Alexandria and the moon
Subtitle: an investigation into the lunar Macedonian calendar of Ptolemaic Egypt
By: by Chris Bennett
Series: Studia Hellenistica -- 52; Studia Hellenistica -- 52.
Publisher: Peeters
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Leuven; Walpole, MA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 276
ISBN-13: 9789042925052
Subjects: Greek Calendar; Chronology; Egyptian Calendar; Greek Chronology; Egyptian Chronology; History
Description: This book is the first comprehensive study of the lunar Macedonian calendar in two decades. The mechanics of the calendar are examined in detail, and a new approach for reconstructing the sequence of intercalary months and years is proposed which, for the first time, permits a consistent interpretation of the papyrological data of the middle Ptolemaic period. It is shown that in c. 265 BC Ptolemy II deliberately set in motion a process to realign the calendar over an extended period, which ended early in the reign of Ptolemy IV. The results have implications for the origins of the financial year, the date of the Ptolemaieia, and the history of the Canopic reform of the Egyptian calendar, among other topics. Appendices consider the nature of Macedonian intercalation and the New Year outside Egypt.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [xvii]-xxxvi) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Patterns of use of the Macedonian calendar; title: Macedonian calendar in Alexandria; title: Macedonian New Year after Zenon; title: Macedonian calendar after Zenon; title: Macedonian New Year before Zenon; title: Purpose of biennial intercalation; title: Appendix A. Detecting Canopic dates; title: Appendix B. Macedonian New Year outside Egypt; title: Appendix C. Macedonian intercalation outside Egypt.