The Hebrew months, as commonly spelt in English, are as follows:— opposite to them are written the names of the English months in which they severally most frequently begin, with their number of daya _ . .
See an account of these months under their several titles.
For the Egyptian year, see SOTnIAO PERIOD.
The twelve months of the Athenian lunar year bear the following names ; but there is a slight difference of opinion about the order in which they come, some putting Maraaavnpasv before lvave'as'v, and some after it The intercalary month was a second nous of 30 days. It is said that anciently there were 30 days in every month, but that Solon first established the alternation of 30 and 29 days, and called the last day ern ,cal via, old and new (moon). The shorter months were called hollow (aoiaod, the longer months full (T)*Eis) ; and these terms have been generally adopted by chronologers. The year in which a month was intercalated was called 4µ436Amos, or ialifeamaies, and hence the word embolismic, which is frequently used in the same way.
The month was divided into three decads, the first two of ten days each, the third of ten or nine. The first day was vovaavfa, the second was Scuripa icramaivoe anv6s, and so on. The eleventh was apa'rq peomilvror µqvbs, or wpdrrnEal Seact8t, and so on to the last, which was dada The twenty-first day was apd-rq slaciSa and so on ; the thirtieth was apelacts. But the third decad was also reckoned by counting backwards from the new moon, thus : the twenty-first day was SEKiT77, or 64717 0B(VOyTOS according as there were ten or nine days in the decal. The last clay, whether twenty-ninth or thirtieth, was tan Ka] via.
There is some doubt whether originally the first of Hecatomb:ton was the day of the new moon nearest to the summer solstice, or next after it : this must have depended on the mode of intercalation. It is enough for most purposes to know that the Attic year began near the summer solstice. (Clinton, Fast. Hellen.,' Introduction.) As to the intercalations, there is an old period mentioned of two years (S1E-mp(s), with an intercalary month of 30 days. This was also called rpierqpir, because the intercalation was in every third year, in cluding that of the former intercalation. This year was, with respect to the sun, more than 74 days too long. There was also a tetra-etcris, but the first respectable period was the oeta eteris of Cleostratus, in which three months of 30 days each were intercalated in eight years, namely, in the third, fifth, and eighth. The average year of this
period was wrong by 1 hours with respect to the sun, and la days with respect to the moon. The Metonic and Callippic periods followed (e.c. 432 and 330.) The latter was but little used compared with the former, which intercalated seven months in nineteen years. [31Eams, in Broo. Drv.; PERIODS OF REVOLUTION.] It is not certain what the years of intercalation were.
The complete Roman calendar, as it stood immediately after the edict of Augustus, correcting the use which had been made of the edict of Julius Caesar, is as follows :—There are twelve months, Janu adus, Februarius, Martins, Aprilis, Mains, Junius, Julius, Augustus, September, October, November, December. The first of each month is its kalends, Kalendm Januarife, Februariw, &c. The number of days in each month is well known by the bld rhyme. The 13th of some months, the 15th of others, is called the day of the Ides (1dus) ; and the ninth day before the Ides, inclusive, is called the Nones (Nome); and every day is reckoned by its position with respect to the next simply denominate day, be it Kalends, Nones, or Ides. Thus the third day before the Nones of January, the clay of the Nones itself counting as one, is ante diem (cilium Nonas Januarius—a singular mode of speech, which does not appear to have been fully explained. It is generally rendered as if it were diem tertium ante Nona.s Januarius (the third day before the Nones of January). These designations are usually written in a contracted form in the manuscripts, and these contractions are usually all that arc to be found in chronological works. (Seo Gellius, iii. 2.) The iuterealary year, when introduced by Cesar, had the additional day bestowed upon it by doubling the sixth day before the kalends of March (whence the year was called bissextile) PtssExTiLE]: so that the month of February ended thus— There was thus ante diem sevtum kalendas filartias posterinrem and ante diem sextant kalendas Martins priorent. The general rules of this clumsy calendar are, that the ides are on the 15th of March, May, July, and October, and on the 13th of all the other months : that the nones are always on the eighth day before the ides, according to our mode of counting : that the kalends are always on the first (Lay of the month : and that the intermediate clays are numbered as far as numbering is required, backwards from the kalends, nones, or ides, each of these reckoning as one day in counting backwards from it.