tied to the civil calendar.^106 Although, as argued above, this early schematic
calendar may have been intended purely as a working model for future
planning, there is nothing to suggest that the Ptolemaic-period 25-year cycles
were not used for exactly the same purpose. In this respect, the latter lunar
schemes may be regarded as belonging to a single and continuous calendrical
tradition. The Egyptian predilection for lunar calendar schemes is itself a
reflection of the central position which had always been occupied byfixed
calendars, in particular the civil calendar, in Egyptian culture.
Were there lunar calendars in ancient Egypt?In conclusion to this section, the fundamental question must be asked as to
whether there were any lunar calendars in ancient Egypt. This depends, to a
large extent, on how‘calendars’are defined. A calendar is normally under-
stood to be a structured and continuous count of days and longer time units
(e.g. months) which is used to date events. Sporadic lunar dates as those
attested in Egypt indicate an awareness of the phases of the moon, but do
not constitute, by themselves, a continuous calendar so defined. Scholars have
therefore debated whether the existence and use of a lunar calendar in Egypt
can be inferred.^107
Thefirst point to note is that in all the sources, lunar dates are never (or
rarely) provided on their own, but instead appear together with corresponding
dates in the civil calendar. This suggests not only subordination to the civil
calendar, but also that lunar dates were not readily understandable unless
related to the civil calendar. This would appear to indicate that although lunar
dates could be determined for cultic and other related purposes, they were not
reckoned independently as a self-standing calendar.^108
Moreover, some of the features that one expects tofind in lunar calendars are
conspicuously absent. Lunar months, for example, are in most cases neither
numbered nor named. The only text with a possible list of twelve lunar month-
names is the Ebers calendar, although its interpretation is contentious.^109 Lunar
month-names are otherwise only very sporadically attested: in three double
(^106) See above, near n. 61. This runs counter to Parker’s assertion that no schematic lunar
calendar is attested before the 25-year cycle of pap. Carlsberg 9 (Parker 1950: 27), as well as to his
general contention that the lunar calendar tied to the civil calendar was‘new’.
(^107) See Depuydt (1997) 139–59, (2009) 124–6; Belmonte Avilés (2003).
(^108) Luft (1992) 232; Depuydt (1997) 147–52, 183–4.
(^109) See above. On this interpretation, the lunar month-names in the Ebers calendar would be
wp-rnpt,th
%
y,mnh
%
t, etc. The namewp-rnptpossibly refers also to a lunar month in pap. Berlin
10218 (Luft 1992: 107–9; see above, n. 32). On the ceiling of Senmut’s tomb (c.1473BCE),wp-rnpt
is usually interpreted as the twelfth month of the civil year (above, n. 31), but a lunar interpreta-
tion cannot be ruled out.
The Egyptian Calendar 159