THE FIXED YEAR AND FESTIVAL CALENDARS.
The reformation of the Egyptian calendar, to be gathered, as I
suggested in the last chapter, from the decree of Tanis, is not,
however, the point to which reference is generally made in connection
with the decree. The attempt recorded by it to get rid of the vague
year is generally dwelt on.
Although the system of reckoning which was based on the vague year
had advantages with which it has not been sufficiently credited,
undoubtedly it had its drawbacks.
The tetramenes, with their special symbolism of flood-, seed-, and
harvest-time, had apparently all meant each in turn; however the
meanings of the signs were changed, the "winter season" occurred in
this way in the height of summer, the "sowing-time" when the whole
land was inundated and there was no land to plant, and so on. Each
festival, too, swept through the year. Still, it is quite certain that
information was given by the priests each year in advance, so that
agriculture did not suffer; for if this had not been done, the system,
instead of dying hard, as it did, would have been abolished thousands
of years before.
Before I proceed to state shortly what happened with regard to the
fixing of the year, it will be convenient here to state a suggestion
that has occurred to me, on astronomical grounds, with regard to the
initial change of sign.
It is to be noted that in the old tables of the months, instead of
Sirius leading the year, we have Teχi with the two feathers of Amen. In
later times this is changed to Sirius.
I believe it is generally acknowledged that the month-table at the
Ramesseum is the oldest one we have; there is a variant at Edfû. They
both run as follows, and no doubt they had their origin when a 1st
Thoth coincided with an heliacal rising and Nile flood.
───────────────┬───────────────┬────────────────────┬───────────────
Egyptian month.│Tropical month.│ Ramesseum. │ Edfû.
───────────────┼───────────────┼────────────────────┼───────────────
│ │ │
1. Thoth │ June-July │Teχi │Teχi
2. Phaophi │ July-Aug. │Ptah │
│ │ (Ptah-res-aneb-f)│Ptah Menχ
3. Athyr │ Aug.-Sep. │Hathor │ ?
4. Choiach │ Sep.-Oct. │Paχt │Kehek
5. Tybi │ Oct.-Nov. │Min │Set-but
6. Menchir │ Nov.-Dec. │Jackal (rekh-ur) │Hippopotamus
│ │ │ (rekh-ur)
7. Phamenoth │ Dec.-Jan. │ " (rekh-netches) │Hippopotamus
│ │ │ (rekh-netches)
8. Pharmuthi │ Jan.-Feb. │Rennuti │Renen
9. Pachons │ Feb.-Mar. │χensu │χensu
10. Payni │ Mar.-Ap. │Horus (χonti) │Horus
│ │ │ (Hor-χent-χati)
11. Epiphi │ Ap.-May │Apet │Apet
12. Mesori │ May-June │Horus (Hor-m-χut) │Horus
│ │ │ (Hor-ra-m-χut)
───────────────┴───────────────┴────────────────────┴───────────────
I am informed that Teχi, in the above month-list, has some relation
to Thoth. In the early month-list the goddess is represented with the
two feathers of Amen, and in this early stage I fancy we can recognise
her as Amen-t; but in later copies of the table the symbol is changed
to that of _Sirius_. This, then, looks like a change of cult depending
upon the introduction of a new star--that is, a star indicating by
its heliacal rising the Nile-rise after the one first used had become
useless for such a purpose.
[Illustration: THE MONTH-TABLE AT THE RAMESSEUM.]
I have said that the Ramesseum month-list is probably the oldest one we
have. It is considered by some to date only from Rameses II., and to
indicate a fixed year; such, however, is not Krall's opinion.[79] He
writes:--
"The latest investigations of Dümichen show that the calendar of
Medînet-Habû is only a copy of the original composed under Ramses II.
about 120 years before....
"But the true original of the calendar of Medînet-Habû does not even
date from the time of Ramses II. It is known to every Egyptologist how
little the time of the Ramessids produced what was truly original,
how much just this time restricted itself to a reproduction of the
traditions of previous generations. In the calendar of Medînet-Habû
we have (p. 48) not a fixed year instituted under Ramses II., but
the normal year of the old time, the vague year, as it was, to use
Dschewhari's words quoted above (p. 852) in the first year of its
institution, the year as it was before the Egyptians had made two
unwelcome observations: First, that the year of 365 days did not
correspond to the reality, but shifted by one day in four years with
regard to the seasons; secondly--which, of course, took a much longer
time--that the rising of Sirius ceased to coincide with the beginning
of the Nile flood.
"We are led to the same conclusion by a consideration of the
festivals given in the calendar of Medînet-Habû. They are almost
without exception the festivals which we have found in our previous
investigation of the calendars of Esne and Edfû to be attached to the
same days. We know already the Uaya festival of the 17th and 18th
Thoth, the festival of Hermes of the 19th Thoth, the great feast of
Amen beginning on the 19th Paophi, the Osiris festivals of the last
decade of Choiak, and that of the coronation of Horuz on the 1st Tybi.
"Festivals somehow differing from the ancient traditions and general
usage are unknown in the calendar of Medînet-Habû, and it is just such
festivals which have enabled us to trace fixed years in the calendars
of Edfû and Esne.
"We are as little justified in considering the
mythologico-astronomical representations and inscriptions on the
graves of the time of the Ramessids as founded on a fixed year, as
we can do this in the case of the Medînet-Habû calendar. In this
the astronomical element of the calendar is quite overgrown by the
mythological. Not only was the daily and yearly course of the sun a
most important event for the Egyptian astronomer, but the priest also
had in his sacred books many mythological records concerning the god
Rā, which had to be taken into account in these representations. The
mythological ideas dated from the oldest periods of Egyptian history;
we shall therefore be obliged, for their explanation, not to remain in
the thirteenth or fourteenth century before Christ, but to ascend into
previous centuries. _I should think about the middle of the fourth
millennium before Christ, that is the time at which the true original
of the Medînet-Habû calendar was framed._ Further, we must in these
mythological and astronomical representations not overlook the fact
that we cannot expect them to show mathematical accuracy--that, on
the contrary, if that is a consideration, we must proceed with the
greatest caution. We know now how inexact were the representations and
texts of tombs, especially where the Egyptian artist could suppose
that no human eye would inspect his work; we also know how often
representations stop short for want of room, and how much the contents
were mutilated for the sake of symmetry."
Sirian, Pre-Sirian
3192 B.C. Teχi
Thoth ┐
Phaophi ├ [Hieroglyph]
Athyr │
Choiach ┘
Thoth ┐ Tybi ┐
Phaophi ├ Menchir ├ [Hieroglyph]
Athyr │ Phamenoth │
Choiach ┘ Pharmuthi ┘
Tybi ┐ Pachons ┐
Menchir ├ Payni ├ [Hieroglyph]
Phamenoth│ Epiphi │
Pharmuthi┘ Mesori ┘
Pachons
Payni
Epiphi
Mesori
SYRIAN AND PRE-SYRIAN TETRAMENE-SIGNS.
There is also, as I have indicated, temple evidence that Sirius was
not the first star utilised as a herald of sunrise. We have, then,
this possibility to explain the variation from the true meaning of the
signs in Ramessid times. And it may be gathered from this that the
calendar was reorganised[80] when the Sirius worship came in, and that
the change effected in 619 B.C. brought the hieroglyphic signs back to
their natural meaning and first use.
The whole story of calendar revision may, therefore, possibly have been
as follows:--
[Illustration: [Each group of four linked to a Hieroglyph]
Pre-Sirian
Teχi
Thoth
Phaophi
Athyr
Choiach
Tybi
Menchir
Phamenoth
Pharmuthi
Pachons
Payni
Epiphi
Mesori
Sirian,
3192 B.C.
1st. Cycle
Thoth
Phaophi
Athyr
Choiach
Tybi
Menchir
Phamenoth
Pharmuthi
Pachons
Payni
Epiphi
Mesori
2nd. Cycle.
1728 B.C.
Thoth
Phaophi
Athyr
Choiach
Tybi
Menchir
Phamenoth
Pharmuthi
Pachons
Payni
Epiphi
Mesori
B.C.
618
Thoth
Phaophi
Athyr
Choiach
Tybi
Menchir
Phamenoth
Pharmuthi
Pachons
Payni
Epiphi
Mesori
B.C.
238
Pachons
Payni
Epiphi
Mesori
Thoth
Phaophi
Athyr
Choiach
&c.
The revision of 618 B.C. was not universally accepted, so from that
time onward there was an old and a new style in force.
Before I pass on, it may be convenient, in connection with the above
month-tables, to refer in the briefest way to the mythology relating
to the yearly movement of the sun, in order to show that when this
question is considered at all, if it helps us with regard to the
mythology connected with the rising and setting of stars, it will as
assuredly help us with regard to the mythology of the various changes
which occur throughout the year.
We have, as we have seen, in the Egyptian year really the prototype of
our own. The Egyptians, thousands of years ago, had an almost perfect
year containing twelve months; but, instead of four seasons, they had
three--the time of the sowing, the time of the harvest, and the time of
the inundation. Unfortunately, at various times in Egyptian history,
the symbols for the tetramenes seem to have got changed.
The above-given inscriptions show that they had a distinct symbolism
for each of the months. Gods or goddesses are given for ten months out
of the twelve, and where we have not these we have the hippopotamus (or
the pig) and the jackal, two circumpolar constellations. I think there
is no question that we are dealing here with these constellations,
though the figures have been supposed to represent something quite
different.
There are also myths and symbols of the twelve changes during the
twelve hours of the day; the sun being figured as a child at rising,
as an old man when setting in the evening. These ideas were also
transferred to the annual motion of the sun. In Macrobius, as quoted by
Krall, we find the statement that the Egyptians compared the yearly
course of the sun also with the phases of human life.
Little child = Winter Solstice.
Young man = Spring Equinox.
Bearded man = Summer Solstice.
Old man = Autumnal Equinox.
With the day of the Summer Solstice the sun reaches the greatest
northern rising amplitude, and at the Winter Solstice its greatest
southern amplitude. By the solstices the year is divided into two
approximately equal parts; during one the points of rising move
southwards, during the other northwards.
This phenomenon, it is stated, was symbolised by the two eyes of Rā,
the so-called Utchats, which look in different directions. They appear
as representing the sun in the two halves of the year.
* * * * *
We have next to discuss the fixed year, to which the Egyptian
chronologists were finally driven in later Egyptian times. The decree
of Tanis was the true precursor of the Julian correction of the
calendar. In consequence of this correction we now add a day every four
years to the end of February. The decree regulated the addition, by the
Egyptians, of a day every four years by adding a day to the epacts,
which were thus six every four years instead of being always five, as
they had been before.
In fact, it replaced the vague year by the sacred year long known to
the priests.
But if everything had gone on then as the priests of Tanis imagined,
the Egyptian New Year's Day, _if_ determined by the heliacal rising
of Sirius, would not always afterwards have been the 1st of Payni,
although the solstice and Nile flood would have been clue at Memphis
about the 1st of Pachons; and this is, perhaps, one among the reasons
why the decree was to a large extent ignored.
Hence, for some years after the date of the decree of Tanis, there were
at least three years in force--the new fixed year, the new vague year,
reckoning from Pachons, and the old vague year, reckoning from Thoth.
But after some years another attempt was made to get rid of all this
confusion. The time was 23 B.C., 216 years after the decree of Tanis,
and the place was Alexandria. Hence the new fixed year introduced is
termed the Alexandrine year.
This new attempt obviously implied that the first one had failed;
and the fact that the vague year was continued in the interval is
sufficiently demonstrated by the fact that the new year was 216∕4 =
54 days _en retard_. In the year of Tanis it is stated that the 1st
Pachons, the new New Year's Day, the real beginning of the Hood, fell
on the 19th of June (Gregorian), the Summer Solstice, and hence the 1st
of Thoth fell on the 22nd of October (Gregorian). In the Alexandrine
year the 22nd of October is represented by the 29th of August, and the
19th of June by the 20th of April.
It is noteworthy that in the Alexandrine year the heliacal rising
of Sirius on the 23rd of July (Julian) falls on the 29th of Epiphi,
nearly the same date as that to which I first drew attention in the
inscriptions of the date of Thothmes and Pepi. This, however, it is now
clearly seen, is a pure accident, due to the break of continuity before
the Tanis year, and the _slip_ between that and the Alexandrine one. It
is important to mention this, because it has been thought that somehow
the "Alexandrine year" was in use in Pepi's time.
It would seem that the Alexandrine revision was final, and that the
year was truly fixed, and from that time to this it has remained so,
and must in the future for ever remain so. It must never be forgotten
that we owe this perfection to the Egyptian Festival Calendars.
One of the chief uses of the Egyptian calendar that has come down to us
was the arrangement and dating of the chief feasts throughout the year
in the different temples.
The fact that the two great complete feast-calendars of Edfû and Esne
refer to the only fixed years evidenced by records--those of Tanis
and Alexandria--one of which was established over 200 years after the
other, is of inestimable value for the investigation of the calendar
and chronology of ancient Egypt.
In an excellent work of Brugsch, "Three Festival Calendars from the
Temple of Apollinopolis Magna (Edfû) in Upper Egypt," we have two
calendars which we can refer to fixed years, and can date with the
greatest accuracy. In the case of one of these, that of Esne, this is
universally recognised; as to the other, that of Apollinopolis Magna,
we are indebted to the researches of Krall, who points out, however,
that "it is only when the province of Egyptian mythology has been dealt
with in all directions that we can undertake a successful explanation
of the festival catalogues. Even externally they show the greatest
eccentricities, which are not diminished, but increased, on a closer
investigation."
About some points, however, there is no question. The Summer Solstice
is attached in the Edfû calendar to the 6th Pachons, according to
Krall, while the beginning of the flood is noted on the 1st of that
month. In the Esne calendar the 26th Payni is New Year's Day. We
read:--"26th Payni, New Year's Day, Feast of the Revelation of Kahi in
the Temple. To dress the crocodiles, as in the month of Menchir, day
8."
Peculiar to the Esne calendar, according to Krall, is the mentioning
of the "New Years Festival of the Ancestors" on the 9th of Thoth; to
the Edfû calendar, publication No. 1 of Brugsch, the festival "of the
offering of the first of the harvested fruits, after the precept of
King Amenemha I.," on the 1st Epiphi, and "the celebration of the feast
of the Great Conflagration" on the 9th of Menchir. In feast-calendar
No. 1, the reference to the peculiar Feast of Set is also remarkable;
this was celebrated twice, first in the first days of Thoth (? 9th),
then, as it appears, in Pachons (10th). This feast is well known to
have been first mentioned under the old Pharaoh Pepi Merinrā.
It is a question whether in the new year of the ancestors and the
feasts of Set, all occurring about the 9th Thoth and Pachons, we have
not Memphis festivals which gave way to Theban ones; for, so far as I
can make out, the flood takes about nine days to pass from Thebes to
Memphis, so that in Theban time the arrival of the flood at Memphis
would occur on 9th or 10th Thoth. There is no difficulty about the
second dating in Pachons, for, as we have seen, this followed on the
reconstruction of the calendar.
It is also worthy of note that the feast of the "Great Conflagration"
took place very near the Spring Equinox.
Let us dwell for a moment on the Edfû inscriptions to see if we can
learn from them whether or not they bear out the views brought forward
with regard to this reconstruction.
As we have seen, it is now acknowledged that the temple inscriptions at
Edfû (which are stated to have been cut between 117 and 81 B.C.[81])
are based upon the fixed year of Tanis; hence we should expect that the
rising of Sirius would be referred to on 1 Payni, and this is so. But
here, as in the other temples, we get double dates referring to the old
calendars, and we find the "wounding of Set" referred to on the 1st
Epiphi and the rising of Sirius referred to under 1 Mesori. Now this
means, if the old vague year is referred to, as it most probably is,
that
5 Epacts
30 Mesori
──
35 × 4 = 140 years
had elapsed since the beginning of a Sothic cycle, when the calendar
coincidences were determined, which were afterwards inscribed on the
temple walls. We have, then, 140 years to subtract from the beginning
of the cycle in 270 B.C. This gives us 130 B.C., and it will be seen
that this agrees as closely as can be expected with my view, whereas
the inscription has no meaning at all if we take the date given by
Censorinus.
I quote from Krall[82] another inscription common to Edfû and Esne,
which seems to have astronomical significance.
"1. Phamenoth. Festival of the suspension of the sky by Ptah, by the
side of the god Harschaf, the master of Heracleopolis Magna (Al).
Festival of Ptah. Feast of the suspension of the sky (Es).
"Under the 1st Phamenoth, Plutarch, _de Iside et Osiride_, c. 43, b,
notices the ἔμβασις Ὀσίριδος εἰς τὴν σελὴνην. These are festivals
connected with the celebration of the Winter Solstice, and the filling
of the Uza-eye on the 30th Menchir. Perhaps the old year, which
the Egyptians introduced into the Nile valley at the time of their
immigration, and which had only 360 days, commenced with the Winter
Solstice. Thus we should have in the 'festival of the suspension
of the sky,' by the ancient god Ptah--venerated as creator of the
world--a remnant of the time when the Winter Solstice ... marked the
beginning of the year, and also the creation."
The reconstruction of the calendar naturally enhanced the importance of
the month Pachons; this comes out very clearly from the inscriptions
translated by Brugsch. On this point Krall remarks:--
"It is, therefore, quite right that the month Pachons, _which took
the place of the old Thoth by the decree of Tanis_, should play a
prominent part in the feast-calendars of the days of the Ptolemies,
and the first period of the Empire in general, but especially in the
_Edfû_ calendar, which refers to the _Tanitic_ year. The first five
days of Pachons are dedicated in our calendar to the celebration
of the subjection of the enemies by Horus; we at once remember the
above-mentioned (p. 7) record of Edfû of the nature of a mythological
calendar, describing the advent of the Nile flood. On the 6th of
Pachons--remember the great importance of the sixes in the Ptolemæan
records--the solstice is then celebrated. The Uza-eye is then filled,
a mythical act which we have in another place referred to the
celebration of the solstice, and 'everything is performed which is
ordained' in the book 'on the Divine Birth.'"
Next let us turn to Esne. The inscriptions here are stated to be based
on the Alexandrine year, but we not only find 1st Thoth given as New
Year's Day, but 26 Payni given as the beginning of the Nile flood.
Now I have, already stated that the Alexandrine year was practically
a fixing of the vague Tunis year--that is, a year beginning on 1st
Pachons in 239 B.C.
If we assume the date of the calendar coincidences recorded at Esne to
have been 15 B.C. (we know it was after 23 B.C. and at the end of the
Roman dominion), we have as before, seeing that, if the vague Tunis
year had really continued, it would have swept forward with regard to
the Nile flood,
Pachons 30
Payni 26
──
56 × 4 = 224 years after 239 B.C.
This double dating, then, proves the continuation of the vague year of
Tunis if the date 15 B.C. of the inscription is about right.
Can we go further and find a trace of the old cycle beginning 270
B.C.? In this case we should have the rising of Sirius
270
- 15
────
4)255 years
────
64 = say, five Epacts and two months.
This would give us 1 Epiphi. Is this mentioned in the Esne calendar?
Yes, it is, "1 Epiphi. To perform the precepts of the book on the
second divine birth of the child Kahi."
Now the 26th Payni, the new New Year's Day, is associated with the
"revelation of Kahi," so it is not impossible that "the second divine
birth" may have some dim reference to the feast.
It is not necessary to pursue this intricate subject further in this
place; so intricate is it that, although the suggestions I have
ventured to make on astronomical grounds seem consistent with the
available facts, they are suggestions only, and a long labour on the
part of Egyptologists will be needed before we can be said to be on
firm ground.