The Coptic calendar, also called the Alexandrian calendar, is a liturgical calendar used by the Coptic Orthodox

Church and also used by the farming populace in Egypt. This calendar is based on the ancient Egyptian calendar. To
avoid the calendar creep of the latter, a reform of the ancient Egyptian calendar was introduced at the time of
Ptolemy III (Decree of Canopus, in 238 BC) which consisted of the intercalation of a sixth epagomenal day every
fourth year. However, this reform was opposed by the Egyptian priests, and the reform was not adopted until 25 BC,
when the Roman Emperor Augustus imposed the Decree upon Egypt as its official calendar (although it was
unsynchronized with the newly introduced Julian calendar which had erroneously been intercalating leap days every
third year due to a misinterpration of the leap year rule so as to apply inclusive counting). To distinguish it from the
Ancient Egyptian calendar, which remained in use by some astronomers until medieval times, this reformed
calendar is known as the Coptic calendar. Its years and months coincide with those of the Ethiopian calendar but
have different numbers and names.

Coptic months

The following table refers to dates for Coptic years not containing February 29. Such years are preceded by a Coptic
leap day at the end of the preceding year. This causes dates to move one day later in the Julian and Gregorian
Calendars from the Coptic New Year's Day until the leap day of the Julian or Gregorian Calendar respectively.

Coptic Months

Name Gregorian
Julian
Calendar
No. Calendar Season Name origin[2][3]
Bohairic Sahidic Coptic Arabic[4] Dates (1900-
Dates
2099)
August 29 - 11 ḏḥwty: Thoth, god
1 Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ Ⲑⲟⲟⲩⲧ Thout ‫ توت‬Tūt September September – of Wisdom and
27 10 October Science
September
11 October – pꜣ -n-jpt: Opet
2 Ⲡⲁⲟⲡⲓ Ⲡⲁⲱⲡⲉ Paopi ‫ بابه‬Bāba 28 -
9 November Festival
October 27
Akhet Ḥwt-ḥr: Hathor,
October 28 10
‫هاتور‬ (Inundation) goddess of beauty
3 Ⲁⲑⲱⲣ Ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ Hathor - November November –
Hātūr and love (the land
26 9 December
is lush and green)
November
kꜣ -ḥr-kꜣ : "spirit
27 - 10 December
4 Ⲭⲟⲓⲁⲕ Ⲕⲟⲓⲁϩⲕ Koiak ‫ كياك‬Kiyāk
December – 8 January
upon spirit," the
name of a festival
26
December
9 January – 7 tꜣ -ꜥ ꜣ bt: "The
5 Ⲧⲱⲃⲓ Ⲧⲱⲃⲉ Tobi ‫ طوبه‬Ṭūba 27 -
February offering"
January 25
mḫjr: The name of
a festival, perhaps
January 26 Proyet, Peret,
‫أمشير‬ 8 February – identical with a
6 Ⲙⲉϣⲓⲣ Ⲙϣⲓⲣ Meshir - February Poret
Amshīr 9 March type of basket
24 (Growth)
used in that
festival
pꜣ -n-jmnḥtp:
‫برمهات‬ February 25 10 March – 8
7 Ⲡⲁⲣⲉⲙϩⲁⲧ Ⲡⲁⲣⲙϩⲟⲧⲡ Paremhat "Festival of
Baramhāt - March 26 April
Amenhotep"
 pꜣ -n-Rnnwtt:
‫برموده‬ March 27 - 9 April – 8 "Festival of
8 Ⲫⲁⲣⲙⲟⲩⲑⲓ Ⲡⲁⲣⲙⲟⲩⲧⲉ Parmouti
Baramūda April 25 May harvest goddess
Renenutet"
pꜣ -n-ḫnsw
‫بشنس‬ April 26 - 9 May – 7
9 Ⲡⲁϣⲟⲛⲥ Ⲡⲁϣⲟⲛⲥ Pashons "Festival of
Bashans May 25 June
Khonsu"
‫بؤنة‬ May 26 - 8 June – 7 pꜣ -n-jnt: valley
10 Ⲡⲁⲱⲛⲓ Ⲡⲁⲱⲛⲉ Paoni
Ba’ūnah June 24 July festival
June 25 - 8 July – 6 jpjp: meaning
11 Ⲉⲡⲓⲡ Ⲉⲡⲏⲡ Epip ‫ أبيب‬Abīb
July 24 August unknown
‫مسرى‬ July 25 - 7 August – 5 Shomu or mswt rꜥ : birth of
12 Ⲙⲉⲥⲱⲣⲓ Ⲙⲉⲥⲱⲣⲏ Mesori Shemu
Misrá August 23 September Ra
(Harvest) Bohairic: The
Little Month;

Ⲡⲓⲕⲟⲩϫⲓ Pi Kogi August 24 - 6–10 Sahidic: Greek

13 Ⲉⲡⲁⲅⲟⲙⲉⲛⲁⲓ[5] Enavot ‫ نسيئ‬Nasī’
ⲛ̀ⲁ̀ⲃⲟⲧ August 28 September ἐπαγόμεναι <
ἐπαγωγή < ἐπαγειν
< ἐπι + ἄγειν: to
bring in
Names:

Thoth (/θoʊθ, toʊt/; from Koine Greek: Θώθ thṓth, borrowed from Coptic: Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ, the reflex of
Ancient Egyptian: ḏḥwtj "[He] is like the Ibis") is one of the ancient Egyptian deities. In art, he was
often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine
counterpart was Seshat, and his wife was Ma'at.[3]
Thoth's chief temple was located in the city of Ancient Egyptian: ḫmnw χaˈmaːnaw, Egyptological
pronunciation: "An Egyptian god called Khemenu (god of the River Nile.)", Coptic: Ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ Shmun,[note
1][4]
which was known as Ἑρμοῦ πόλις Hermoû pólis "The City of Hermes", or in Latin as Hermopolis
Magna,[5] during the Hellenistic period[6] through the interpretatio graeca that Thoth was Hermes.
Later known el-Ashmunein in Egyptian Arabic, it was partially destroyed in 1826.

or
The Egyptian pronunciation of ḏḥwty is not fully known, but may be reconstructed as *ḏiḥautī,
perhaps pronounced *[t͡ʃʼi.ˈħau.tʰiː] or *[ci.ˈħau.tʰiː]. This reconstruction is based on the Ancient Greek
borrowing Thōth (Θώθ [tʰɔːtʰ]) or Theut and the fact that the name was transliterated into Sahidic
Coptic variously as ⲑⲟⲟⲩⲧ Thoout, ⲑⲱⲑ Thōth, ⲑⲟⲟⲧ Thoot, ⲑⲁⲩⲧ Thaut, as well as Bohairic Coptic
ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ Thōout. These spellings reflect known sound changes from earlier Egyptian such as the loss
of ḏ palatalization and merger of ḥ with h i.e. initial ḏḥ > th > tʰ.[14] The loss of pre-Coptic final y/j is
also common.[15] Following Egyptological convention, which eschews vowel reconstruction, the
consonant skeleton ḏḥwty would be rendered "Djehuti" and the god is sometimes found under this
name. However, the Greek form "Thoth" is more common.

Paopi (Coptic: Ⲡⲁⲱⲡⲉ, Paōpe), also known as Phaophi (Greek: Φαωφί, Phaōphí) and Babah[1]
(Arabic: ‫بابه‬, Baba), is the second month of the ancient Egyptian and Coptic calendars. It lasts
between 11 October and 9 November of the Gregorian calendar, unless the previous Coptic year
was a leap year. The month of Paopi is the second month of the Season of Akhet (Inundation) in
Ancient Egypt, when the Nile floods inundated the land. (They have not done so since the
construction of the High Dam at Aswan.)
Name
Paopi means "that of Opet" for the month originally celebrated the "Beautiful feast of Opet". The
Ancient Egyptians believed that during this month, the sun deity Amon-Ra travelled from Karnak to
Luxor to celebrate the famous festival of Opet.

Hathor (Coptic: Ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Hathōr), also known as Athyr (Greek: Ἀθύρ, Athýr) and Hatur[1] (Arabic:
‫)هاتور‬, is the third month of the ancient Egyptian and Coptic calendars. It lies between November 10
and December 9 of the Gregorian calendar. The month of Hathor is also the third month of the
season of Akhet (Inundation) in Ancient Egypt, when the Nile floods historically covered the land of
Egypt; they have not done so since the construction of the High Dam at Aswan.
Name
The name of the month comes from Hathor, one of the most important goddesses in ancient Egypt.
Festivals in her honor are thought to have taken place throughout the month.

Hathor was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a
sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god Ra, both of whom
were connected with kingship, and thus she was the symbolic mother of their earthly
representatives, the pharaohs. She was one of several goddesses who acted as the Eye of Ra, Ra's
feminine counterpart, and in this form she had a vengeful aspect that protected him from his
enemies. Her beneficent side represented music, dance, joy, love, sexuality and maternal care, and
she acted as the consort of several male deities and the mother of their sons. These two aspects of
the goddess exemplified the Egyptian conception of femininity. Hathor crossed boundaries between
worlds, helping deceased souls in the transition to the afterlife.
Hathor was often depicted as a cow, symbolizing her maternal and celestial aspect, although her
most common form was a woman wearing a headdress of cow horns and a sun disk. She could also
be represented as a lioness, cobra, or sycomore tree.
Cattle goddesses similar to Hathor were portrayed in Egyptian art in the fourth millennium BC, but
she may not have appeared until the Old Kingdom (c. 2686–2181 BC). With the patronage of Old
Kingdom rulers she became one of Egypt's most important deities. More temples were dedicated to
her than to any other goddess, of which the most prominent was Dendera Temple in Upper Egypt.
She was also worshipped in the temples of her male consorts. The Egyptians connected her with
foreign lands such as Nubia and Canaan and their valuable goods, such as incense and
semiprecious stones, and some of the peoples in those lands adopted her worship. In Egypt, she
was one of the deities commonly invoked in private prayers and votive offerings, particularly by
women desiring children.
During the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 BC), goddesses such as Mut and Isis encroached on
Hathor's position in royal ideology, but she remained one of the most widely worshipped deities.
After the end of the New Kingdom, Hathor was increasingly overshadowed by Isis, but she continued
to be venerated until the extinction of ancient Egyptian religion in the early centuries AD.

ḥwt-ḥr (O10) Hathor

ḥr (G5) Horus

ḥwt, ḥtt (O6) building, temple

ḥwt-ḥr (C9) det/log of Hathor

Koiak (/ˈkɔːjæk/; Coptic: Ⲕⲟⲓⲁⲕ, [ˈkɔjak]), also known as Choiak (Greek: Χοιάκ, Khoiák) and
Kiyahk[1] (Coptic: Ⲕⲓⲁϩⲕ, Kiahk, [ˈkijahk]; Arabic: ‫ كياك‬or ‫)كيهك‬, is the fourth month of the ancient
Egyptian and Coptic calendars. It lasts between 10 December and 8 January of the Gregorian
calendar, or between 11 December and 9 January of the Gregorian calendar in Coptic
calendar years immediately following a Coptic calendar leap year (which occur every four
years, in Coptic calendar years immediately preceding those that are divisible by 4 to
produce an integer; i.e., 1719, 1723, 1727, 1731, etc. are all examples of leap years in the
Coptic calendar). The month of Koiak is also the fourth month of the Season of Akhet
(Inundation) in Ancient Egypt, when the Nile floods historically covered the land. They have
not done so since the construction of the High Dam at Aswan

Name
The name of the month of Koiak comes from *Kuʔ ḥar Kuʔ 'Soul upon Soul', a name of the sacred
ancient Egyptian Apis Bull.

, or

, or

, or
in ancient Egyptian religion, Apis or Hapis (Ancient Egyptian: ḥjpw, reconstructed as Old Egyptian
*/ˈħujp?w/ with unknown final vowel > Medio-Late Egyptian ˈħeʔp(?w), Coptic: ϩⲁⲡⲉ ḥapə),
alternatively spelled Hapi-ankh, was a sacred bull worshiped in the Memphis region, identified as
the son of Hathor, a primary deity in the pantheon of Ancient Egypt. Initially, he was assigned a
significant role in her worship, being sacrificed and reborn. Later, Apis also served as an
intermediary between humans and other powerful deities (originally Ptah, later Osiris, then Atum)

Tobi (Coptic: Ⲧⲱⲃⲓ, Tōbi), also known as Tybi (Greek: Τυβί, Tybí) and Tubah[1] (Arabic: ‫)طوبه‬, is the
fifth month of the ancient Egyptian and Coptic calendars. It lies between January 9 and February 7
of the Gregorian calendar. The month of Tobi is also the first month of the season of Proyet (Growth
and Emergence) in Ancient Egypt, where the Nile floods recede and the crops start to grow
throughout the land of Egypt.

Name of the month of Tobi comes from Amso Khem, a form of the Ancient Egyptian God
Amun Ra.