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History of the Egyptian Calendar The Egyptian year coincided precisely with the solar year only once every 1,460 years
The ancient Egyptians used a calendar with 12 months of 30 days each,
for a total of 360 days per year. About 4000 B.C. they added five extra days at the end of every
year to bring it more into line with the solar year.1 These five days became a festival because it was
thought to be unlucky to work during that time.
The Egyptians had calculated that the solar year was actually closer to
3651/4 days, but instead of having a single leap day every four
years to account for the fractional day (the way we do now), they let the
one-quarter day accumulate. After 1,460 solar years, or four periods of
365 years, 1,461 Egyptian years had passed. This means that as the years
passed, the Egyptian months fell out of sync with the seasons, so that the
summer months eventually fell during winter. Only once every 1,460 years
did their calendar year coincide precisely with the solar year.
In addition to the civic calendar, the Egyptians also had a religious
calendar that was based on the 291/2-day lunar cycle and was
more closely linked with agricultural cycles and the movements of the
stars.
1. The correct figures are lunation: 29 d,
12 h, 44 min, 2.8 sec (29.530585 d); solar year: 365 d, 5 h, 48 min, 46
sec (365.242216 d); 12 lunations: 354 d, 8 h, 48 min, 34 sec (354.3671
d).
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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