The Attic calendar is the calendar that was in use in ancient Attica, the ancestral territory of the Athenian polis. This article focuses on the 5th and 4th centuries BC, the classical period that produced some of the most significant works of ancient Greek literature. Because of the relative wealth of evidence from Athens it is the best understood of all the Hellenic calendars. Viewed from the standpoint of the modern Gregorian calendar, this ancient system has many peculiar features. This is a part of its appeal: as a cultural artifact, it opens a window to the mentality of its users.
Although relatively abundant, the evidence for the Attic calendar is still patchy and often of contested interpretation. As it was obvious to ancient Athenians, no contemporary source set out to describe the system as a whole. Further, during the period in question the calendar underwent changes, not all perfectly understood. As such, any account given of it can only be a tentative reconstruction. Note that in this context the terms Athenian and Attic are largely interchangeable.
Read more about Attic Calendar: Local Focus of The System, More Than One Calendar, State Calendar, Manipulation of The Calendar, Dating Long Range Events, Sidereal Calendar
Famous quotes containing the words attic and/or calendar:
“It was all smoke, and no salt, Attic or other.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“To divide one’s life by years is of course to tumble into a trap set by our own arithmetic. The calendar consents to carry on its dull wall-existence by the arbitrary timetables we have drawn up in consultation with those permanent commuters, Earth and Sun. But we, unlike trees, need grow no annual rings.”
—Clifton Fadiman (b. 1904)