In the 2nd cent Memonides held that during the Persian period the zjews followed the Tistri-to-Tishri dating.

Does Ezra follow fall-to-fall or spring-to-spring reckoning?

The Jews used both a sacred calendar, which began the year with Nisan 1 in the spring, and a civil calendar, which began the year with Tishri 1 in the fall. Scholars generally hold that Artaxerxes I (Longimanus, 464-424 BCE) issued this decree in the spring of 458 BCE, during the seventh year of his reign (Harrison 1979:306), although some contend that this could have occurred a year later in the spring of 457 BCE. 

The matter remains unsettled as the argument rests on whether Ezra 7 should be understood in terms of the Jewish sacred year reckoning from spring to spring (Nisan 1 to Nisan 1) necessitating spring 458 BC as the time of the decree or fall to fall Jewish civil year reckoning (Tishri 1 to Tishri 1) requiring spring 457 BCE as the time of the decree.

Paul Kroll, who understands Ezra 7 in the context of the Jewish civil year, argues that the seventh year of Artaxerxes extended from the fall of 458 to the fall of 457 B.C. or 458/457. Kroll argues that the accession year of Artaxerxes I, by Jewish reckoning, extended from around late December, 465 BCE to the fall of 464 BCE such that his first regnal year was from the fall of 464 to the fall of 463 BCE or 464/463 (Kroll 1966:20). He writes:

    "A cuneiform tablet found in the excavation campaign of 1930-31 in Ur [concerns itself with], an agreement dated in the thirteenth year of Artaxerxes I, but states that the original arrangement was signed in the month KISLIMU IN THE TWENTY-FIRST YEAR OF XERXES!" (Horn, Chronology of Ezra 7, p. 101.)
    In Babylonia, Kislimu began on December 17, 465 B.C. (see Parker and Dubberstein, Babylonian Chronology, p. 31).
    Xerxes twenty-first year corresponds to our year of 465-464 B.C. This document proves the Xerxes was alive in late December 465 B.C. (since the tablet shows Xerxes was alive in the month Kislimu). Hence, his successor�Artaxerxes could not have taken the throne until after this date (Kroll 1966:20; but see also Parker and Dubberstein 1942:31 and Horn 1953:101.)

In the context of Jewish reckoning for foreign kings, Kroll holds that the first regnal year of Artaxerxes I was from fall of 464 BCE to the fall of 463 BCE and his first regnal year was from fall 463 to the fall of 462. Hence, the seventh year of Artaxerxes I was from fall of 458 to the fall of 457 BCE. In this context Ezra 7 requires Ezra's four-month journey to Jerusalem to begin in the April of 457. Kroll concludes:

    Ezra's journey to Jerusalem began in Nisan and ended in Ab of 457 B.C. (Ezra 7:8-9). Thus, according to our months, Ezra's trip lasted from April to late July 457 B.C.
    The decree of Artaxerxes I went into effect after Ezra's arrival in Palestine in the early fall�or late summer�of 457 B.C. This was "the going forth" of the decree recoded in Daniel 9:25-26. (Kroll 1966:20.)

Horn and Wood, in The Chronology of Ezra 7, hold that the Jews numbered a gentile king's year from the fall:

    That the fifth century Jews actually counted the regnal year of the Persian kings according to their own fall-to-fall calendar is attested not only by Nehemiah, . . . later on traditionally by the Talmud.
    According to the explanation of Rosh Hashanah . . . the first of Tishri (the seventh month) is the new year for foreign kings! (Horn and Wood 1953:73.)

Writing in Ancient Israel: A Short History from Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple, James Purvis follows the Jewish civil calendar chronology by placing the twentieth regnal year of Artaxerxes I as 445/4 BC but takes no position on the spring or fall reckoning issue (Purvis 1988:168). He writes:

    Reference to Artaxerxes brings us down to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra came to Jerusalem in the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes (458 B.C.; see Ezra 7:7). Nehemiah came to Jerusalem in the 20th year of Artaxerxes' reign (445/4 B.C.; Nehemiah 2:1), and was governor until Artaxerxes' 32nd year (433 B.C.; Nehemiah 5:14). (Purvis 1988:168.)

Nevertheless, the Persians reckoned the years of their kings from the spring. Jack Finegan, in his Handbook of Biblical Chronology, following this convention, writes that if "the king was Artaxerxes I (464-424) the seventh year was 458/457, the departure was on Apr 8, 458, and the arrival was on Aug 4, 458, just four months of travel in all" (Finegan 1998:268).

Nehemiah reports that in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes I the month of Nisan came before the month of Chisleu. This could only occur under the fall to fall reckoning of the civil calendar (see the chart at the right where both months appear in red). 

Kroll explains:

    Notice! The month of Chisleu was regarded as coming BEFORE the month Nisan�in the same year! Look at the chart above. If the civil year began in the spring�this is AN UTTER IMPOSSIBILITY!! Nisan is the first month of the sacred year. It could not possibly come after Chisleu in the same year!
    This is the simple proof showing from the Bible that the Jews used a fall-to-fall calendar for reckoning civil months during the Persian period in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. (Kroll 1966:19.)

There are those who reject this argument by claiming that there has to be an ancient scribal error at either Nehemiah 1:1 which should read nineteenth year not twentieth year (Clines 1974:35-36) or at Nehemiah 2:1 twenty-first year (Brockington 1969:127). Yamauchi, who reports conflicting views without taking a specific stand in his commentary piece, reports that:

Scholars who assume a sacred year Nisan-to-Nisan calendar assume a scribal error here because in such a spring-to-spring year Nisan precedes rather than follows Kislev. As Nehemiah 5:14 sets Nehemiah's tenure as governor from the king's twentieth to his thirty-second year, many scholars propose that Nehemiah 1:1 must have originally read the nineteenth year.... Brockington (p. 127), however believes that Nehemiah 2:1 should read the "twenty-first" year.
    The Israelite civil year began with the seventh month, Tishri, in the fall. Some scholars conclude from Nehemiah 1 and 2 that the Israelites in the postexilic period reverted to a fall-to-fall calendar, wherein the twentieth year of Artaxerxes I would have run from 7 October 445 to 25 September 444. No emendation would then be needed. (Yamauchi 1988:572; see also Clines 1974:35-36, Brockington 1969:127.)

He later makes clear that the majority opinion favors Nisan-to-Nisan reckoning and the minority opinion Tishri-to-Tishri reckoning. He summarizes:

    Most scholars assume that the seventh year of Artaxerxes I should be reckoned according to the Persian custom of dating regnal years from spring to spring (Nisan to Nisan, which was also the Jewish religious calendar). Thus Ezra would have begun is journey on the first day of Nisan (8 Apr. 458) and arrived on the first day of Ab....
    During the monarchy the Israelites had adopted a civil fall-to-fall calendar (Tishri-to-Tishri) as well. S.H. Horn and L.H. Wood ("The Fifth-Century Jewish Calendar at Elephantine," JNES 13 [1954]: 1-20) have argued that the Jews resumed such a calendar after the Exile partly on the basis of the Elephantine papyrus. The seventh year of Artaxerxes I would have run from Tishri 458 to Tishri 457. Ezra would have left  on 27 March 457 and arrived on 23 July 457 *see Horn and Wood, Ezra 7, p. 115, and figs. 5-8). (For criticisms of this position, see R.A. Parker, "Some Considerations on the Nature of the Fifth-Century Jewish Calendar at Elephantine," JNES 14 [1955]: 271-74; Clines, "Autumnal New year," p. 35.) (Yamauchi 1988:650.)

Conclusion

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sm�r� (KEY) , d. c.528 B.C., second son of Cyrus the Great, king of Persia. He is also called Bardiya. He was assassinated by his brother Cambyses II, who kept the murder a secret. 

sm�rdis , d. c.528 B.C., second son of Cyrus the Great, king of Persia. He is also called Bardiya. He was assassinated by his brother Cambyses II, who kept the murder a secret. Patizithes, the Magian custodian of Cambyses' palace, deposed Cambyses (who was campaigning in Egypt), put forward his own brother Guamata to impersonate Smerdis, and proclaimed him king. After a reign of seven months the false Smerdis was overthrown (521 B.C.) and slain. Darius I succeeded Guamata.

(KEY) , two kings of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia. Cambyses I was king (c.600 B.C.) of Ansham, ruling as a vassal of Media. According to Herodotus he married the daughter of the Median king Astyages; some scholars dispute this. Cambyses� son was Cyrus the Great. Cambyses II, d. 521 B.C., was the son and successor of Cyrus the Great and ruled as king of ancient Persia (529�521 B.C.). He disposed of his brother Smerdis in order to gain unchallenged rule. He invaded Egypt, defeating (525 B.C.) Psamtik at Pelusium and sacking Memphis. His further plans of conquest in Africa were frustrated, and at home an impostor claiming to be Smerdis raised a revolt. Cambyses died, possibly by suicide, when he was putting down the insurrection. Darius I succeeded him.

In what years did Artaxerxes issue the decrees?

Counting 483 years from 458 BCE (Finegan 1998:268) or 457 BCE (Hoeh 1961, Dankenbring 1965:10, Dankenbring 2002, Kroll 1966:20) brings one to the autumn of 26 or 27 CE (because of the crossover from BCE to CE requires the addition of one year), which was when the Messiah was to began his ministry (Luke 3:23).

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