ADAR. — The twelfth month, of 29 days (from mid-February to mid-March approximately), of the Hebrew calendar. The name is Babylonian (*addaru*, in Babylon a sacred month to the seven great gods [planets]) and appears in the Bible in the post-exilic period (*Ezra 6:15; 11 times in Esther; 3 times in the two Books of Maccabees*). In Flavius Josephus it corresponds to the Macedonian Δύσ-ροφ. The construction of the Second Temple was completed on the 3rd day of Adar in the year 60 of Darius I (11 March 515 BC).
In memory of the victory of Judas Maccabaeus (161 BC) over Nicanor (*1 Macc. 7:43, 49; 2 Macc. 15:37*), the 13th of Adar was celebrated as “the day of Nicanor.” On the two days, the 14th and 15th, there recurs, even today very popular among Jews, the noisy solemnity of Purim (q.v.). The 12th is kept as “the day of Triano” (*Ta'anith, 18b*), although Triano died on 8 or 9 August (117). The 7th commemorates the birth and death of Moses. From the 15th to the 25th of Adar the half-shekel (or didrachma) per head was collected for the Temple (Mishnah, Šeqalim I, 1–III, 1); this is of interest for the chronology of the public life of Jesus (cf. *Matt. 17:23–26*).
To reconcile the lunar year, which is shorter by 11 days, with the solar year, about every three years a *second Adar* or *ve-Adar* of 29 days is added at the end of the Hebrew year; this is never named in the Bible.