Literarische Stoffe - The School of Oriental and African Studies

118
61 De Blois 1996, 49.
Almut Hintze
Unfortunately, this was lost as a result of the Achaemenid reform around the time of Xerxes
in the early Ÿfth century, when, as shown by François de Blois, a solar calendar of exactly 365
days was introduced based on the Egyptian model. 61 Such a year consisted of twelve months
of 30 days plus Ÿve additional days. This type of calendar was similar to that of the Avesta in
so far as it also had days that were outside the months, with the difference that the number of
additional days was Ÿve instead of ten. However, since in the Egyptian-style calendar each of
the twelve months had 30 days, there was no space left for inserting an additional one to
account for the quarter of a day by which a solar year exceeds 365. Thus, no provision was
made for intercalation and therefore from then on the beginning of the year slipped back
relative to the natural year by one day every four years and one month every 120, resulting in
the gradual, but inexorable displacement of the Zoroastrian feasts with respect to the seasons.
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