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The first calendars based on Zoroastrian cosmology appeared in the later Achaemenid period (650 to 330 BC). They evolved over the centuries, but month names changed little until now.
Evidence shows that dates from ancient civilizations like the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Mayans used calendars. In the beginning, calendars were lunar-based because moon phases were easy to measure. In Sumerian culture, the year was divided into 12 months based on the lunar cycle.
Scholars dispute the existence of early Egyptian calendars based on the rise of Sirius or the presence of a year lasting 360 days. But it’s clear that as early as 3,000 BC, Egyptians were interested in the yearly cycle.
Most early calendars were, essentially, collections of months, the Babylonians using 29- and 30-day periods alternately, the Egyptians fixing the duration of all months at 30 days, with the Greeks copying them, and the Romans in the Julian calendar having a rather more complex system using one 28-day period with the others of either 30 or 31 days.
The earliest Egyptian calendar [Ref.] was based on the moon's cycles, but later the Egyptians realized that the "Dog Star" in Canis Major, which we call Sirius, rose next to the sun every 365 days, about when the annual inundation of the Nile began.
The lunisolar calendar, in which months are lunar but years are solar—that is, are brought into line with the course of the Sun—was used in the early civilizations of the whole Middle East, except Egypt, and in Greece. The formula was probably invented in Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium bce.
The humble calendar of one of civilization's oldest staples. The earliest means of measuring days and weeks dates back 10,000 years, and timekeeping techniques adopted by the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, and Romans slowly evolved into the calendar we use today.
The earliest calendars were lunar, based on the phases of the moon. Ancient societies such as the Sumerians and the Egyptians used lunar cycles to mark time. These calendars typically had 12 months, each beginning with the new moon.
The earliest calendars must have been strongly influenced by the geographical location of the people who made them. In colder countries, the concept of the year was determined by the seasons, specifically by the end of winter.
The history of calendars spans several thousand years. In many early civilizations, calendar systems were developed. For example, in Sumer, the birthplace of the modern sexagesimal system, there were 12 months of 29 or 30 days apiece.