The Chronography of 354 tells us of a Roman state festival on 25 December. I saw a reference to the Calendar of Antiochus of Athens, quoted to support the idea that this festival was earlier than 354 AD. After all, Antiochus must pre-date Porphyry, who refers to him. So I’ve been translating the calendar. But clearly this is not a calendar of state festivals, but of astronomical events. Here is the section on September.
| Μὴν Σεπτέμβριος. |
September |
| αʹ. Ἰχθὺς νότιος ἐπιτέλλει · ἐπισημασία. | 1. The southern Fish rises : weather change. |
| εʹ. ὁ λαμπρὸς τοῦ Ὄρνιθος ἑῷος δύνει. | 5. The radiance of the Bird sets in the east. |
| θʹ. Ἀρκτοῦρος ἐπιτέλλει · ἐπισημασία. | 9. Arcturus rises : weather change. |
| ιαʹ. Αἲξ ἀνατέλλει. | 11. The Goat arises. |
| ιϛʹ. ὁ λαμπρὸς τῆς νοτίας χηλῆς τοῦ Σκορπίου κρύπτεται. | 16. The radiance of the southern claw of Scorpio is absent from the sky. |
| ιθʹ. ὁ ἐν τῷ ἑπομένῳ ὤμῳ τοῦ Ἡνιόχου ἑσπέριος ἀνατέλλει. | 19. The region of the following shoulder of Auriga [1] arises in the west. |
| κβʹ. Ἰχθύες δύνουσιν · ἐπισημασία. | 22. The Fishes have set : weather change. |
| κεʹ. ἰσημερία μετοπωρινή. | 25. Autumnal equinox. |
| κηʹ. Ἀρκτοῦρος ἑῷος ἀνατέλλει. | 28. Arcturus arises in the east. |
1. Auriga is the constellation of the “Charioteer”.
I’m using my QuickGreek tool to translate this stuff. It does not recognise everything. But I find that entering a phase into Google often takes me to a parallel Septuagint-English such as this, which elucidates some obscure words.