Season of the Harvest
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Season of Low Water[1][a] Šmw in hieroglyphs | ||||
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The Season of the Harvest or Low Water[1] was the third and final season of the lunar and civil Egyptian calendars. It fell after the Season of the Emergence (Prt) and before the spiritually dangerous intercalary month (Ḥryw Rnpt), after which the New Year's festivities began the Season of the Inundation (Ꜣḫt).[1] In the Coptic and Egyptian calendars this season begins at the start of the month of Pashons (about 9 May), continues through the months of Paoni and Epip, before concluding at the end of Mesori (about 5 September).[3][4][5]: 453
Names
The Season of the Harvest was known to the Egyptians themselves as "Low Water" (
It is also referred to as Summer or the Dry Season.[7]
Lunar calendar
In the lunar calendar, the intercalary month was added as needed to maintain the
Civil calendar
In the civil calendar, the lack of leap years into the
Months
The Season of the Harvest was divided into four months. In the lunar calendar, each began on a dawn when the waning crescent moon was no longer visible. In the civil calendar, each consisted of exactly 30 days
In ancient Egypt, these months were usually recorded by their number within the season: I, II, III, and IV Šmw. They were also known by the names of their principal festivals, which came to be increasingly used after the
Egyptian | Coptic | |
---|---|---|
Transliteration | Meaning | |
I Šmw Hnsw |
First Month of Low Water |
Pashons |
II Šmw Hnt-Hty |
Second Month of Low Water |
Paoni |
III Šmw Ipt-Hmt |
Third Month of Low Water |
Epip |
IV Šmw Wp Rnpt Mswt Rꜥ |
Fourth Month of Low Water New Year's Birth of the Sun |
Mesori |
See also
- Egyptian & Coptic calendars
- Egyptian units of time
- Sham el-Nessim
- Temple of Kom Ombo
Notes
- ^ Alternative representations of the Season of Low Water include
,
,
,
, and
[2] and
.[citation needed]
References
- ^ ISBN 9780871692146.
- ^ Vygus, Mark (2015), Middle Egyptian Dictionary (PDF).
- ^ Clagett (1995), p. 14–15.
- ISBN 978-0-473-29338-3, retrieved 26 September 2023
- ^ Winlock, Herbert Eustis (1940), "The Origin of the Ancient Egyptian Calendar", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, No. 83, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 447–464
- ^ "Shomu", Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved 14 March 2012.
- ^ "Inundation", Glossary, Leiden University.
- ^ David P. Silverman, Ancient Egypt, Duncan Baird Publishers, London 1997. p.93
- Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 103–106.