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October 1, 1952Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies8 citations

The Old Iranian Calendars Again

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STS. H. Taqizadeh

Key Points

  • The aim is to outline the history and significance of the Iranian calendars, particularly the fixed religious year.
  • Review past writings on Iranian chronology and time-reckoning systems.
  • Examine Pahlavi literature for insights into the religious year's theoretical framework.
  • Propose a date for the creation of a fixed religious year, estimated around 441 B.C.
  • Identified the Vihēǰakīk year as a theoretical construct used by Zoroastrian clergy.
  • Established a timeline linking the fixed religious year with the Mazdayasnian civil year.
  • Proposed the latter's adoption occurred during the 5th century B.C., around 441 B.C.

Abstract

Most Iranists are probably acquainted with some of my writings on Iranian chronology and systems of time-reckoning. One of the essential points in my outline of the history of the Iranian calendars is the theory I put forward about the date of the creation of a fixed religious year, co-existing and running parallel with the civil year, which was a vague one. This fixed year, called in Pahlavi literature Vihēǰakīk , was, however, theoretical and without any application in daily life. It was used only by the Zoroastrian clergy for the purpose of ascertaining the original position of the religious festivals and keeping them in or about their astronomical positions. By the ‘original position’ is meant the places these most important religious days occupied in the tropical year at the time of instituting the Vihēǰakīk year, which time may or may not have been the epoch of the initial adoption of the Mazdayasnian or ‘Young Avestan’ civil year in Iran. The date I proposed was 441 B.c. , or at any rate some time in the first decade of the second half of the 5th century B.c.

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Cite This Study

S. H. Taqizadeh (1952) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a1d3bd15b7fddc35205035ehttps://doi.org/10.1017/s0041977x00088558
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