Anthesterion (Greek Ἀνθεστηριών, "Blossom Moon") was a month in several ancient Greek calendars, which are based on the Ionian calendar.
In the Attic calendar Anthesterion was the eighth, in later counts the sixth month of the year after the Gamelion and before the Elaphebolion. In the Julian calendar it corresponds to the month of February. The name is traced back to Anthesteria, a feast for the god Dionysus of the 11th to the 13th Anthester. Further festivals in the Attic calendar were the little Mysteries of Eleusis, whose exact date varied, and the Diasia feast for Zeus Meilichios on the 23rd Anthony.
The name is written for Olbia, Paros, Tenos, Amorgos, Samos, Erythrai, Smyrna, Priene, Chios, Apollonia, Cyzicus and Ephesus, where a form of the Ionic calendar was used. In addition, the name was used in the city of Halikarnassos, where the Doric calendar was used as Doric Apoikia. Edit source text
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