be given to the emperor Augustus by reforming the calendar of the province in
such a way that the New Year occur on 23 September, the birthday of
Augustus.^107 In the Latin appendix, the proconsul also lays out the lengths
of the months of the new calendar.^108
The decree that follows, issued by thekoinon, expresses an enthusiastic
endorsement of this proposal. The New Year is to occur on 23 September,
Augustus’birthday;^109 thefirst month, moreover, will be renamedKaisar
(‘Caesar’).^110 The months of the year and their lengths are laid out in full as
follows: Kaisar 31 days, Apellaios 30, Audnaios 31, Peritios 31, Dystros 28,
Xandikos 31, Artemision 30, Daisios 31, Panemos 30, Loos 31, Gorpiaios 31,
Hyperberetaios 30 (total: 365 days); every month will begin on the 9th day
before the kalends of the Julian month (inclusively counted, e.g. 23 September).
In a leap year, an intercalary day will be added to day 1 of Xandikos, which will
thus have 32 days.^111 Precise arrangements are made for the transition from
the old to the new calendar: the current month of Peritios will run its course
until the 14th, which will be 23 January; the next day (i.e. 24 January) will be
renamed 1 Dystros of the new calendar.^112
The year of the decree is not specified. However, the proconsul is named in
more than one source as Paulus Fabius Maximus, who is known to have been
consul in 11BCE. He could have become proconsul of Asia any time after that;
but the reference, in thekoinon’s decree, to the leap year occurring after two-
year intervals (i.e. every three years)^113 would not make much sense after
Augustus’reform of the Julian calendar, when leap years werefirst suspended
(after 8BCE), and then resumed (in 4CE) at a frequency of every four years.
Furthermore, thekoinon’s decree states thatKç’ôïò, which translates as‘this
year’,^114 the month of Xandikos will have 32 days because of the intercalation;
this implies that the decree was issued in a leap year.^115 According to the
model we have followed above (in Table 5.4), the only leap year after 11BCE,
governors, in this period, to control or interfere with local calendars, as when the propraetor
Verres tampered with the Sicilian calendar in the 70sBCE(see Ch. 1 n. 145).
(^107) Laffi(1967) 18–20, Docs. I–IV; Sherk (1969) 329–31, Docs. A–C.
(^108) Latin fragment from Apameia: LaffiDoc. II, Sherk Doc. B4.
(^109) Priene inscription, ll. 50–2, 54–6.
(^110) Ibid. ll. 54, 68. This seems to have been an addition to the proconsul’s proposal.
(^111) In this manner, the second day 1 of Xandikos will occur on the 9th before the calends of
March: see Samuel (1972) 174–6 and n. 1.
(^112) Priene inscription, ll. 67–77.
(^113) Ibid. ll. 76–7; also in Laffi(1967) 21, Doc. V.
(^114) This translation follows theSudas.v.KðÝôåØïí(Adler 1928–38: ii. 340) and other lexical
sources: Laffi(1967) 28 and n. 13.
(^115) Priene inscription, ll. 71–2. Sherk (1969) 335–6 completely ignores the evidence of this
phrase, and consequently leaves open the question of the precise date of the decree.
Fragmentation: Babylonian and Julian Calendars 275