in rabbinic sources: according to Mishnah,RoshHa-Shanah1: 1 (early third
centuryCE),‘There are four New Years: the 1st of Nisan is the New Year for
kings and for [the cycle of] festivals...the 1st of Tishrei is the New Year for
[the count of ] years, sabbatical years, and jubilees, etc.’The prevalence of
autumn New Years in the Seleucid and post-Seleucid periods may thus reflect
local traditions rather than a specifically‘Macedonian’calendrical practice.
This raises questions as to whether the autumn New Year could have been
used by Seleucid rulers as a‘Macedonian’identity marker, although it would
certainly have distinguished the Seleucid-Macedonian from the Babylonian
calendar.
Calendar assimilation: the evidenceAs stated above, it is widely believed that the Macedonian calendar of the
Seleucid Empire was assimilated to the Babylonian. The evidence is very slim,
however, and not entirely satisfactory. A passage of Malalas (sixth centuryCE)
is occasionally cited, but all it says is that Seleucus I, while at Antioch, ordered
that the months of Syria be named in the Macedonian way.^15 This is generally
construed as meaning that the Babylonian calendar (which had been used in
Syria during the Achaemenid period) was fully retained, but with Macedonian
month-names.^16 However, other interpretations are equally possible: e.g. on
the contrary, that the Macedonian calendar replaced entirely the Babylonian
one. This rather vague report written by a very late chronographer—albeit
himself from Antioch—can hardly be used as a reliable source for the early
Seleucid period.
Earlier, contemporary evidence amounts to a handful of double dates. The
date of Alexander’s death (in 323BCE) is independently given in a Babylonian
astronomical diary as 29 Aiaru, which was the last day of the month,^17 and in
some Greek sources as the last day of Daisios.^18 Other Greek sources, however,
give the date as 28 Daisios, which would undermine the conclusion that in this
early period (and before the Seleucid period had properly begun) the Mace-
donian calendar was identical to the Babylonian.^19
(^15) John Malalas,Chronography8. 15 (16) (Thurn 2000: 153; Jeffreys, Jeffreys, and Scott 1986:
106). This statement is followed by an apparent textual lacuna, which does not help with clarity
(see Thurn loc. cit. n. 12). 16
Hannah (2005) 95, and implicitly Samuel (1972) 141.
(^17) BM45962, obv. l. 8, in Sachs and Hunger (1988–2001) i. 206–7; the year and month are not
extant, but identifiable astronomically. This month was hollow, thus 29 was its last day: ibid. 218.
(^18) Plutarch,Alexander75, citing Aristoboulos (a member of Alexander’s staff ) gives the day
astriakas, which generally means‘last day of the month’(i.e. either 29th or 30th) rather than
‘30th’(see Ch. 1 nn. 68, 139). This could mean, therefore, 29 Daisios.
(^19) Plutarch, ibid. 76, citing the Diaries (i.e. of Alexander’s court). Attempts at reconciling
these dates (Samuel 1962: 46–7; Oelsner 1974: 132 n. 13; Grzybek 1990: 29–35, 52–60) have been
238 Calendars in Antiquity