The termination -αμος is Anatolian (Kretschmer, , Geschichte der griechischen Sprache 325Google Scholar). I hope to deal elsewhere with the origin and distribution of the Leleges.

71 Paus. 6. 17. 6, cf. SIG 1021. 12.

72 Str. 336–7, cf. Plb. 4. 73. 7.

73 The dates, which are merely exempli gratia, are taken from Weniger's table (21). I have illustrated my argument rom the 3–5–8 form of the cycle, because that appears to have been the one in general use (see note 49), but the other possible variants would serve as well.

74 The month of the Games, whether Apollonios or Parthenios, was called (Inscr. Olymp. 8; Weniger 8).

75 Weniger 19.

76 Plu. Agis 11.

77 Od. 19. 178–9, Pl. Min. 319c, Legg. 624a–b, Str. 476, 482, D.S. 5. 78.

78 Plu. Thes. 15. Th e tribute is also described as annual: Verg. A. 6. 21.

79 Plu. Thes. 21, Call. Del. 307–13, Il. 18. 590–606.

80 Hsch. , D.L. 2. 44, Anon., VPlat. 6Google Scholar Cobet, Plu. M. 717d.

81 X. Mem. 4. 8. 2, Pl. Phdo 58a–b.

82 D.L. 2. 44, Phot. Lex. , Suid. , Phot., Bibl. 534Google Scholar Bekker.

83 Hooke, , Early Semitic Ritual 1016Google Scholar; Langdon, BEC 34–49, 57–9, 215–7Google Scholar; Wainwright, G. A., The Sky-Religion in Egypt (1938)Google Scholar.

84 Procl., Chr. 26Google Scholar, cf. Paus. 9. 10. 4.

85 Plu. M. 418a.

86 Langdon, BEC 1231Google Scholar.

87 Blackman, A. M., ‘Myth and Ritual in Ancient Egypt,’ Myth and Ritual 22–3Google Scholar.

88 Tritsch, F. J., ‘Die Agor a von Elis und die altgriechische Agora,’ Jahresh. d. öst. arch. Inst. 27. 83, 100Google Scholar.

89 Il. 2. 788–9, cf. Tritsch 98, 102.

90 Od. 8. 258–9, cf. 109.

91 The are expressly described as of the Games (Paus. 5. 9. 5) in keeping with my interpretation of that term (Aeschylus and Athens 125–6).

92 Od. 3. 5–8, Il. 2. 591–601, cf. Od. 3. 7 sch.; Glotz, , La cité grecque 44Google Scholar. These figures have been carefully calculated. Th e total of 9 × 500 men on the beach corresponds to the strength of the contingent (90 × 50).

93 SIG 1025.

94 Ath. 141e–f.

95 Str. 473.

96 Philostr., Her. 740Google Scholar; SIG 589.

97 Il. 6. 174, Od. 10. 19, 390, cf. Il. 18. 351, Theoc. 26. 29, Hes. Op. 436.

98 Apld. 2. 5. 11 . I do not understand the extra month. Was the originally a sacrifice of 99 oxen, corresponding to the months of the ?

99 Apld. 3. 4. 2, cf. Serv. ad Verg. A. 7. 761, Hes. Th. 801.

100 Pi. fr. 133, cf. Orph. fr. 295; Rohde, , Psyche 2. 211Google Scholar.

101 Wainwright 91, cf. Hooke, , Early Semitic Ritual 40Google Scholar.

102 PTR 171.

103 This, I take it, is what was meant by ‘the fixing of the fates,’ which was done at the Babylonian New Year festival by the king as the earthly representative of Marduk (Gadd 55–6; Hooke, , Early Semitic Ritual 1819Google Scholar). In an Assyrian text the king is instructed to ‘seek the place of the celestial equator, and thou shalt know the days to be filled in, and then fix thou the year and complete its supplement’ (Langdon, BMSC 108–9Google Scholar).

104 The Sumerian king was regarded as the earthly ‘tenant’ of the divine king, i.e. the local god (Gadd 61), which means that the god was a projection of the kingship. The Egyptian king prayed for life, health, and wealth in order that he might pass them on to his subjects (Blackman 25). Among the Jukuns of Nigeria, when a new king is proclaimed, the people fall down before him and cry, ‘Our crops! our rain! our health! our wealth!’ (Meek, C. K., A Sudanese Kingdom 137Google Scholar).

105 SIG 1109. 42.

106 Ath. 141f; Nilsson, , Criechische Feste 119 n. 3Google Scholar.

107 Hom. H. 2. 25, 51–2.

108 Harp. , A. Ch. 97 sch., Plu. M. 708–9, Ar. Pl. 594 sch., Poll. 5. 163, Thphr. Char. 16. 17, Ath. 325a.

109 Apul., Met. 11. 2Google Scholar, Serv. ad Verg. A. 4. 609, E. 3. 26, cf. Paus. 1. 43. 2, and see Cornford, , Essays and Studies Presented to W. Ridgeway, 161.

110 See the bibliography in his Lexikon 4. 646 and his Selene und Verwandtes (1890).