116 THE GKEEK ASTRONOMY. 



he, the teacher of arts to the earliest race of men, was the com 

 municator. 



Thus, for instance, the rising 8 of the Pleiades in the evening was a 

 mark of the approach of winter. The rising of the waters of the 

 Nile in Egypt coincided with the heliacal rising of Sirius, which star 

 the Egyptians called Sothis. Even without any artificial measure of 

 time or position, it was not difficult' to carry observations of this kind 

 to such a degree of accuracy as to learn from them the number of 

 days which compose the year ; and to fix the precise season from the 

 appearance of the stars. 



A knowledge concerning the stars appears to have been first culti- 

 vated with the last-mentioned view, and makes its first appearance in 

 literature with this for its object. Thus Hesiod directs the husband- 

 man when to reap by the rising, and when to plough by the setting 

 of the Pleiades. 9 In like manner Sirius, 10 Arcturus, 11 the Hyades and 

 Orion, 12 are noticed. 



* Ueler (Clironol. i. 242) says that this rising of the Pleiades took place at a time 

 of the year which corresponds to our llth May, and the setting to the 20th October ; 

 but this does not agree with the forty days of their being " concealed," which, 

 from the context, must mean, I conceive, the interval between their setting and 

 rising. Pliny, however, says, " Vergiliarum exortu testas incipit, occasu hiems ; 

 semestri spatio intra se messes vindemiasque ct omnium maturitatem complexse.' 

 (H. N. xviii. 69.) 



The autumn of the Greeks, <}-u>pa, was earlier than our autumn, for Homer calls 

 Sirius dcm/p <?rra>pjvof, which rose at the end of July. 



9 TL\r)ia$u>v 'ArAaytv/wv fs'jrfXAo/^ci'awv. 



Al Stj TOl VVKTCtf T Kal fjpaTa TCfffftpa 



K.Kpv<}>aTai, oCrij ta' xpt~\onfvov iviavrov 

 Qdivovrat. Op. et Dies, 1. 3S1. 



"> Ib. 1. 413. 



11 ESr' u.v d' f^r/KOVTa fjicrd Tpoiras i]t\ioio 

 Xct/tlpi', fKT\iffr] Ztvs fyiara, Sfi pa TOT'' aoTrjp 

 'ApKTofyo?, TrpoAiTrwv Ifpov (j6ov 'SlKcavolo 

 HpuJTov iranQalvwv {Trtrt'AAcrai aKpoKvifyaiog. 



Op. et Dies, 1. 562. 



'ECr' uv o' 'Qpluv Kul ^dpios fs uiffoveXdfl 

 Ovpavbv, A.pKTovpov ^' ialSr] poSodaKT-j'Xos J^wy. 



Ib. GOT. 



12 . ..... airap fxijv S>] 



HXrjtdSes 'Yddss TC. TO Tt oOfaos 'Slpitavos 



^vvwcriv. Ib. 612. 



These methods were employed to a late period, because the Greek months, being 

 lunar, did not correspond to the seasons. Tables of such motions were called 

 . Ideler, Hist. Untersuchungen, p. 200. 



