The Rev. Edward Hincks on a Tablet in the British Museum. 47 



but I have not access to then, and the error cannot amount to many minutes 

 which, m a matter hke this, is of no moment. It appears to me probable that 

 the day commencmg at the following noon would be reckoned as the first of 

 the month. I should think that the moon might be seen twelve hours after 

 conjunction. I have calculated, too, that in that year the sun would be at the 

 equmoctial pomt 3* 31' after the Babylonian noon of the 28th. I should think 

 It probable that the day which had then lately commenced, rather than that 

 which had expired, would have been considered the day of the equinox If 

 these two suppositions be adopted, the equinox would in this year be the 

 seventh, and not the sixth of the month. I cannot think it at all probable that 

 a Tablet of a more early date than 671 B. C. would have been found in this col- 

 lection, or that one of so late a date as 633 B. C. could have been there Each 

 Assyrian king had generally a palace of his own, in which he seems to have 

 preserved his own records, but tliose only. On this account, supposing that 

 the calculation was equally favoiu-able to both years, I should consider 652 

 B. C. much the more probable ; and, as matters stand, I think it may be 

 regarded as a settled point that the day which commenced at noon of the pro- 

 leptic Juhan 22nd March, 652 B. C, was the first day of an Assyrian year.* 



It does not appear from this record whether the year began with the new 

 moon before the equinox, or with that which was nearest to the equinox 

 whether before or after. Another Tablet, recording an observation of a dif- 

 ferent nature, has led me to the conclusion that the 7th April, 667 B. C, was 

 the first day of an Assyrian year ; and of course to the adoption of the latter 

 hypothesis. 



31rf Octoher, 1855. 



* [I had hoped that the astronomical calculations for this paper would have been made by a 

 friend. When disappointed as to this, I had to make them myself; and, not being a practical astro- 

 nomer, I neglected to allow for the effect of refraction. This might cause the equinox to be a day 

 earlier, and would render 671 B. C. more likely to have been the year of the observation than I 

 have above supposed it to be. As to the main point, however, that, both in this year and in 652 

 B. C, the Assyrian year began at noon of the proleptic Julian 22nd March, I entertain no doubt 

 whatever — July 21, 1856.] 



