Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/84

62 i, 1), but the new moon was fixed by actual observation, and not by a written calendar (Rosh hash Shanah, ii, 8). Sun dials were used for telling the time of day (Kelim, xii, 4, 5).

The Macedonian calendar was generally used by the Greeks in Palestine, as is clearly shown by many inscriptions; the calendar used by the natives of Palmyra was the same as that of the Arabs in the ninth century a.d., except the months which the latter called Tishri II and Kanun II; in Palmyra these were Kislul and Tebeth. The parallel calendars of the age may be given as below:—

In this table the names in the last three columns are taken from extant inscriptions. The Attic calendar was not used. The Palmyrene is identical with the Jewish, except in the case of Kanun, and was adopted later by the Arabs. The Phœnicians seem to have retained the old Hebrew calendar, used before the Captivity, but the information at present available is fragmentary.

The Jewish festivals being those of the Bible require no special notice. 

Social duties form an important subject in the Mishnah. "Women, slaves, and children are exempt from reciting the 'Hear, O Israel,' and from phylacteries; but are bound to pray, to use the Mezuzah on the door post, and to bless after food" (Beracoth, iii, 3). The lighting of the Sabbath lamp and the dough offering (Numbers, xv, 20), were most important duties for wives (Sabbath, ii, 6). The dower for a maiden was £10 and for a widow £5 at least (Kethubim, i, 2; v, 1). The wife's duties included grinding flour, making bread, washing, cooking, nursing, making the bed, and spinning: if she had one servant she need not grind, or make bread, or wash; if two she need not cook or nurse; if three she need