Published Book: Athenian Year Primer by Christopher Planeaux
I will include this in the Athenian Year Primer Volume II -- various errata and an addendum. A bo... more I will include this in the Athenian Year Primer Volume II -- various errata and an addendum. A book of this complexity will unfortunately suffer errors, especially considering almost no experts still exist in the field. Undoubtedly, I will update with corrections often -- though, hopefully, not too often.
The Athenian Year Primer: Attic Time-Reckoning and the Julian Calendar, Jun 30, 2021
**** PUBLISHED JUNE 2021 BY WESTPHALIA PRESS / SOFTBACK ISBN: 978-1-63723-706-9 / HARDBACK ISBN: ... more **** PUBLISHED JUNE 2021 BY WESTPHALIA PRESS / SOFTBACK ISBN: 978-1-63723-706-9 / HARDBACK ISBN: 978-1-63391-919-8 ****
Upcoming Book Athenian Year Primer Volume II by Christopher Planeaux
Athenian Year Primer Vol II, 2024
UPDATED 23 Jun 2024: Chapter excerpt from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excer... more UPDATED 23 Jun 2024: Chapter excerpt from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity with the methodologies and arguments presented in AYP. The underlying premise when seeking to unlock the Calendars of Ancient Athens must presuppose they remained seasonally aligned. The present analysis seeks to uncover what this actually means. As such, it sets the stages further analyses of Thoukydides and ancient Attic Festivals.
Athenian Year Primer Volume II, 2023
Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity wi... more Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity with the methodologies and arguments presented in AYP. Here, I challenge the prevailing view that ancient Athenians could in fact deviate their Archontic Calendars from the Moon for an extended period of time without “real-world” consequences.
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated.
2) Specifically, the building block for ancient Athenian (and, by extrapolation, all ancient Greek) Calendars became and remained the counts-of-days within any Civil (lunisolar) Month.
3) In the case of ancient Athens, understand that the Basileis (or the demoi) faced significant and unappreciated restrictions when they introduced embolismic days or omitted days from the calendar.
4) The failure to identify any imperative, which would compel the Basileus to correct the Civil Calendar, led to extended disagreements over how soon after a deviation took place that the necessary correction should occur.
5) Homicide Trials provide the needed imperative, but our understanding for how they (logistically) functioned before actually introduced to a court is flawed.
The Athenian Year Primer Vol II, 2023
The Placement of Embolismic Months: Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. Th... more The Placement of Embolismic Months: Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity with the methodologies and arguments presented in AYP.
Chapter tackles one of the most fundamental and crucial yet least understood calendrical practices, which all lunisolar calendars must follow: insertion of an extra (thirteenth) lunar month to keep a lunar year’s Synodic Cycles aligned to a Sidereal Solar Year (i.e., solstice ↔ solstice or equinox ↔ equinox).
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated.
2) Argue that ancient Athenians could not have used any fixed or absolute thus, in effect, arbitrarily inserted embolismic month to keep Archontic Years aligned. Significant, existential (practical) considerations existed.
3) Consequently, also argue that intercalations must have possessed “rules” or at least firmly established “guidelines.” The most obvious in fact being any number of seasonal festivals (e.g., Anthesteria, Eleusinian Mysteries). Seasonal festivals, moreover, promptly follow all Panhellenic gatherings (addressed in subsequent Chapters).
4) Attempt to unlock the methodologies used so one can not only understand the underlying math but also establish the base astronomical “template.”
5) Finally, knowing what Calendar Equations ought have occurred aids greatly when working with recovered epigraphical evidence that display such equations. When any deviations surface, we can develop a thorough understanding of why they took place.
Athenian Year Primer: Vol. 2, 2024
The legions of public & private, monthly & annual festivals, sacrifices, and rituals, which ancie... more The legions of public & private, monthly & annual festivals, sacrifices, and rituals, which ancient Athenians and other inhabitants of ancient Attike engaged, also served as time-reckoning devices. The days of celebration thus needed to remain fixed by the Moon, Sun, and Stars, so society could function.
Athenian Year Primer: Vol II, 2024
Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity wi... more Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity with the methodologies and arguments presented in AYP. Continuing the proposition made last Chapter (also posted to academia.edu), I begin analyses of ancient Athenian festivals and large public sacrifices. I begin here with those whose dates have become established beyond doubt retaining only limited uncertainties about relatively minor details.
Athenian Year Primer Vol. II, 2024
Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity wi... more Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity with the methodologies and arguments presented in AYP. Following the progress from last Chapter (also posted to academia.edu), I continue analyses of ancient Athenian festivals and large public sacrifices. I focus here on those whose dates have become almost certainly established but do not remain fool proof. I also argue that ancient Attic days could not have reckoned sunset to sunset as widely believed, because it creates too many accounting problems.
Athenian Year Primer, Volume II, 2024
**DRAFT** UPDATED 23 January 2024. Excerpt from The Athenian Year Primer Volume II. 1st of 3 Chap... more **DRAFT** UPDATED 23 January 2024. Excerpt from The Athenian Year Primer Volume II. 1st of 3 Chapters on the Apatouria. Here, I argue the Apatouria played a fundamental role for Athenian πολιτεία (citizenship) in that the festival established the "official" ages of ancient Athenians. All math and calculations redone from previous obsolete version on Alkibiades upon further research.
**DRAFT** UPDATED 23 January 2024. PREVIOUS VERSION COMPLETELY OBSOLETE. Excerpt from The Atheni... more **DRAFT** UPDATED 23 January 2024. PREVIOUS VERSION COMPLETELY OBSOLETE. Excerpt from The Athenian Year Primer Volume II. 2nd of 3 Chapters on the Apatouria. Previous Chapter, I argued the Apatouria played a fundamental role for Athenian πολιτεία (citizenship) in that the festival established the "official" ages of ancient Athenians. This Chapter I use Alkibiades son of Kleinias to illustrate the methodology and show it sound. All math and calculations redone from further research.
Athenian Year Primer, Vol. II, 2024
**DRAFT** UPDATED 27 February 2024. Note: this Chapter supersedes Socrates In the Assembly, which... more **DRAFT** UPDATED 27 February 2024. Note: this Chapter supersedes Socrates In the Assembly, which has now become obsolete (and I am reworking). Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity with the methodologies and arguments presented in AYP (Vol. 1). Using the hypotheses presented in the previous two chapters (The Apatouria, Pt. I & II), I use the festival's dates and importance to reconstruct the entire timeline for one of ancient Athens' most infamous events during the Dekelian War: the trials and executions of the six strategoi, who returned to ancient Athens, after the victorious naval battle near the Arginousai Isles.
Athenian Year Primer Volume II, 2023
Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity wi... more Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity with the methodologies and arguments presented in AYP. This chapter serves as the introduction for the following three Chapters.
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated but, in the case of Panhellenic Celebrations, that the differences between the various and varying lunisolar calendars became quite irrelevant to participate in these gatherings.
2) Understand how ancient Greeks thus overcame the inherent conflict between different poleis each possessing independent lunisolar calendars and yet could nonetheless successfully schedule and hold Panhellenic celebrations for centuries.
3) Thus, recover the methodology ancient Greeks used to schedule events exactly and precisely that would take place one, two, four or even five “years” into the future and expect everyone throughout the Aegean to know when those dates would occur.
Athenian Year Primer Volume II, 2023
Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity wi... more Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity with the methodologies and arguments presented in AYP. This chapter serves as the introduction for the following three Chapters.
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated but, in the case of Panhellenic Celebrations, that the differences between the various and varying lunisolar calendars became quite irrelevant to participate in these gatherings.
2) Understand how ancient Greeks thus overcame the inherent conflict between different poleis each possessing independent lunisolar calendars and yet could nonetheless successfully schedule and hold Panhellenic celebrations for centuries.
3) Thus, recover the methodology ancient Greeks used to schedule events exactly and precisely that would take place one, two, four or even five “years” into the future and expect everyone throughout the Aegean to know when those dates would occur.
Athenian Year Primer Volume II
Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity wi... more Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity with the methodologies and arguments presented in AYP. This chapter is the third of four chapters on Panhellenic Festivals.
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated but, in the case of Panhellenic Celebrations, that the differences between the various and varying lunisolar calendars became quite irrelevant to participate in these gatherings.
2) The most ancient and well known method of reckoning dates to emerge from ancient Greece, the Olympian Games and its related four year Olympiad Cycles, have also remained the most frustratingly vexing to unlock. Their use had become so widely known and so universally accepted down through ancient Roman times that no one seems to have bothered explaining how they actually worked.
3) Argue that the quadrennial celebration indeed possessed a relatively uncomplicated methodology, so ancient Greeks could schedule and hold the Games under the same Moon of the same season every four years regardless of any calendrical differences between participants.
4) Unlock the two separate methodologies so one can not only recover the particular dates any specific set of Olympian Games, which followed the Elean Civil (lunisolar) calendar, would have taken place, but also recover the start and end for each year of each Olympiad, which followed aseasonal (sidereal solar) calendar.
The Athenian Year Primer, Volume II , 2024
Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity wi... more Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity with the methodologies and arguments presented in AYP. This chapter is the fouth of four chapters on Panhellenic Festivals.
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated but, in the case of Panhellenic Celebrations, that the differences between the various and varying lunisolar calendars became quite irrelevant to participate in these gatherings.
2) The various dates on which ancient Greeks gathered for the remaining three of these “big four” Panhellenic Games have also proved irritatingly difficult to unlock. The same methodology uncovered to schedule the Great Panathenaia, then used to unlock the Olympian Games, now becomes applied to Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemeian Festivals.
3) Argue that quadrennial Pythian celebration as well as both biannual Isthmian & Nemeian gatherins also possessed relatively uncomplicated methodologies, so ancient Greeks could schedule and hold them all under the same Moon of the same season at repeating intervals regardless of any calendrical differences between participants.
4) Complete the analysis by proving a functional timeline for all Panhellenic Celebrations examined thus far.
The Athenian Year Primer: Attic Time-Reckoning and the Julian Calendar Vol II, 2023
Excerpted Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. It presupposes familiarity w... more Excerpted Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. It presupposes familiarity with AYP. I present three theses: 1) Thucydides employed a fixed astronomical seasonal calendar; 2) both ancient Athenian Archontic & Boulitic calendars followed astronomical referents; and 3) provide (or uncover) the Archontic, Boulitic, and Julian dates for each event that led up to and encompassed the Archidamian War (Plataea to Peace of Nicias).
Athenian Year Primer Vol II
Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity wi... more Chapter from the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II. The excerpt presupposes familiarity with the methodologies and arguments presented in AYP. This chapter serves three purposes.
1) Show that the seasonal calendar employed by Thoukydides to chronicle the great stasis between the Delian and Peloponnesian Leagues was fixed and nothing short of utterly brilliant.
2) Show that ancient Athenians proved far more astronomically sound when using both their Archontic and Boulitic Calendars, and, in this case, that both calendars aligned to Thoukydides’ two seasons: Summer & Winter.
3) Provide the definitive timeline (Archontic, Boulitic, and Julian dates) for each event that transpired from the Peace of Nikias to the utter destruction of the Athenian armada in Sicily.
Note: “Double Representation in the Strategia: Fact or Fiction” is a companion piece to this excerpt. For any discrepancies between the two, however, this paper now supersedes.
Athenian Year Primer, Vol II, 2023
Case Study 428/7-423/2 BCE Appendix to the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II, presupposes ... more Case Study 428/7-423/2 BCE Appendix to the forthcoming Athenian Year Primer Vol. II, presupposes familiarity with the methodologies and arguments presented in AYP. 1) Show that the seasonal method employed by Thoukydides to chronicle the great stasis between the Delian and Peloponnesian Leagues is nothing short of utterly brilliant. 2) Show that ancient Athenians indeed adhered to single tribal representation for each of the ten annually elected strategoi. 3) provide more specific examples showing ancient Athenians proved far more astronomically sound with their Archontic and Boulitic Calendars.
The Athenian Year Primer, Volume II (Under Development), 2022
DRAFT: Work in Progress - to be included in the second volume of the Athe Athenian Year Primer. A... more DRAFT: Work in Progress - to be included in the second volume of the Athe Athenian Year Primer. Analyzes various evidence from the 5th Century and applies it to the schemas put forth in The Athenian Year Primer
The Athenian Year Primer, Volume II (Under Development), 2022
UPDATED **11 Sept 2021**: DRAFT: WORK IN PROGRESS for Volume 2 Athenian Year Primer. IG I3 369 (a... more UPDATED **11 Sept 2021**: DRAFT: WORK IN PROGRESS for Volume 2 Athenian Year Primer. IG I3 369 (a.k.a. The Logistai Inscription) remains paramount for any study on the 5th Century Athenian Calendars , specifically the independent Conciliar (Boulitic) Calendar. It often took center stage during the Meritt-Pritchett debates. IG I3 369 records loans to the polis from the Sacred Treasuries of Athene Polias, Athene Nike, and the Other Gods for the quadrennium 426/5 - 423/2 BCE. The Chap follows the astronomical schemas provided AYP and builds upon Mabel Lang's methodology to calculate interest accurately via an Ancient Greek Counting Board (a.k.a. abacus). I challenge some prevailing opinions and seek to debunk the hypothesis that the Conciliar Year ever consisted of consecutive 366 days. I propose a number of alternative restorations. **NOTE**: for specialists thus very very dense so not for the timid. Please do not cite without permission (not that you want to do so). Update divides Chap into sections for clarity, adds YR IV Summary. Also, re-edited, typos removed, etc.
Uploads
Published Book: Athenian Year Primer by Christopher Planeaux
Upcoming Book Athenian Year Primer Volume II by Christopher Planeaux
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated.
2) Specifically, the building block for ancient Athenian (and, by extrapolation, all ancient Greek) Calendars became and remained the counts-of-days within any Civil (lunisolar) Month.
3) In the case of ancient Athens, understand that the Basileis (or the demoi) faced significant and unappreciated restrictions when they introduced embolismic days or omitted days from the calendar.
4) The failure to identify any imperative, which would compel the Basileus to correct the Civil Calendar, led to extended disagreements over how soon after a deviation took place that the necessary correction should occur.
5) Homicide Trials provide the needed imperative, but our understanding for how they (logistically) functioned before actually introduced to a court is flawed.
Chapter tackles one of the most fundamental and crucial yet least understood calendrical practices, which all lunisolar calendars must follow: insertion of an extra (thirteenth) lunar month to keep a lunar year’s Synodic Cycles aligned to a Sidereal Solar Year (i.e., solstice ↔ solstice or equinox ↔ equinox).
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated.
2) Argue that ancient Athenians could not have used any fixed or absolute thus, in effect, arbitrarily inserted embolismic month to keep Archontic Years aligned. Significant, existential (practical) considerations existed.
3) Consequently, also argue that intercalations must have possessed “rules” or at least firmly established “guidelines.” The most obvious in fact being any number of seasonal festivals (e.g., Anthesteria, Eleusinian Mysteries). Seasonal festivals, moreover, promptly follow all Panhellenic gatherings (addressed in subsequent Chapters).
4) Attempt to unlock the methodologies used so one can not only understand the underlying math but also establish the base astronomical “template.”
5) Finally, knowing what Calendar Equations ought have occurred aids greatly when working with recovered epigraphical evidence that display such equations. When any deviations surface, we can develop a thorough understanding of why they took place.
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated but, in the case of Panhellenic Celebrations, that the differences between the various and varying lunisolar calendars became quite irrelevant to participate in these gatherings.
2) Understand how ancient Greeks thus overcame the inherent conflict between different poleis each possessing independent lunisolar calendars and yet could nonetheless successfully schedule and hold Panhellenic celebrations for centuries.
3) Thus, recover the methodology ancient Greeks used to schedule events exactly and precisely that would take place one, two, four or even five “years” into the future and expect everyone throughout the Aegean to know when those dates would occur.
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated but, in the case of Panhellenic Celebrations, that the differences between the various and varying lunisolar calendars became quite irrelevant to participate in these gatherings.
2) Understand how ancient Greeks thus overcame the inherent conflict between different poleis each possessing independent lunisolar calendars and yet could nonetheless successfully schedule and hold Panhellenic celebrations for centuries.
3) Thus, recover the methodology ancient Greeks used to schedule events exactly and precisely that would take place one, two, four or even five “years” into the future and expect everyone throughout the Aegean to know when those dates would occur.
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated but, in the case of Panhellenic Celebrations, that the differences between the various and varying lunisolar calendars became quite irrelevant to participate in these gatherings.
2) The most ancient and well known method of reckoning dates to emerge from ancient Greece, the Olympian Games and its related four year Olympiad Cycles, have also remained the most frustratingly vexing to unlock. Their use had become so widely known and so universally accepted down through ancient Roman times that no one seems to have bothered explaining how they actually worked.
3) Argue that the quadrennial celebration indeed possessed a relatively uncomplicated methodology, so ancient Greeks could schedule and hold the Games under the same Moon of the same season every four years regardless of any calendrical differences between participants.
4) Unlock the two separate methodologies so one can not only recover the particular dates any specific set of Olympian Games, which followed the Elean Civil (lunisolar) calendar, would have taken place, but also recover the start and end for each year of each Olympiad, which followed aseasonal (sidereal solar) calendar.
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated but, in the case of Panhellenic Celebrations, that the differences between the various and varying lunisolar calendars became quite irrelevant to participate in these gatherings.
2) The various dates on which ancient Greeks gathered for the remaining three of these “big four” Panhellenic Games have also proved irritatingly difficult to unlock. The same methodology uncovered to schedule the Great Panathenaia, then used to unlock the Olympian Games, now becomes applied to Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemeian Festivals.
3) Argue that quadrennial Pythian celebration as well as both biannual Isthmian & Nemeian gatherins also possessed relatively uncomplicated methodologies, so ancient Greeks could schedule and hold them all under the same Moon of the same season at repeating intervals regardless of any calendrical differences between participants.
4) Complete the analysis by proving a functional timeline for all Panhellenic Celebrations examined thus far.
1) Show that the seasonal calendar employed by Thoukydides to chronicle the great stasis between the Delian and Peloponnesian Leagues was fixed and nothing short of utterly brilliant.
2) Show that ancient Athenians proved far more astronomically sound when using both their Archontic and Boulitic Calendars, and, in this case, that both calendars aligned to Thoukydides’ two seasons: Summer & Winter.
3) Provide the definitive timeline (Archontic, Boulitic, and Julian dates) for each event that transpired from the Peace of Nikias to the utter destruction of the Athenian armada in Sicily.
Note: “Double Representation in the Strategia: Fact or Fiction” is a companion piece to this excerpt. For any discrepancies between the two, however, this paper now supersedes.
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated.
2) Specifically, the building block for ancient Athenian (and, by extrapolation, all ancient Greek) Calendars became and remained the counts-of-days within any Civil (lunisolar) Month.
3) In the case of ancient Athens, understand that the Basileis (or the demoi) faced significant and unappreciated restrictions when they introduced embolismic days or omitted days from the calendar.
4) The failure to identify any imperative, which would compel the Basileus to correct the Civil Calendar, led to extended disagreements over how soon after a deviation took place that the necessary correction should occur.
5) Homicide Trials provide the needed imperative, but our understanding for how they (logistically) functioned before actually introduced to a court is flawed.
Chapter tackles one of the most fundamental and crucial yet least understood calendrical practices, which all lunisolar calendars must follow: insertion of an extra (thirteenth) lunar month to keep a lunar year’s Synodic Cycles aligned to a Sidereal Solar Year (i.e., solstice ↔ solstice or equinox ↔ equinox).
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated.
2) Argue that ancient Athenians could not have used any fixed or absolute thus, in effect, arbitrarily inserted embolismic month to keep Archontic Years aligned. Significant, existential (practical) considerations existed.
3) Consequently, also argue that intercalations must have possessed “rules” or at least firmly established “guidelines.” The most obvious in fact being any number of seasonal festivals (e.g., Anthesteria, Eleusinian Mysteries). Seasonal festivals, moreover, promptly follow all Panhellenic gatherings (addressed in subsequent Chapters).
4) Attempt to unlock the methodologies used so one can not only understand the underlying math but also establish the base astronomical “template.”
5) Finally, knowing what Calendar Equations ought have occurred aids greatly when working with recovered epigraphical evidence that display such equations. When any deviations surface, we can develop a thorough understanding of why they took place.
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated but, in the case of Panhellenic Celebrations, that the differences between the various and varying lunisolar calendars became quite irrelevant to participate in these gatherings.
2) Understand how ancient Greeks thus overcame the inherent conflict between different poleis each possessing independent lunisolar calendars and yet could nonetheless successfully schedule and hold Panhellenic celebrations for centuries.
3) Thus, recover the methodology ancient Greeks used to schedule events exactly and precisely that would take place one, two, four or even five “years” into the future and expect everyone throughout the Aegean to know when those dates would occur.
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated but, in the case of Panhellenic Celebrations, that the differences between the various and varying lunisolar calendars became quite irrelevant to participate in these gatherings.
2) Understand how ancient Greeks thus overcame the inherent conflict between different poleis each possessing independent lunisolar calendars and yet could nonetheless successfully schedule and hold Panhellenic celebrations for centuries.
3) Thus, recover the methodology ancient Greeks used to schedule events exactly and precisely that would take place one, two, four or even five “years” into the future and expect everyone throughout the Aegean to know when those dates would occur.
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated but, in the case of Panhellenic Celebrations, that the differences between the various and varying lunisolar calendars became quite irrelevant to participate in these gatherings.
2) The most ancient and well known method of reckoning dates to emerge from ancient Greece, the Olympian Games and its related four year Olympiad Cycles, have also remained the most frustratingly vexing to unlock. Their use had become so widely known and so universally accepted down through ancient Roman times that no one seems to have bothered explaining how they actually worked.
3) Argue that the quadrennial celebration indeed possessed a relatively uncomplicated methodology, so ancient Greeks could schedule and hold the Games under the same Moon of the same season every four years regardless of any calendrical differences between participants.
4) Unlock the two separate methodologies so one can not only recover the particular dates any specific set of Olympian Games, which followed the Elean Civil (lunisolar) calendar, would have taken place, but also recover the start and end for each year of each Olympiad, which followed aseasonal (sidereal solar) calendar.
1) Show that ancient Greeks across the ancient Aegean proved far more astronomically savvy than currently appreciated but, in the case of Panhellenic Celebrations, that the differences between the various and varying lunisolar calendars became quite irrelevant to participate in these gatherings.
2) The various dates on which ancient Greeks gathered for the remaining three of these “big four” Panhellenic Games have also proved irritatingly difficult to unlock. The same methodology uncovered to schedule the Great Panathenaia, then used to unlock the Olympian Games, now becomes applied to Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemeian Festivals.
3) Argue that quadrennial Pythian celebration as well as both biannual Isthmian & Nemeian gatherins also possessed relatively uncomplicated methodologies, so ancient Greeks could schedule and hold them all under the same Moon of the same season at repeating intervals regardless of any calendrical differences between participants.
4) Complete the analysis by proving a functional timeline for all Panhellenic Celebrations examined thus far.
1) Show that the seasonal calendar employed by Thoukydides to chronicle the great stasis between the Delian and Peloponnesian Leagues was fixed and nothing short of utterly brilliant.
2) Show that ancient Athenians proved far more astronomically sound when using both their Archontic and Boulitic Calendars, and, in this case, that both calendars aligned to Thoukydides’ two seasons: Summer & Winter.
3) Provide the definitive timeline (Archontic, Boulitic, and Julian dates) for each event that transpired from the Peace of Nikias to the utter destruction of the Athenian armada in Sicily.
Note: “Double Representation in the Strategia: Fact or Fiction” is a companion piece to this excerpt. For any discrepancies between the two, however, this paper now supersedes.
Two primary goals here: 1) Knowing what Calendar Equations ought have occurred aids greatly when working with recovered epigraphical evidence that display such equations. When any deviations surface, we can develop a thorough understanding of why they took place.
2) Show the ancient Athenian Calendar proves nowhere near as “chaotic” as assumed. Classicists can instead attribute most deviations to (simple) observational difficulties.
Added: Parmenides.
No change to Sections I & II; Considerable updates to Section III.
All dialogues (esp. Protagoras) reworked, reworded -- footnotes added, expanded blah blah blah. Delete all previous versions.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This three part paper provides a relatively concise overview of my life's work on Plato's dialogues, and why I opine the internal (dramatic) dates of his Socratic Dialogues prove critically important. I stand against the scholarly consensus in that his dialogues have accurate, precise, and recoverable settings.
NOTE: it assumes familiarity with The Athenian Year Primer.
I will update this paper. The work stands in progress, please do not cite without permission.
Corrected numerous typos. Edited content, rewrote ENTIRE conclusion. Added two Appendices: the first addresses the dates of the Apatouria in detail and the second highlights Gorgias the Rhetor and suggests why the Dramatic Date becomes important.
--------------------------------------------
Monograph unlocks the exact timeline behind one of the most infamous trials in Ancient Greek History: The Generals, who fought at the largest naval battle during the Peloponnesian War. Also explores uncovers exactly the role played by the philosopher Socrates in the Boule and Assembly.
At the same time, the study uncovers the dramatic date of Plato's dialogue Gorgias (which stood the ultimate goal).
----------------------------------------------------------------
Please Note: The book assumes familiarity with The Athenian Year Primer and further serves as a field test of the hypotheses put forth.
This version is a DRAFT. It undoubtedly (still) has a few formatting errors and typos. Hopefully, I caught most of them by now.
Lacks the bibliography, but full citations reside in the footnotes.
***OBSOLETE***
DRAFT: Please do not cite. I remain (a bit) displeased with the final two sections of the paper (especially the clumsy transition to Sokrates' Trial), and the End Notes have grown ridiculously complex and labyrinthine -- so much so, that even I get a headache cross checking them (and I wrote the damn thing). Will soon be replaced.
This paper presents an outline of each calendar as well as a detailed example of converting an example to its Julian equivalent.
This draft includes an added paragraph that permits coversions to Gregorian Calendar dates (as well as minor grammatical and bibliographic corrections)
This represents an area of my historical expertise, which I seldom have the opportunity to exercise. I thoroughly enjoyed composing this review.
This represents an area of my historical expertise, which I seldom have the opportunity to exercise. I thoroughly enjoyed composing this review.