Egyptian calendar

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The ancient civil Egyptian Calendar, known as the Annus Vagus or "Wandering Year", had a year that was 365 days long, consisting of 12 months of 30 days each, plus 5 extra days at the end of the year. The months were divided into 3 "weeks" of ten days each.

This calendar was in use by 2400 BCE, and possibly before that. It was used throughout antiquity. It was used by astronomers in the Middle Ages because of its mathematical regularity.

The Egyptian calendar was simple, but it is neither a lunar nor a solar calendar. Months do not correspond to lunar months, and years do not correspond to solar years. The Egyptians were aware of this, and calculated their seasonal year by the stars, to be the time between successive heliacal risings of the star Sirius (which the Egyptians called Sopdet and the Greeks called Sothis). 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 a secondary lunar calendar.

According to the Roman writer Censorinus, the Egyptian New Year's Day fell on July 20 on 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, though earlier historians tended to push it back another whole cycle, to 4242 BCE.

In 238 BCE, the Ptolemaic rulers decreed that every 4th year should be 366 days long rather than 365. That practice was not followed, however, until the introduction of the "Alexandrian Calendar" in 22 BCE by Augustus. Calendars in use today (the Coptic Calendar and the Ethiopian calendar) are similar, as was the French Revolutionary calendar.

British orrery maker John Gleave represented the Egyptian calendar in a reconstruction of the Antikythera mechanism.

For most of Egyptian history, the months were not given individual names but rather were numbered within the three seasons of Akhet (Inundation), Proyet (Emergence), and Shomu (Harvest). During the New Kingdom, however, each month was given its own name. These eventually evolved into the Hellenistic names that were used among others for chronology by Ptolemy in his Almagest, and are still used today by the Coptic Church. The convention amongst modern Egyptologists is to number the months consecutively using Roman numerals.

The Egyptian calendar is still observed in Egypt today, especially by the fellahin who rely on it to calculate the agricultural seasons. It is also associated with many local festivals throughout the country.

No. Seasonal Names Individual Names Coptic Names Greek Names Modern names
I First of Akhet Tekh Thout Thoth Tout
II Second of Akhet Menhet Paopi Phaophi Baba
III Third of Akhet Hwt-Hwr Hathor Athyr Hatour
IV Fourth of Akhet Ka-Hr-Ka Koiak Choiak Kiahk
V First of Proyet Sf-Bdt Tobi Tybi Touba
VI Second of Proyet Rekh Wer Meshir Mechir Amshir
VII Third of Proyet Rekh Neds Paremhat Phamenoth Baremhat
VIII Fourth of Proyet Renwet Paremoude Pharmouthi Baramouda
IX First of Shomu Hnsw Pashons Pachon Bashans
X Second of Shomu Hnt-Htj Paoni Payni Ba'ouna
XI Third of Shomu Ipt-Hmt Epip Epiphi Abib
XII Fourth of Shomu Wep-Renpet Mesori Mesore Mesra

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