Astronomical Images : Athenian and Roman calendars for the end of the Sicilian expedition and the defeat of Nicias

Peter Apian

Astronomical Images

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Among the sumptuous illustrations included in Peter Apian's <i>Astronomicum caesareum</i> (1540) is this rather dry partial calendar, entitled 'Comparison of the Greek and Latin months'. The column on the left begins with 26 July and continues through to 1 October, according to the form assigned by the Julian calendar, the standard calendar of the medieval and Renaissance West until the Gregorian calendar reform of February 1582. It includes the names of the months, the Dominical letters (A to G), and the Roman dates for the days in question. The column on the right depicts the months of the calendar of ancient Athens, beginning with the first month, Hecatombaion, and continuing through Metageitnion, the second month, to the beginning of Boedromion, the third. In this visual presentation of the two calendars, Apian applies the divisions of the Roman calendar months to the Athenian months, allowing direct comparison between the two. Further information is also provided on the right, in the form of a list of the Athenian months in order, a list of the Athenian names for the days of the lunar month (which was divided quite differently from the Roman month), and a couple of historical references to Nicias ' the leader of the Athenian expedition to Syracuse during the Peloponnesian War. This comparison of the Greek and Roman calendars was evidently significant for Apian, who asserted that 'With the aid of this journal your own eyes can teach you everything about the months and the beginning of the Attic year, more clearly than light itself.' Interestingly, the Julian calendar presented here is applied to an historical epoch long before the Julian reform itself, when Nicias was defeated and the Athenian expedition to Syracuse came to its bitter end (in our terms, the late summer of 413 BC). With claims of absolute precision, this comparative table could be used to look up exact Julian equivalents for the Greek dates cited by ancient sources on which Nicias's defeat and capture took place. The accuracy claimed for his calendar was based on astronomical calculation relating to eclipses, as Nicias reportedly observed a lunar eclipse as his army prepared to retreat.</p>