processes. JuliusCaesar’scalendar reform, for example, was motivated by
politicalconditions specific to the end of the Roman Republic and his own
politicalaspirations; he did not regard his new calendar as conforming to a
grand, macro-historicaltrajectory of calendar schematization andfixation,
and it is even doubtfulwhether he saw his calendar as responding to the
administrative demands of an empire that had dramatically expanded in the
preceding two decades. This raises questions not only about individualmoti-
vation in historicalevents, but also about what might be called macro-history
andstructures delonguedurée—whether these are realhistoricalforces, or the
just product of modern scholars’interpretative imagination.^3
There is along-standing tradition in scholarship of studying ancient calen-
dars as a mathematical, sometimes also astronomical, exercise;^4 one of the
purposes of this work has been to reclaim the study of ancient calendars for
socialhistorians, and to establish calendars as alegitimate part of social
history. The study of a specific theme through the entire sweep of ancient
history, asIhave carried out here with ancient calendars, provides a novel
perspective on Antiquity which could be productively applied in many other
specialized areas of ancient culture and society. But coverage of the wholeof
Antiquity has forced me, on the other hand, to restrict myself to a narrow
aspect of ancient calendars: it was only possible, in this study, to focus on the
bare structure of calendars, i.e. on how days, months, and years were deter-
mined and reckoned. Likewise, my emphasis in this work on the political
context of calendars may be regarded aslimited in scope. Ancient calendars
could be approached from a variety of other angles,looking at the religious,
economic,legal, or other functions and meanings of calendars in ancient
societies. Questions that remain to be raised include, for example, how
calendars were used in practice in the context of religious cults, economic
transactions,letters andlegaldocuments,literary and other narratives of past
history and anticipated future, and a host of other socio-culturalactivities.In
this respect, the study of calendars in Antiquity remains a wide openfield.
(^3) SeeIntroduction n. 5.
(^4) This approach has ancient origins, going arguably as far back as Geminus ( 1 st c.BCE); in
modern times it was followed by Ginzel( 1911 ) and Neugebauer ( 1975 ), to name but a few.
430 Calendars in Antiquity