A concise review of the Iranian calendar

M. Heydari-Malayeri

Paris Observatory,
61 Avenue de l’Observatoire,
75014 Paris,
arXiv:astro-ph/0409620v2 21 Oct 2004

France.
m.heydari@obspnm.fr

1. Introduction

The Iranian, or Persian, calendar is solar, with the particularity that the year is defined
by two successive, apparent passages of the Sun through the vernal (spring) equinox. It is
based on precise astronomical observations, and moreover uses a sophisticated intercalation
system, which makes it more accurate than its younger European counterpart, the Gregorian
calendar. It is currently used in Iran as the official calendar of the country. The Iranian
calendar has a long, multi-millennial history with deep roots in the Persian culture, in partic-
ular the Zoroastrian heritage. However, this paper does not intend dealing with the history
of the Iranian time reckoning since its most remote origins, because the questions addressed
do not make it necessary. Interested readers can find detailed information on this subject in,
e.g., Taqizâdeh (1938), Birashk (1993), and Encyclopedia Iranica. The present version of the
calendar, used mainly in Iran, results from a reform led by the famous astronomer, mathe-
matician, and poet Omar Khayyâm (1048-1131 Christian era, hereafter A.D.: Anno Domini)
which took place at the vernal equinox of A.D. 1079 (Friday, 21 March), corresponding to
the 1st of Farvardin of A.P. (Anno Persico) 458. The calendar was also called Jalâli, from
the name of the ruler who ordered the reform. In modern times, its principles were officially
adopted by the Iranian parliament on 31 March 1925 (11 Farvardin A.P. 1304).

The new year festival, called Nowruz, from Persian now “new” + ruz “day”, is also a
Zoroastrian legacy with many cultural significances, symbolizing the awakening or rebirth
of the natural life after barren winter (see below Note 1). It is accompanied, several days
or weeks before and after the spring equinox, by joyful ceremonies carrying centuries-old
traditions. We can, for example, mention the house cleaning and seed sprouting before the
Nowruz arrival and the fire festivity on the eve of the last Wednesday of the year as well as
the mass picnic to verdant countryside on the 13th day of the new year. There are other cel-
ebrations, but their discussion is out of the scope of this paper. Nowruz has been celebrated
for several millennia by all the peoples living in the Western and Central Asia (Afghans,
Azeris, Caucasians, Kazakhs, Kurds, Kyrgyz’, Tajiks, Turkmens, and others) regardless of
ethnicity, religion, or language. Apart from its profound message, the non-ethnic and non-
religious characteristics of Nowruz seem to be the main reasons why it has been cherished
as a common cultural heritage by so many peoples with different backgrounds.

In spite of its outstanding status, mainly its precision and rationalistic characteristic
of relying on detailed astronomical observations, the Iranian calendar is poorly known in
the West. In fact, few studies have so far analyzed the basic elements of its system in the
light of modern astronomical findings, although several works have addressed the historical
origins of the calendar. In particular, the true value of the length of the year in the Iranian
calendar should be emphasized, since nowadays there is a widespread confusion between the
concepts of the modern “tropical” year and the vernal-equinox year upon which the Iranian
calendar is based. A misinterpretation of this topic may upset the intercalation system and
affect the accuracy of the calendar. One of the goals of this paper is therefore to clarify this
point.

The paper is not only aimed at calendar experts but effort has been made to be ac-
cessible by non specialists. It is organized as follows. After this Introduction, Section 2
presents a general description of the Iranian calendar. Then, in Section 3, we define the
year and discuss its length using the results from recent astronomical research. In Section 4
we underline the difference between the “tropical” and Iranian years, while the intercalation
system, based on the 33-year cycle, is described in Section 5. Although the paper is mainly
interested in the astronomical background of the Iranian calendar, historical aspects are not
overlooked and, in particular, Section 6 presents a brief note regarding the history of the
reform led by Khayyâm. In recent years, some Iranian calendar experts have suggested the
presence of a 2820-year cycle in the Iranian calendar. We discuss this issue in Section 7
and point to the flaws of this scheme. The correspondence between the Iranian and other
calendar systems is dealt with in Section 8. And, finally, the concluding remarks are given in
Section 9. Throughout the paper, complementary explanations are given in 16 notes which
appear at the end of the article.

2. General description

Nowruz starts at the precise instant when the Sun, in its apparent annual course on
the sky, coincides with the vernal equinox, an event that can occur at any time during the
24-hour diurnal period. The vernal and autumnal equinoxes are defined as the points of
intersection between the ecliptic (the apparent path of the Sun on the sky) and the celestial
equator (the projection of the equator of the Earth on the sky), although the vernal equinox
is the reference point from which the right ascensions (equator system) and the longitudes
(ecliptic system) of the heavenly bodies are measured (Note 2). The vernal equinox is also the
moment when the Sun appears to cross the celestial equator heading northward. However,
nowadays it is more conveniently defined as the instant when the Sun’s ecliptic longitude
is zero degrees. The Nowruz event is at present measured to an accuracy of better than
1 millisecond (Malakpour 2004). Using the ephemeris calculated by the French Institut de
Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Ephémérides (IMCCE) for the Gregorian interval A.D.

2
1583-2500, we find that 584 equinoxes, or about 64% of the whole events, occur on March
20 for the Tehran longitude. The distribution among the neighboring dates is presented in
Table 1. Each year the vernal equinox occurs later, with a delay usually under 6 h, with
respect to the preceding one. The delay is equal to the fraction of the day which exceeds
the year of 365 entire days. The date of the vernal equinox does not follow this systematic
forward shift because the accumulated delays are absorbed in the Iranian calendar by the
leap day added to the calendar every four or five years (see below, Section 5).

The IMCCE data allowed us also to calculate the shift dt = t(n+1) - t(n) for the
interval +1000 to +2500, t being the instant of the vernal equinox for year n. This resulted
in the average value of 5.81662 h ± 0.00240 (standard deviation) or 5h 48m 59.83s ± 8s
(s.d.), for the interval A.D. 1000-2500. The lower and upper bounds, 5.54111 and 6.06444
h belong to years 1095 (A.P. 474) and 1216 (A.P. 595) respectively. The plot showing the
variation of the delay, dt, over the years is displayed in Figure 1. Since the length of the
vernal-equinox year is not constant (see below, Section 3), the average shift depends on the
interval considered. Table 2 shows the shift for several different intervals, as well as the
corresponding average year length referred to two successive vernal equinoxes, in real solar
time.

Table 1: Iranian equinox dates for period A.D. 1583-2500

March date Event frequency Percentage (%)

18 0 0
19 33 3.6
20 584 63.6
21 301 32.8
22 0 0

Obviously, the first day of the calendar year cannot start at the precise time of the
vernal equinox and should begin at midnight (Tehran true time), the beginning of the day
according to a long Iranian tradition (Note 3). Consequently, if the vernal equinox falls be-
fore noon on a particular day, then that day is the first day of the year. If the vernal equinox
occurs after noon, the following day begins the calendar year. In other words, the year begins
at the midnight closest to the instant of equinox. In the past this was achieved by observing
noon altitudes of the Sun and declaring Nowruz to be the day when the solar altitude first
exceeded the altitude of the celestial equator. Although the calendar year can start with a
delay or advance of less than 12 h with respect to the equinox event, the exact instant of
the vernal equinox, or the year transition (tahvil-e sâl), has utmost cultural importance. No
matter the moment during day or night, all family members, cleansed and dressed in new
garments, wait the astronomical occurrence around a ceremonial table (haft-sin) decorated

3
 Vernal equinox time difference (hour)

6.4

6.2

5.8

5.6

5.4

5.2

5
1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400
Year (A.D.)
Figure 1: The variation of the time delay between a vernal equinox event with respect to the
preceding one for the period A.D. 1000-2500. Mean value: 5h 48m 59.8s.

4
with several symbolic items. Nowadays the instant of Nowruz is aired by TV and radio sta-
tions, whereas in the past canon shots or wind instruments and drums were used to mark the
event. When the exact time arrives, there is a burst of rejoicing and cheering and greetings
are exchanged.

Table 2: Average time delay between two successive vernal equinoxes

Epoch interval Shift Average year

(hour) (solar days)
(h, m, s)
–4000 to +2500 5.81458 365.242274
5h 48m 52.5s
0 to +2500 5.81603 365.242335
5h 48m 57.7s
+1000 to +2500 5.81662 365.242359
5h 48m 59.8s
+1500 to +2500 5.81669 365.242362
5h 49m 0.1s
+1800 to +2200 5.81537 365.242307
5h 48m 55.3s
+800 to +1200 5.81609 365.242337
5h 48m 57.9s
+1995 to +2005 5.83087 365.242953
5h 49m 51.1s

The starting point of the current Iranian calendar is the vernal equinox occurred on
Friday March 22 of the year A.D. 622. Historically, on 22 September of that year (7th of
the Arabic month Rabi’ I), the Islam’s prophet emigrated to Medina (Hijra). However, the
second Caliph Umar ibn al-Khatab, when adopting a calendar system around A.D. 638,
preferred to take the starting point of the Islamic lunar calendar two months and eight days
back, at the beginning of the Arab sacred month of Moharram, corresponding to July 19,
A.D. 622. On the other hand, the fact that in the lunar calendar the months are not re-
lated to the natural seasons and the dates move with respect to the solar cycle makes the
lunar calendar inadequate for the civil administration (for example for agriculture schedul-
ing and harvest-tax collection). Therefore, the troubles brought by the lunar calendar were
strongly felt in Iran four centuries later during the reign of Jalâl ad-Din Malek Shah, of the
the Saljuqid dynasty. Moreover, the Nowruz celebration had slipped into the middle of the
Pisces sign, due to neglecting the intercalations (see below, Section 5), and in fact, according
to early historians and astronomers, the main purpose of the reform was to fix Nowruz at
the vernal equinox (Encyclopedia Iranica).

For the reasons mentioned above, the brilliant vizier and political figure Nezâm-ol-Molk
persuaded Malek Shah to reform the calendar. He appointed a group of astronomers headed

5
by Omar Khayâm (Note 4) who organized an astronomical observatory in the capital city
Isfahan (some sources have mentioned Rey or Neyshâpur). On the basis of observations and
calculations, the reform panel adopted the vernal equinox of the year A.D. 622, which places
the beginning of the Iranian calendar six months before the Hijra. Similarly, it invented a
unique intercalation system based on a 33-year cycle, which will be described below (Section
5). Furthermore, the reform panel adopted 12 equal months of 30 days each, and inserted the
remaining 5 or 6 “stolen days” or andargâh (epagomena) between 30 Spandarmad (Esfand)
and Nowruz, as was practiced in the Iranian pre-Islamic calendar. And, interestingly, the
panel revived the ancient Persian month names (Table 3), although other alternatives were
considered and new Persian poetic names were proposed.

Table 3: Iranian calendar months and seasons

Order Avestan Middle Persian Modern Persian Days Seasons

(A.D. c. –2000 to –300) (A.D. c. –300 to +700)

1 Fravashi/Fravarti Frawardı̂n Farvardin 31 Spring

(Devine essence)
2 Asha Vahishta Ardawahisht Ordibehesht 31 Spring
(Best righteousness)
3 Haurvatât Khordâd Khordâd 31 Spring
(Wholeness, integrity)
4 Tishtrya Tı̂r Tir 31 Summer
(Sirius, rain star)
5 Amérétâ Amurdâd Mordâd/ 31 Summer
(Immortality) Amordâd
6 Khshathra Vairya Shahrewar Shahrivar 31 Summer
(The good dominion
of choice)
7 Mithra Mihr Mehr 30 Autumn
(Sun, friendship,
promise)
8 Ap Âbân Âbân 30 Autumn
(Water)
9 Âthra Âdur Âzar 30 Autumn
(Fire)
10 Dathushô Day Dey 30 Winter
(Creator)
11 Vohu Manah Wahman Bahman 30 Winter
(Good Mind)
12 Spéntâ Ârmaiti Spandarmad Esfand 29/30 Winter
(Holy serenity)

6
 We notice therefore that the reform’s objective was not only resolving administrative
and economical problems, but also aimed at preserving Nowruz, one of the main symbols
of the Iranian identity. In brief, the reform had an outstanding consequence, probably un-
precedented in the Iranian history. It attached Nowruz tightly to the vernal equinox, which
was not the case in the Sasanian Zoroastrian calendar, because the latter did not apparently
employ the 4-year intercalations, but instead added a supplementary month to the calendar
every 120 years (de Blois 1996).

In contrast to the Islamic calendar, which is based on the lunar synodic month and the
corresponding lunar year of of 354 days, the Iranian year is divided into 12 months with tight
links to the real, annual seasons. The first 6 months of the modern calendar have 31 days,
the next 5 months 30 days and the last one 29 or 30 days. This scheme of month lengths is
in accord with the fact that the astronomical seasons do not have an equal number of days,
spring and summer being longer than autumn and winter (Note 5). The month names, in
their original Avestan form (Note 6), their meanings, and their linguistic evolution over the
ages are presented in Table 3.

3. The length of the year

The Iranian year is a “tropical year” with the vernal equinox as its reference point. However,
it should not be confounded with the tropical year set up by modern astronomers (Note 7).
Nowadays, the tropical year is defined as the interval during which the Sun’s mean longi-
tude, referred to the mean equinox of the date, increases by 360 degrees. This definition
was adopted by the International Astronomical Union at its General Assembly in Dublin
in September 1955 (Seidelmann et al. 1992). Several researchers, notably Meeus & Savoie
(1992), Cassidy (1996), and Meeus (2002) have underlined the difference between the vernal-
equinox year and the newly introduced tropical year. Nonetheless, the mistake of equating
the two is unfortunately largely propagated. In fact most astronomers and calendar adepts
are defining the tropical year as starting with the vernal equinox but using the length of the
newly-defined tropical year for their calculations (Note 8). And unfortunately some Iranian
astronomers and calendar experts are not exempt from this confusion.

It should be emphasized that this new concept of the tropical year, introduced for
celestial mechanical studies, is based on the mean longitude of the Sun and does not depend
on a specific origin for the annual apparent motion of the Sun. It aims at the long-term be-
havior of the year by taking into account the precession (secular terms) and not short-term,
periodic gravitational disturbances. No matter how useful this concept, the traditional solar
calendars, Iranian as well as Gregorian (Note 9), are based on the mean length of the real
vernal-equinox year. The situation of the nomenclature as it is now lends itself to confusion,
because the same term (tropical year) is used for two different, but very closely related,
concepts. Therefore, it would be highly expedient for the International Astronomical Union
to remove the ambiguity by adopting two distinct terms for both notions. It would be quite
logical to apply “tropical year” only in its modern, celestial mechanical meaning, and use

7
the term “vernal-equinox year” for the interval between two successive passages of the Sun
through the vernal equinox. Naturally, Iranians call it the Nowruz year.

Let us look more closely into the difference between the tropical and vernal-equinox
years. Bretagnon and Rocher (2001) give the following expression for the length of the mean
tropical year:

365.24219052 – 61.56 10−6 T – 68.4 10−9 T2 + 263.0 10−9 T3 + 3.2 10−9 T4 [1]

where T is the barycentric dynamical time (TDB) or, more simply, uniform (ephemeris) days
of 86400 seconds (International Atomic Time, TAI), counted in Julian millennia (of 365250
days) from the present epoch. The expression is valid over an interval of ±10,000 years from
J2000.0. Expressed in universal time, based on the Earth’s rotation about its axis, the same
authors give the following polynomial formula for the tropical year:

365.2421789 – 135.63 10−6 T – 68.4 10−9 T2 + 263.0 10−9 T3 + 3.2 10−9 T4 [2]

where T here is universal time. We see therefore that at the epoch of J2000 the length of the
tropical year was 365.24219052 uniform days of 86400 seconds, which is equal to 365.2421789
real solar days, and can be rounded off to 365.2422 days. The formulas [1] and [2] also in-
dicate that the length of the tropical year is not constant. As shown also in Figure 2, it is
decreasing by about 5 milliseconds per year, because the precession is presently speeding up.
In addition, not shown in Figure 2, its length in real solar days decreases by about another
6 millisecond per year as a result of the slowing down of the Earth’s rotation about its own
axis, mainly due to the tidal effect of the Moon. It should be underlined that presently
we are unable to accurately predict the length of the day. The reason is that the Earth’s
rotation undergoes unpredictable, irregular variations over different time scales, as a result
of both internal and external geophysical processes and astronomical perturbations.

On the other hand, the mean time interval between two successive vernal equinoxes,
as derived by Meeus (2002) for the true longitude of the Sun, based on the orbital elements
of the Earth (Simon et al. 1994) and the exact solution of Kepler’s equation, is represented
by the polynomial expression:

365.2423748 + 10.34 10−5 T – 12.43 10−6 T2 – 22.63 10−7 T3 + 1.31 10−7 T4 [3]

for the period ranging from about 500 B.C. to A.D. 4500, where T is measured in Julian
millennia of 365250 (ephemeris) uniform days from the epoch J2000.0. It should be un-
derlined that this expression represents the global evolution of the real vernal-equinox year
over large time-spans by allowing for the non-uniform Keplerian motion of the Earth. It
does not, however, take into account the fluctuations in the length of the year caused by
various periodic gravitational perturbations. The exact solution is obtained in the IMCCE
ephemeris by an equation composed of 96 terms. The above equation [3] can be expressed
in solar days, as:

365.2423632 + 2.93 10−5 T – 12.43 10−6 T2 – 22.63 10−7 T3 + 1.31 10−7 T4 [4]

8
 The comparison between equations [3] and [1] or [4] and [2] shows clearly that the mean
vernal-equinox and tropical years do not have the same length. For example, for the epoch of
+2000, the mean tropical year is 365.2421789 days, whereas the mean vernal-equinox year is
365.242362 days, that is 15.82 s longer. In the same way that the tropical year was rounded
off to 365.2422 days, the vernal-equinox year can be approximated to 365.2424 days. More-
over, it is obvious from equation [3] that the vernal-equinox year also varies over the ages
(see also Figure 2). Around the epoch –3000 it was 365.241872 uniform days, whereas and
at the beginning of the Christian era it was increasing to 365.242138 uniform days. It is still
increasing and will attain its largest value, 365.242525 uniform days, in the epoch +5000.
Therefore, the difference between the vernal-equinox and tropical years is not limited only to
their lengths, since their long-term variations over the time is also dissimilar. In contrast to
the vernal-equinox year, the tropical year will continually decrease at least until the epoch
+8000.

Figure 2 also displays the variation of the real vernal-equinox year, in solar days, ob-
tained by the IMCCE calculations. Those data are shown in two different forms for the
sake of better visibility, since the year exhibits considerable fluctuations over relatively short
periods. The discrete points, centered on vertical bars, represent a mean value for a 500-year
interval with the bars showing the standard deviation over that interval. The smallest range
of the fluctuations belongs to the epoch 0 where the vernal-equinox varies over about 20s,
while for the epoch +2000 the spread is twice larger. The undulating curve displays the
IMCCE data after being smoothed out by a filtering method in which all the variations
with periods under 100 years are removed. We see therefore that the main fluctuations in
the length of the vernal-equinox year result from relatively short-period perturbations. The
overall shape of the real vernal-equinox year nears that of the mean vernal-equinox year if
we use a stronger smoothing technique. Note that in order to convert uniform days into
solar days one must use a correction parameter, called the derivative of Delta-T, which can
be represented by the difference between equations [1] and [2]. Generally, the correction in-
creases the uniform-day years before the epoch +2000.0 and reduces those after that epoch
(Note 10).

As it was pointed out above, the length of the real vernal-equinox year can deviate
considerably from the mean value over short periods mainly due to the gravitational pull of
the Moon and the planets. The fluctuations of the year length are also visible in Figure 1.
Over the interval A.D. 1000-2500 the shortest year, 365.230880 days, is A.D. 1095 and the
longest A.D. 1216 with 365.252685 days, or 365d 6h 3m 52.0s. The mean length depends
on the interval considered, as displayed in Table 2. We see that around Khayyâm’s epoch
the mean duration of the vernal-equinox year over the 400 year interval A.D. 800-1200 was
365.242337 solar days, which is also the average value for the whole period 0 to +2500. In the
following we will use a mean value of 365.242362 days (corresponding to the period +1500
to +2500) for the length of the vernal-equinox year in the coming centuries.

9
Figure 2: The lengths of the tropical and vernal-equinox years varying over the ages, shown
in full and dotted curves respectively, both in units of uniform (ephemeris) days. The du-
ration of the real vernal-equinox year, in solar days, or the Iranian year, obtained by the
IMCCE ephemeris, is displayed in two manners. The discrete points represent mean values
over 500-year intervals with their corresponding standard deviations shown by the vertical
bars. Similarly, the wavy curve displays a smoothed version of the ephemeris data in which
fluctuations with periods smaller than 100 years are withdrawn. The horizontal lines show
the lengths of the Khayyâm and Gregorian calendar years. They are meant for comparison
with the vernal-equinox year lengths in solar days represented by the IMCCE data.

10
4. The difference between the “tropical” and Iranian years

Here we give more explanations in order to highlight the fact that the Iranian vernal-
equinox year is not equal to the newly introduced “tropical year”. Since the Earth’s orbit
around the Sun is elliptical, its orbital velocity is not uniform. At the perihelion of its or-
bit the Earth is the closest to the Sun, and therefore moves faster than average, while at
aphelion, when it is the farthest away from the Sun, it moves slower. Moreover, due to the
precession, the vernal equinox slowly regresses along the ecliptic by 50.3 arcseconds per year
with respect to stars, while the major axis of the Earth’s orbit rotates in the direct sense
by 11.6 arcseconds per year. Consequently, when the Sun crosses the vernal-equinox point,
spending a year in its apparent path along the ecliptic, the Earth has not made a complete
circuit. It has made a complete journey on a distorted orbit (due to the rotation of the orbit)
less a small arc. This small arc is covered with a somewhat different speed, according to its
position with respect to the perihelion of the Earth’s orbit. As a result, depending on the
starting point adopted for the “year”, one complete circuit in tropical longitude will have
a somewhat variable length. This means that the length of a “real” tropical year depends
upon the chosen reference point on the ecliptic.

A simple mathematical formula can facilitate the explanation. The year length can be
represented by: Y = T - t, where T is the time needed by the Sun for making a complete
circuit with respect to the perihelion and t the time gained because the reference point ap-
proaches the Sun. The time gained is represented by the ratio of the arc length, S, and the
apparent velocity of the Sun: t = S/V. But since the arc length is constant, t depends only
on the velocity. For example, at the December solstice the Earth is near the perihelion (to
which it arrives in early January) and the Sun apparently moves faster than average towards
the solstitial point. Hence the time gained is smaller than that for the vernal equinox, and
the tropical year as measured for this point will not only be longer than that for the vernal
equinox, but the longest of the four cardinal years. On the basis of the planetary ephemeris
calculated by Simon et al. (1994), Meeus (2002) has derived the mean intervals between
two successive passages of the Sun through the four seasonal points for several epochs. The
results, listed in Table 4, clearly show that these various “tropical” years do not have the
same length (Note 11). And, more particularly, the vernal-equinox year is different from
the “tropical” year. In fact the tropical year represents the mean value of the four seasonal
figures (Note 12). It should be emphasized that the year lengths listed in Table 4 are in
uniform days, and must be converted into solar days for calendar use, as listed in the second
row for the vernal-equinox year (Note 10).

The length of the year in the Iranian calendar, as conceived by Khayyâm et al., is
365.2424.. days (Youschkevitch & Rosenfeld 1973), a logical consequence of the intercala-
tion system: 365 + 8 / 33 = 365.2424.. (see Section 5). This is in good agreement with the
length of the year at his time, 365.2423 days. Khayyâm’s estimate of the year length agrees
even better with the present-day mean value of 365.2424 days. Compared to the Gregorian
year of 365 + 1 / 4 – 1 / 100 + 1 / 400 = 365 + 97 / 400 = 365.2425 days, Khayyâm’s
value was based on a more accurate knowledge of the solar annual motion. Note that re-
cently an extremely precise value for the duration of the year (365.24219858156 days) has

11
 Table 4: Various “tropical” years for several epochs ∗

Epoch Vernal-equinox Summer-solstice Autumnal-equinox Winter-solstice

Nowruz year year year year
–1000 365.242022 365.241859 365.242718 365.242871
365.24223
0 365.242138 365.241726 365.242496 365.242883
365.24227
+1000 365.242261 365.241648 365.242257 365.242840
365.24232
+2000 365.242375 365.241627 365.242018 365.242741
365.24236
+3000 365.242464 365.241659 365.241800 365.242594
365.24237
+4000 365.242516 365.241734 365.241620 365.242407
365.24235
∗ The year lengths are in ephemeris (uniform) days, except for the vernal-equinox year which is
given also in real solar days.

been attributed to Khayyâm (O’Connor & Robertson 1999), although it is supported by no

historical source, as far as we know. We think that this may be a spurious value resulting
from the erroneous 2820-year cycle suggested recently (see below Section 7).

The precise knowledge of the year duration is one thing, using it practically to con-
struct a calendar system is another, because the calendar year of 365 entire days is not equal
to the real solar year. A good calendar is therefore the one whose intercalation system yields
a year length the nearest possible to the reality.

5. The intercalation system

The average time shift, dt, between two successive vernal equinoxes, listed in Table
2, indicates also the excess time with respect to a calendar year of 365 full days. In other
words, each year the solar time leads by dt/24 day with respect to the calendar. Taking dt =
5.81662 h for the interval +1000 to +2500, this lead will be 5.81662/24 = 0.242359 ≃ 0.2424
days per year. Thus, after four years, the advance amounts to 4 × 0.24236 = 0.96944 days,
which is approximated to 1 day, necessitating a leap year of 366 days. This correction of 1
day every 4 years is though too generous and therefore results in a lead of the calendar year
over the solar year. This point constitutes the fundamental problem of the solar calendars,
and this is the reason why in the Iranian calendar the intercalation is not carried out sys-
tematically every 4 years (see below). On the other hand, if no intercalations are applied,
the Nowruz feast will regress with respect to the vernal equinox, moving through all the
seasons in about 1506 years. More explicitly, after four years the vernal equinox will happen

12
on Farvardin 2 and after eight years on Farvardin 3, and so on. At the same time, Nowruz
will slip more and more into winter.

The Iranian calendar has a basic, 33-year intercalation cycle, which consists of 33 ×
0.2424 = 7.9992 = 8 leap years of 366 days and 25 ordinary years of 365 days. There are two
kinds of leap years: i) leap year after 3 ordinary years (called quadrennial), ii) leap year after
4 ordinary years (quinquennial). During a quadrennial period, the vernal equinox occurs as
two pairs systematically two times after noon then two times before noon. However, about
every 33 years a vernal equinox happens very close to midnight, coming between two such
pairs and forming a quinquennial period. More explicitly, this situation happens dominantly
every 33 years and sometimes, much less often, after an interval of 29 years.

The first leap year of the 33-year cycle is quinquennial and the seven others quadren-
nial. The intercalations are therefore applied to the years: 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33. The
total cycle amounts to 25 × 365 + 8 × 366 = 12053 calendar days. In comparison, the solar
time duration is currently 33 × 365.242362 = 12052.99795 days. This means that a 33-year
cycle advances by 0.00205 days, or about 3 minutes, with respect to the solar time. This is
the reason why a strict 33-year cycle needs future adjustments. Assuming a constant length
for the vernal-equinox year, after about 500 cycles, or about 16,000 years, the advance will
add up to 1 day. However, since the duration of the year decreases after the epoch +3000
and would reach a value of about 365.24182 days in the epoch +8000, a shorter period is
required in order that the advance attain one full day. Anyhow, when the error totals 1/33
of a day, a 33-year cycle needs to be shortened to 29 years in order to keep the calendar in
pace with the solar time. It should be emphasized that detailed extrapolations over very
long periods are unavailing because the year length is not constant and moreover unknown
perturbations may add up in the distant future to have a considerable effect.

In the past, when Newton had not yet put forward his theory of gravitation and
Laplace, Lagrange, Euler, Hamilton, and others had not contributed to the formulation of
celestial mechanics, the precise instant of the vernal equinox was predicted by extrapolating
detailed observations. Today, thanks to the remarkable improvements in the models of or-
biting bodies, and more particularly the development of powerful computers and numerical
methods, the instant of the vernal equinox can be predicted with very high precision. How-
ever, observational measurements are necessary to check the actual correspondence between
the mathematical model and the reality. The observations are also an important part of the
Iranian calendar culture, and it would be wise to be preserved. Moreover, now that amateur
astronomy has made big technical advances, more people can participate in the observation
of the solar motion around Nowruz. Since Nowruz is accompanied by several public cer-
emonies and festivities, the widespread observation of the Sun around the spring equinox
can be a delightful modern addition. This will also provide a good opportunity for teaching
astronomy and calendar science to the public. The same thing can be recommended also for
the observation of the solar motion during the Mehregân festival at the beginning of Mehr,
the 7th month, which celebrates the autumnal equinox (Notes 13 & 14).

13
6. A notice of historical interest

The information about Khayyâm’s calendar reform come to us not directly from him-
self, but only through brief accounts by later astronomers. In fact 13 years after the instaura-
tion of the reform Khayyâm fell into disgrace after Malek Shah’s death and Nezâm-ol-Molk’s
murder by Assassins, a politico-religious order led by Hasan Sabbâh. Following the death
of the king, his wife ruled as regent for two years, and Khayyâm fell heir to some of the
hostility she had demonstrated towards his patron, Nezâm-ol-Molk, with whom she had
quarreled over the question of royal succession. Moreover, orthodox Muslims, who disliked
Khayyâm because of his freethinking, evident in his quatrains, became highly influential at
court. Maybe they were not happy neither with Khayyâm’s frank moves for valuing the
Persian identity. Financial support was cut from the observatory and its activities, among
which the reform, came to a halt (Youschkevitch & Rosenfeld 1973).

There is no doubt though that Khayyâm and his group implemented the intercalation
system based on quadrennial and quinquennial leap years. The astronomer Khâzeni (Note
4), who was probably a member of the reform group and later, during the reign of Sanjar,
Malek Shah’s son, authored the Sanjari zij (astronomical observations and tables), uses the
quadrennial/quinquennial intercalations, which most probably resulted from the work done
by Khayyâm’s reform group. For a period of 220 years in the Jalâli calendar, Khâzeni calcu-
lates 53 intercalations, 8 quinquennial and 45 quadrennial (Note 15). About two centuries
later, the eminent astronomer and mathematician Nasireddin Tusi (A.D. 1201-1274), direc-
tor of Marâgha observatory who created the Ilkhani zij, and is recognized for having made
an exhaustive criticism of Ptolemic astronomy and having presented a new mathematical
model of planetary motions, gives brief but important information about the Jalâli reform.
In his Ilkhani zij, he clearly states that an intercalation is applied every 4 years, making a
year of 366 days, and after 7 or 8 quadrennial intercalations a quinquennial intercalation is
performed on the basis of induction. We see therefore an implicit reference to the scheme of
29 or 33-year cycles. For information about the various intercalation attempts over centuries,
based on the quadrennial/quinquennial design see Sayyâd (1981) who gives an interesting
compilation on the subject.

7. The putative 2820-year cycle

Recently some Iranian calendar experts, mainly the late Behruz (1952) and the late Bi-
rashk (1993), have suggested the existence of so far unknown cycles in the Iranian calendar.
In particular, they divide the calendar into cycles of 2820 years, itself split in 21 subcycles
of 128 years and 1 subcycle of 132 years (2820 = 21 × 128 + 132). The subcycles of 128
and 132 years are themselves divided into periods of 29, 33, and 37 years (128 = 29 + 3 ×
33; 132 = 29 + 2 × 33 + 37). In brief, the cycle consists of 2137 ordinary years and 683
leap years.

This scheme contains several drawbacks. It is claimed that the 2820-year cycle repre-

14
sents the interval after which the vernal equinoxes are repeated at the same instant of the day.
The scrutiny of the IMCCE ephemeris data does not allow us to uphold this claim, which
has already been criticized by calendar researchers, among them the Iranian astronomers
Malakpour (2004) and Sayyâd (2000). Moreover, the whole 2820-year cycle gets a lead of
about 0.5 days over the solar time. Using the present length of the vernal-equinox year, the
cycle amounts to 2820 × 365.242362 = 1029983.461 days, while the calendar will have 2137
× 365 + 683 × 366 = 1029983 days. In order that the cycle remain in step with the solar
time, the year length must therefore be 365.2421985815603 days or about 365.2422 days.
This figure, which results also from the fraction 683/2820, seems to be the length of the
modern tropical year, mistaken for the duration of the vernal-equinox year. As a result, the
scheme runs into trouble many times during a period of 2025 years, for example 21 March
A.D. -1, 21 March A.D. 1600, and 21 March A.D. 2025.

The 2820-year cycle may be at the origin of the extremely precise duration of the
year (365.24219858156 days) attributed to Khayyâm (see above, Section 4). In fact, the
fraction 683/2820 implies a year of 365.2421985815603 days, which surprisingly resembles
the attributed value, thus casting doubt on its authenticity. This spurious value may stem
from the mistake that Khâyyam was the author of the 2820-year cycle. However, there is no
historical record relating that cycle to Khayyâm (Sayyâd 2000). The confusion is probably
due to the fact that Behruz (1952) proposed his scheme in the form of tables which he called
”Khayyâmic tables”, leaving so the door open to misinterpretation.

The conception of such a cycle seems therefore to result from a confusion between
the vernal-equinox and tropical years, as explained above, and moreover does not take into
account the secular variation of the year length. Furthermore, this complex system does not
make the calendar more precise, since the presently followed 33-year scheme, although much
simpler, is quite efficient.

8. Correspondence with other calendars

There are several reliable software codes for converting the Iranian calendar dates
and week days into other calendar systems and vice-versa. We can mention the “Khayam”
Program:

http://payvand.com/calendar

set up by Hossein Bâgher-Zâdeh for the correspondence between the Iranian and Gregorian
calendars. Currently the leap years in the 33-year cycles are those years that after dividing
by 33 leave a remainder of 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 22, 26 and 30. For example, the year A.P. 1375
that begun on March 20, 1996 has the remainder of 22 and thus is the leap year. These
rules are implemented in the “Khayam program”. In a recent paper Borkowski (1996/1997)
argues that the algorithm employed in that program is valid for the years A.D. 1799 to 2256
(A.P. 1178 to 1634). Moreover he presents a concise code which reconstructs the pattern of

15
leap years over a time span of about 3000 years.

Another interesting tool is the Calendrica 2.0 software package, based on the algo-
rithms in Calendrical Calculations: The millennium Edition, by Edward M. Reingold &
Nachum Dershowitz. The online version:

http://emr.cs.iit.edu/home/reingold/calendar-book/Calendrica.html

allows conversion not only between the Iranian and Gregorian systems, but also among sev-
eral other calendars, mainly: Armenian, Chinese, French revolutionary (Note 16), Hebrew,
Hindu, Islamic, Mayan, and the mistaken arithmetic version of the Iranian calendar pro-
grammed with the 2820-year cycle of intercalations.

9. Concluding remarks

In this paper, we presented a detailed description of the Iranian calendar emphasizing

the underlying astronomical phenomena, without ignoring the related historical topics. A
prominent feature of the Iranian year is its starting point, Nowruz, which coincides with an
astronomical event: the Sun’s arrival at the vernal equinox. Nowruz, which symbolizes the
rebirth of the nature and the triumph of life over the oppressive cold and darkness of the
winter, is celebrated by a large number of peoples in the Western and Central Asia.

On the basis of the ephemeris provided by the French IMCCE for the period A.D. –4000
to +2500, and the equations obtained by Bretagnon & Rocher (2001) and Meeus (2002), we
discussed the various definitions of the year and showed that the Iranian calendar is based
upon the vernal-equinox year and not on the “tropical year”.

In fact the modern concept of the “tropical” year, formulated by researchers in the
field of celestial mechanics, represents a mean year which does not depend on a particular
starting point on the ecliptic. Moreover, it leaves out short-term fluctuations in the duration
of the year.

Therefore, the “tropical” year of 365.2422 days does not at all correspond to the inter-
val between two successive passages of the Sun through the vernal equinox. Attributing the
value of 365.2422 days to such time interval is a mistake, unfortunately widely propagated.

In contrast, the Iranian, or real vernal-equinox, year relies on the Keplerian, non-
uniform motion of the Earth around the Sun as well as on the short-term perturbations.
This is why successive observations of the Sun’s passage through the vernal-equinox are nec-
essary in order to determine the starting instant of the new year and the real duration of
the previous one.

16
 Neglecting the short-term fluctuations, the mean length of the Iranian, or vernal-
equinox, year at the present epoch is 365.2424 solar days. This time length represents
the mean interval between two successive passages of the Sun through the vernal equinox.

The difference between the “tropical” and vernal-equinox years though is not limited
to their length since their long-term variations is also unalike.

The confusion between both concepts is not only scientifically wrong, it may entail
other mistakes and can also undermine the accuracy of the Iranian calendar. However, since
the importance of this issue is often not appreciated even among calendar experts and as-
tronomers, in order to avoid the mistake, we proposed using two distinctive terms, “tropical
year” for the newly introduced concept and “vernal-equinox year” when solar calendars,
Iranian or Gregorian, are concerned.

The length of the year, as laid down by the intercalation system adopted by the
Khayyâm reform, is 365.2424.. days. This estimate agrees well with the real vernal-equinox
year at Khayyâm’s epoch, which had a mean value of 365.2423 days, and is even in better
agreement with the current length of the vernal-equinox year, whose mean value is 365.2424
days.

We also analyzed the unparalleled intercalation system of the Iranian calendar, which
is based on a 33-year cycle, and pointed out the astronomical foundation of this cycle. There
are two types of leap years in the Iranian calendar, quinquennial and quadrennial. The cycle
contains 8 leap years, the first one being quinquennial and the seven others quadrennial.

Finally, we explained why the recently proposed 2820-year cycle is fallacious, and ar-
gued that most probably it is due to a confusion between the vernal-equinox and “tropical”
years. This cycle is not only erroneous, but also such a complex intercalation scheme seems
useless for the Iranian calendar, since the 33-year cycle is almost perfect. We argued also
that this scheme is at the origin of the extremely precise length of the solar year attributed
to Khayyâm.

Acknowledgements. It is a pleasure to thank the French Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de

Calcul des Ephémérides (IMCCE), Director Dr. William Thuillot, and Dr. Patrick Rocher
for providing the ephemeris which was essential for this study and also for helpful discussions.
My field of research in astrophysics being well outside that of calendars and time reckoning,
I learned a lot in the process of writing this paper and would like to thank all the people
who took part in this project. I am particularly indebted to the calendar expert Mr. Simon
Cassidy, Emeryville Ca. U.S.A., for numerous e-mail exchanges and for a critical reading
of the paper which contributed to improve its content. I express my deep gratitude to him.
I benefited also from discussions and comments by several colleagues at Paris Observatory,
in particular Dr. Thibaut Le Bertre, Dr. Jean-Franois Lestrade, and Dr. James Lequeux.
I would like to thank them. I am grateful also to Dr. Vassilis Charmandaris, Cornell Uni-

17
versity, USA, for comments. My thanks are also directed to Mr. Frédéric Meynadier, Paris
Observatory/Paris VI University, for his valuable and efficient cooperation. I am also thank-
ful to Mr. Jean Meeus, Brussels, and Dr. Iraj Malakpour, Geophysics Institute, Tehran,
for replying to my questions. I would like also to acknowledge Drs. Edward M. Reingold
& Nachum Dershowitz as well as Dr. Hossein Bâgher-Zâdeh for using their calendar con-
version codes. I am also grateful to Dr. Kazimierz M. Borkowski, Toruń Radio Astronomy
Observatory, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland, who read the paper and made several
interesting comments. I want also to thank Dr. Jafar Âghâyâni-Châvoshi, Sharif University,
Tehran, for providing several historical documents. I am also grateful to Dr. M.-Sch. Adib-
Soltâni, Tehran, for his remarks, in particular regarding etymology. Finally, I would like to
dedicate this paper to the memory of the late scholars Zabih Behruz and Ahmad Birashk,
who initiated the modern research on the Iranian calendar.

Notes

1. Etymology of Nowruz. Modern Persian now “new”, Middle Persian nôk, Avestan nava,
Sanskrit nava, akin to Greek neos, Latin novus, all from the Indo-Eurpean root *newo.
The English new, novel, German neu, and French nouveau, neuf belong to this group. The
second component, Modern Persian ruz “day”, Middle Persian rôc, Old Persian raucah,
Avestan raocah “light, luminous; daylight”, Sanskrit roka “brightness, light”, cognate with
Greek leukos “white, clear”, Latin lux “light” (also lumen, luna), Indo-Eurpoean root *leuk
“light, brightness”. The Persian words rowshan “bright, clear”, foruq “light”, and afruxtan
“to light, kindle” also belong to this family, as well as the English light, German Licht, and
French lumière.

2. There is no ambiguity between the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, even if the passage of
the Sun through the autumnal equinox is the beginning of spring in the southern hemisphere!
The vernal equinox is the point with coordinates 0,0 degree in the ecliptic system, whereas
the autumnal equinox is defined by the point 180, 0 degrees.

3. Placing the beginning of the day at midnight is an ancient Iranian practice, as attested by
several sources. For example, the famous scientist Abu-Rayhân Biruni (A.D. 973-1048) deals
with this matter in his well-known book Athar al-Baqia (ancient history and geography),
written around A.D. 1000 (see below, references, for more details). Moreover, he underlines
that the Shahriyâr zij, the astronomical calculations and tables established during the reign
of the Sasanid emperor Khosrow I Anushiravân around A.D. 555, was based on the adop-
tion of the midnight as the beginning of the day. Note that taking up the midnight for the
beginning of the day by astronomers is relatively recent in the Western world. In fact until
1925 astronomers started and ended their days at noon, so the day in Greenwich Mean Time
(GMT) originally started and ended at mean solar noon in Greenwich, while Greenwich
Civil Time started at midnight. Nevertheless, the Julian days, used by astronomers, begin
at noon (GMT).

18
4. According to various sources, up to eight astronomers participated in the reform project.
Apart from Omar Khayyâm, the other recorded names are: Abu-Hâtam Mozaffar Esfazâri,
Abd-ol-Rahmân Khâzeni, Meymun ebn-e Najib Vâseti, and Abol-Abbas Lukari. Some histo-
rians have brought into question the participation of Khâzeni, a slave-boy of Byzantine origin,
owned by Ali ebn-e Khâzen Marwazi, treasurer and chancellor of the court at Marv (now
Mary, Turkmenistan), who gave the young man the best possible education in mathemati-
cal and philosophical disciplines, so that he became a renowned mathematician/astronomer
and “physicist”. Khâzeni established a zij for the ruler Sanjar, and invented a balance for
measuring specific gravities which was as precise as those obtained up to the Eighteenth or
beginning of the Nineteenth century. He passed away in A.D. 1115 or 1130, which is not
incompatible with his taking part in the calendar reform. With the first date, he would have
been 36 years old at the time of the reform, and 51 years with the second date. However,
the intercalation system he proposes in the Sanjari zij does not fully agree with Khayyâm’s
scheme (see also Note 15), and this may be interpreted as his non-adherence to the calendar
reform.

5. The current lengths of the astronomical seasons, around the year 2000, are about: spring
92.76 days, summer 93.65 days, autumn 89.84 days, and winter 88.99 days. The season are
unequal because the Earth’s orbit is slightly elliptical and the Sun is not exactly at the center
of the orbit. As formulated by Kepler’s second law, the Earth moves faster when it is close
to the Sun than when it is farther away, so the seasons that occur when the Earth is close
to the Sun pass more quickly. The Earth reaches its perihelion, the point in its orbit closest
to the Sun, in early January and is at aphelion, farthest away from the Sun, in early July.
Hence the summer is longer than the winter in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern
Hemisphere, the winter is longer than the summer.

The present situation is not, however, eternal and the duration of the seasons change through
time due to variations in the orbital parameters of the Earth. The precession, or the motion
of the orientation of the Earth’s rotational axis, changes the positions of the solstices and
equinoxes with respect to the perihelion. It takes about 21,000 years (climatic precession)
for these points to make a complete circuit along the orbit, with respect to the perihelion.
Similarly, variations in the shape, or the eccentricity, of the Earth’s orbit (Note 12), which
have a periodicity of about 100,000 years, modify the length of the seasons. And finally,
changes in the obliquity, or tilt, of the Earth’s axis cause important variations in the amount
of solar radiation received by the Earth at high latitudes, bringing about considerable alter-
ations in the seasonal climate. The obliquity, which is currently about 23.5 degrees, varies
between about 22.5 and 24.5 degrees over a period of approximately 41,000 years.

6. The Avestan, the language of the Avesta, scriptures of Zoroastrianism, belongs to the
Iranian group of the Indo-European family of languages. The oldest part of the Avesta,
called the Gathas (hymns, songs), made up of poems attributed to Zarathushtra himself, are
now commonly thought to date from around the end of the 2nd millennium BC and are thus
contemporary with Vedic Sanskrit.

7. A brief etymological note. “Tropical” from “tropic”, from L.L. tropicus “of or pertaining

19
to the solstice”, from L. tropicus “pertaining to a turn”, from Gk. tropikos “of or pertaining
to a turn or change, or to the solstice” (as a noun, “the solstice”), from tropos “turn, way,
manner, style”, tropein “to turn”. Indo-European root *trep- “to turn”. Other terms of the
same origin in English: troubadour, trover, contrive, retrieve, trophy, entropy.

The relation between the notions of “tropic” and “solstice” is due to the observational fact
that the Sun apparently “turns back” after reaching its northernmost (or southernmost)
point in the sky where it seems to stand still (solstice, from L. solstitium, from sol “Sun” +
-stit-, stes “standing”, akin to stare “to stand”, Greek histanai “to cause to stand”, Sanskrit
sthâ “to stand”, Avestan stâ “to stand”, Persian istâdan “to stand”, Indo-European root:
*stâ “to stand”).

The term “tropic” is first attested around 1350-1400 in English with the meaning “either
of the two circles in the celestial sphere which describe the northernmost and southernmost
points of the ecliptic”. Extended 1527 to the corresponding parallels of latitude on the ter-
restrial globe, one (tropic of Cancer) 23◦27′ north, and the other (tropic of Capricorn) 23◦27′
south of the equator, being boundaries of the Torrid Zone. Meaning “region between these
parallels” is from 1837. “Tropical” first used 1520-1530, and “tropical year” is first attested
1585-1595.

For an interesting account of the history of the tropical year, see Meeus & Savoie (1992).

8. For example, the Royal Greenwich Observatory/ National Maritime Museum website:

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/site/request/setTemplate:singlecontent/contentTypeA/conWebDoc/contentId/349

states that:

“The year is defined as being the interval between two successive passages of the Sun through
the vernal equinox. Of course, what is really occurring is that the Earth is going around the
Sun but it is easier to understand what is happening by considering the apparent motion of
the Sun in the sky.

The vernal equinox is the instant when the Sun is above the Earth’s equator while going
from the south to the north. It is the time which astronomers take as the definition of the
beginning of Spring. The year as defined above is called the tropical year and it is the year
length that defines the repetition of the seasons. The length of the tropical year is 365.24219
days”.

We notice the widely spread confusion between the tropical and vernal-equinox years, lead-
ing to an erroneous value given for the mean interval between two successive passages of the
Sun through the vernal equinox. The correct value is 365.2424 days.

Other examples of the same mistake:

20
“Tropical year: The year defined by two successive passages of the Sun through the vernal
equinox: 365.242191 days” (Dictionary of Science and Technology, 1992, Academic Press,
Inc.).

“Tropical year: The time interval between two successive passages of the Sun through the
vernal equinox. Its length is 365.2422 mean solar days.” (Encyclopedia of Astronomy and
Astrophysics, 2001, Institute of Physics Publishing).

9. The Gregorian calendar is also comparable to the vernal-equinox year in the sense that
the prime and stated aim of the Gregorian reform was to keep the instant of the spring
equinox from drifting away from the date of 21 March. Since the first Council of Nicaea in
A.D. 325, 21 March had been adopted as the ecclesiastical date of the spring equinox for
celebrating Easter: the first Sunday following the first ecclesiastical full moon that occurs
on or after the day of the vernal equinox. The discussion of the accuracy with which the
Gregorian calendar manages to keep the vernal equinox on 21 March is out of the scope of
this note.

10. The Delta-T parameter, which can only be deduced from observations, depends strongly
on the rotation rate of the Earth, which is uncertain at millisecond level. The Delta-T
expression used in the present IMCCE ephemeris is:

Delta-T = 102.3 + 123.5 T + 32.5 T2 seconds

(Morrison & Stephenson 1982), where T is measured in centuries from the epoch J2000.0.
Using a larger sample of observations of the historical solar and lunar eclipses, Stephenson
& Houlden (1986) derive a more accurate expression for the Delta-T parameter pertaining
to the epochs before A.D. 948:

Delta-T = 2715.6 + 573.36 T + 46.5 T2 seconds.

Moreover, according to a recent review by Stephenson (2002), the terrestrial spin rate is not
continually decreasing, but undergoes variations with a cycle of about 1500 years whereby
we are now in a centuries long period of of no deceleration. Although the main causes of
long-term changes in the length of the day are lunar and solar tides which produce a steady
increase in the length of the day of approximately 2.3 milli-seconds per century, there is a
significant non-tidal component causing a secular decrease in the length of the day at a mean
rate of 0.6 milli-seconds per century. Therefore, a simple parabolic analysis of Delta-T is
not an ideal representation of the reality. These variations, if confirmed by future research,
should not have an important effect on the averaged IMCCE data presented in this paper.
As for the current (epoch +2000) year length measured in real solar days (Table 4, column
1), the truth probably lies somewhere between the solar and uniform-day values.

11. Meeus (2002) has called the vernal-equinox year the equinox-equinox year. This also is
misleading since the vernal and autumnal years are not identical.

12. The shape of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, described by a parameter called eccen-
tricity, changes periodically due to the gravitational pull of the planets. The eccentricity

21
varies between 0.070 (elongated ellipse) and 0.003 (almost circle) over some 100,000 years.
Currently the eccentricity is 0.017, but will become nearly circular in about 25,000 years.
As a result, the difference between the tropical and vernal-equinox years will tend to zero.

13. For more information about Mithra or Mehr, who has given his name to the 7th month of
the Iranian calendar, and also its relation with Christmas and Marianne, the French symbol
of the republic, see M. Heydari-Malayeri, D’o vient le bonnet de Marianne?

http://wwwusr.obspm.fr/∼heydari/divers/marianne.html

14. For a discussion of the name of the 4th Iranian month, see: M. Heydari-Malayeri,
Tishtar, the Iranian Sirius (in preparation).

15. The fact that the 220-year cycle (with average year 365.2409 days) may be partitioned
into 29- and 25-year cycles (220 = 5 × 29 + 3 × 25), would imply that Khâzeni had no use
for the 33-year cycle (365.2424 days/year). Therefore, if no other information is available
from Khâzeni, one would have to conclude that either he has been miscopied in the extant
texts or that he misunderstood or disbelieved Khayyâm.

16. According to several historical indications, the Iranian calendar has been a source of in-
spiration for the creators of the French revolutionary calendar, who preferred a non-religious
time reckoning system, based on natural seasons. As a matter of fact, during the age of
enlightenment European scholars set out to know the Eastern cultures and civilizations in
general. The first translation of the Zoroastrian sacred text Avesta in a European language
was carried out by Abraham Anquetil-Duperron in French in 1771. It is also highly probable
that the French revolutionary thinkers were aware of the Iranian calendar through several
published works. We can, for example, mention: Freret, De l’ancienne année des Perses,
1742, published in l’Histoire de l’Académie Royale des inscriptions et belles lettres, tome 16,
Paris, 1751 and Gilbert, Nouvelles observations sur l’année des anciens Perses, in l’Histoire
de l’Académie Royale des inscriptions, tome 31, Paris, 1788. For more information, see the
recent interesting paper by Shafâ (2003) who highlights the Persian elements in the French
revolutionary calendar.

22
References

Behruz, Zabih, A.P. 1331 (A.D. 1952), Taqvim va Târix dar Irân (Time reckoning & cal-
endar in Iran), Tehran, Iran-kudeh, No 15 (in Persian)
Birashk, Ahmad, 1993, A Comparative Calendar of Iranian, Muslim Lunar, and Christian
Eras for 3000 Years, Mazda Publishers, Bibliotheca Persica, Costa Mesa, California
and New York
Biruni, Abu-Rayhân , c. 1000, Athar al-Baqia ’an al-Qurun al-Khalia, translated into
English under the title The Chronology of Ancient Nations by Edward C. Sachau,
London 1879 (William H. Allen)
de Bloy, François, 1996, The Persian Calendar, J. Brit. Inst. Persian Studies 34, 39
Borkowski, Kazimierz M., 1996/1997, The Persian calendar for 3000 years, Earth, Moon
and Planets No 3,223:
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