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This article treats of the reckoning of days, months and years in the calendar used by adherents of the Zoroastrian faith. Zoroastrian religious festivals are discussed elsewhere, but have a fixed relationship to Nawruz, the New Year festival, whose timing is discussed below. Three distinct versions of the calendar are currently in use by different Zoroastrian communities. ''In this article, except where explicitly noted to the contrary, Western-style dates prior to October 5, AD 1582 are reckoned according to the Julian calendar; subsequent dates are according to the Gregorian calendar, in which 15 October 1582 (Gregorian) was the day following 4 October 1582 (Julian).'' English spellings follow (this recommended usage ).〔The list is based on Kotwal F.M. and Boyd, J. ''A Guide to the Zoroastrian Religion'', Scholars Press, 1982.〕 ==Avestan calendar== The forerunner of all modern Zoroastrian calendars is the system used to reckon dates in the Persian Empire. In 539 BC, Persia's rulers conquered Babylon, and soon afterwards – at least by the 4th century BC – adopted the Babylonian luni - solar calendar for civil purposes. This kept in step with the seasons, unlike the religious calendar which consisted of 12 months each containing 30 days, adjusted at that time by the addition of five epagemonal days at the end of the year to bring the total up to 365. The earliest Zoroastrian calendar (also misleadingly called "Avestan calendar" although it is younger than the Avesta proper) follows the Babylonian in relating the seventh and other days of the month to Ahura Mazda.〔Boyce, Mary (ed. & trans.). ''Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism''. University of Chicago Press, 1984, pp. 19–20.〕 This "Avestan calendar" of 360 days required regular correction to keep it synchronised with the solar year; this was achieved by intercalating a 13th month roughly once every six years.〔〔al Biruni, ed. Sachau E.. ''Chronology of ancient nations'', p. 11 of Arabic (1000 AD), p. 12 of Sachau translation (1879 AD), online at https://archive.org/stream/chronologyofanci00biru#page/12/mode/2up〕〔Boyce, Mary (on behalf of the Persian Heritage Foundation). ''Zoroastrianism – Its Antiquity and Constant Vigour''. Mazda Publishers, 1992, p. 108.〕〔Bickerman, E. J.. ''Chronology of the Ancient World''. Thames & Hudson, 1968, p. 24.〕〔The Zoroastrian religious calendar, http://www.avesta.org/zcal.html – accessed 15 October 2011〕〔Panaino, Antonio. ''Calendars'', in ''Encyclopaedia Iranica'', Vol. IV, Fasc. 6–7, pp. 658–677, online version at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/calendars - accessed 17 October 2011〕 In the civil calendar, intercalations did not always follow a regular pattern, but during the reign of Artaxerxes II (circa 380 BC) astronomers utilised a 19-year cycle which required the addition of a month called Addaru II month in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14 and 19, and the month Ululu II in year 17 of the cycle.〔 Older research〔Drouin, M. E.. ''Revue Archéologique'', 1889, ii 43 ff〕 suggests the first intercalation took place in 309 BC. Fuller information on the naming of months will be found below, but it should be noted that the first month of the year was called Frawardin, and the first day of Frawardin was the 'New Year's Day' or ''Nawruz'' (also reckoned Now-Ruz, Nowruz, No Roz, No-Rooz, Norouz, or Navroz), from which all other religious observances were reckoned – this day being, in theory, the day of the northern vernal equinox, 21 March (Gregorian). Following Alexander's conquest of Persia in 330 BC, the Seleucids (312–248 BC) instituted the Hellenic practice of counting years from the start of an 'era', as opposed to starting a new count at the beginning of the reign of each individual king. They therefore counted years of the era of Alexander (now referred to as the Seleucid era). This practice was not considered acceptable to the Zoroastrian priests, who consequently founded a new era, the era of Zoroaster – which incidentally led to the first serious attempt to establish a historical date for the prophet. The Parthians (AD 150–224), who succeeded the Seleucids, continued the Seleucid/Hellenic tradition.〔Boyce, Mary. ''On the Calendar of Zoroastrian Feasts''. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 33, No. 3 (1970), pp. 513–539 and online at http://www.jstor.org/stable/614520 and http://www.essenes.net/pdf/On%20the%20Calendar%20of%20Zoroastrian%20Feasts%20.pdf〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Zoroastrian calendar」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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