period of Ptolemaic control.^84 This inscription only proves that the Egyptian
calendar was known to whoever wrote it, but not that this was the calendar
that even he himself used.^85
The case of Samos reminds us that the spread of the Egyptian calendar in
the Ptolemaic Empire was by no means ubiquitous. Nevertheless, it is signifi-
cant that Egyptian dating is not attested anywhere outside the possessions of
the Ptolemaic Empire.^86 The spread of this calendar in the Mediterranean was
clearly contingent on Ptolemaic rule.
Libya CyrenaicaThe Egyptian civil calendar already makes itsfirst appearance in the city of
Cyrene under Ptolemy I Soter (inSEG9. 1). It was used there continuously
through the Ptolemaic period, although the Ptolemaic Macedonian calendar
was sometimes used along with it.^87 By the Roman period, and apparently
until the end of Antiquity, the Egyptian civil calendar—now, presumably,
adapted to the new Alexandrian calendar—seems to have become completely
standard.^88
The Egyptian calendar is also well attested in other cities of Lybia Cyrenaica
in the Roman period, e.g. Ptolemais and especially Tocra.^89 In the city of
Berenike, two substantial Jewish inscriptions from the latefirst centuryBCEor
earlyfirst centuryCEare dated according to the Egyptian calendar.^90 The use of
the Egyptian calendar by Jews—whose own religious calendar was otherwise
lunar, as can be demonstrated from these very inscriptions^91 —demonstrates
(^84) See e.g. Hallof (2000) nos. 82, 151, 169, 172, Michel (1900) 738–9 no. 899, Samuel (1972)
120 – 1.
(^85) In actual fact, the omission of Choiak in this list of months may suggest poor knowledge of
the Egyptian calendar.
(^86) According toCILviii. 17584, the Egyptian date‘4 Choiak 269’appears in a fragmentary
mosaicfloor from late Roman Byzacena (present-day Tunisia), i.e. well beyond the geographical
area of the earlier Ptolemaic Empire. The reading of this inscription, however, is very uncertain.
The meaning of 269 is also unclear, as a long era is not known to have been used in Africa in the
late Roman period. 87
Double datings appear in inscriptions from Cyrene of 155BCE(SEG9. 7) and 108BCE(SEG
- 5, l. 60; for this year—better than 161BCE—see Bennett http://www.tyndalehouse.com/Egypt/
ptolemies/chron/chronology.htm). The latter also mentions (in l. 45) the Greek month-name of
Theudaisios, which is presumably local and pre-Ptolemaic (it is well attested in other ancient
Greek calendars: see Samuel 1972: 297).
(^88) SEG9..4 (16/15BCE), 244 (112CE), 246 (20CE), 267 (late 3rd c.CE), and 286 (?);SEG52:
1841 – 2 (1st c.CE).
(^89) Ptolemais:SEG9. 375, 379. Tocra: ibid. 467, 557–723, and the Jewish tombstones inSEG
- 877–929.
(^90) SEG16. 931; Reynolds (1981) 244–7 (nos. 17–18). For the precise dating of these inscrip-
tions, see Stern (2001) 58 91 – 61, 120–1.
Stern (2001) 120–1. On Jewish Diaspora calendars, see Ch. 6.
192 Calendars in Antiquity