Alexandria and the moon : an investigation into the lunar Macedonian calendar of Ptolemaic Egypt / by Chris Bennett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bennett, Chris.

Series:

Studia Hellenistica ; 52.

Studia Hellenistica

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Calendar, Greek.

Calendar, Egyptian.

Chronology, Greek.

Chronology, Egyptian.

History.

Egypt--History--332-30 B.C--Chronology.

Egypt.

Greece--History--Macedonian Expansion, 359-323 B.C--Chronology.

Greece.

Ptolemaic dynasty, 305-30 B.C.

Ptolemaic dynasty.

Genre:

Chronologies.

Physical Description:

276 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leuven ; Walpole, MA : Peeters, 2011.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Introduction

Patterns of use of the Macedonian calendar

Macedonian calendar in Alexandria

Macedonian New Year after Zenon

Macedonian calendar after Zenon

Macedonian New Year before Zenon

Purpose of biennial intercalation

Appendix A. Detecting Canopic dates

Appendix B. Macedonian New Year outside Egypt

Appendix C. Macedonian intercalation outside Egypt.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [xvii]-xxxvi) and index.

ISBN:

9789042925052

9042925051

OCLC:

745332965