Roman leap years.^96 On historical grounds, however, this specific dating is
implausible, as it is reasonably well established that in the mid- and later 40s
BCE, Cyprus belonged to the Ptolemaic kingdom.^97 In this period, Salamis
would have had no reason to adapt its calendar to that of the Romans; quite on
the contrary, it had every reason to maintain the Egyptian civil calendar of its
Ptolemaic rulers.^98 It is far more likely, instead, that the calendar of Salamis
was adapted after 30BCE, when Cyprus became part of the Roman Empire and
was, moreover, administratively detached from the now Roman province of
Egypt.^99 The adaptation of the Egyptian calendar of Cyprus, or more specifi-
cally of Salamis, to the Julian year is better dated, therefore, to the early 20sBCE
(elsewhere I have suggested how the New Year of 4 September might be
reconciled with this slightly later dating, assuming afirst leap year in 26BCE
Table 5.5.The calendar months of Salamis (after Stern 2010a)
Alexandrian calendar Calendar of SalamisI Thoth Thoth or Phaophi
II Phaophi Phaophi or Hathyr
III Hathyr Choiach
IV Choiach Tybi
V Tybi Mechir or Phamenoth
VI Mechir Phamenoth or Pharmuthi
VII Phamenoth Pharmuthi or Pachons
VIII Pharmuthi Pachons or Payni
IX Pachons Payni or Epiphi
X Payni Mesore
XI Epiphi?
XII Mesore Rhomaios?
Epagomenal days Epagomenal days
Note: all months are 30 days long, but the months of Salamis are not conterminous with the Alexandrian (the
year begins on 29 August at Alexandria, on 4 September at Salamis).
(^96) See Table 5.4. This argument was put forward by Jerphanion (1932, followed by Bickerman
1968: 48, Samuel 1972: 184–6), although assuming a different model for the Julian calendar in
this period which led them to the conclusion that the calendar of Salamis was adapted to the
Julian calendar as early as 46 97 BCE.
Cyprus had been annexed by Rome in 58, but was later ceded to Cleopatra, probably by
Julius Caesarc.48BCE. The Ptolemaic possession was later confirmed by Antonius in 40 or the
early 30s. This lasted until the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty in 30BCE. See Hill (1949) 211, 230,
Schürer (1973–87) i. 288–9 n. 5, Bagnall (1976) 1, Mitford (1980) 1290–4.
(^98) Jerphanion (1932) 22–4 is aware of this difficulty, and attempts somehow to address it; but
for some reason Bickerman (1968) 48 and Samuel (1972) 184–6 ignore it completely.
(^99) The imperial administrative status of Cyprus in the 20sBCEis moot (Mitford 1980: 1295),
but it was clearly never associated with the Roman province of Egypt. By 27BCEit was an imperial
province, perhaps in combination with Cilicia (as it seems to have been in the 50sBCE); by 22BCE,
it was an independent senatorial province (Hill 1949: 230).
272 Calendars in Antiquity