Months
The year begins in spring,
and is divided into
reš
šatti "beginning",
mišil
šatti "middle", and
kīt
šatti "end of the
year". The name for "month"
was
arḫu (status
constructus
araḫ).
That the calendar originates
in Babylonian, not Assyrian
times is shown by the fact
that the chief deity of the
Assyrians is assigned the
surplus intercalary month.
During the 6th century BC
Babylonian exile of the
Hebrews, the Babylonian
month names were adopted
into the
Hebrew calendar. The
Syrian calendar used in
the
Levant countries also
uses many of the same names
for its months, such as
Nisan, Iyyar, Tammuz, Ab,
Elul, Tishri, and Adar.
|
Babylonian calendar |
|
Season |
|
Month name |
Presiding deities |
Zodiac sign |
Equivalent in
Gregorian calendar |
|
Reš Šatti |
1 |
Araḫ Nisānu
'Month of the
Sanctuary' |
Anu and
Bel |
KU (Aries) |
March/April |
|
2 |
Araḫ Āru
'Month of the Bull' |
Ea |
|
April/May |
|
3 |
Araḫ Simanu |
Sin |
BI(KAŠ) (Gemini) |
May/June |
|
4 |
Araḫ Dumuzu
'Month of
Tammuz' |
Adar |
|
June/July |
|
Mišil Šatti |
5 |
Araḫ Abu |
|
āru (Leo) |
July/August |
|
6 |
Araḫ Ulūlu |
Ishtar |
|
August/September |
|
7 |
Araḫ Tišritum
'Month of Beginning'
(ie. the start of
the 2nd half-year) |
Shamash |
(Libra) |
September/October |
|
8 |
Araḫ Samna
'Month of Laying
Foundations' |
Marduk |
(Scorpio) |
October/November |
|
Kīt Šatti |
9 |
Araḫ Kislimu |
Nergal |
(Sagittarius) |
November/December |
|
10 |
Araḫ Ṭebētum
'Month of the
Forthcoming of
Water' |
Pap-sukkal |
saḫ 'ibex'
(Capricorn?) |
December/January |
|
11 |
Araḫ Šabaṭu |
|
qā
(Aquarius?) |
January/February |
|
12 |
Araḫ Addaru
~
Araḫ Adār
'Month of Adar' |
Erra |
(Pisces) |
February/March |
|
Intercalary |
13 |
Araḫ Makaruša Addari
~
Araḫ Ve-Adār |
Ashur |
Except in year 17 of
19-year cycle, when
intercalary month
was after
Araḫ Ulūlu. |
Until the
fifth century BC the
calendar was fully
observational, but beginning
about
499 BC the months began
to be regulated by a
lunisolar cycle of 19
years equaling 235 months.
Although usually called the
Metonic cycle,
Meton (432
BC) probably learned of
the cycle from the
Babylonians. After no more
than three isolated
exceptions, by
380 BC the months of the
calendar were regulated by
the cycle without exception.
In the cycle of 19 years,
the month Adaru 2 was
intercalated, except in the
year that was number 17 in
the cycle, when the month
Ululu 2 was inserted.
During this period, the
first day of each month
(beginning at sunset)
continued to be the day when
a new crescent moon was
first sighted—the calendar
never used a specified
number of days in any month.
Days
Counting from the
new moon, the
Babylonians celebrated every
seventh day as a "holy-day",
also called an "evil day"
(meaning "unsuitable" for
prohibited activities). On
these days officials were
prohibited from various
activities and common men
were forbidden to "make a
wish", and at least the 28th
was known as a "rest-day".
On each of them, offerings
were made to a different god
and goddess, apparently at
nightfall to avoid the
prohibitions:
Merodach and
Ishtar on the 7th,
Ninlil and
Nergal on the 14th,
Sin and
Shamash on the 21st, and
Enki and
Mah on the 28th. Tablets
from the sixth-century B.C.
reigns of
Cyrus the Great and
Cambyses indicate these
dates were sometimes
approximate.
The
lunation of 29 or 30
days basically contained
three
seven-day weeks, and a
final week of nine or ten
days inclusive, breaking the
continuous seven-day cycle.[1]
Among other theories of
Shabbat origin, the
Universal Jewish
Encyclopedia
advanced a theory of
Assyriologists like
Friedrich Delitzsch[2]
that Shabbat
originally arose from the
lunar cycle,[3][4]
containing four weeks ending
in Sabbath, plus one or two
additional unreckoned days
per month.[5]
The difficulties of this
theory include reconciling
the differences between an
unbroken week and a lunar
week, and explaining the
absence of texts naming the
lunar week as Shabbat
in any language.[6]
The Babylonians additionally
celebrated the 19th as a
special "evil day", the "day
of anger", because it was
roughly the 49th day of the
(preceding) month,
completing a "week of
weeks". Sacrifices were
offered to
Ninurta and the day
dedicated to
Gula, and it may be
supposed that prohibitions
were strengthened.
Further, reconstruction of a
broken tablet seems to
define the rarely attested
Sapattum
or Sabattum
as the 15th day of the
lunation, more or less the
full moon. This word is
cognate with Hebrew
Shabbat, but is
monthly rather than weekly;
it is regarded as a form of
Sumerian sa-bat
("mid-rest"), attested in
Akkadian as um nuh
libbi ("day of
mid-repose"). This
conclusion is a contextual
restoration of the damaged
Enűma Eliš creation
account, which reads: "[Sa]bbath
shalt thou then encounter,
mid[month]ly."[1]
