By spaceengin
The earliest Hellenic evidence of a calendar character is the astral myth about the marriage of Atlantis and Pleione and the birth of the 7 Pleiades, including Maya, the Mother of God of Hermes (Apollod. III, 10, 1) [20]. Atlas "hardy" - the personification of the month. Playona "full" - the personification of a complete time circle (monthly, annual). Pleiades "daughters of Pleione" - the personification of the constellation of the same name. This is an allegory about the traditional new year, namely, when the month is born or fulfilled near the constellation Pleiades, then the year is fulfilled (Pleyon) (Hyg. Poet. Astr. XXI, 2–4) [4; 23]. This ancient state of the Hellenic calendar looks identical to the Indo-Iranian lunar calendar.
The morning rise of the Pleiades coincided with the spring equinox around 1637 BC. e. But precession makes this comparison optional, since millennia before and millennia after, this linking of the two events is irrelevant.
A relic of the primary i.-e. The lunar calendar is the economic calendar in Hesiod's poem "Works and Days" (Hes. Op.) [21], a poet who, according to the scholastics, worked between - 800-700 years. The heliacal rising of the Pleiades was already around May 12th. Hesiod wrote thus: "When the Pleiades rise, start harvesting"; “When Sirius is overhead, cut trees”; “When the Pleiades are about to set, start plowing” (set at dawn - early November); "When Orion and Sirius go to the middle of the sky - pick grapes"; “50 days after the solstice, goods can be transported by sea for sale”; “Arcturus appears in the evening - cut the vines” (end of February); "With the setting of Orion and the Pleiades, the year is complete." These agricultural instructions later became irrelevant due to the same precession. After Hesiod, the lunar calendar came into complete conflict with phenology; traditional ideas did not correspond to natural phenomena and national economic activities. There is no definite evidence, did the Hellenes initially calculate their lunar month in 27, 28, 29 days? Most likely the latter. The calendar problems were on the rise. In the classical period, as a result of numerous corrections, corrections, and transformations of the traditional calendar, a well-known system was established. There were 12 lunar months in a year, 6 to 30, 6 to 29 days, i.e. 354 days. Each month was divided into three decades. Neomenia - new moon, second decade - (Moon in the middle), third decade - (waning moon). The so-called anticipatory day was withdrawn every second month.
“The ancient Romans knew weapons better than the stars ...” (Ovid). Throughout the ages, the agricultural calendar dominated Rome. The main reference point for the beginning of certain agricultural work for centuries was the sunrise and sunset (morning and evening) of the star cluster Virgil (Vergiliae = Pleiades).
Pliny (Plin.) [10; 26] recommended doing this: “Between sunrise Virgil and the summer solstice, dig up or plow young vineyards, stepson vines, mow forage” (mid-May - mid-June); “Between the summer solstice and the rising of the Dog, most are occupied with the harvest” (from 22.06 to 19.07); “Between the rising of the Dog and the autumn equinox, straw should be mowed (since during the harvest the spikelets were cut high, and the straw itself was mowed a month later)” (from 20.07 to 20.09); "From the favonia to the rising of Arcturus, dig new ditches, pruning in the vineyards" (February 3 to 16); “Between the favonia and the spring equinox, trees are pruned, vines are dug in ...” (i.e., between February 3/4 and March 20); “Between the spring equinox and sunrise, Virgil weeds the fields ... they cut down the willow, enclose the meadows ... olive trees should be planted” (the last decade of March - the morning sunrise of the Pleiades was then observed in mid-May).
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE ARCHETYPE OF THE GENERAL INDO-EUROPEAN AND PROTO-SLAVIC CALENDAR BY THE COMPARATIVE HISTORICAL METHOD. A.K. Shaposhnikov