Perpetual calendar

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A perpetual calendar is a calendar which can be used, theoretically, forever. This example was made in 1744 by Mir Abdi Abrahim, a Turkish scientific instrument maker. It is made for use in the Nile valley, at that time part of the Ottoman Empire.

The calendar is on a rolled paper scroll and is fixed at one end to an ivory spool. In the cartouche at the top, it is marked in Turkish 'Egyptian calendar'. At the bottom it is signed and dated 'Mir Abdi Abrahim/Barsha Zadeh/1157'. [1744/5 AD].

This is a detailed calendar for civil, religious and agricultural events in the Nile valley. It contains data presented in 30-year cycles, the time it takes for the lunar and solar calendars to come into coincidence.

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• Online ID: 000-100-102-828-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  T.1985.100
• Date: 1744
  1744 - 1745
  
• Material: Calendar scroll
  
• Dimensions:
• What: Calendar scroll
  
• Subject:
• Who: Mir Abdi Abrahim, Turkey (Maker)
  
• Where: Middle East, Turkey
  
• Event:
• Description: Turkish perpetual calendar, by Mir Abdi Abrahim, Turkey, 1744 - 1745
  
• References:
  • For the calendar and its importance, see Duncan, D.E., The calendar: the 5000-year struggle to align the clock and the heavens, and what happened to the missing ten days. London: 1998 
• Translations:
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