civil wars. In 48BCE, after Pompey’s defeat, Ariobarzanes was able to make
peace with Julius Caesar. The adaptation to the Julian calendar, which
I suggest took place in 44BCE, may have been a rather original attempt by
Ariobarzanes tofind favour with Caesar.^94 But unwittingly, this set a trend
that was soon to spread to all the Roman provinces of Asia Minor and the
Near East.
Salamis and other Cypriot calendarsAs we have seen in Chapter 4, the Egyptian civil calendar was originally
adopted in Cyprus during the period of Ptolemaic rule, and in this period,
there is no reason to doubt that it was reckoned in exactly the same way as in
Egypt. But in late Antiquity, sporadic evidence reveals that the Egyptian
calendar in Cyprus had undergone significant changes.^95 From dates supplied
by Epiphanius (bishop of Salamis in the late fourth century) and Alexander of
Cyprus (mid-sixth century, also from Salamis), it can be inferred that the
calendar of Salamis, the main city of eastern Cyprus, had retained Egyptian
month-names and the structure of twelve 30-day months andfive epagomenal
days, although it was now adapted to the Julian calendar (presumably, again,
with a sixth epagomenal day in leap years). However, two Egyptian month-
names had been suppressed from the sequence, probably to make space for
two new names at the end of the year, one of which was possibly named
‘Rhomaios’in honour of Rome (as some epigraphic evidence suggests: see
Table 5.5 and Stern 2010a). Furthermore, the New Year in Salamis occurred
on 4 September, whereas in the Alexandrian calendar it was 29 August—thus a
six-day difference between the two calendars.
Although the literary evidence is late (fourth–sixth centuries), the calendar
of Salamis is far less likely to have undergone these changes in late Antiquity
than during the political upheavals of the mid-first centuryBCE, when Cyprus
was detached from Ptolemaic rule and annexed to Rome. Earlier scholars have
argued, indeed, that the New Year of 4 September indicates that the calendar
was instituted in the late 40sBCE, because the New Year of the Egyptian civil
calendar (1 Thoth), which until then was used in Cyprus, corresponded to
Roman 4 September in 44– 42 BCE; this date could have becomefixed through
the addition of a sixth epagomenal day in 41BCEand subsequently in all
(^94) Unfortunately, by December 44BCEJulius Caesar had already been assassinated; Ariobar-
zanes was killed not long after by Cassius. See Sullivan (1980), (1990) 174–85.
(^95) For a detailed study of the calendar of Salamis, which is presented here in summary, see
Stern (2010a), updating and revising Jerphanion (1932). The main sources of evidence are
Epiphanius,Panarion51. 24 (Williams 1987–94: ii. 55) and Alexander of Cyprus,Laudatio
Barnabaell. 846–50 (Van Deun 1993: 120). Unfortunately, this calendar is not attested in the
hemerologia.
Fragmentation: Babylonian and Julian Calendars 271