1
Calendars of Ancient Greece
Ancient Greek calendars go back to early Antiquity, but evidence of how they
were structured and reckoned begins only in the sixth centuryBCE.^1 In general
the calendars of Greece were lunar, but their lunar character could be dis-
rupted by deliberate interference or tampering. More is known about the
calendars of Athens than those of any other city, but there is sufficient
evidence from elsewhere to confirm that all Greek calendars broadly shared
the same structural features. Perhaps the main difference between the calen-
dars of Greek cities and islands was their month-names, which gave the
outward appearance of considerable diversity.^2
The main Athenian calendar is often called ‘archontic’ or ‘festival
calendar’—although its use went far beyond the determination of festival
dates—to distinguish it from the so-called‘prytanic calendar’, peculiar to
Athens, that was used at Athens alongside it. As we shall see, this dual calendar
system has not helped modern scholars to work out how each calendar
worked; on the contrary, it has only exacerbated the difficulties. I shall
examinefirst the festival calendar, because it was common, in its broad
features, to the whole of Greece; the Athenian, prytanic calendar and the
problems arising from it will be discussed later in this chapter.
(^1) Earlier literary sources such as Homer or Hesiod are remarkably uninformative about the
way their calendars were structured or reckoned (on Hesiod see also below, n. 104). For
discussion of the evidence for archaic Greek calendars, see Hannah (2005) 16–27. A tradition
reported by Diogenes Laertes (1. 59,c.3rd c.CE) that Solon ordered the Athenians to‘run their
days according to the moon’is unlikely to mean that prior to the 6th c.BCE, the Athenian
calendar took no account of the lunar month (Hannah 2005: 29). If this tradition is reliable, it
means perhaps that Solon demanded the calendar to be more precisely aligned with the lunar
month. 2
Evidence for non-Athenian calendars is assembled by Samuel (1972) 64–138; see also the
review by D. M. Lewis (1975). For a general introduction to the Athenian calendars, see Samuel
(1972) 57–64 andWoodhead (1992) 117–22. The Athenian month-names (in the archontic
calendar) were Hekatombaion, Metageitnion, Boedromion, Pyanepsion, Maimakterion, Posei-
deon, Gamelion, Anthesterion, Elaphebolion, Mounychion, Thargelion, Skirophorion. I shall not
list the month-names of other cities and islands, as they are less important to our study, and
available in Samuel (1972); see also Bickerman (1968) 20–1. For a comprehensive study of Greek
month-names, their order, meaning, and etymology, see Trümpy (1997).