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Egyptian Civil (EET)

EpochConfidence
26 June 2781 BCE +22:00:00Exact

Overview

The Egyptian Civil calendar was a calculated solar calendar used by Ancient Egypt, alongside its lunar calendar.

It featured 12 months of 30 days, divided into 3 seasons of 4 months each. The months have names but are usually labeled by their sequence in each season, leading to a pattern of [month] [season] [day]. Each year has 5 intercalary days with individual names at the end, for a total of 365 days.

The new year historically was intended to mark the heliacal rising of the star Sirius, but due to its inaccuracy it drifted by one day every 3 years. The new year eventually lines back up with the heliacal rising of Sirius every 1461 years, called the Sothic Cycle.

The epoch changed with each dynasty, and I could not find evidence of a standardized epoch. Here I have chosen to show the years since the believed beginning of the calendar, which is the day of the heliacal rising of Sirius in 2781 BCE.

Info

SeasonMonthMonth NumberDays
AkhetTekhI30
AkhetMenhetII30
AkhetHwt-HrwIII30
AkhetKa-Hr-KaIV30
PeretSf-BdtI30
PeretRekh WerII30
PeretRekh NedsIII30
PeretRenwetIV30
ShemuHnswI30
ShemuHnt-HtjII30
ShemuIpt-HmtIII30
ShemuWep-RenpetIV30

The intercalary days, called Heriu Renpet, celebrated the birthdays of the children of the god Nut.

Heriu Renpet
1: Osiris
2: Horus the Elder
3: Set
4: Isis
5: Nephthys

Accuracy

This calendar is based on the Sothic Cycle, which is well-established to the Gregorian calendar via the Julian calendar. Some liberties were taken with the epoch, which is why it is in parentheses.

Source

Much of the information on this calendar came from its Wikipedia article.

Month names and other general data came from this site.