The Assyrian calendar ( ) is a
solar calendar
A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicates the season or almost equivalently the apparent position of the Sun relative to the stars. The Gregorian calendar, widely accepted as a standard in the world, is an example of a solar calendar ...
used by modern
Assyrian people
Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group Indigenous peoples, indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians Assyrian continuity, share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesop ...
.
History
Historically and also in some sources in the modern day, Assyrians dated their calendar according to the
Seleucid era ( , literally "of the
Greeks
Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...
"), beginning on the first day of in 312 BC.
The modern Assyrian calendar, however, uses a different reckoning: 4750 BC was set as its first year in the 1950s, based on a series of articles published in the Assyrian nationalist magazine ''Gilgamesh''; the first came in 1952 and written by
Nimrod Simono and dealt with the
Akitu festival, then an article by
Jean Alkhas in 1955 (April, issue 34) fixed the year 4750 BC as the starting point. Alkhas referenced his information to a
French archaeologist, whom he did not name, as stating that a cuneiform tablet dating to 4750 BC mentioned the year of the calming of the
great flood and beginning of life.
New year
The
year begins with the first sight of
Spring. In the
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar is a solar calendar of 365 days in every year with an additional leap day every fourth year (without exception). The Julian calendar is still used as a religious calendar in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts ...
, the vernal equinox moved gradually away from 21 March. The
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...
reform restored the vernal equinox to its original date, but since the festival was by now tied to the date, not the astronomical event, Kha b-Nisan remains fixed at 21 March in the Julian reckoning, corresponding to 1 April in the Gregorian calendar. and the calendar adopted by the ancient Assyrians had the month "Nisan" at the beginning of the calendar
[William Ricketts Cooper. "An Archaic Dictionary: biographical, historical and mythological: from the Egyptian, Assyrian, and Etruscan monuments". Published by S. Bagster and Sons, 1876.] lending to the term "Kha b-Nisan", or the "first of Nisan".
Months
See also
*
Babylonian calendar
The Babylonian calendar was a lunisolar calendar used in Mesopotamia from around the 2nd millennium BC until the Seleucid Era ( 294 BC), and it was specifically used in Babylon from the Old Babylonian Period ( 1780s BC) until the Seleucid Era. ...
*
Hebrew calendar
The Hebrew calendar (), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance and as an official calendar of Israel. It determines the dates of Jewish holidays and other rituals, such as '' yahrze ...
*
Islamic calendar
The Hijri calendar (), also known in English as the Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the Ramad ...
*
Kha b-Nisan
*
Mandaean calendar
*
Persian calendar
*
Solar Hijri calendar
The Solar Hijri calendar is the official calendar of Iran. It is a solar calendar, based on the Earth's orbit around the Sun. Each year begins on the day of the March equinox and has years of 365 or 366 days. It is sometimes also called the S ...
*
Zoroastrian calendar
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Assyrian Calendar
Specific calendars