Friday, March 21, 2008

The Antiochene "Year"

This is a rather curious dating system. It only has relevance when looking at ancient texts, but it is worth mentioning.

The Antiochene "era" was reckoned from the 1st of November 49 BC. The first year therefore of Antioch was nearly equivalent with the 264th year of the Seleucid year count. The Seleucid year began in October.

To complicate matters further, there were different names for the months in Antioch. These were Panemus,Apellæus, Xanthicus, Dius, Dystrus, Hyperberetæus, Pertitius, Dæsius, Artemisius, Dioscorinthius and Loüs.

An interesting source on this subject is:

THE HISTORY OF THE PRIMITIVE CALENDAR AMONG THE GREEKS by Edward Greswell

No comments: