CURIOSITIES OF TIME-RECKONING. 547 



names, and their years were counted from the accession of Yesdegerd 

 I, a. d. 399 ; an epoch which is still employed by the Persians in some 

 parts of India. Five thousand years ago, the heliacal rising of Sirius 

 announced to the Egyptians an event of prime importance to them 

 the overflow of the Nile. They honored the watchful constellation 

 that includes this star with the name of " The Dog," and worshiped 

 it under the title of Anubis. Their year consisting of 365 days, they 

 remarked that the phenomenon took place later, at the rate of a day 

 every four years, so that after 1,461 years of 365 days (or 1,460 years 

 of 365 days) the heliacal risings took place in the original order, after 

 having successively occurred at very different days and hours. This 

 period of 1,461 Egyptian years was called the Sothic period, or the 

 period of the dog. After b. c. 25, the Egyptian year contained 365 

 days, or nearly the real value of the year. This was called the Alex- 

 andrian year. The Copts still employ it, but begin their reckoning 

 from Martyr's day in the reign of Diocletian, August 29th, a. d. 284, 

 while the Alexandrian era began with the battle of Actium, September 

 2d, b. c. 31. Three Egyptian years included 12 months of 30 days each 

 followed by five epagomenous days ; while the fourth or following 

 year had a sixth epagomenous day. 



The Roman year consisted of 304 days under Romulus, 355 under 

 Numa, and 366 on the intercalation of the month Mercedonius. The 

 irregularities of their calendar were so great that the pontijices were 

 charged with the duty of regulating the number of days in the inter- 

 calated month. Unfortunately, some of the less scrupulous of these 

 functionaries fell into a way of " doctoring " the year so as to make 

 it longer when their friends, or shorter when their enemies, were in 

 office ! The corruption was carried out so recklessly that the feast 

 of the Autumnalia was made to come in the spring, and the festival 

 of Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, was celebrated in the middle of 

 the winter ! Julius Ccesar put an end to this disorder by introducing 

 the year of 365^ days, and gave to the months such numbers of days 

 as made the intercalation of the epagomens unnecessary. The 366th 

 day of the fourth year was added to the month of February, which 

 then had 29 days, and as this caused the sixth day of the kalends to be 

 counted twice (bis sexto calendarwn), the name of bissextile was given 

 to this year. This reform took place in the year 708 of Rome (46 

 b. c), which year Julius Caesar ordered to consist of 445 days, so as to 

 make the civil year and the tropical year agree. Hence that year was 

 called the year of confusion. Caesar's calendar is the basis of the 

 calendar which, further corrected by Pope Gregory XIII, is now in 

 use among the Western nations. 



The Mexican year was a peculiar form of the year of 365 days. 

 It included 18 months of 20 days each, to which were added five sup- 

 plementary days ; and, after 52 years, 13 new days made up out of the 

 neglected quarters of days. 



