EGYPTIAN CALENDAR

dating system established several thousand years before the Christian era, the first calendar known to use a year of 365 days, approximately equal to the solar year, or year of the seasons. Until the creation of the Julian calendar, about 46 BC, the Egyptian was also the only civil calendar in which years and months were of fixed duration rather than being established by ad hoc proclamations. Twelve months of 30 days each plus 5 additional days, belonging to no month and grouped at the end of the year, made up the year. The months were numbered within the year but were not named until the 6th century BC, when they came to be called after their various festivals.