TheCappadocian calendar was asolar calendar derived from the PersianZoroastrian calendar. It is named after the historic region ofCappadocia in present-day Turkey, where it was used. The calendar, which had 12 months of 30 days each and fiveepagomenal days, originated between 550 and 330 BC, when Cappadocia was part of the PersianAchaemenid Empire. The Cappadocian calendar was identical to the Zoroastrian calendar; this can be seen in its structure, theAvestan names and the order of the months. The Cappadocian calendar reflects the influence of Iranian culture in the region. Extant evidence of the calendar dates back toLate Antiquity through the accounts of Greek astronomers, by which time it had already been adapted to theJulian calendar.

The Cappadocian calendar was evidently devised whenCappadocia, a historical region in present-day Turkey, wasa province (satrapy) of theAchaemenid Empire.^[1] The calendar is named after the region it was used in; there is no consensus about its precise starting date. According to the historianJosef Marquart, the calendar commenced in 490 BC, whereas according to the philologistJacques Duchesne-Guillemin, it began between 490 and 480 BC.^[2] It is asolar calendar with 360 days divided into 12 months, which were followed by fiveepagomenal days.^[3]

The calendar effectively imitated theZoroastrian one;^[4] because thePersians were the dominant political group in Cappadocia then, it became the region's main calendar and survived as such in theKingdom of Cappadocia.^[5] Although the passage of time and local dialect differences resulted in minor differences in spelling, the names of the months of the Cappadocian calendar are almost identical to those of the Zoroastrian (Avestan) calendar.^[6] The Persians in Cappadocia spokewestern Iranian; therefore, theCappadocian month-names are in some aspects linguistically closer toMiddle Persian (Pahlavi) spelling rather than Avestan spelling.^[7] The Cappadocian forms, however, are more archaic and are closer in this regard to the Avestan forms.^[8]

The Cappadocian calendar is evidence of the long-lasting Iranian cultural and religious influences on Cappadocia.^[9] According to theIranologistMary Boyce, the Cappadocian calendar, together with the Middle Persian, Parthian, Sogdian, Khwarazmian, Bactrian, and Old Armenian calendars, were all derived from the Achaemenian state calendar that the Persians had introduced in the early Achaemenid period to establish the "accepted means of time-reckoning for all theirZoroastrian subjects".^[10] Over time, local language changes resulted in different local versions.^[11] Other than that, these calendars are almost identical.^[12] The Cappadocian calendar survived through the texts of Greek astronomers ofLate Antiquity and was still known as late as the 4th century AD.^[13]

According to Boyce and the historian Frantz Grenet, the "exactness in the main of the correspondences between the calendars" shows that the uses adopted by the Zoroastrians in Cappadocia were "largely uniform".^[17] They add that the only divergences lay in the substitution of Teiri (Teirei) for AvestanTištrya, a change reportedly widespread in many Zoroastrian communities, and the "dedication of the eighth month" toApąm Napāt ("son of the waters") rather than to Apąm ("waters"), here being Varuna.^[18] Boyce and Grenet wrote that this "month-dedication" was unique to the Cappadocian calendar, meaning there may have been controversy among the Zoroastrians in Cappadocia regarding the elevation ofAnahita over Varuna.^[19] Boyce and Grenet add that this phenomenon shows that even under the strong polity created by the Achaemenids in a region known for its strong Persian religious influences, the local Persian priests held some minor priestly autonomy.^[20]

Although the Cappadocian calendar originated during the Achaemenid period, extant evidence only dates back to Late Antiquity, when it had already been adapted to theJulian calendar.^[21] The historian Sacha Stern stated that the Cappadocian calendar may have been adapted to the Julian calendar in 44 BC.^[22] It was probably the first calendar in the Roman East to become "Julianized,"^[c] even before theEgyptian calendar.^[24] Even after the "Julianization" of the calendar in the Roman period, however, the date of the Cappadocian New Year was still "approximately compatible with an originally Persian Zoroastrian calendar," and its structure was still based on the original Persian calendar of 12 months of 30 days followed by five epagomenal days.^[25]

• Boyce, Mary; Grenet, Frantz (1991). Beck, Roger (ed.).A History of Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrianism under Macedonian and Roman Rule. Brill.ISBN 978-9004293915.
• Boyce, Mary (2001).Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Psychology Press.ISBN 978-0415239028.
• Boyce, Mary (2009)."NOWRUZ i. In the Pre-Islamic Period". InYarshater, Ehsan (ed.).Encyclopædia Iranica (Online ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation.
• de Jong, Albert (1997).Traditions of the Magi: Zoroastrianism in Greek and Latin Literature. Brill.ISBN 978-9004108448.
• Panaino, Antonio; Abdollahy, Reza; Balland, Daniel (1990)."CALENDARS". InYarshater, Ehsan (ed.).Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. IV: Bāyju–Carpets XIV. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 658–677.ISBN 978-0-71009-132-1.
• Skjærvø, Prods Oktor (2018)."festivals and calendars, Persian and Zoroastrian". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.).The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8.
• Rose, Jenny (2011).Zoroastrianism: An Introduction. I.B.Tauris.ISBN 978-0857719713.
• Stern, Sacha (2012).Calendars in Antiquity: Empires, States, and Societies. Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0199589449.
• Weiskopf, Michael (1990)."CAPPADOCIA". InYarshater, Ehsan (ed.).Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. IV: Bāyju–Carpets XIV. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 780–786.ISBN 978-0-71009-132-1.

• Zoroastrian calendar
• Achaemenid Empire
• Achaemenid Cappadocia
• Specific calendars
• Kingdom of Cappadocia

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