Your Day in the Ancient Greek World

July 20

July 20 in ancient Greece is represented in our source-audited archive by 2 verified records spanning 356 BC to AD 116. Together, the entries below connect this calendar date with different moments in the ancient Greek world through historical and documentary evidence.

Across the centuries

On This Day

  1. 356 BC

    Event That Shaped History

    Pella, Macedonia Politics & Power Reconstructed

    Alexander the Great Is Born at Pella

    Ancient tradition dates Alexander’s birth to the sixth day of Hecatombaeon in 356 BC. A modern Cambridge chronology converts that civic date to July 20 while the exact modern equivalent remains reconstructed.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • Plutarch, Alexander 3

    Modern scholarship

    • Modern Cambridge chronology of Alexander

    Public links

  2. AD 116

    Life on This Day

    Elephantine, Roman Egypt Law & Civic Life High

    A Tax Receipt Combines Poll Tax with Other Fiscal Charges

    On July 20, AD 116, a Greek ostracon recorded poll tax together with charges connected to prison guards and river-police boats.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • O.Berlin 34

    Modern scholarship

    • Texts and Scripts from Elephantine catalogue

    Public links