Sivan is the third month of the Hebrew calendar, corresponding roughly to May-June in the modern calendar. The name appears in Esther during the dating of Mordecai's counter-decree, which was dispatched 'on the twenty-third day of the third month, which is the month of Sivan.' This is a loanword from Akkadian Simānu, reflecting Babylonian influence on Jewish calendar terminology during and after the exile. The month falls in late spring, a time of grain harvest in ancient Israel. Only post-exilic biblical texts use Babylonian month names rather than the earlier Canaanite system.