×
GreekEnglish

×
  • Politics
  • Diaspora
  • World
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Cooking
Tuesday
08
Sep 2026
weather symbol
Athens 25°C
  • Home
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • World
  • Diaspora
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Mediterranean Cooking
  • Weather
Contact follow Protothema:
Powered by Cloudevo
> Culture

What were the names of the months in Ancient Greece?

Each region had its own calendar

Newsroom November 25 10:33

Δείτε περισσότερα άρθρα μας στα αποτελέσματα αναζήτησης

Add Protothema.gr on Google

Many ancient civilisations had their own calendrical systems. Of these, the Greek calendar is most likely the most confusing. The Greek Calendar is much like ancient Greece itself. It shared a certain basic similarity from region to region, but each city-state kept its own version. All the Greek calendars were lunisolar (based on the sun and moon) and shared the same basic features of the other lunisolar calendars: twelve months, with a periodic intercalation of a thirteenth.
The Athenian calendar is the best known and most intensively studied. The Athenian months were named Hekatombion, Metageitnion, Boedromion, Pyanepsion, Maimakterion, Poseidon, Gamelion, Anthesterion, Elaphebolion, Munychion, Thargelion, and Skirophorion. The intercalary month usually came after Poseidon and was called the second Poseidon. Hekatombion, and hence the beginning of the year, fell in the summer. Other Greek regions started their year at different times (e.g., Sparta, Macedonia in fall, Delos in winter).

For the historian inclined towards tidy orderliness, the regrettable fact is that the Athenians were simply unwilling to stick to a completely regular calendar, which makes reconstruction difficult. Their irregularity was not from a lack of astronomical knowledge. In 432 BCE, the Athenian astronomer Meton instituted his 19-year cycle, fixing regular intercalations (whether Meton got this cycle from Babylonia or discovered it himself is not known). From that point, a small group of Greek astronomers used the Metonic cycle in their calculations, but this should be regarded as an astronomer’s ideal calendar. Abundant epigraphical evidence demonstrates that in the civil calendar, while the archons inserted approximately the correct number of intercalary months over the long term, the specific corrections were somewhat arbitrary, as the archons saw fit. This irregularity doesn’t really affect the long-term workings of the calendar, but it does make things very confusing when trying to establish a precise date for an event.

source polysyllabic.com

>Related articles

The 2026 rent map: Which areas saw prices soar, and the leaders in Athens, Thessaloniki and the islands

Dub Inc: The French reggae band is coming to Athens for a concert

Tragedy in central Athens: Three killed in crash involving two motorcycles on Alexandras Avenue

also read

280 new vehicles added to the Greek police force (photos)

Shocking photo of old woman in Euboea fires on cover of Time magazine

Ask me anything

Explore related questions

#ancient greece#athens#calendar
> More Culture

Follow en.protothema.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news

See all the latest News from Greece and the World, the moment they happen, at en.protothema.gr

> Latest Stories

How the Tax Authority uncovers undeclared rental income: The €5,000-a-night VIP villa in Mykonos, the tip-off and the “double storefront” trick

September 8, 2026

Source code for the “Achilles Shield” to remain exclusively under Greek control, says Israeli Ministry of Defense

September 8, 2026

Jennifer Lopez poses in a one-piece swimsuit and matching long-sleeved kimono

September 8, 2026

Pythagoreion, Samos: This is the Ministry of Culture’s plan to integrate its archaeological sites

September 8, 2026

Trump speaks by phone with Putin following Witkoff and Kushner contacts in Moscow and Kyiv

September 8, 2026

Message to Turkey from the Greece–Cyprus–Egypt trilateral: Any agreement on the delimitation of maritime zones must comply with the Law of the Sea

September 8, 2026

‘The signatures have been put to paper’ in Rome for two Bergamini-class (FREMM) frigates for the Hellenic Navy

September 8, 2026

Mitsotakis from Egypt: Stability does not mean concession or tolerance of faits accomplis; Greece threatens no one

September 8, 2026
All News

> Greece

In reverence, the emotional deposition in Jerusalem, see photos & video

The Holy Temple of the Resurrection opened after many days due to the war between Israel and Iran

April 10, 2026

In the final stretch for the accreditation of joint master’s degrees: Aiming for their launch in the coming academic year

April 10, 2026

Schedule for Epitaph Procession today (10/4)

April 10, 2026

Perfect weather for Easter excursions, according to Tsatrafyllia’s forecast

April 10, 2026

Easter in Greece: The customs that continue in Greek tradition – From Nafpaktos to Corfu

April 10, 2026
Homepage
PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION POLICY COOKIES POLICY TERM OF USE
Powered by Cloudevo
Copyright © 2026 Πρώτο Θέμα