Season of the Harvest

{{Short description|3rd and final season of the lunar and civil Egyptian calendars}} {{redirect|Low Water}} {{Hiero|{{nowrap|Season of Low Water<ref name=beverlyhillbilly>{{citation |first=Marshall |last=Clagett |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xKKPUpDOTKAC |title=Ancient Egyptian Science: A Source Book, ''Vol. II:'' Calendars, Clocks, and Astronomy |location=Philadelphia |publisher=American Philosophical Society |series=''Memoirs of the APS'', No. 214 |date=1995 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=xKKPUpDOTKAC&pg=PA5 5]|isbn=9780871692146 }}.</ref>{{efn|Alternative representations of the Season of Low Water include <hiero>N37-N5</hiero>, <hiero>N37:N35-N35:N35</hiero>, <hiero>N37-N35A</hiero>, <hiero>N37-Z5-N5</hiero>, and <hiero>N37-Z5-Z5</hiero><ref name=vygus>{{citation |last=Vygus |first=Mark |date=2015 |title=Middle Egyptian Dictionary |url=http://www.pyramidtextsonline.com/documents/VygusDictionaryApril2015.pdf }}.</ref> and <hiero>N37:N36-t:N5</hiero>.{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}}}}} ''Šmw''|<hiero>N37-N35A-N5</hiero>|align=right|era=egypt}}

thumb | right The '''Season of the Harvest''' or '''Low Water'''<ref name=beverlyhillbilly/> was the third and final season of the lunar and civil Egyptian calendars. It fell after the Season of the Emergence (''{{lang|egy|Prt}}'') and before the spiritually dangerous intercalary month (''{{lang|egy|Ḥryw Rnpt}}''), after which the New Year's festivities began the Season of the Inundation (''Ꜣḫt'').<ref name=beverlyhillbilly/> 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).{{sfnp|Clagett|1995|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=xKKPUpDOTKAC&pg=PA4 14–15]}}<ref name="teatime">{{citation |last=Tetley |first=M. Christine |date=2014 |title=The Reconstructed Chronology of the Egyptian Kings |volume=1 |location=Whangarei, New Zealand |publisher=Barry W. Tetley |isbn=978-0-473-29338-3 |url=https://www.ancientportsantiques.com/wp-content/uploads/Documents/PLACES/Egypt-Libya/EgyptianChronology1-Tetley2014.pdf |access-date=26 September 2023 |page=39}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Winlock |first=Herbert Eustis |author-link=Herbert Eustis Winlock |date=1940 |contribution-url=https://archive.org/stream/H.e.WinlockTheOriginOfTheAncientEgyptianCalendar1840/Winlock_originOfTheAncientEgyptianCalendar_procAmerPhilosophSoc_1940_sep_v83_n3_447-464#page/n0/mode/2up |contribution=The Origin of the Ancient Egyptian Calendar |pages=447–464 |title=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, ''No. 83'' |location=New York |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art }}</ref>{{rp|453}}

The festival known as Sham Ennessim, is often claimed to have originated from Shemu. Sham Ennessim is an official holiday in modern Egypt. Earlier Egyptian šm.w and its Coptic successor ϣⲱⲙ relate to the name of a season in Egyptian, not a specific festival.

==Names== The Season of the Harvest was known to the Egyptians themselves as "Low{{nbsp}}Water" ({{langx|egy|Šmw}}), variously transliterated as '''Shemu''' or '''Shomu''',<ref>{{citation |contribution-url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-541508/shomu |title=Encyclopaedia Britannica |contribution=Shomu |accessdate=14 March 2012 }}.</ref> in reference to the state of the Nile before the beginning of its annual flood.

It is also referred to as '''Summer''' or the '''Dry Season'''.<ref>{{citation |contribution=Inundation |contribution-url=http://www.saqqara.nl/context/glossary/inundation |title=Glossary |publisher=Leiden University }}.</ref>

==Lunar calendar== In the lunar calendar, the intercalary month was added as needed to maintain the heliacal rising of Sirius in the fourth month of this season. This meant that the Season of the Harvest usually lasted from May to September. Because the precise timing of the flood varied, the months of "Low Water" no longer precisely reflected the state of the river but the season was usually the time for the collection of Egypt's grain harvest.<ref>David P. Silverman, Ancient Egypt, Duncan Baird Publishers, London 1997. p.93</ref>

==Civil calendar== In the civil calendar, the lack of leap years into the Ptolemaic and Roman periods meant the season lost about one day every four years and was not stable relative to the solar year or Gregorian calendar.

==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<ref>{{citation |last=Allen |first=James P. |date=2000 |title=Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |pages=103–106 }}.</ref> divided into three 10-day weeks known as decans.

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 Persian occupation. These then became the basis for the names of the months of the Coptic calendar.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;" |- ! colspan=2 | Egyptian ! rowspan=2 | Coptic |- ! Transliteration ! Meaning |- | I ''Šmw'' ''Hnsw'' || {{nowrap|First Month of Low Water}} {{nbsp}} || Pashons |- | II ''Šmw'' ''Hnt-Hty'' || {{nowrap|Second Month of Low Water}} {{nbsp}} || Paoni |- | III ''Šmw'' ''Ipt-Hmt'' || {{nowrap|Third Month of Low Water}} {{nbsp}} || Epip |- | IV ''Šmw'' ''{{lang|egy|Wp Rnpt}}'' ''{{lang|egy|Mswt Rꜥ}}'' || {{nowrap|Fourth Month of Low Water}} New Year's Birth of the Sun || Mesori |- |}

==Notes== {{Notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

{{S-start}} {{succession box |before=Season of the Emergence ''Prt'' |title=''Egyptian Seasons'' Season of the Harvest ''Šmw'' |years=days: 125 or 126 days |after=Days over the Year ''Ḥryw Rnpt'' }} {{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Season Of The Harvest}} Category:Egyptian calendar