Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

CALENDARIUM. CALENDARIUMi. 223
Would accordingly have contained 444 days. But The month in which the year began, as well
this is not very probable. The period of 8 solar as the names of the months, differed in the difyears, further, contains 99 revolutions of the ferent countries of Greece, and in some parts even
moon, which, with the addition of the three inter- no names existed for the months, they being discalary months, make 29231 days; so that in every tinguished only numerically, as the first, second,
8 years there is 1 day too many, which in third, fourth month, &c. In order, therefore, to
the course of 100 years, again amounts to one -acquire any satisfactory knowledge of the Greek
month. The enneaeteris, accordingly, again was calendar, the different states must be considered
incorrect. The time at which the cycle of the en- separately.
neaeteris was introduced is uncertain, but its inac- The Attic year began with the summer solstice,
curacy called forth a number of other improvements and each month was divided into three decads, from
or attempts at establishing chronology on a sound the 1st to the 10th, from the 10th to the 20th, and,basis, the most celebrated among which is that of from the 20th to the 29th or 30th. The first day
Meton. The number of these attempts is- a suf- of a month, or the day after the conjunction, was
ficient proof that none of them was ever sanctioned eovuw7v'a; and as the first decad was designated as
or adopted by law in any of the Greek republics. orajievov/ v4,r, the days were regularly counted
These circumstances render it almost impossible to as euVT'pa, Tpir'q, ECrdp'l, &c., ArpVbs Io-aEI.
reduce any given-date in Greek history to the exact Yov. The days of the second: decad were disdate of our calendar. tinguished as eirl &eca, or /iEaooYTos-, and were
The Greeks, as early as the time of Homer, ap- counted to 20 regularly, as -rpriv, ErrUT pae, TpTl,
pear to have been perfectly fanmiliar with the divi- -TETTcPT1', &c., e&ri Iemfa. The 20th itself was
sion of the year into the twelve lunar months called edicds, and the days from the 20th to the
mentioned above; but no intercalary month (/my' 30th were counted in two different ways, viz.
gd.CJAlos) or day is mentioned. Independent of either onwards, as arpucT, 8EvrEpa, 7p17i7, &c.,
the division of a month into days, it was divided Cirl EiKcUl, or backwards from the last day of the
into periods according to the increase, and decrease month with the addition of )OivomrTos, 7ravoAciyov,
of the moon. Thus, the first day ornew moon was XA'yov-os, or alrrov'os, as dvv'77l, fmE i7c, &c.,
called YovAlyvia. (Hom. Od. x. 14, xii. 325, xx. 0pivovros!, which, of course, are different dates in
156, xxi. 258; Hes. Op. et Dies, 770.) The hollowand in full months. But thismodeofcountperiod from the vouvuYvia until the moon was full, ing backwards seems to have been more commonly
was expressed by /xuvbs LforaIezEou, and the latter used than the other. W~ith regard to the hollow
part during which the moon decreased by ul?7v1s months, it must be observed, that the Athenians,
t0l'voesos. (Hom. Od. xiv. 162.) The 30th day generally speaking, counted 29 days, but in the
of a month, i. e. the day of the conjunction, was month of Boedromion they counted 30, leaving
called'rptartcd, or, according to a regulation of out the second, because on that day Athena and
Solon (Plut. Sol. 25), E'Vr Kal vEa, because one Poseidon were believed to have disputed about the
part of that day belonged to the expiring, and the possession of Attica. (Plut. De Frat. Am. p. 489,
other to the beginning month. The day of the Synpos. ix. 7.) The following table shows the
fill moon, or the middle of the month, is some- succession of the Attic months, the number of days
times designated by a8X4IV5Lvs. (Pind. 01. iv. they contained, and the corresponding months of
34.) our year.
1. Hecatombaeon ('EKcaokeCaltSv) contained 30 days, and corresponds nearly to our July.
2. Metageitnion (MEsTa-ye-LrYi') 29 - August.
3. Boedromion (Boq7SpogUct1) - 30 - -. September
4. Pyanepsion (IlvavescV') -- 29 - October
b. Maimacterion (MaIIuaCaKepLv) - 30 - - November
6. Poseideon (HoomaesEYV) - 29 - December.
7. Gamelion (racA lmciv) - 30 - January
8. Anthesterion ('AVeOErEPWStV) - 29 - - February.
9. Elaphebolion ('EAampjoAxm'v) - 30 - - March.
10. Munychion (MovvvXwiv) - 29 - April.
11. Thargelion (ap-yslhAcv) - 30 - - May.
12. Scirophorion (4t1CpopopLacv) - 29 - - June.
At the time when the Julian Calendar was of the year was transferred from the summer soladopted by the Athenians, probably about the stice to the autumnal equinox.
time of the Emperor Hadrian, the lunar year ap- The year of the Lacedaemonians, which is bepears to have been changed into the solar year; and lieved to have begun at the time of the autumnal
it has further been conjectured, that the beginning equinox, contained the following months:1. Herasius ('Hpdosos), nearly corresponding to our October.
2. Apellaeus ('A7reAAeos) - November.
3. Diosthyus (AtioOvos) - - December.
4. Unknown.
5. Eleusinius ('Eevoo'vlos) - February.
6. Gerastius (repadr-tos) M- arch.
7. Artemisius ('ApTe/etl5o') - April.
8. Delphinius (AEAcivmos) - - Iay.
9. Phliasius (rIcXTtdoaos) - June.
10. Hecatombeus ('EKaTrocuges) - - July.
11. Carneius (KpYe7OSs) - - August.
12. Panamus (ldevaytos) - -- September.