Mesori

Mesori (Coptic: Ⲙⲉⲥⲱⲣⲓ, Masōri) is the twelfth month of the ancient Egyptian and Coptic calendars.

It is identical to Nahase (Amharic: ነሐሴ, Nähase) in the Ethiopian calendar.

Name

The ancient and Coptic month is also known as Mesore (Ancient Greek: Μεσορή, Mesorḗ).

In ancient Egypt, the months were variously described. Usually, the months of the lunar calendar were listed by their placement in the seasons related to the flooding of the Nile, so that Mesori is most commonly described as the fourth month of the season of the Harvest (4 Šmw), variously transliterated as IV Shemu or Shomu. These lunar months were also named after their most important feasts, so that Mesori was also known as the "Opening" or "Opener of the Year" (Wp Rnpt) or Wep Renpet. The month was also personified as the deity of its festival, which in late sources is given as Ra-Horakhty (Rꜥ Ḥr Ꜣḫty, "Ra–Horus of the Horizons").

The solar civil calendar borrowed the festivals of the earlier lunar calendar, though sometimes under other names. These festival names are increasingly attested after Egypt's Persian occupation. The most common name continued to be the "Opening of the Year", although its little-attested synonym "Birth of the Sun" (Mswt Rꜥ) or Masut Ra became the namesake of the Ptolemaic Greek and Coptic month.