Calendars in Antiquity: Empires, States, and Societies, by Sacha Stern

Stern, Sacha. Calendars in Antiquity: Empires, States, and Societies. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Link: http://amzn.com/0199589445

From the biography page at University College London:

Sacha Stern is Professor of Rabbinic Judaism and Head of Department at the UCL Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies. He holds a BA in Ancient History from Oxford (1986), an MA in Social Anthropology from UCL (1988), and a D.Phil in Jewish Studies from Oxford (1992). He has also studied in Yeshivot in Israel. Before joining UCL in 2005, he was Lecturer in Jewish Studies at Jews' College, London and then Reader in Jewish Studies at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies). [link]

Stern has done extensive academic research and publication on the reckoning of time in the ancient world, especially as those relate to the peoples and cultures of the Bible.

Calendars in Antiquity is 430 pages, 20 page dibliography, and index.

Stern's focus is to counter the generally held theories concerning the development of calendars which he belives are flawed. Two main issues addressed are:

1.  that the development of the calendar "cannot be simply explained as the result of Egyptian influence" (p. 427)
2.  that the calendar is not "the inevitable outcome of some deterministic progression from 'primitive' to 'advanced'; indeed, the evolution of calendars had little to do with what we would call scientific progress.' (ibid.)

In this review I will focus on just a few of Stern's arguments with some detail and then summarize. My hope is to help draw out some examples of the benefits of this work to the Biblical exegete.

Stern's methodology is to focus on the historical cultural aspects of how calendars functioned in their societies and the societal influences that can be shown or reasonably understood to have influenced the changes. Since those influences can be very broad, Stern focuses particularly on the political aspects of cultural forces. Stern limits his calendrical focus chiefly to units of time as they affect annual reckoning. Thus he does not go into detail on how each of the different societies reckoned the hours of the day except as it relates to how the begining of a month or year was fixed. He also limited his study to societies of Classical Antiquity and their interactions leading to the development of the Julian Calendar in late antiquity. Stern does not include calendar traditions from the Far East, ancient America, or later developments like the Islamic calendar.

The study is divided into two main parts: 

• Part I: From City States to Great Empires: The Rise of the Fixed Calendar.
• Part II: The Empires Challenged and Dissolved: Calendar Diversity and Fragmentation.

The first part looks at how the various societies that participated in Classical Antiquity reckoned time.

In ancient Greece and Babylon (Chaptes 1 and 2) the calendars were lunar, as was the calendar of Republican Rome. The evidence from Europe also leads us to conclude that the Celtic/Gaulic and German calendars were also lunar.

And there was, for example: among the Greeks and Babylonians, great variety in naming and reckoning months, festivals, and when the new year was to be counted. Individual city-states kept their own month-names and methods of intercalation. This is shown by multiple dating on inscriptions of treaties and contracts.

Intercalation and calendar "tampering" were essentially political tools which not only helped keep the lunar reckoning of time in line with the yearly seasons, but also allowed rulers to do things like: avoid missing a religious festival because a battle was taking place; extend the days to allow tribute and taxes to be brought in before a deadline; and extend their term of office. In the case of the Babylonian city states and the rise of the neo-Assyrian (8th-7th cent. BC) it was the king who declared the first of the month.

The process of unifying calendars between these groups took place when city-states formed alliances or were made part of a larger regional political power.

Stern argues that these lunar calendars were not less rational, less scientific, or less emperical than our current Gregorian/Julian Calendar. These calendars were actually very much emperical as they depended upon the actual observation of the new moon to establish the beginning of a month. The intercalations were based on both natural and societal realities (agricultural, political, and religious). And, being tied to the moon, they were solidly based in a method of reckoning that was available to and understood by most members of their societies. 

They were not origninally solar nor were they originally stellar calendars. Thus the first month (moon) of a year would not begin on the same day of the solar year as we reckon time. Religious festivals, which also varied from one city-state to another, could be delayed with intercalation (the adding of a month) or hastened by suppression (ignoring or eliminating days from the count). But they were not at first tied to solar events (equinox, solstice, etc.) nor to the direct timing of stellar events (the heliacal rising of Pliedes). 

The development of astronomical calendars in Ancient Greece from the late 5th century BC (Meton) and early 4th century BC (Callippus) is a feature limited mainly to Athens. Stern uses inscriptional and historical writings from the period to demonstrate that the astronomical calendars were not used for civic dating. For example, astronomical dates based on these reckonings are ignored by Herotodus and Thucidides. Medical works from the Classical period reference astronomical phenomena, but not as a chronological dating tool. It is only in later with writers [like Diodorus and Geminus (mid to late 1st cent. BC)] who project the Callipic Cycle or Metonic Cycle back upon historical events as an absolute chronological dating scheme. Other lines of evidence include the later (3rd cent. BC) introduction of the parapegmata (a calendar peg-board set up in public) which mentioned astronomical and weather events as part of the count of days.

For the early Babylonians the calenders consisted of months of either 29 or 30 days. This calendar length of the month determined by the sighting of the next new moon. The unification of calendars in Mesopotamia began in the 2nd millenium BC and is tied together with the unification of the city-states under the Assyrian kingdom in 1100 BC. From the influence of this kingdom the month names it chose as standard were spread throughout its region of influence. 

These month names and calendar practice influenced also the names of the months and how they were reckoned by the people of Israel as they settled in Canaan and were impacted by Assyria and neo-Babylonia.

While literature of astronomy/astrology began earlier in Mesopotamia than in Greece (Astrological Omen Lists, letters of astrologers to kings), the chief calendrical function of the astrologer was to site the new moon and report to the king. These documents demonstrate that they had the astronomical knowledge to predict when the new moon should occur. However the calendar still depended upon emperical sighting and political authority. The king would choose to declare the new month. The year consisted of 12 or 13 months, depending upon choice of intercalation.

Reports of new moon sightings from the astrologers to the king become very rare from the 6th-1st cent. BC. However, a group of documents called the Astronomical Diaries yield a great deal of information that allow for reasonably precise dates for this period when the modern calendar is retrojected upon the Babylonian lunar calendar. Stern points out that even though there is a very high degree of astronomical knowledge, this did not effect a change from a lunar to a solar calendar. The basic change in the calendar from the older to the newer is in a greater reliance upon predictions of new moons. This reduced dependency upon the limits of a courier to relay the proclamation of new moons, allowing political administration of wider territories.

It is not until the Achaemenid period (5th cent. BC) that evidence of a fixed calendrical cycle to regulate the lunar year. Firm evidence exists from Cyrus' conquest of Babylon in 539 BC. The main evidence comes from the astronomical texts called MUL.APIN and the Saros Cannon texts.

By the Selucid period (312-63 BC) a method of calculating the vernal Equinox was developed. This method differs from modern methods and yields different, usually later, dates than the actual equinox. But this calculation seems to have had no clearly evident affect on the method of intercalation used for the Babylonian calendar.

Data of regular intercalations for the Parthian period from AD 224 and following is unclear.

The Babylonian Calendar remained lunar, but became more fixed through time. The method of regularizing the calendar remained true to its emperical use with the lunar month through better and more reliable predictability of the new moon. This reliability of prediction allowed for the calendar's use over a much wider area of political control. The Babylonian Calendar influenced many regional and local calendars. Both its naming conventions and its methods were incorporated by subject peoples. The calendars of the Old Testament Israelites were strongly influenced.

The Egyptian Calendar (Chapter 3) represents the only fixed (and ideally solar) calendar in Classical Antiquity. But as the Egyptian Calendar was fixed at 365 days the first day of the year drifted forward through the actual solar year by 1 day every four years. This method of reckoning the number of days in the year was adopted by many peoples.

The Persian Zoroastrian Calendar, for example, used the same 365 day scheme with the first day of the year moving one solar day earlier every four years. There is no evidence of the Zoroastrian Calendar before the 6th century BC. Also, the only period at which the Persian Zoroastrian Calendar year actually began on or near the vernal equinox was the years 481-479 BC. The source of Egyptian influence most probably came after the Achaemenid empire conquered Egypt under Cambysus in 525 BC. 

Likewise, the Egyptian Calendar's soar length year became the basis for the Julian reforms of the Republican Roman Calendar. Julius Caesar included an extra day every fourth year. This was to prevent the solar drift that occured in the Egyptian and Persian Zoroastrian Calendars. 

The use of a fixed, predictable calendar was a tool of empire that allowed the Romans to manage a much larger region of influence more conveniently than under the previous lunar calendar of the Republic. 

However, the Julian Calendar reforms were not carried out well at first. The use of inclusive counting by Romans appears to have lead to an over intercalation of leap years in the early period so that Augustus had to revise the leap year schedule temporarily in 8 BC.  Also, while the calendar reforms spread very quickly and widely in the western provinces of the empire, the eastern provinces retained a great deal of calendar independence. 

The calendars of Antioch, Gaza, Ashkelon, Jerusalem, and many other cities individualistic. Often they adopted the form of the Julian calendar but retained regional cultural names for the months; maintained a different new year's date; or --as in the case of Jerusalem-- kept a parallel lunar civic calendar that was important to the culture and religion of the local people. The adoption of the Julian reforms in these regions also was not immediate, in some cases not being adopted until the end of the 1st or mid 2nd cent. AD.

In his second part, Stern describes various examples and ways in which local cultures expressed a kind of dissidence to political authority or subversion by modification of the Julian reforms. 

The data and study of the evidence in the above mentioned examples are more than sufficient to recommend this work to the Biblical exegete. The research presented on the Gallic and Jewish Calendars in the sixth chapter stand out as especially useful.

But the closing chapter is extremely valuable. "Secterianism and heresy: From Qumran Calendars to the Christian Easter Controversies."

In this chapter Stern describes, among other things, some of the formative issues for the Rabbinic Calendar as a distinct expression differing from the Judaean/Palestinian Calendar that preceeded it. And in his discussion of the development of the Christian Calendar Stern brings out some very good arguments about how the Christian Calendar began be a confession of Orthodoxy. Highlighted in this discussion are groups which diverged from this calendrical confession for the purpose of expressing their distinction from the Orthodox Catholic Church, such as the Nestorians, Novations, and the Arians when they were opposing the reinstatement of Athanasius.

While Stern's focus is mainly on the political aspects of these divisions, combining his research with a reading of doctrinal and liturgical history is very helpful and enlightening. 

The book is expensive.  $180. Perhaps one can find it for less than that somewhere online. But I would highly recommend this book for seminary libraries, college libraries, and for those interested in chronology, chronography, ancient history, doctrinal history, and the history of the liturgical year.

The History Of Time, by Leofranck Holford-Strevens

The History of Time: A Very Short Introduction
by Leofranc Holford-Strevens
Link: http://amzn.com/0192804995 

 Oxford University Press, 2005.

Holford-Strevens' discussion is kept at an introductory level, the glossary is necessary. The study of time keeping, days, and calendars requires learning a little specialized vocabulary. And while Holford-Strevens does a good job explaining terms, once they are explained the terms are used.

The book is an introduction. This means that there are no large discussions over controverted issues, no detailed footnotes. But, the discussion and presentation is based on very sound scholarship. The brief discussion in the text does make reference to primary sources where it is beneficial. And Holford-Strevens includes an annotated list of works for further reading.

Seven chapters are followed by two appendixes, a list for further reading, a glossary, and an index.

The chapters follow on the main themes of time keeping:

1. The day
2. Months and years
3. Prehistory and history of the modern calendar
4. Easter
5. Weeks and seasons
6. Other calendars
7. Marking the year

The introductions to these topics are very helpful in demonstrating not only where certain concepts and structures came from, but also how they were discussed historically.

For example, subdividing the month into 7-day weeks was not a common idea in ancient times. The Romans, from whom our main system of months derive, actually used an 8-day market cycle. It is called nundial (nine-day).

The Romans (and to some extent other cultures too) used an inclusive count for days. Thus a "nine-day" was a Roman market "week" consisting of eight days, starting over again on the ninth day. In the Gospel of John when the disciples are gathered on the "eighth-day" that means a week later, the same day of the week as before. "The third day" is today, tomorrow, and the third.

All in all, the introduction is very helpful for western and near eastern calendars. Holford-Strevens also discusses Chinese, Japanese, and Mesoamerican calendars. While these latter calendars fall a bit outside my research interest, I would still say that this volume's introductions to those calenders were, perhaps, too brief to be helpful.

It is "very short"--only 142 pages in a 4.5x6.75 inch volume, just over 1/4" thick. There are 26 illustrations, mainly of ancient calendars. The format of the book and the size of the page makes many of these illustrations hard to see. For example, the first illustration "Detail of Egyptian diagonal calendar" is photo reduced to fit 5 3/4 x 1 1/2 inch space. This makes any features noted of the calendar in the text very difficult to see because of the small size. Illustration 12, a photo of a sixth century mosaic of Dionysius Exiguus's tables for calculating Easter is printed inverted.

Leofranc Holford-Strevens is also co-editor/author of The Oxford Book of Days (2000), and The Oxford Companion to the Year (1999).

Penny from Heaven

by Jennifer L. Holm

Two Thumbs Up.

This Newberry Honor book portrays the joys, fun, frustrations, and heartache of Penny, an adolescent of mixed Italian and plain old American descent, during the summer she turns twelve.  She is growing up in New Jersey, in the early 50s.  She is a Brooklyn Dodgers fan.  Penny's best friend is her cousin, Frankie, who has a propensity for trouble.

Penny lives with her mother and her maternal grandparents, and her poodle, Scarlett O'Hara.  Her father died when she was young, and it's one of Penny's constant frustrations that nobody will talk about him.

The author has created a cast of colorful, loveable characters; she has skillfully juxtaposed the flair and love of Penny's Italian relatives with the seemingly boring, but constant, plain old American side of her family.

I don't want to give too many details about the historical fiction angle of this book, because Ms Holm leaves the most important aspect of history to the end in a wonderfully fulfilling revelation to Penny.  But I will say that it's a book that highlights an important part of our cultural history, one that isn't often brought to light.

The author has also included as an unofficial afterword, the explanation of how the story coincides with that of her own family.  She includes family history, including pictures, and describes other aspects of the book that are particularly historical and how she learned of them.

I would say the primary audience is late elementary or junior high girls.  Boys or older girls would like it, too, once they started, but they may not want to admit it, since the story revolves around a twelve year old girl.  For read aloud, it would be suitable and enjoyable for a wide range of ages and both genders.   

Penny from Heaven would be a useful addition to any unit study highlighting the homefront angle of WWII America, a study of the cultural aspects the greater New York City/northern New Jersey area, or of immigrant history, particularly that of Italian Americans.

The Old Curiosity Shop

by Charles Dickens

Mostly Thumbs Down

I used to read primarily classic literature.  It was my way of trying to constantly increase my cultural literacy.  Most classic titles have become classics because they are rich in some quantifiable factor: memorable characters, historical commentary, well-crafted interpersonal scenarios, ethical or social dilemmas, or simply great story telling.  The really great stories combine several of these factors.  There are a few, however, that become classics for some more vague, perhaps unquantifiable reason.

I will put The Old Curiosity Shop into this category.  Dickens does give readers a cast of very colorful, memorable characters.  He also presents a variety of ethical and social situations, many not good.  But in general, the story seems to drag.  And drag.  And drag.  I did finally feel a pull by the plot in about the final 120 pages or so of the 530 page book.  But for the entire first portion of the book I really had to force myself to pick it  up each time.  It just wasn't that interesting.

And it was sad in wearying kind of way.  I found myself repulsed by the behavior of so many of the characters.  I know there are evil people in the world, but thankfully, God has spared me contact with evil such as Dickens give Mr. Quilp and a few of the others in the book.  When I sit to read, I want to be refreshed, not worn down.

There were, however characters of great virtue.  There were many witty paragraphs that gave astute insight into human nature.  There were touching scenes of caring.  I find myself intrigued by Dickens' ability to use the English language.  And I was taught several words with which I was previously unfamiliar.

Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking

by Kelli Bronski and Peter Bronski

Thumbs Up

No one wants to be put on a special diet.  Many people like to experiment with gourmet cooking.  If you find yourself in both these camps, this book is a real winner.  Even if you are only in one or the other camp or even neither, the book is chock full of information and would be a good resource if you occasionally cook for a guest who needs such a diet.  If you don't consider yourself a gourmet cook, the book is fun to read through and many of the recipes are not any more technical than any other cookbook.  With the exception of the bread and dessert sections, most of the recipes need no specifically gluten free ingredients to prepare.

From breads to soups to main dishes and desserts, the book is cover to cover a delight to read and stimulates a reader's gustatory and olfactory imagination.  I will certainly be purchasing it for my husband's cooking pleasure.  I do cook, but I generally do not have time to consult recipes at this point in my homemaking career.

My copy is due back at the library, and I haven't even had time to try anything in the book. I can't tempt you with a presentation of my favorite recipe.  But before returning the book,  I will be writing down the recipes for Indian Naan and Italian Gnocchis and Cinnamon rolls for one of the rare days I do feel energy and concentration enough to use a recipe.

I enjoyed perusing the pages and imagining the wonderful taste temptations presented.  The bread and dessert sections are quite extensive.  There are many international dishes.

The sidebars give additional information, both on culinary and cultural terms within the recipes.  The introductory sections give information on gluten free living and shopping and general kitchen skills and tools.

The Bronski's keep a gluten free living blog at No Gluten, No Problem.  It is obvious from the things they've written there that they have spent many man and woman hours in the kitchen, testing their recipes until the result is just right.

Waterman's Boy

by Susan Sharpe

Thumbs mostly down.

Ben Warren and his friend Matt, are growing up along Chesapeake Bay.  Ben's dad is a waterman.  He does crabbing and clamming and oystering, all according to their season.  The harvests are not as big as they used to be.  Money is harder to come by and the towns along the bay are transitioning from home-town fishing villages to tourist destinations.

David Watchman is a scientist who is studying the microbiology of the bay to try to determine the causes of the decline in the health of its flora and fauna.  Ben's father, Duke, along with others who make their living from the bay,  is suspicious of scientists, and the government regulations and programs of which such scientists are harbingers.

This potentially volatile situation comes to a head when Ben and Matt discover an illegal dumping site hidden in the marsh.  The site is filled with all kinds of junk including many barrels of what appears to be waste oil.

The story unfolds into a happy ending.  Duke Warren comes to respect David Watchman.  The town decides to study the effects of expansion before allowing more shopping centers and resorts and attractions to develop.  Everyone realizes they want to save the bay and if they all get along and respect each other this will happen smoothly.

Anyone who loves both nature and small government will appreciate the quandary in which these town folks find themselves.  My main complaint with the story is that the solution appears simple.  The characters are somewhat one-dimensional.  Duke Warren is set in his ways and is portrayed as somewhat naive for not wanting government regulations.  The bad guy ends up being a newcomer to town (aka capitalist) who is involved in a business catering to the tourist trade.  The scientist and Ben are the only multi-dimensional characters.  Everyone else is a stereotype.

My second complaint with the story is not so much with the story itself as with the format of the book and what it implies.  The book is obviously designed to be used in a classroom, because it has, in the front flap, one of those charts to show which students used it which years.  As far as literature goes, the book leaves much to be desired.  I can't imagine it being useful to teach about literature and good writing.  The best use to which this story could be used in a classroom is to teach about pollution and environmentalism.  I have a problem with using such one-dimensional characters to accomplish this.  People are not only naive or evil or good or thoughtful.  And in real life the solutions to problems such as those portrayed in the book are never simple.  People and communities are affected by pollution and expansion and a changing income base on a multitude of levels.  It seems somewhat manipulative to portray such a simple solution.  I don't blame the author for this.  I have no idea of her intentions.  But using the book  in a classroom to teach some sort of morality based upon such a simple solution seems somewhat dishonest.

Yet a third hurdle to my endorsement of the book is that Ben and Matt break some major rules and behave in a dangerous manner in order to help find the bad guy.  The author does have an authority figure point this out to the boys, but then they are celebrated and thanked profusely by the community, which could tend to outweigh the  effect of the rebuke in the mind of a young reader who might be drawn to the perceived heroism of the boys.

So to sum up, the plot is not bad.  In fact the plot itself is somewhat well done.  The yarn is good.

The characters ought to be better.  The implications of how the book might be used are frightening.  Any moral lessons are questionable and ought to include parental involvement.

Hunting Nature's Fury A Storm Chaser's Obsession with Tornadoes, Hurricanes, and other Natural disasters

By Roger Hill with Peter Bronski

Thumbs Up.

Roger Hill is one of the super elite storm chasers. In Hunting Nature's Fury, he tells us all about it.

The story starts out with Mr. Hill telling about living through the 1966, Topeka, KS, tornado and how that incident set the groundwork for his fascination with storms. The beginning few chapters give the history and technical information a reader will need to appreciate some of the descriptions in the rest of the book.

Each subsequent chapter focuses on a highlight of Mr. Hill's experience chasing storms, which eventually led to a full-time career leading storm chasing tours. He takes the reader on a rollicking ride around the Great Plains and a few other locales, with detailed descriptions of what he and his cohorts experience moment by moment, while in close proximity to each season's most violent storms.

While the book was not a non-stop edge of one's seat read, it did have times at which I could not put it down. Besides that, there is within the pages a mini-seminar on interpreting severe weather.

Mr. Hill also tries and largely succeeds in describing the excitement he feels when close on the heels of a violent storm, while drawing a distinction between that excitement and a callous attitude toward those people who experience loss at the hands of such a storm. He describes moments of grief and a vicarious sense of loss when families or entire communities are affected by a storm's damage. He relates stopping to help those in need when necessary; and he rejoices when an especially dazzling storm is not near human habitation.

Although I don't expect to book a storm chasing tour vacation any time soon, I did request a few more books and DVDs on the topic of storm chasing from the library.

Dr. Seuss's ABC An Amazing Alphabet

by Dr. Seuss

Thumbs up.

Yes, I loved this book when my first several kids were young and I still had time and energy to read the same books over and over and over again to my kids.

But here's something cool. I just found a minimally animated video of Dr. Seuss's ABC on youTube.

At some point, Random House created a set of videos to go along with several of the Dr. Seuss books. I don't know how or where they were circulated; I don't ever remember having seen any of them. Apparently they are out of circulation at this time.

But now an ambition fan has put them on youTube for the viewing pleasure of others. They seem to be about 10 minute videos and don't seem to take too long to download. We also watched Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?

I thought the ABC one worthy of mention, since it would work well for a busy homeschool mom as a short educational interlude, to keep a toddler busy while Mom teaches a math or grammar lesson, or gets dinner on, a load of wash in, or has a cup of tea.