Egyptian calendar
Encyclopedia
The ancient civil Egyptian calendar had a year that was 360 days long and was divided into 12 months of 30 days each, plus five extra days (epagomenae, from Greek
ἐπαγόμεναι) at the end of the year. The months were divided into three 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 therefore "wandered" through the calendar, it has been referred to as the annus vagus, or "wandering year".
Based on his understanding of the Palermo Stone
, Alexander Scharff believed that the Old Kingdom
period observed a year with 320 days.
King Djer
(c. 3000 BC) was conjectured by early Egyptologists to indicate that the Egyptians had already established a link between the heliacal rising
of Sirius
(Egyptian
Sopdet, Greek
Sothis), and the beginning of the year. However, more recent analysis of the pictorial scene on this tablet has questioned whether it actually refers to Sothis at all. Current knowledge of this period remains a matter more of speculation than of established fact.
The Egyptians may have used a luni-solar calendar at an earlier date, with the intercalation
of an extra month regulated either by the heliacal rising of Sothis or by the inundation of the fields by the Nile. 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. 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 one day in four years. Similarly, the Egyptians were aware that 309 lunation
s nearly equaled 9125 days, or 25 Egyptian years, which was later used in the construction of a secondary lunar calendar that did not depend on observations.
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 for chronology
by Ptolemy
in his Almagest
, and by others.
Copernicus
constructed his tables for the motion of the planets based on the Egyptian year because of its mathematical regularity. The convention amongst modern Egyptologists
is to number the months consecutively using Roman numerals
.
writer Censorinus
, the Egyptian New Year's Day fell on July 20 in the Julian Calendar
in AD 139, 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 BC, and the one before that was 2782 BC. 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 BC.
In 238 BC, 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 BC, which included a sixth epagomenal day for the first time in 22 BCE. This almost stopped the movement of the first day of the year, 1 Thoth, relative to the seasons, leaving it on 29 August in the Julian calendar
except in the year before a Julian leap year, when a sixth epagomenal day occurred on 29 August, shifting 1 Thoth to 30 August.
as the Coptic calendar
of the Egyptian Church and by the Egyptian populace at large, particularly the fellah
in, 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 reformed 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
.
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
ἐπαγόμεναι) at the end of the year. The months were divided into three 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 therefore "wandered" through the calendar, it has been referred to as the annus vagus, or "wandering year".
Based on his understanding of the Palermo Stone
Palermo stone
The Palermo Stone is a large fragment of a stele known as the Royal Annals of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. It contains records of the kings of Egypt from the first dynasty through the fifth dynasty....
, Alexander Scharff believed that the Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley .The term itself was...
period observed a year with 320 days.
Early use
A tablet from the reign of First DynastyFirst dynasty of Egypt
The first dynasty of Ancient Egypt is often combined with the Dynasty II under the group title, Early Dynastic Period of Egypt...
King Djer
Djer
Djer was the second or third pharaoh of the first dynasty of Egypt, which dates from approximately 3100 BC. Some scholars, however, debate whether the first pharaoh, Menes or Narmer, and Hor-Aha might have been different rulers. If they were separate rulers, this would make Djer the third pharaoh...
(c. 3000 BC) was conjectured by early Egyptologists to indicate that the Egyptians had already established a link between the heliacal rising
Heliacal rising
The heliacal rising of a star occurs when it first becomes visible above the eastern horizon for a brief moment just before sunrise, after a period of time when it had not been visible....
of Sirius
Sirius
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. With a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, it is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. The name "Sirius" is derived from the Ancient Greek: Seirios . The star has the Bayer designation Alpha Canis Majoris...
(Egyptian
Egyptian language
Egyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the...
Sopdet, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
Sothis), and the beginning of the year. However, more recent analysis of the pictorial scene on this tablet has questioned whether it actually refers to Sothis at all. Current knowledge of this period remains a matter more of speculation than of established fact.
The Egyptians may have used a luni-solar calendar at an earlier date, with the intercalation
Intercalation
Intercalation is the insertion of a leap day, week or month into some calendar years to make the calendar follow the seasons or moon phases. Lunisolar calendars may require intercalations of both days and months.- Solar calendars :...
of an extra month regulated either by the heliacal rising of Sothis or by the inundation of the fields by the Nile. The first inundation according to the calendar was observed in Egypt's first capital, Memphis
Memphis, Egypt
Memphis was the ancient capital of Aneb-Hetch, the first nome of Lower Egypt. Its ruins are located near the town of Helwan, south of Cairo.According to legend related by Manetho, the city was founded by the pharaoh Menes around 3000 BC. Capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, it remained an...
, at the same time as the heliacal rising of Sirius. The Egyptian year was divided into the three seasons of akhet
Season of the Inundation
The Season of the Inundation is the first season in the ancient Egyptian calendar and corresponds roughly with early September to early January....
(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
Sothic cycle
The Sothic cycle or Canicular period is a period of 1,461 ancient Egyptian years or 1,460 Julian years...
). The difference between a seasonal year and a civil year was therefore 365 days in 1460 years, or one day in four years. Similarly, the Egyptians were aware that 309 lunation
Lunation
Lunation is the mean time for one lunar phase cycle . It is on average 29.530589 days, or 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes and 3 seconds...
s nearly equaled 9125 days, or 25 Egyptian years, which was later used in the construction of a secondary lunar calendar that did not depend on observations.
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
Middle Kingdom of Egypt
The Middle Kingdom of Egypt is the period in the history of ancient Egypt stretching from the establishment of the Eleventh Dynasty to the end of the Fourteenth Dynasty, between 2055 BC and 1650 BC, although some writers include the Thirteenth and Fourteenth dynasties in the Second Intermediate...
, however, each month had its own name. These finally evolved into the New Kingdom
New Kingdom
The New Kingdom of Egypt, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt....
months, which in turn gave rise to the Hellenized
Hellenization
Hellenization is a term used to describe the spread of ancient Greek culture, and, to a lesser extent, language. It is mainly used to describe the spread of Hellenistic civilization during the Hellenistic period following the campaigns of Alexander the Great of Macedon...
names that were used for chronology
Chronology
Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time, such as the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events".Chronology is part of periodization...
by Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
in his Almagest
Almagest
The Almagest is a 2nd-century mathematical and astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths. Written in Greek by Claudius Ptolemy, a Roman era scholar of Egypt,...
, and by others.
Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
constructed his tables for the motion of the planets based on the Egyptian year because of its mathematical regularity. The convention amongst modern Egyptologists
Egyptology
Egyptology is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century. A practitioner of the discipline is an “Egyptologist”...
is to number the months consecutively using Roman numerals
Roman numerals
The numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as:...
.
Ptolemaic and Roman
According to RomanAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
writer Censorinus
Censorinus
Censorinus, Roman grammarian and miscellaneous writer, flourished during the 3rd century AD.He was the author of a lost work De Accentibus and of an extant treatise De Die Natali, written in 238, and dedicated to his patron Quintus Caerellius as a birthday gift...
, the Egyptian New Year's Day fell on July 20 in the Julian Calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
in AD 139, 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 BC, and the one before that was 2782 BC. 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 BC.
In 238 BC, the Ptolemaic rulers
Ptolemaic dynasty
The Ptolemaic dynasty, was a Macedonian Greek royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC...
decreed
Decree of Canopus
The Decree of Canopus is a bilingual inscription in two languages, and in three scripts. It was written in three writing systems: Egyptian hieroglyphs, Egyptian Demotic, and Greek, on an ancient Egyptian memorial stone stele, the Stone of Canopus...
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
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
in 26/25 BC, which included a sixth epagomenal day for the first time in 22 BCE. This almost stopped the movement of the first day of the year, 1 Thoth, relative to the seasons, leaving it on 29 August in the Julian calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
except in the year before a Julian leap year, when a sixth epagomenal day occurred on 29 August, shifting 1 Thoth to 30 August.
Reformed calendar
The reformed Egyptian calendar continues to be used in EgyptEgypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
as the Coptic calendar
Coptic calendar
The Coptic calendar, also called the Alexandrian calendar, is used by the Coptic Orthodox Church and still used in Egypt. This calendar is based on the ancient Egyptian calendar...
of the Egyptian Church and by the Egyptian populace at large, particularly the fellah
Fellah
Fellah , also alternatively known as Fallah is a peasant, farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East and North Africa...
in, 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
Flooding of the Nile
has been an important natal cycle in Egypt since ancient times. It is celebrated by Egyptians as an annual holiday for two weeks starting August 15, known as Wafaa El-Nil. It is also celebrated in the Coptic Church by ceremonially throwing a martyr's relic into the river, hence the name, Esba`...
and the ancient Spring festival sham en nisim.
The Ethiopian calendar
Ethiopian calendar
The Ethiopian calendar , also called the Ge'ez calendar, is the principal calendar used in Ethiopia and also serves as the liturgical calendar for Christians in Eritrea belonging to the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic Church and Lutheran Evangelical Church of Eritrea...
is based on this reformed calendar but uses Amharic
Amharic language
Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working...
names for its months and uses a different era. The French Republican Calendar
French Republican Calendar
The French Republican Calendar or French Revolutionary Calendar was a calendar created and implemented during the French Revolution, and used by the French government for about 12 years from late 1793 to 1805, and for 18 days by the Paris Commune in 1871...
was similar, but began its year at the autumnal equinox
Equinox
An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator...
. British orrery
Orrery
An orrery is a mechanical device that illustrates the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons in the Solar System in a heliocentric model. Though the Greeks had working planetaria, the first orrery that was a planetarium of the modern era was produced in 1704, and one was presented...
maker John Gleave represented the Egyptian calendar in a reconstruction of the Antikythera mechanism
Antikythera mechanism
The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient mechanical computer designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was recovered in 1900–1901 from the Antikythera wreck. Its significance and complexity were not understood until decades later. Its time of construction is now estimated between 150 and 100...
.
| No. | Seasonal Names | Middle Kingdom Middle Kingdom of Egypt The Middle Kingdom of Egypt is the period in the history of ancient Egypt stretching from the establishment of the Eleventh Dynasty to the end of the Fourteenth Dynasty, between 2055 BC and 1650 BC, although some writers include the Thirteenth and Fourteenth dynasties in the Second Intermediate... |
New Kingdom New Kingdom The New Kingdom of Egypt, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt.... |
Greek Greek language Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;... |
Coptic Coptic language Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century... |
Egyptian Arabic Egyptian Arabic Egyptian Arabic is the language spoken by contemporary Egyptians.It is more commonly known locally as the Egyptian colloquial language or Egyptian dialect .... |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latin script | Greek script | Latin script | Arabic script | |||||
| I | First of Akhet | Tekh | Dhwt | Thoth Thoth Thoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat... |
Θώθ | Thout Thout Thout , also known as Tout, is the first month of the Coptic calendar. It lies between 11 September and 10 October of the Gregorian calendar... |
Tout | توت |
| II | Second of Akhet | Menhet | Pa-n-ip.t | Phaophi | Φαωφί/Φαῶφι | Paopi Paopi Paopi , also known as Baba, is the second month of the Coptic calendar. It lies between October 11 and November 9 of the Gregorian calendar... |
Baba | بابه |
| III | Third of Akhet | Ḥwt-ḥwr | Ḥwt-ḥwr | Athyr | Ἀθύρ | Hathor Month of Hathor Hathor , also known as Hatour, is the third month of the Coptic calendar. It lies between November 10 and December 9 of the Gregorian calendar... |
Hatour | هاتور |
| IV | Fourth of Akhet | Ka-ḥr-ka | Ka-ḥr-ka | Choiak | Χοιάκ/Χοίακ | Koiak Koiak Koiak , also known as Kiahk, is the fourth month of the Coptic calendar. It lies between December 10 and January 8 of the Gregorian calendar... |
Kiahk | (كياك (كيهك |
| V | First of Peret | Sf-bdt | Ta-'b | Tybi | Τυβί/Τῦβι | Tobi Month of Tobi Tobi , also known as Touba, is the fifth month of the Coptic calendar. It lies between January 9 and February 7 of the Gregorian calendar... |
Touba | طوبه |
| VI | Second of Peret | Rekh wer | Mechir | Μεχίρ/Μεχείρ | Meshir Meshir Meshir , also known as Amshir, is the sixth month of the Coptic calendar. It lies between February 8 and March 9 of the Gregorian calendar... |
Amshir | أمشير | |
| VII | Third of Peret | Rekh neds | Pa-n-amn-htp.w | Phamenoth | Φαμενώθ | Paremhat Paremhat Paremhat , also known as Baramhat, is the seventh month of the Coptic calendar. It lies between March 10 and April 8 of the Gregorian calendar.... |
Baramhat | برمهات |
| VIII | Fourth of Peret | Renwet | Pa-n-rnn.t | Pharmouthi | Φαρμουθί/Φαρμοῦθι | Paremoude Paremoude Parmouti , also known as Barmouda, is the eighth month of the Coptic calendar. It lies between April 9 and May 8 of the Gregorian calendar. Paremoude was also the fourth month of the Season of Proyet in Ancient Egypt, when the Nile floods recede and the crops start to grow throughout Egypt... |
Baramouda | برموده |
| IX | First of Shemu | Hnsw | Pachon | Παχών | Pashons Pashons Pashons , also known as Bashans, is the ninth month of the Coptic calendar. It lies between May 9 and June 7 of the Gregorian calendar. The month of Pashons is also the first month of the Season of 'Shemu' in Ancient Egypt, where the Egyptians harvest their crops throughout the land of Egypt... |
Bashans | بشنس | |
| X | Second of Shemu | Hnt-htj | Pa-n-in.t | Payni | Παϋνί/Παῦνι | Paoni Paoni Paoni , also known as Baona, is the tenth month of the Coptic calendar. It lies between June 8 and July 7 of the Gregorian calendar... |
Ba'ouna | بئونه |
| XI | Third of Shemu | Ipt-hmt | Ipip | Epiphi | Ἐπιφί/Ἐπείφ | Epip Epip Epip , also known as Abib, is the eleventh month of the Coptic calendar. It lies between July 8 and August 6 of the Gregorian calendar. The month of Epip is also the third month of the Season of 'Shemu' in Ancient Egypt, where the Egyptians harvest their crops throughout the land of Egypt.... |
Abib | أبيب |
| XII | Fourth of Shemu | Wep-renpet | Msw-r' | Mesore | Μεσορή | Mesori Mesori Mesori , also known as Mesra, is the twelfth month of the Coptic calendar. It lies between August 7 and September 5 of the Gregorian calendar. The month of Mesori is also the fourth month of the Season of 'Shemu' in Ancient Egypt, where the Egyptians harvest their crops throughout Egypt... |
Mesra | مسرا |
External links
- Date Converter for Ancient Egypt
- Calendrica Includes the Egyptian civil calendar with years in PtolemyPtolemyClaudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
's Nabonassar Era (year 1 = 747 BC) as well as the Coptic, Ethiopic, and French calendars. - CIVIL4.0 is a tiny DOS program (Zipped, 25kB) to convert Egyptian Civil dates into Julian or Gregorian dates, BC and AD.
- Detailed information about the Egyptian calendars, including lunar cycles