Stoic   2022  Calendar

Join the Intergalactic Stoic community on its journey through 2022 with historic dates and amazing photographs of nature.

Order your calendar on Lulu.com 

Dates and Events

January

5th - The dramatic date of Plato's & Xenophon's Symposium was during the Greek festival Lenaia in 416 BCE, which corresponds to Jan. 5th if we project the Julian calendar backwards. Here, Socrates represents the ideal party guest— exhibiting both seriousness and good humor. 

12th - According to DL 10.14, Epicurus of Samos was born on the seventh day of the month Gamelion in the third year of the 109th Olympiad, which corresponds to Jan. 12th, 341 BCE if we project the Julian calendar backwards. This seems like a fitting day to commemorate his contemporary, Zeno of Citium, who founded Stoicism. 

February

13th - Februarius XIII (Ides of February) marked the beginning of a nine-day Roman festival, Parentalia, which was held in honor of the ancestors—both living and dead. Some observances were akin to those now held during All Souls' Day or Dia de los Muertos. 

March

1st - March was the traditional start of the campaign season in ancient Rome.  For us it is an opportunity to set and strive for goals of virtue. 

April 

12th - Cato was an ardent defender of democracy and virtue against tyranny and vice. 

19th - On Aprilis XIX in 65 CE, a plot to assassinate Nero was foiled and Seneca was implicated along with many others. The emperor ordered his old friend and mentor to commit suicide that evening and—with courage and equanimity—the old Stoic obliged him. 

26th - On Aprilis XXVI in 121 CE, the man who would become Marcus Aurelius was born. His day of death is also known—March 17th—and may also be commemorated. Also, on this date The Stoic Fellowship was officially founded in 2017. 

May

12th - The Greek and Thracian festival of Bendideia fell on the nineteenth day of the month of Thargelion. The day in 407 BCE (which would correspond to May 12th) served as the dramatic date of Plato's Republic, in which Socrates discussed the virtue of justice. 

16th - The trial of Socrates was held on the second day of the month of Thargelion which corresponds to May 16th, 399 BC if we project the Julian calendar backwards. His execution was delayed for 30 days due to the Delia festival. 

June

14th & 15th - The execution of Socrates was carried out on the second day of the month of Skirophorion which corresponds to June 15th, 399 BC if we project the Julian calendar backwards. The event was dramatized in Plato's Phaedo. On the first of Skirophorion before dawn, Socrates's childhood friend Crito paid him a visit to plea with him to break out of prison but to no avail. 

30th - The Attic lunisolar calendar begins on the first day of the month of Hekatombaion. This month starts when the first waxing crescent moon appears after the summer solstice. This year, the first new moon after the solstice falls on the 28th and so the crescent is visible on the 30th. 

July

11th - Kronia was a Greek festival held in honor of Kronos on the twelfth day of Hekatombaion. It influenced the Roman festival Saturnalia held in honor of Saturn. Both festivals can be used to foster a sense of community and to contemplate the true nature of freedom. 

27th - The Panathenaia—a kind of birthday celebration for the goddess of wisdom, Athena—was likely the most important festival in Ancient Athens. Every fourth year, the festival became "The Great Panathenaia." It was extended for eight days to hold athletic and musical competitions. Today, it would be a great time of the year for Modern Stoics to gather and play games while maintaining their equanimity. 

August

12th - Augustus (or, Sextilis) XII marked the Roman Festival of Herculia which commemorated Herculi Invictus. It corresponded with a very popular Athenian festival, Herakleia, held some day in the corresponding month of Metageitnion at the gymnasium of Cynosarges. We think it fitting that Epictetus be commemorated this day which has such close ties with Rome, his physical homeland; Athens, his spiritual homeland; Hercules, whom he presents as a moral exemplar in his Discourses; and Cynosarges, the birthplace of Cynicism, which he also praises often. 

September

5th - September V marked the beginning of the most important Roman Festival of the year, Ludi Romani, in which games and plays were held in honor of the god Jupiter. We think it fitting to commemorate Musonius Rufus (c. 30–102 BCE) on this day who was known as the "Roman Socrates" 

October

6th - The Agyrmos (Gathering) took place in Athens under the Stoa Poikile (the namesake of Stoicism) every year on the fifteenth day of the month of Boedromion. Here, prospective initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteries —men, women, slaves, freemen, citizens, foreigners—would publicly state to have souls "conscious of no evil" and "to have lived well and justly." In the year of Cleanthes's death, it would have corresponded with the 6th. We think it fitting to commemorate Cleanthes—who himself was very religious—on such a holy date. 

22nd - Pyanopsia was a Greek festival held on the seventh day of the month of Pyanepsion. It commemorated the birth of Apollo, who was—among other things—the god of reason. We think it fitting to commemorate Chrysippus on this date due to the great influence he had on Stoic Logic and the systemization of Stoic philosophy as a whole. On the year of his death, the festival would have fallen on the 22nd 

November

24th - Thanksgiving

December

7th - On December VII, Cicero was finally discovered by the forces of the Second Triumvirate after being designated an enemy of the state. Though he did not self-identify as a Stoic he seemed to have taken some of their doctrines to heart. This is evident by his last act—calmly stretching out his neck in order to ease his executioner's task (as reported by Seneca the Elder and the historian Aufidius Bassus) 

17th - This is the Roman festival traditionally celebrated on Dec. 17th. It was a Roman adaptation of the Greek Kronia. The holiday is mentioned by Seneca in Letters 18 and in his Apocolocyntosis and by Epictetus in Discourses 1.25, 29 and 4.1. 

For more information on the holidays, please visit:  https://losangelesstoics.com/blog 

The Calendar Matrix:

The School Calendar is divided into two seasons the Quietem and Stipendium.    One meant for rest, reflection and recharging and the other for action and striving.  The two seasons offer a balanced approach and the special days on the calendar a reminder of the school's heritage and promise.