(W. M. F. P.)
F. Chronology.—1. Technical.—The standard year of the Ancient Egyptians consisted of twelve months of thirty days[17] each, with five epagomenal days, in all 365 days. It was thus an effective compromise between the solar year and the lunar month, and contrasts very favourably with the intricate and clumsy years of other ancient systems. The leap-year of the Julian and Gregorian calendars confers the immense benefit of a fixed correspondence to the seasons which the Egyptian year did not possess, but the uniform length of the Egyptian months is enviable even now. The months were grouped under three seasons of four months each, and were known respectively as the first, second, third and fourth month
of
(i’ḫ·t) “inundation” or “verdure,”
pr·t (pro) “seed-time,” “winter,” and
šmw (shôm) “harvest,” “summer,” the