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weather conditions and carelessness in details could cause variation in this date by a day or two, but a gross monthly structure could be established by this means. These data could then be checked against existing historical records, as well as records which remain to be discovered, and the internal structure for certain months could be further refined. |
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In addition, the general need for intercalary months could be inferred by this method, even if their exact positions within a given year could not be determined. A generally correct structure for the civil calendar could thus be produced, even though certain details would remain unresolved. |
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Having established the overall structure of the calendar, you must now consider the exceptions. The authorities who had responsibility for arranging religious festivals and other related matters were the archons and also the demos. Numerous sources reveal that the archons had the authority to tamper with the calendar. |
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A number of inscriptions from the second century B.C. are doubly dated, showing a prytany date as well as another date, clearly referring to the civil calendar. The civil calendar dates are referred to as either kat' archonta or kata theon. Some investigation shows that dates kat' archonta are dates ''according to the archon" and are those dates that have been subjected to tampering. The dates kata theon are dates "according to the gods", that is, according to the moon, or according to the actual astronomical calendar. |
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The dates kat' archonta are the result of intercalations of days or months, ordered by the archon for some reason. The effect of the intercalation remained until such time as the archon canceled their effect by ordering a subtraction of the necessary number of days required to return the calendar to an agreement with the correct lunar calendar. That the Greeks suppressed calendar days is known from several sources. Diodorus (Bibliotheca Historica, I, 50), for example, clearly states, "The Thebans do not intercalate months or subtract days, as most of the Greeks do." |
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The calendric tampering was apparently motivated by a desire that certain events, such as religious festivals, should occur on certain dates. The Greeks apparently adopted the attitude that, rather than prepare for a future event, it was more expedient to simply alter the date of the calendar to be the desired date, regardless of when the event actually occurred according to the astronomical calendar. |
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An example of double dating is a decree of the genos of the Eumolpidai in honor of a hierophantes, which records the day of the assembly as the 16th of Pyanopsion kata theon, and the fifth day kat' archonta. The fifth day of Pyanopsion is known to be the day of the Proerosia, and this festival is one in which the hierophantes participated. You should make several observations at this point. First, the calendar has been arbitrarily altered so that the festival can occur on the correct day. Second, the religiously correct date is the date kat' archonta, the tampered date. Third, the difference between the two calendars is 11 days, which is a sizable number. |
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An inscription is known (Inscriptiones Graecae, XII, 9, number 207) which preserves a portion of a law of the Euboian cities. The law prescribes that a troupe of theatrical artists is to appear at four different cities on specified dates associated with the |
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