Download Ancient Chronological Systems

The University of Western Australia
School of Humanities (Classics and Ancient History)
CLAH 1103 Glory and Grandeur
Notes on Ancient Chronological Systems
In modern Australia, time is measured very accurately. You can tell your age not merely to
the year, but to the hour and perhaps the minute, maybe even the second. You expect a train
to depart or arrive at a time fixed in hours and minutes.
In the ancient world this was not possible. Even years were not always the same as our
own years. Historians need to understand this, and they must be careful not to make
assumptions which are based on the situation which exists in their own time.
Some dates in ancient history can be calculated very exactly in modern terms (for
instance, if there was an astronomical event which modern astronomers can time with
precision). In other cases, only approximate estimates can be given. For this reason, students
of ancient history often use the abbreviation c. (for the Latin word circa, meaning ‘about’),
when they cannot date an event precisely.
The year
Major units of time have always been measured in the same way by most people: they have
used the length of the solar year, the monthly waxing and waning of the moon, and the day
and the night and their parts. Since the solar year (c. 365 1/4 days) and the lunar month (c. 29
days) cannot be easily reconciled, this is difficult. The Muslim religious year is an exception,
since it is based only on the moon. For this reason, Muslim festivals take place at different
points in the solar year, as one year follows another.
It has always been extremely important for farmers to measure the seasons of the year.
They need to know when to sow and harvest their crops. Often farmers would make
calculations based on the appearance and disappearance of certain stars on or from the
horizon for this purpose. But man-made calendars were so unreliable until the time of Julius
Caesar, that they regularly got out of step with these agricultural seasons, and extra
(‘intercalary’) months had to be inserted to bring them back into line with the solar year.
The Egyptians settled on a system of twelve months of 30 days, with five days added at
the end of the year (slightly less than an actual solar year).
Greek practice was (as might be expected because of the multiplicity of political units),
more varied. We have no evidence for the nature of local calendars in many parts of Greece.
Athens is the city whose arrangements are best known. Here the standard practice became the
alternation of ‘full’ months of 30 days with ‘hollow’ months of 29 days. Six of each gave a
year of 355 days, and every few years an extra month was intercalated (i.e., added to the
calendar). A similar system, used occasionally in Greece, was to have twelve lunar months
in a year, with an extra month intercalated every other year. Again, this was only
approximately correct.
In the fifth century B.C. an Athenian astronomer called Meton calculated a cycle of
nineteen years, with regular and intercalated months, which was followed for several
centuries. Again, this Metonic cycle was slightly out of step with the solar year, and small
inaccuracies developed in the course of time.
The Greeks did not have an agreed starting point from which years were counted. Very
long periods of time might be counted in centuries or generations (thirty years, or three
generations to a century). The most common way of denoting years in Greek cities was by the
names of the principal magistrates (a way which demanded a very good memory when going
back more than a few years). Dating by Olympiads was a late development, and not common.
After the time of Alexander the Great it became more common for individual cities to date
events from the time of their foundation, or refounding, or from notable events such as the
Battle of Actium.
Within each year, Greek cities had various ways of recording the time at which events
took place. Sometimes the month was used as a basis for this. At Athens, and at some other
cities, records often refer to the ‘prytany’. The word ‘prytanis’ means ‘chief, leader’, and at
Athens it was customary for committees of fifty men, chosen from each of the ten tribes, to
serve as prytaneis. Each committee conducted the day-to-day business of the city for onetenth of the year, and administrative decisions were recorded as being ‘in the prytany’ of that
tribe.
The Greek year sometimes began in spring, or with the new moon following the summer
solstice, or later in summer. Midsummer (in the sense of the longest day) has always been an
important point in measuring time (note the stone circles at Stonehenge in southern Britain, a
monument whose earliest stages were built before 3,000 B.C.; the major avenue of stones
leading into it was aligned to receive the rays of the rising sun on Midsummer’s Day). The
Athenian year began in midsummer, so for this and for other years which did not begin on
January 1 modern scholarly publications often use a double year date, when this can be
established (e.g., 425/4 B.C. indicates the second half of 425 B.C. in our reckining, and the
first half of 424 B.C.).
Because Greek calendars were lunar, and the lunar months did not always stay in step
with the solar year, the day of the month as well as the beginning of the year could vary from
one city to another. The pure ‘lunar’ month could also be out of step with the ‘civic’ month.
This explains the statement of the 4th century BC writer on musical subjects, Aristoxenus
(Harmonic Elements II, 37): ‘The 10th day of the month for the Corinthians is the 5th for the
Athenians and the 8th somewhere else.’
The Roman year originally began in March, at the end of winter. It contained ten months,
ending with December (from decem, ‘ten’), the beginning of winter. The period until March
arrived again seems to have been regarded as useless. Before 500 B.C. the month of January
(named after Janus, the god of entrances and beginnings) had received a name, but it did not
actually become the official beginning of the year until 153 B.C.
In the Roman year March, May, July (called Quintilis because it was the fifth month until
it was renamed in honour of Julius Caesar) and the eighth month, October, had 31 days,
February 28 and the rest had 29. This produced a year of only 355 days, and so from time to
time an extra month (not a day, as in our system) was intercalated after February (i.e. before
the beginning of the new year). This was not always done correctly, and by the middle of the
1st century B.C. the calendar was three months out of step with the sun.
Julius Caesar therefore reformed the calendar in 45 BC. This new calendar was so
successful that at the time of its reform by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 it was only ten days
behind (England did not follow suit until 1752, by which time it was 11 days behind). It is
now fourteen days behind the Gregorian calendar (this should not be used as an excuse for
late delivery of essays in Roman History units).
From the early Republic onwards, the Romans counted their years according to the names
of the consuls elected at the beginning of each year, as Greek cities had counted their years by
the names of the archons. Lists were kept which could be consulted when necessary.
Occasionally the Romans calculated dates from the era of Rome, from the traditional date
of the founding of the city, ab urbe condita, ‘from the city founded’. This date was calculated
in slightly different ways by different writers, but 753 B.C. (in our terms) became the
generally accepted date. Dates expressed A.U.C. were used by some modern scholars, when
they were writing about Roman history, until the early twentieth century.
During the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian, a system of dating began to be used
which had originally been used in Egypt. This used ‘indictions’, or annual tax accounting
years beginning on September 1st each year. A full indiction cycle lasted for fifteen years, so
we find documents dated to ‘the fifth (or tenth, or eleventh) year of the indiction (cycle)’.
This system began on September 1st A.D. 284, but within a few centuries it had been
adjusted forwards a little so that the indiction year like the consular year began on January
1st.
The Christian Era
According to the calculation of Dionysius Exiguus of Alexandria, made in A.D. 525, Jesus
was born on December 25th in A.U.C. 753 (1 B.C. in the current reckoning). This calculation
was first made as a part of his assigned task of calculating the dates when Easter would be
celebrated in future years. This was rounded off to the following January 1st, which became
the point from which dates A.D. (anno Domini) were calculated.
In the time of Dionysus it was normal to calculate years in indictions. But since it was felt
that it was wrong to use a system which was associated with a tyrant who had persecuted the
Christians, another means of dating was sought, and dating in years A.D. gradually became
popular.
The evidence for the date of the birth of Jesus is in fact contradictory, and contains
elements which are incompatible. Both Luke (1, 5) and Matthew (2, 1) date it in the time of
King Herod of Judaea, who died in 4 B.C. If there is any truth in the story of the Massacre of
the Innocents, the birth of Jesus should therefore be dated in the period 7-5 B.C. But other
events with which it may be associated are either difficult to date exactly, or can be dated
much later.
In Matthew’s Gospel (Chapter 2) reference is made to a star which guided the Three Wise
Men to Bethlehem. This may have been a comet, or a conjunction of two stars. Several
possible dates have been suggested for such an event. No certainty is possible here.
Luke (3, 23) says that Jesus was about thirty years old when he began to preach, and he
preached for a year or more before being put to death in the governorship of Pontius Pilate
(A.D. 26-36).
In the Gospel of Luke (2, 1ff.), the birth of Jesus is associated with a census carried out
for the purpose of calculating tax liabilities by the new governor of Syria, Quirinius (who
took office in A.D. 6). There is no record elsewhere of such a census. If any kind of
registration took place at this time, it must have been in A.D. 6 or later.
It is necessary to be careful when calculating the length of periods which run between
B.C. and A.D. dates. The year 1 B.C. (i.e., B(efore) C(hrist) in our current scheme of dating),
was followed by A(nno) D(omini) (‘in the year of the Lord’) 1. There is no Year 0.
However inaccurate it may be, most of the world, Christian and non-Christian, now
calculates years in this way, although some groups, for example Chinese, Muslims and Thais,
also use their own forms of reckoning.
Some non-Christians do not like referring to the Christian era, and prefer to refer to the
Common Era, expressing dates as CE and BCE, i.e., C(ommon) E(ra) and B(efore)
C(ommon) E(ra).
During the Middle Ages calculations were made by Christians about the age of the world
from the time of its creation. These produced various results. Dates are sometimes expressed
in this way in mediaeval texts. More recently, a calculation by an Irish archbishop made in
the 18th century was used as a reference in many texts, although it is not now taken seriously.
Dates expressed in this way are sometimes preceded by the letter A.M. (anno mundi, ‘in the
year of the world’).
The year of the Common Era which we call 2000 could have been expressed as follows:
AD 2000:
Year 4 of the 694th Olympiad (until midsummer, when Year 1 of the
695th Olympiad began).
AUC (ab urbe condita) 2753.
Year 7508 from the Creation of the World (Byzantine reckoning).
Year A.M. 6004 from the Creation of the World (Archbishop Ussher’s
reckoning).
Year 2543 of the Buddhist Era.
2311 according to the Era of the Seleucid Kings of Syria.
2030 according to the Era of the Battle of Actium.
Year 8 of the indiction cycle (until Sep. 1, when Year 9 will begin).
Years 1420 and 1421 of the Hijri/Hegira in the Muslim calendar.
Year 41 of the Era of the City of Nedlands (until July 1 2000, when year 42
of the Era of the City began.
Days of the month
Within the month, the Greeks usually marked the days in relation to the new moon and the
full moon. When the way in which the months were fixed was not in step with the actual state
of the moon (because an artificial month of 29 or 30 days was being used), a month might
have two sets of dates, an ‘actual’ new moon and full moon, and a ‘business’ new moon and
full moon; the latter were used for making payments which were due on these dates.
The Roman month had three points from which days were measured, the Kalends (Day
1), the Nones (Day 5 or 7) and the Ides (Day 13 or 15). The Ides probably represent the full
moon, and the Nones a day nine days before it.
When the Greeks and the Romans tried to express the interval between two points in a
series, they always counted both the beginning and the end, whereas we simply subtract.
Dates were measured according to the number of days before the next of these points,
counting both the first and the last day (i.e. the Ides of March 44 B.C. fell on the 15th, so in
that month the 12th was the 4th day before the Ides). When Christians say that Jesus was
crucified on a Friday and rose from the dead on the following Sunday, and that this was the
‘third day’, they are preserving this way of measuring time.
The seven-day week is a Jewish custom (perhaps Babylonian in origin, with a series of
days named after the seven known planets), modified by the Christians, who made the day of
the Sun God, Sunday, rather than Saturday, the Sabbath (this happened in the time of
Constantine the Great, because they wanted to make the day when Jesus was said to have
risen from the dead the day on which religious ceremonies could be most effectively
conducted, and the day of the Sun God had been made a holy day or holiday). The idea of a
regular day when no work was done was a novel one. In the ancient world in general, there
were no regular days of rest (although religious festivals were frequent, which had much the
same effect, so far as free persons were concerned). Slaves, or course, had no holidays,
except for a Roman festival at the end of the year in December, called the Saturnalia, during
which they were allowed some temporary liberties. The nearest thing to our week was the
Roman cycle of market days (called nundinae, because they came every eighth day, which by
the Roman system of counting was the ninth day).
Hours
To the Greeks and the Romans, hours were inexact (as they are for many people even today).
The only closely fixed points were sunrise, sunset and midday (and in cloudy weather, even
these could not be measured with any exactitude). The most common practice was to divide
each day and each night into twelve ‘hours’. In summer, the daylight ‘hours’ would be longer
and the ‘hours’ of darkness shorter. In winter the opposite would be true. Hours were counted
from daybreak or sunset so in winter the hours of the day were shorter and the hours of the
night were longer, while in summer the opposite was the case. Thus in midsummer the ‘third
hour of the day’ would begin about 9.00 a.m. in our way of reckoning time, whereas in winter
it would begin rather later. For this reason, if Julius Caesar reports that his troops conducted a
manoeuvre at the second hour of the day, the actual time, in our terms, must be determined
after considering the season of the year at which the event took place.
Fractions of the hour are sometimes mentioned, but could not be exactly measured. For
this reason, no one in the ancient world could compare the times of Olympic victors, and
‘records’ could not be made or broken in respect of time.
Clocks
No one in the ancient world had a watch. Some devices for measuring the length of elapsed
time were used - the hourglass, or a water clock (which used a container with a small exit
hole which emptied itself over a certain period). The principal use of such devices was in the
law courts. Clocks, in our sense, are a development of the Middle Ages.