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See the SCDTL text on the CD for the discussion of the code. |
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9.7.2.2
Armenian Calendar |
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This section discusses the calendar that uses the Era of the Armenians as its epoch. |
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This section discusses the structure of the Armenian calendar and presents some historical background material. |
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9.7.2.2.1.1
Structural Details |
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The Armenian calendar is a mobile calendar, consisting of a uniform year of 365 days, arranged as 12 uniform months of 30 days and an epagomenal period of five days. There was no intercalation. The epagomenal period is treated here as a 13th month for the purposes of date representation. |
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9.7.2.2.1.2
Historical Background |
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In the period immediately following the break-up of the Roman empire, many tribes were moving from central and western Asia into Europe. During this period of Volkwanderung, the early Christian Church was making converts in many areas within the old Roman empire. |
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By the middle of the sixth century A.D., the native people of the area were prepared to adopt a new calendar to reflect the new cultural situation. Prior to this time, the inhabitants had used both the Babylonian Chaldean calendar and the later Greek calendar. There is no evidence that the Armenians ever had an indigenous calendar. |
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The mobile calendar, however, was similar to many others employed in the region and thus could not have represented a radical departure from local tradition, since many of the ethnically diverse inhabitants would have been familiar with it. |
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By the 13th century, Christianity gained an ascendant position in Armenia, which it has not lost to the present day. With the full establishment of the Christian Church in Armenia, the Julian calendar was introduced, and the Armenian calendar fell into disuse. |
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Armenian culture during the period of use of the Armenian calendar was a reflection of the mixed ethnic composition of the area. No standard month names were used with the calendar. Rather, different areas used local Armenian dialects, Arabic, or Greek. |
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The calendar employed the seven-day week, borrowing from Roman and Christian usage current at the time. Days of observance were a mixture of earlier native pagan festivals and later Christian dates imposed by the Church in the area. |
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