Knowra Babylonian calendar Babylonian calendar The Babylonian calendar was a lunisolar system used in ancient Mesopotamia. It aligned months with lunar phases and used intercalary months to keep the year aligned with the seasons.
Lunar month : The interval between successive appearances of the same lunar phase, averaging about 29.5 days. Babylonian months alternated between 29 and 30 days to track the Moon.
Sumerian calendar : The collection of calendrical systems used by Sumerian city-states in southern Mesopotamia. Babylonian practice inherited month names and traditions from earlier Sumerian calendars.
Akitu : An ancient Mesopotamian New Year festival associated especially with Babylon and the god Marduk. The festival’s rites and timing depended on the calendar’s spring month.
Egyptian calendar : An ancient Egyptian civil calendar of twelve 30-day months and five additional days, later supplemented by leap-year reforms. Unlike Babylonian lunar months, its civil year used fixed month lengths.
Intercalation : The insertion of an extra time unit into a calendar to keep it aligned with an astronomical cycle. Extra months prevented the calendar’s lunar months from drifting through the seasons.
Babylon : An ancient Mesopotamian city on the Euphrates that became a major political and cultural center. The calendar takes its name from the city whose scribes standardized its use.
Babylonian religion : The polytheistic religious traditions practiced in Babylonia, centered on temples, rituals, and divine patronage. The calendar scheduled festivals and recurring offerings to the gods.
Hebrew calendar : A lunisolar calendar used in Jewish religious life, with lunar months and intercalation to preserve seasonal festivals. It shares the Babylonian calendar’s lunisolar structure and several month names.
Metonic cycle : A 19-year period containing nearly 235 lunar months, after which lunar phases recur on similar calendar dates. This later cycle formalized the lunar-solar relationship Babylonian astronomers had long managed.
Cuneiform : A writing system used across the ancient Near East, made by impressing wedge-shaped marks into clay. Cuneiform tablets preserve Babylonian dates, month names, and calendar rules.
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