Calendars in Antiquity. Empires, States, and Societies

Table 2.5.

Intercalations in the later Achaemenid period (from Darius II) and the Seleucid period, arranged in 19-year cycles

Year 1of cycle

12 34 5 6 7 8 910111213141516171819

424/3

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

VI

a 2

XII

2

405/4

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

VI

b 2

XII

2

386/5

XII

c 2

(XII

) 2

d

XII

2

XII

2

(XII

) 2

e

(VI

) 2

f

XII

2

367/6

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

VI

2

XII

2

348/7

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

VI

2

XII

2

329/8

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

g 2

XII

2

VI

2

XII

2

310/9

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

VI

2

XII

2

291/0

XII

2

XII

2

XII

h 2

XII

2

XII

2

VI

2

272/1

XII

2

XII

2

XII

i 2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

VI

2

XII

2

253/2

XII

2

XII

2

(XII

) 2

j

XII

k 2

XII

l 2

VI

2

XII

2

234/3

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

VI

2

215/14

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

VI

2

XII

2

196/5

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

XII

2

VI

2

XII

2

177/6

(XII

) 2

m

XII

2

XII

2

158/7

XII

2

XII

2

aSo, for 408/7, according to two sources (of which one is economic) listed in Parker and Dubberstein (1956: 9) and one additional source listed by

W

alker (unpubl.: LBAT 1411

• 12).

W

alker notes that according to LBAT 1427 the intercalation was XII

; it is likely that LBAT 1427, a Saros text of lunar eclipses, represents a theoretical reconstruction of the calendar that is 2

historically incorrect (see

W

alker 1997: 24).

bSo, for 389/8, in Parker and Dubberstein (1956: 9) and in an observational text in Sachs and Hunger (1988-2006: v, no.59; see also textual reconstructi

on ibid. no. 61). It has been

suggested that LBAT 1414 implies instead XII

( 2

W

alker 1997: 24)

—

which if correct, would push the institution of the Saros Canon cycle even later

—

but according to Sachs and Hunger

(ibid. no. 2, pp. 6

• 7; also the appendix by J. M. Steele, ibid. 390


• 9), this entry in LBAT 1414 is to be dated


• 333 (334

BCE

).

cSo according to observational astronomical texts in Sachs and Hunger ibid. i, no. 384, v, nos. 59

• 
  
  
  
  61. Saros Canon texts, however, place this intercalation in the next year (384/3), where
  
  
  
  

indeed it would rightly belong according to the Saros Canon cycle (in year 3): see Aaboe

et al.

(1991) 14

• 
  
  
  
  16. Britton (2007: 122) argues that
  
  
  
  

‘since this is the sole anomaly in a century of