Ancient Macedonian calendar

The names of the Macedonian months, just like most of the names of Greek months, are derived from feasts and related celebrations in honor of various Greek gods. Most of them combine a Macedonian dialectal form with a clear Greek etymology (e.g. from Zeus; from Heracles Peritas ("Guardian") ; / from Xanthos, "the blond" (probably a reference to Heracles); from Artemis etc.) with the possible exception of one, which is also attested in other Greek calendars. ==Description==

The Macedonian calendar was in essence the Babylonian calendar with the substitution of Macedonian names for the Babylonian ones, and as such it paralleled the Hebrew calendar which is also lunisolar, and was used during the Parthian Empire too. An example of inscriptions from Decapolis, Jordan, bearing the Solar Macedonian calendar, starts from the month Audynaeus. The solar type was merged later with the Julian calendar. In Roman Macedonia, both calendars were used. The Roman one is attested in inscriptions with the name Kalandôn gen. calendae and the Macedonian Hellenikei dat. Hellenic. Finally an inscription from Kassandreia of about   bearing a month Athenaion suggests that some cities may have used their own months even after the Macedonian expansion. : ‡ Months marked with a double-dagger include the word embolimos; they were only used occasionally for intercalation during each 19 year calendar cycle, in the manner described in the remarks. ==Year numbering==

Years were usually counted from the re-conquest of Seleucus I Nicator of Babylon, which became "year 1". This is equivalent to 312 BCE / 311 BCE in the Anno Domini year count of the modern Gregorian calendar. This practice spread outside the Seleucid Empire and found use in Antigonid Macedonia, Ptolemaic Egypt, and other major Hellenistic states descended from Alexander's conquests as well. Years can be abbreviated SE, S.E., or occasionally AG (Anno Graecorum). ==See also==