COMMON THINGS TIME. 



and must have in like manner occurred upon the same days in 

 every past period of nineteen years. Thus all calculation of the 

 recurrence of the lunar phases was rendered unnecessary. The 

 lunar calendar of any interval of nineteen years was merely :i 

 reproduction of the lunar calendar of the preceding interval. 



This period of nineteen years was, and is still, called the 

 METONIC CYCLE. 



80. This discovery which was made public by Meton on the 

 occasion of the celebration of the Olympic games in 432 B.C., ex- 

 cited such unbounded enthusiasm and admiration, and the benefits 

 it conferred upon chronology were so highly appreciated, that the 

 numbers expressing the dates of the full moons in a cycle wero 

 ordered to be inscribed in letters of gold upon the public monu- 

 ments, and upon tablets in the temples of the gods. It is to thif 

 circumstance that is ascribed the fact that these numbers were after- 

 wards usually written in the almanacks in gilt characters, and. 

 later when printing had been invented, they were distinguished 

 by being printed in red ink, and they .thus acquired the name of 

 golden numbers, by which they are distinguished in the calendars 

 of the present day. 



81. Neither the brilliancy of this discovery, nor the glory of 

 the Olympic crown, nor the great popularity with which he was 

 surrounded, protected Meton from the shafts of his illustrious 

 contemporary Aristophanes, who attempted to turn him into 

 ridicule and bring him into discredit by introducing him among 

 a group of charlatans in the well-known comedy entitled "The 

 Birds" (o/wi0es). 



82. It is a curious fact that the accordance of the succession of 

 the lunar phases with the Metonic cycle has become more and 

 more precise, as the motions of the sun and moon in the heavens 

 have been more exactly ascertained. The mean length of a 

 lunation, which was already known in Meton's time with great 

 precision, is 29*530589 days, and consequently 235 lunations 

 consist of 



29-530589 x235 d =6939 d 16 h 31 m 19 s . ,/> 



The mean length of the year, which was not so well ascertained 

 in Meton's time, is now known to be 365-24224 days, or 



365 d 5 h 48 m 49-5% 

 and consequently nineteen such years consist of 



(365 d 5 h 48 m 49-5')xl9=6939 d 14 h 27 m 41% 

 from which it appears that 235 lunations exceed nineteen y 

 by 2 h 3 ra 38 s . 



After each interval of 1 9 solar years, therefore, the successi 

 lunations would commence 2 h 3 m 38 s later. 



83. It has been already stated that the Roman year consisting 

 158 



LUWU 



aive 



