Ancient Sumeria

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Ancient Sumeria

• The Sumerian Calendar
• By
• Ivanna Subbotina

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Map
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Picture
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Sumerian Chronology

• Sumerians numbered their years by the year of
  the reign of a king, i.e., in the third year of
  the reign of Lugalzaggesi, etc.  King lists were
  kept for dating prior reigns.

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Years

• Years consisted of twelve lunar months of 29 or
  30 days.  To keep the lunar year (354 days) in
  step with the solar year, the lugal (king)
  decreed the addition of an intercalary or extra
  month to the Sumerian calendar every three years
  or so.In Sumerian times, the year began after
  harvest time, in September/October.  Later,
  Babylonians moved the start of the calendar year
  to spring.

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Seasons

• Sumerians had only two seasons.  The dry season,
  the growing season called emesh, summer, began
  in February/March at the beginning of the year. 
  The wet season, enten, winter, began in
  September/October when the arrival of the
  rains.However, the flooding of the Euphrates
  and Tigris Rivers was a result of snow melting in
  the Taurus Mountains (in today's Turkey) and
  occurred in April and May.

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Months

• Sumerian months were strictly lunar and each
  month began at the first sighting of the new
  moon.  Because there was no universal religion,
  there was no uniformity in the names of months
  between Sumerian cities.  Months were often named
  for local feasts, events or agricultural
  activities.  Scribes overcame the name problem by
  numerating the months, such as the fourth
  month, etc., as is done in the Biblical book of
  Genesis.Although Sumerian months were lunar, 
  intercalated months were added when needed to
  keep the calendar adjusted to the seasons.  This
  resulted in some years having thirteen months
  instead of the normal twelve.

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Weeks and Holy Days

• There were no weeks in Ancient Sumeria.  Holy
  days, time off from work, were usually celebrated
  on the first, seventh and fifteenth of each
  month.  In addition to these holy days, there
  were also feast days which varied from city to
  city.

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Days

• The Sumerian day started at sunset (as in
  Genesis) and was twelve double hours long, six
  double hours of daytime and six double hours of
  nighttime.

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Watches

• A Sumerian day consisted of six watches, each
  being two double hours long.Daytime
  Watches1st Watch   - Morning       800 AM -
  1200 AM2nd Watch  - Midday       1200 AM -  
  400 PM3rd Watch  - Afternoon      400 PM -  
  800 PMNighttime Watches1st Watch   -
  Evening        800 AM - 1200 PM2nd Watch  -
  Starlight     1200 PM -   400 AM3rd Watch   -
  Dawn          400 AM -  800 AM

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Hours

• The length of Sumerian a hour actually varied by
  season (a daytime hour was one-sixth of the
  available daylight and so would be much longer in
  the summer than in the winter) but over a year,
  an hour averaged double the length of our
  present-day hours (120 minutes).  Because of
  its sexagesimal-based numbering system, the
  Sumerian double hour contained 60 minutes and the
  minute contained 60 seconds, the same as today.

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Distance

• Distance was measured in terms of how far a man
  could walk in a double hour and was called a
  beru.  One beru was about five miles (walking
  at a rate of 2½ miles per hour using today's
  hours).

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Biography

• www.wikipedia.org
• www.pbs.org
• www.crystalinks.com
• www.webexhibits.org