×
GreekEnglish

×
  • Politics
  • Diaspora
  • World
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Cooking
Saturday
11
Apr 2026
weather symbol
Athens 17°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

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

Holiday exodus peaks: Traffic at a standstill on Kifissos and Athens–Corinth motorway, 45-minute delays on Attiki Odos – Congestion at ports and bus stations

Mendoni criticizes Doukas Over Vasilissis Olgas: “He claims pride in a project he opposed”

Case file for illegal animal breeding on a rooftop in Ampelokipoi: Goats, chickens, ducks in unsuitable living conditions, video and photos

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

Watch Live from Jerusalem: Holy Fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

April 11, 2026

Macron in Athens on 24-25 April: Focus on defence cooperation between Greece and France

April 11, 2026

Meta shuts down Romania’s largest independent newspaper page, sparking press freedom concerns

April 11, 2026

Turkey denied Cyprus the right to participate in the UN Annual Climate Change Conference

April 11, 2026

The 2+1 phases of US–Iran negotiations over the future of the war (Update)

April 11, 2026

From the “flying priest” of Chios to the “Gloria” of Zakynthos – The First Resurrection marked by deafening noise (video)

April 11, 2026

Videos & photos from the historic return of the Artemis II mission from the Moon: The path opens for permanent human presence in space

April 11, 2026

Europeans favor banning social media for minors — 3 in 4 call for age limits

April 10, 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