Calendars in Antiquity. Empires, States, and Societies

Table 2.6.

Babylonian intercalations in the Parthian period

(a

) Early Parthian period (142/1

• 88/7

BCE

), from cuneiform sources

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8

9 10 11

12 13 14

15

16 17

18 19

Year 1 of cycle

VI

a 2

XII

2

139/8

XII

2

XII

2

(XII

) 2

XII

2

VI

b 2

VI

2

120/19

XII

2

101/0

XII

2

XII

c 2

(b

) Middle Parthian period (26/5

BCE

• 78/9

CE

), from numismatic sources (after Assar 2003)

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8

9 10 11

12 13 14

15

16 17

18 19

(XII

) 2

BCE

25/4

6/5

XII

2

CE

14/15

33/4

(XII

)VI 2

2

(XII

) 2

52/3

(XII

) 2

(XII

) 2

71/2

(XII

) 2

aYear 142/1, in Sachs and Hunger (1988

• 
  
  
  
  2006. iii. 128
  
  
  
  


• 9 (year astronomically identi

fied) and Neugebauer (1955) ii. 442

• 3 (with also the next entry).

bThe previous entry (for 126/5, in year 14), which conforms to the Saros Canon cycle, is attested in BM 45629 (= CT 49: 143). The present entry (for 125/4),

which suggests an

intercalation six months later, is inferred from the date VI

(Ululu 1) in BM 33018 (text 21 in Hochberg 1998: 117 1

• 20).

cYear 88/7

BCE

, the latest dated intercalation attested in cuneiform sources (in Sachs and Hunger 1988

• 2006 iii).

Notes to Table 2.6 (b)

: Entries in brackets indicate intercalations where the month name is not speci

fied; Assar assumes in all cases XII

, but only on the basis of the Saros Canon 2

cycle.

Assar argues that the Seleucid Era assumed in Parthian coins begins in autumn 312

BCE

, as in Macedonian practice, and thus that all years begin in the autumn (more precisely in

Babylonian month VII; Babylonian cuneiform sources assume a Seleucid Era beginning six months later, in the spring of 311

BCE

;see further Chapter 5). This table follows Assar in

this respect, but for the sake of consistency with Table 2.6(

a) and previous tables in this chapter, I have converted the data in such a way that years run from spring to spring (month

I to month XII).

Not included in the table is a tetradrachm from the reign of Orodes II (57

-^38

BCE

), dated Gorpaios

embolimos

(VI

) but without the year. Assuming the Saros cycle, the year could 2

only have been 47

BCE

. In any event, this is the earliest evidence of intercalation on Parthian coins (Assar 2003: 178).