Kalenda, Saturnalia, and the First Winter: Pagan Festivals, Adam’s Cosmic Anxiety, and Rome’s Rise (Avodah Zarah 8a-b)

This sugya presents a discussion of non-Jewish festivals, their calendrical setting, and their meaning.¹ The Mishnah begins with R’ Meir’s catalog of Roman holidays: Kalenda,² Saturnalia, Kratesis, royal festival days, the king’s birthday, and the anniversary of a king’s death. The Rabbis narrow the scope: only commemorations of royal deaths that involve ritual burning count as idolatrous. Other occasions—such as a non-Jew shaving his beard, leaving prison, or celebrating his son’s wedding—prohibit commerce only with that individual and only on that specific day.

The Talmud first clarifies dates. Rav Ḥanan bar Rava identifies Kalenda as the 8 days after the winter solstice (the winter solstice is December 21 or 22) and Saturnalia as the 8 days before it, citing a mnemonic from Psalms 139:5.

From here the discussion turns to Adam. A baraita narrates Adam’s fear when he saw days growing shorter: he believed his sin (of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) had doomed the world to darkness. He fasted 8 days until, after the solstice, he saw daylight increase and understood the natural cycle. He then celebrated 8 days of festival. The following year he observed both sets, the fast and the feast. Adam established them “for the sake of Heaven,” but later generations fixed them for idol worship.

A second baraita describes Adam’s terror on his first sunset, thinking nightfall signaled cosmic collapse. He and Eve wept until dawn, when he realized the pattern of day and night. He then offered a bull described in Psalms 69:32 as unique, with horns created before hooves. Rav Yehuda, citing Shmuel, asserts this bull had a single horn in its forehead (=a unicorn), reading the verse’s spelling as singular.³

The sugya later shifts back to Rome. Rav Yehuda, again citing Shmuel, defines Kratesis as the day Rome seized power. Rav Yosef distinguishes two separate Roman conquests, one in Cleopatra’s time in Egypt⁴ and one earlier against Greece. Rav Dimi expands: Rome fought 32 battles with Greece unsuccessfully until they allied with the Jews. The alliance was symbolized through a riddle involving a pearl, a precious stone, an onyx, and a Torah scroll. The Romans claimed superiority by holding the Torah “with” the Jews.

Subsequently, for 26 years Rome honored the partnership with Israel; afterwards it turned to domination.⁵ The shift is anchored to verses from Genesis 33, where Esau first offers equality to Jacob (“let us go together”) but later asserts precedence (“let my lord go before his servant”).⁶

This sugya thus moves between halakhic boundaries on doing business during non-Jewish festivals, mythic stories of Adam’s existential dread at cosmic rhythms, and a semi-legendary account of Rome’s rise. The Mishnah’s practical prohibitions are embedded in a narrative world that links biblical verses, natural phenomena, and political history.

Outline

Intro

The Passage - Kalenda, Saturnalia, and the First Winter: Pagan Festivals, Adam’s Cosmic Anxiety, and Rome’s Rise (Avodah Zarah 8a-b)

Mishnah (Avodah Zarah 1:3)

1. R’ Meir - Lists non-Jewish festivals: Kalenda, Saturnalia, Kratesis, royal festival days, king’s birthday, king’s death anniversary

2. The Rabbis - Distinguish death commemorations: if there is ritual burning, it involves idol worship; if not, it does not

Talmud

1. Rav Ḥanan bar Rava - Kalenda = 8 days after solstice; Saturnalia = 8 days before solstice

2. Baraita - Adam feared shortening days meant punishment

   1. Adam consequently fasted for 8 days; After solstice, saw days lengthening, kept 8 festive days

   2. His festivals later became idolatrous - Genesis 3:19

3. Baraita - Adam feared darkness on day of creation

   1. Adam consequently fasted, then realized cycle; offered bull with horns before hooves - Psalms 69:32

4. Rav Yehuda citing Shmuel - Adam’s bull had one horn - Ps 69:32

5. Rav Yehuda citing Shmuel - Kratesis = day Rome seized power

6. Rav Yosef - There were 2 Roman seizures of power from the Greeks: in Cleopatra’s day (Ptolemaic Egypt) and a previous one (Seleucids? Greece proper?)

7. Rav Dimi - Rome defeated Greece after alliance with Jews

   1. Riddle involving a pearl, a precious stone, an onyx, and a Torah scroll

   2. For 26 years Rome honored the partnership; afterwards it turned to domination

   3. The shift in Roman policy is anchored to verses from Genesis 33, where Esau first offers equality to Jacob (“let us go together”) but later asserts precedence (“let my lord go before his servant”) - Genesis 33:12-14

The Passage

Avodah_Zarah.8a.5-8b.9

Mishnah (Avodah Zarah 1:3)

(=Mishnah_Avodah_Zarah.1.3)

R’ Meir - Lists non-Jewish festivals: Kalenda, Saturnalia, Kratesis, royal festival days, king’s birthday, king’s death anniversary

ואלו אידיהן של גוים:

1. קלנדא,

2. וסטרנורא,

3. וקרטיסים,

4. ויום גנוסיא של מלכיהם,

5. ויום הלידה,

6. ויום המיתה,

דברי רבי מאיר.

And these are the festivals of non-Jews:

1. Kalenda (קלנדא),

2. Saturnalia,

3. and Kratesis,

4. and the day of the festival⁷ of their kings,

5. and the birthday⁸ of the king,

6. and the anniversary of the day of the death of the king.

This is the statement of R’ Meir.

The Rabbis - Distinguish death commemorations: if there is ritual burning, it involves idol worship; if not, it does not

וחכמים אומרים:

• כל מיתה שיש בה שריפה —

  • יש בה עבודה זרה,

• ושאין בה שריפה —

  • אין בה עבודה זרה.

And the Rabbis say:

• Every death that includes public burning --

  • is a festival that includes idol worship,

• and any death that does not include public burning --

  • is not a festival that includes idol worship.

אבל

1. יום תגלחת זקנו ובלוריתו,

2. ויום שעלה בו מן הים,

3. ויום שיצא מבית האסורין,

4. וגוי שעשה משתה לבנו —

אינו אסור אלא אותו היום ואותו האיש בלבד.

But in the case of

1. the day of shaving his, i.e., a non-Jew’s, beard and his locks,⁹

2. and the day of his ascent from the sea,

3. and the day that he left prison,¹⁰

4. and also in the case of a non-Jew who prepared a wedding feast for his son and celebrates on that day --

engaging in business is prohibited only on that day and with that man.

Talmud

Rav Ḥanan bar Rava - Kalenda = 8 days after solstice; Saturnalia = 8 days before solstice

אמר רב חנן בר רבא:

1. קלנדא —

   1. שמונה ימים אחר תקופה,

2. סטרנורא —

   1. שמונה ימים לפני תקופה,

וסימנך — ״אחור וקדם צרתני וגו׳״.

Rav Ḥanan bar Rava says: When are these festivals celebrated?

1. Kalenda

   1. is celebrated during the 8 days after the winter solstice (תקופה),

2. and Saturnalia

   1. is celebrated during the 8 days before the winter solstice.¹¹

And your mnemonic to remember which festival is that the one that occurs after the solstice is mentioned first in the Mishnah, and the festival that takes place before the solstice is mentioned after, as in the verse: “You have hemmed me in behind and before, and laid Your Hand upon me” (Psalms 139:5), where the word “before” appears after the term “behind.”

Baraita - Adam feared shortening days meant punishment

תנו רבנן:

לפי שראה אדם הראשון יום שמתמעט והולך,

אמר:

אוי לי!

שמא בשביל שסרחתי

עולם חשוך בעדי

וחוזר לתוהו ובוהו,

וזו היא מיתה שנקנסה עלי מן השמים.

With regard to the dates of these festivals, A baraita states:

When Adam the first man saw that the day was progressively diminishing, as the days become shorter from the autumnal equinox until the winter solstice, he did not yet know that this is a normal phenomenon,

and therefore he said:

Woe is me!

perhaps because I sinned

the world is becoming dark around me

and will ultimately return to the primordial state of chaos and disorder¹²

And this is the death that was sentenced upon me from Heaven, as it is written: “And to dust shall you return” (Genesis 3:19).

Adam consequently fasted for 8 days; After solstice, saw days lengthening, kept 8 festive days

עמד וישב שמונה ימים בתענית [ובתפלה].

כיון שראה תקופת טבת,

וראה יום שמאריך והולך,

אמר: מנהגו של עולם הוא.

הלך ועשה שמונה ימים טובים.

He arose and spent eight days in fasting and in prayer.

Once he saw that the season of Tevet, i.e., the winter solstice, had arrived,

and saw that the day was progressively lengthening after the solstice,

he said: Clearly, the days become shorter and then longer, and this is the order of the world.

He went and observed a festival for eight days.

His festivals later became idolatrous - Genesis 3:19

לשנה האחרת

עשאן לאלו ולאלו ימים טובים.

הוא קבעם לשם שמים,

והם קבעום לשם עבודה זרה

[…]

Upon the next year,

he observed both these eight days on which he had fasted on the previous year, and these eight days of his celebration, as days of festivities.

He, Adam, established these festivals for the sake of Heaven,

but they, the non-Jews of later generations (as seen from the Romans), established them for the sake of idol worship.

[…]

Baraita - Adam feared darkness on day of creation

תנו רבנן:

יום שנברא בו אדם הראשון,

כיון ששקעה עליו חמה,

אמר:

אוי לי!

שבשביל שסרחתי --

עולם חשוך בעדי,

ויחזור עולם לתוהו ובוהו,

וזו היא מיתה שנקנסה עלי מן השמים.

A baraita states:

On the day that Adam the first man was created,

when the sun set upon him

he said:

Woe is me!

as because I sinned --

the world is becoming dark around me,

and the world will return to the primordial state of chaos and disorder.

And this is the death that was sentenced upon me from Heaven.

Adam consequently fasted, then realized cycle; offered bull with horns before hooves - Psalms 69:32

היה יושב בתענית ובוכה כל הלילה,

וחוה בוכה כנגדו.

כיון שעלה עמוד השחר,

אמר: מנהגו של עולם הוא.

עמד והקריב שור שקרניו קודמין לפרסותיו,

שנאמר: ״ותיטב לה׳ משור פר מקרן מפריס״.

He spent all night fasting and crying,

and Eve was crying opposite him.

Once dawn broke,

he said: Evidently, the sun sets and night arrives, and this is the order of the world.

He arose and sacrificed a bull whose horns preceded its hoofs in the order that they were created,

as it is stated: “And it shall please YHWH better than a bullock that has horns and hoofs” (Psalms 69:32).

This verse is referring to the one particular bull whose horns preceded its hoofs.

Rav Yehuda citing Shmuel - Adam’s bull had one horn - Ps 69:32

ואמר רב יהודה, אמר שמואל:

שור שהקריב אדם הראשון --

קרן אחת היתה לו במצחו,

שנאמר: ״ותיטב לה׳ משור פר מקרן מפריס״.

״מקרין״ תרתי משמע!

אמר רב נחמן בר יצחק: ״מקרן״ כתיב.

[...]

And Rav Yehuda says that Shmuel says:

The bull that Adam the first man sacrificed --

had one horn in its forehead,

as it is stated: “And it shall please YHWH better than a bullock that has horns [makrin] and hooves.”

The Talmud raises a difficulty: Isn’t makrin plural, which indicates two horns?

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak says: Mikkeren is written, i.e., the letter yod is missing from the word, indicating that there was only one horn.

[...]

Rav Yehuda citing Shmuel - “Kratesis” = day Rome seized power

וקרטסים וכו׳.

מאי קרטסים?

אמר רב יהודה, אמר שמואל:

יום שתפסה בו רומי מלכות.

§ The Mishnah teaches: And Kratesis, and the day of the festival of their kings.

The Talmud asks: What is the festival of Kratesis?

Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said:

It commemorates the day when Rome seized control of an empire.

Rav Yosef - There were 2 Roman seizures of power from the Greeks: in Cleopatra’s day (Ptolemaic Egypt) and a previous one (Seleucids? Greece proper?)

והתניא: קרטסים ויום שתפסה בו רומי מלכות!

אמר רב יוסף:

שתי תפיסות תפסה רומי:

1. אחת

   1. בימי קלפטרא מלכתא,

2. ואחת

   1. שתפסה בימי יונים.

The Talmud asks: But isn’t it taught in a baraita: Two festivals are Kratesis and the day when Rome seized control of an empire? This indicates that Kratesis and the day when Rome seized control of an empire are two separate festivals.

Rav Yosef said:

On two separate occasions Rome seized control of an empire:

1. One

   1. occurred in the days of Queen Cleopatra, when they conquered Egypt,

2. and one

   1. happened much earlier, when Rome seized control in the days of the Greeks.¹³

Rav Dimi - Rome defeated Greece after alliance with Jews

דכי אתא רב דימי אמר:

תלתין ותרין קרבי עבדו רומאי בהדי יונאי,

ולא יכלו להו,

עד דשתפינהו לישראל בהדייהו,

The Talmud elaborates: As when Rav Dimi came from Eretz Yisrael he said:

The Romans waged 32 battles with the Greeks

but were unable to defeat them,

until they formed a partnership with the Jewish people and finally vanquished the Greeks.

והכי אתנו בהדייהו:

• אי מינן מלכי —

  • מנייכו הפרכי,

• אי מנייכו מלכי —

  • מינן הפרכי.

And this is the condition that they stipulated with the Jewish people:

• If the kings come from among us --

  • the governors [hiparkhei] will come from among you;

• and if the kings come from among you --

  • the governors will come from among us.¹⁴

Riddle involving a pearl, a precious stone, an onyx, and a Torah scroll

ושלחו להו רומאי ליונאי:

• עד האידנא

  • עבידנא בקרבא,

• השתא

  • נעביד בדינא.

And the Romans sent the following message to the Greeks:

• Until now,

  • we attempted to resolve our conflict through fighting battles (קרבא);

• now,

  • let us settle the matter by means of judgment¹⁵

1. מרגלית ואבן טובה,

   1. איזו מהן יעשה בסיס לחבירו?

   2. שלחו להו: מרגלית לאבן טובה.

2. אבן טובה ואינך,

   1. איזו מהן יעשה בסיס לחבירו?

   2. אבן טובה לאינך.

3. אינך וספר תורה,

   1. איזו מהן יעשה בסיס לחבירו?

   2. אינך לספר תורה.

שלחו להו:

[אם כן] אנן ספר תורה גבן וישראל בהדן.

כפו להו

1. In the case of a pearl¹⁶ and a precious stone (אבן טובה),

   1. which one of them should serve as a base¹⁷ for the other?

   2. The Greeks sent them in response: The pearl should serve as the base for the precious stone, which has a greater value.

2. The Romans further inquired: If there was a precious stone and an onyx [innakh], a particularly valuable precious stone,

   1. which one of them should serve as a base for the other?

   2. The Greeks answered: The precious stone should serve as the base for the onyx.

3. Once again, the Romans asked: In the case of an onyx and a Torah scroll,

   1. which one of them should be serve as a base for the other?

   2. The Greeks responded: The onyx should serve as the base for the Torah scroll.

The Romans sent this response to them:

If that is so, then you should submit to us, as we have the Torah scroll with us, and the Jewish people are with us.

The Romans are akin to the precious stone, and they are allied with the Jewish people who are akin to the onyx, and they possess the Torah scroll.

The Romans therefore forced the Greeks to surrender and took over their world dominance.

For 26 years Rome honored the partnership; afterwards it turned to domination

עשרין ושית שנין, קמו להו בהימנותייהו בהדי ישראל,

מכאן ואילך אישתעבדו בהו.

For 26 years the Romans stood faithfully with the Jewish people;

from that point forward, they subjugated them.

The shift in Roman policy is anchored to verses from Genesis 33, where Esau first offers equality to Jacob (“let us go together”) but later asserts precedence (“let my lord go before his servant”) - Genesis 33:12-14

• מעיקרא

  • מאי דרוש,

• ולבסוף

  • מאי דרוש?

• מעיקרא דרוש

  • ״נסעה ונלכה ואלכה לנגדך״,

• ולבסוף דרוש

  • ״יעבר נא אדני לפני עבדו״.

The Talmud asks:

• Initially, when the Romans acted faithfully,

  • what verse did they interpret,

• and ultimately, when they subjugated the Jews,

  • what verse did they interpret?

• Initially, they interpreted

  • the verse where Esau said to Jacob upon their meeting: “Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before you” (Genesis 33:12). In this verse, Esau equates himself to Jacob, prefiguring the initial Roman treatment of the Jews.

• And ultimately, they interpreted

  • the verse that recites Jacob’s response to Esau: “Let my lord, I pray you, pass over before his servant” (Genesis 33:14), demonstrating Jacob’s subjugation to Esau, and by extension that of the Jews to Rome.

1. In the context of the prohibition on idolatry.

Compare also much later in the tractate, discussed in my “Rose Water and Decadence: Rava and the Pleasure-seeking Bar-Sheshakh (Avodah Zarah 65a)“, where I summarize in the intro:

Rava visits Bar Sheshakh, bringing a gift, stating that Bar-Sheshakh does not worship idols, and it is therefore halachically permitted to give him a gift on a non-Jewish holiday.

And compare also the major discussion in the tractate on the prohibition of non-Jewish wine, discussed in these series of mine:

• Uncovered Liquids and Ritual Boundaries: Gentile Wine and the Risk of Snake Venom (Avodah Zarah 30a-31b), final part here

• Permissibility of Jewish Wine in the Hands of Non-Jews: Ten Talmudic Cases Explored (Avodah Zarah 69b-70b), final part here

2. Compare Wikipedia, “Calends”:

The calends or kalends (Latin: kalendae) is the first day of every month in the Roman calendar.

The English word calendar is derived from this word.

The Romans called the first day of every month the calends, signifying the start of a new lunar phase.

3. This specific passage is also paralleled elsewhere in the Talmud, see my “From Unicorns to Two-Spined Beasts: Talmudic Wonders of Creation (Chullin 60a-b)“, section “Rav Yehuda - The bull Adam sacrificed had a single horn on its forehead (=unicorn) - Psalms 69:32“.

4. For some context, see Wikipedia, “Siege of Alexandria (47 BC)”:

The siege of Alexandria was a series of skirmishes and battles occurring between the forces of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra VII, Arsinoe IV, and Ptolemy XIII, between 48 and 47 BCE.

During this time Caesar was engaged in a civil war against remaining Republican forces.

5. Likely referring to Judaea’s formal incorporation into the Roman Empire circa 6 CE. See Wikipedia, “Judaea (Roman province)“:

Since the Roman Republic’s conquest of Judaea in 63 BCE [by Pompey], which abolished the independent Hasmonean monarchy, Rome maintained a system of semi-autonomous vassalage in the region.

After Hasmonean ruler Antigonus II Mattathias briefly regained the throne, he was overthrown by Herod, who was appointed King of the Jews by the Roman Senate and ruled Judaea until his death in 4 BCE.

The province’s formal incorporation into the Roman Empire was enacted by Augustus in 6 CE, following an appeal by the populace against the misrule of Herod’s son, Herod Archelaus (r. 4 BCE – 6 CE).

The administrative capital was relocated from Jerusalem to the coastal city of Caesarea Maritima.

6. On the Talmud’s identification of the biblical Esau with contemporary Rome, see my note in “Pt1 From Nero to Titus: The Siege of Jerusalem and the Destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE in Talmudic Retelling (Gittin 56a-b)“, on section “Child’s Verse & Conversion - A boy recites Ezekiel 25:14; Nero infers God will punish Rome through Israel, flees, converts, and becomes ancestor of R’ Meir“.

And see also the sub-sections in my “Rome’s Hands, Jacob’s Voice: A Talmudic Lament Over the Destruction (Gittin 57b-58a)“, section “Rome (“Esau”) vs. Jews (“Jacob”)“.

7. גנוסיא - from Greek genésia - “birthday”.

See Jastrow (modernized):

גִּינִיסְיָא, גִּינִיסִין, (גִּינוּ׳, גְּנוּ׳)

masculine plural

(γενέσια [=genésia], τὰ)

1) (with יום) bithday festival, anniversary of death; in general: commemorative festival.

• Aramaic Targum to Esther 3:8.

• Targum Jonathan on Genesis 40:20 גְּנוּסָא (see גְּנִיסָא a. גְּנוּסַיָּיא).

• Mishnah Avodah Zarah 1:3 (Avodah Zarah 8a:5) יום ג׳ של מלכים royal anniversaries, explaining Yerushalmi ibid. 39c birthday festival (with referring to Genesis 40:20, see previous);

• Bavli ibid. 10a (after discussion) יום שמעמידין בו המלך installation of a king (Roman emperor).

• Jerusalem Talmud Rosh Hashanah 3:8:2;

• Yalkut Habakkuk 564.

• Shemot Rabbah 15 יום ג׳ an anniversary (commemorative of his delivery); and elsewhere.

2) (= γενέθλια [=genéthlia]) descent, nobility of birth.

• Pesikta Naḥamu p. 126ᵃ; 126ᵇ; Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 162:3 הודעתם ג׳ שלי (Bereishit Rabbah 100:9 הודעתי הוגנוסים correct accordingly) you have made known my noble descent.

• Pesikta HaChodesh p. 53ᵃ בת גִּינוּסִים;

• Pesikta Rabbati 15:1 בת גינסין (read גִּינִיסִין, Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 190 only בת טובים) a woman of noble birth.

• Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:2;

• and frequently.

• [Sotah 36b:19 גְּנִיסֵי מלכות וכ׳ Arukh (ed. גְּנוּנֵי) I recognize in him royal nobility.]

8. יום הלידה.

Compare the modern Hebrew term for “birthday”: יום הולדת. This is (based on the biblical phrase, see Hebrew Wikipedia, “יום הולדת“, section “ימי הולדת במסורת היהודית“, my translation:

In early Jewish sources, there is no extensive reference to celebrating birthdays. The only explicit biblical source that mentions a birthday appears in the Book of Genesis (40:20), describing the birthday of Pharaoh, king of Egypt:

And it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday (יום הֻלֶּדֶת)

The Mishnah (=our Mishnah, discussed in the main piece) refers to the day of birth in the context of a king’s or ruler’s birthday:

These are the festival days of the non-Jews: the day of birth and the day of death.

In the Jerusalem Talmud, it is stated that when Amalek fought against other nations, he stationed soldiers whose birthdays fell on that very day. By doing so, he was able to prevail over his enemies, as the fortune of a person is considered stronger on their birthday.

In the Babylonian Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 11a [EB I cite this here, in footnote 7), it is explicitly said that

“God completes the years of the righteous from day to day,”
meaning that it is a special merit of the righteous to die on the same day they were born — as in the case of Moses and King David, both of whom were born and died on the same date in the year.

In light of the above sources — Pharaoh’s birthday in Genesis and the Mishnah in Avodah Zarah — scholars note the relative scarcity of references to birthdays in rabbinic literature.

Some researchers suggest that this scarcity stems from a desire to distinguish Jewish tradition from other cultures, in which birthdays were viewed as having cultic or religious significance.

9. בלוריתו.

On this word, see Jastrow, sense #2 (modernized using ChavrutAI’s “Jastrow Dictionary - Modernized“):

plait or locks, especially the long hair worn by the Roman and Greek youths of the upper classes and offered to the gods on arriving at puberty (see Smith, ‘Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities’ under the word κόμη [=kómē]).

• Mishnah Avodah Zarah 1:3 יום תגלחת זקנו ובלוריתוֹ the day of shaving his (the gentile’s) beard and cutting his locks (see Maimonides there,).

• Ibid. 29ᵃ.

• Tosefta Shabbat 6 (Tosefta Shabbat 7:1. Devarim Rabbah 2:18 העושה ב׳ וכ׳ he who grows a wig does so for none but an idolatrous purpose.

• Vayikra Rabbah 23:2;

• and frequently.

• Sanhedrin 82a:12 תפשה בבלוריתָהּ he seized her by her plait.

10. On this list item and the previous one, compare elsewhere in the Talmud, in my “Gratitude After Adversity: The Obligation of Thanksgiving for Seafarers, Desert Travelers, the Recovered, and the Freed, Rooted in Psalm 107 (Berakhot 54b)“.

11. The winter solstice is December 21 or 22.

Compare Wikipedia, “Saturnalia“:

Saturnalia is an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honor of the god Saturn, held on 17 December in the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities until 19 December.

By the 1st century BCE, the celebration had been extended until 23 December, for a total of seven days of festivities.

The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, in the Roman Forum, and a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms […]

12. תוהו ובוהו - tohu va-bohu.

13. For general context, compare Wikipedia, “Greece in the Roman era“:

In the history of Greece, the Roman era began with the Corinthian defeat in the Battle of Corinth in 146 BCE. However, before the Achaean War, the Roman Republic had been steadily gaining control of mainland Greece by defeating the Kingdom of Macedon in a series of conflicts known as the Macedonian Wars. The Fourth Macedonian War ended at the Battle of Pydna in 148 BCE with the defeat of the Macedonian royal pretender Andriscus.

The definitive Roman occupation of the Greek world was established after the Battle of Actium (31 BCE), in which Augustus defeated Cleopatra VII, the Greek Ptolemaic queen of Egypt, and the Roman general Mark Antony, and afterwards conquered Alexandria (30 BCE), the last great city of Hellenistic Egypt.

14. This exact same style of power-sharing agreement appears word-for-word in a different context elsewhere in the Talmud, see my “Talmudic Interpretations of the Book of Esther: Esther 1:3-9 (Megillah 12a)“, section “The Alternating Order of Persia and Media (Esther 1:3, 10:2): Persia and Media’s Power-Sharing Agreement“.

(And see my note there on the etymology of one of the words - איפרכי - from Greek éparkhos.)

15. דינא - i.e. reason/philosophy/logic.

16. מרגלית - from Greek margarites.

The modern English name “Margaret” stems from this Greek word, see Wikipedia, “Margaret“, section “Etymology“.

17. בסיס - from Greek bắsĭs (see especially in the Wiktionary definition there, sense #4: “base, pedestal; foundation“.)