1029 



YEAR. 



YEAR. 



10"0 



Owing to the alternate acceleration and retardation of the sun's 

 motion in its orbit, the lengths of the four astronomical seasons are 

 different, as follows : 



d. h. 



From vernal equinox to summer solstice . . 92 22 a 

 From summer solstice to autumnal equinox . . 93 13| 

 From autumnal equinox to winter solstice . . 89 16} 

 From winter solstice to vernal equinox . . . 89 l| 



We shall now state the principal facts connected with the years of 

 the nations who are most connected with history. 



The Jews, from the time of their departure from Egypt, began their 

 year with the vernal equinox in all religious reckoning, retaining the 

 old lieginning, which was at the autumnal equinox, in all civil affairs 

 In both cases they reckoned from the new moon near the eqiu'nox. By 

 making twelve months in the year, each of 29 or 30 days, with an 

 intercalary month once in three years, they secured themselves from 

 3 necessity of any but an occasional alteration. They might have 

 idually allowed the beginning of the year to slide away from the 

 ernal equinox, but this their rites prevented them from doing, 

 since the sacrifices required the offering of various specimens of agri- 

 cultural produce, dependent upon season, at specified times of the year. 

 The necessity of being provided with young lambs, for instance, at the 

 Passover, obliged them to keep this feast at one time of the solar year, 

 and fixed it at the full moon following the vernal equinox. How they 

 managed their calendar in the first instance, does not appear ; but as 

 we know they once depended upon catching sight of the new moon to 

 *tle the beginning of the month, and only used 29 or 30 days when 

 they missed their object, we must infer that they were in the habit of 

 making corrections frequently, and at short notice ; which could he 

 done, as remarked by the editor of the ' Art de verifier les Dates,' while 

 they were in possession of Palestine, and within reasonable distance of 

 each other. There is not any trace of astronomy in the old Jewish 

 ntmgg, nor reason to infer that they brought any knowledge of it 

 from Egypt. But during the Captivity they acquired from the nations 

 among whom they were thrown, either a period of 84 years or know- 

 ledge to construct one. Several of the Fathers mention this Jewish 

 period, and state that it had long been used by them. It has the ap- 

 pearance of a CALIPPIC PERIOD of 76 years all but a day, with the 

 period of eight years added, on the supposition that the making of 

 three intercalary months in the additional eight years would have an 

 error of a contrary kind from this contained in the Calippic period. 

 But this is not the case ; and 84 years is really not so near to an exact 

 number of lunations as 76 years all but a day. Some of the early 

 Christians used this period, and thereby contributed to the confusion 

 on the subject of Easter. 



The modem Jewish calendar is regulated by the cycle of 19 years, 

 and its lunar years contain various adjustments which refer to the 

 religious ceremonies. Their present usages date from A.D. 338, ac- 

 cording to their own account. They have also a value of the length of 

 a lunation 29" 12" 44" 3', which is within a tenth of a second of the 

 This ban been stated as of extraordinary correctness by those 

 who forget that the average month is much more easily found than the 

 year. Hipparelnis and Ptolemy had 29- 1 12 k 44 3J' ; reject the frac- 

 tion, as was so often done, and we have the Jewish value ; and as it 

 happen! that Ptolemy and Hipparchus had got just a little more than 

 the fraction too much, this saving of trouble is an accidental correction. 

 There is no accompanying value of the sun's motion more correct than 

 that implied in the Julian year. On the Jewish calendar, see the ' Art 

 de verifier les Dates,' vol. ii., p. 113, the 'Jewish Calendar for C4 

 Yean,' by E. H. Lindo, 1838, 8vo, which goes up to A.D. 1901, and also 

 I. -brew work, published with a Latin translation by Sebastian 

 Munster, ' Kalemlarium Hebraicum,' Basel, 1527. 



The Hebrew months, as commonly spelt in English, are as follows : 



to to them are written the names of the English months in 

 which they severally most frequently begin, with their number of 

 days : 



Niin, or Abib .... March, 30 days. 



Jyr, orZif April, 29 



s in May, 30 



Thnmmui June, 29 



Ab July, 30 



f.Iul August, 29 ,, 



Tll September, 30 



ManhrsTin, or Bui . . . . October, 29 or SO 



Cbi.leu November, 29 or 30 



Tbebei December, 29 



Vbat January, 30 



Adw February, 29 



Veadar (Intercalary) . . . March, 29 ,, 



See an account of these months under their several titlei. 

 For the Egyptian year, see SOTHIAC PERIOD. 



The twelve months of the Athenian lunar year bear the following 

 name* ; btit there is a slight difference of opinion about the order in 

 < they come, some putting Mm/juucrripiai' before niwe^iwv, and 

 Home after it : 



H !.'. 



29 



30 

 29 , 



30 days. 



29 



30 

 29 , 



'E\o<p;;8o,\!ui<, 30 days. 

 MOVKUXIW, 29 



a.pyit\'(av, 



30 days. 

 29 







The intercalary month was a second Iloo-eiSewc of 30 days. It is said 



that , anciently there were 30 days in every month, but that Solon first 



tablisned the alternation of 30 and 29 days, and called the last 



day cvi, Ka ! V 4a, old and new (moon). The shorter months were called 



flow (KO.AOI), the longer months full (*\ipets) ; and these terms 



have been generally adopted by chronologers. The year in which a 



month was intercalated was called irf4\ lf u>,, or ^oA.<^oToj, and hence 



the word embolismic, which is frequently used in the same way 



Ine month was divided into three decads, the first two of ten days 

 acn, the third of ten or nine. The first day was voumvta, the second 

 as Seurtpa irmpfrm pprfs, and so on. The eleventh was irptaTii 

 luaoumswrts, or irpom, M StxJSi, and so on to the last, which was 

 to Ihe twenty-first day was TP^TTJ eV Vi5i, and so on: the 

 thirtieth was vpMcfe But the third decad was also reckoned by 

 ounting backwards from the new moon, thus : the twenty-first day- 

 was ifmni, or Mrq ftownu pipls, according as there were ten or 

 nine days m the decad. The last day, whether twenty-ninth or 

 thirtieth, was en; KO! v4a. 



There is some doubt whether originally the first of Hecatombasou 

 was the day of the new moon nearest to the summer solstice, or next 

 rter it : this must have depended on the mode of intercalation. It is 

 enough for most purposes to know that the Attic year be K an near the 

 summer solstice. (Clinton, ' Fast. Hellen.,' Introduction.) 



As to the intercalations, there is an old period mentioned of two 

 is (Sierqpls), with an intercalary month of 30 days. This was also 

 id rpitnipls, because the intercalation was in every third year in- 

 cluding that of the former intercalation. This year was, with respect 

 > the sun, more than 7 days too long. There was also a tetra-eteris, 

 the first respectable period was the octa eteris of Cleostratus in 

 which three months of 30 days each were intercalated in eight years 

 namely, in the third, fifth, and eighth. The average year of this 

 Period was wrong by 14 hours with respect to the sun, and 1A clays 

 with respect to the moon. The Metonic and Callippic periods followed 

 (B.C. 432 and 330.) The latter was but little used compared with the 

 former, which intercalated seven months in nineteen years [METON 

 m Bioo DIT. ; PERIODS OP BpOMJTKW.] It is not certain what the 

 years of intercalation were. 



The complete Roman calendar, as it stood immediately after the 



if Augustus, correcting the use which had been made of the 



edict of Julius Caesar, is as follows : There are twelve months Janu- 



arius, Februarius, Martius, Aprilis, Mains, Junius, Julius, Augustus, 



.September, October, November, December. The first of each month 



i kalends, Kalends Januarias, Februarias, &c. The number of days 



in each month is well known by the old rhyme. The 13th of some 



months, the 15th of others, is called the day of the Ides (Idus) ; and 



IB ninth day before the Ides, inclusive, is called the Nones (Nontc) 



and every day is reckoned by its position with respect to the next 



simply denominate day, be it Kalends, Nones, or Ides. Thus the third 



day before the Nones of January, the day of the Nones itself counting 



as one, is ante diem tertium Nontu Januaritat, singular mode of speech 



which does not appear to have been fully explained. It is generally 



rendered as if it were diem tertium. ante Nonas Januarius (the third day 



efore the Nones of January). These designations are usually written 



contracted form in the manuscripts, and these contractions are 



usually all that are to be found in chronological works. (See Gellius 



in. 2.) 



Januarius. 



1 Kal. Jan. 



2 Iv. Non. Jnn. 



3 iii. 



4 Prid. Non. Jan. 



5 Non. Jan. 

 8 viii. Id. Jan. 



7 vii. 



8 vi. 



9 v. 



10 iv. 



11 Iii. 



12 Pridie 



13 Id. Jan. 



14 xix. Kal. Feb. 

 1} xviii. 



16 xvii. 



17 xvi. 



18 xv. 



19 xiv. 



20 xiii. 



21 xii. 



22 ii. 



23 x. 



24 ix. 



25 viii. 



26 vii. 



27 vi. 



28 v. 



29 Iv. 



30 iii. ,, 



31 Prid. Kal. Feb. 



Februarius. 

 Kal. Feb. 

 iv. Non. Feb. 



m. 



Pridic Non. Feb. 



Non. Feb. 

 viii. 

 vii. 

 vi. 



T - II 



iv. 



iii. 



Prid. Id. Feb. 

 Id. Keb. 

 xvi. Kal. Mart, 

 xv. 

 xiv. 

 xiii. 

 III. 

 xi. 



X. 



ix. 



viii. 



vii, 



vi. 



v. 



iv. 



iii. 



Trid. Kal. Mart. 



Mart. 



Martin''. 

 Kal. Mart, 

 vi. 



V. , 



iv. 



iii. ,, 



Prid. Non. Mart. 



Non. Mart, 

 viii. Id. Mart, 

 vii. 

 vi, 

 v. 

 iv. 

 iii. 

 Prid. Id 



Id. Mart. 

 xvii. Kal. April. 

 xvi. 



XV. 



xiv. ,, 



xiii. 



xii. 



xi. 



x. ,, 



ix. 



viii. 



vii. 



vi. 



v. 



iv. 



Prid. KaT. April. 



