Last Thursday the Copts celebrated the Coptic New Year 1725 of the calendar of the martyrs. The calendar begins with the year 284AD, the date when the Roman emperor Diocletian ascended the throne. Diocletian was notorious for his persecution of Christians. Egypt , whose population was then mainly Christian, came in for a lion’s share in the persecution. The Egyptians thus chose 284AD to begin their calendar of the martyrs. Today it is a popular tradition to eat dates, which are in season and the red colour of which represents the blood of the martyrs.
Yet the calendar is much older than the Christian era. It is the ancient Egyptian calendar which begins at the height of the annual inundation of the River Nile, and upon which