132 THE GREEK ASTRONOMY. 



honour of this discovery. The priests informed 

 him, he says, "that the Egyptians were the first 

 men who discovered the year, dividing it into 

 twelve equal parts; and this they asserted that they 

 discovered from the stars." Each of these parts 

 or months consisted of 30 days, and they added 5 

 days more at the end of the year, "and thus the 

 circle of the seasons comes round." It seems, also, 

 that the Jews, at an early period, had a similar 

 reckoning of time, for the Deluge which continued 

 150 days (Gen. vii. 24,) is stated to have lasted 

 from the 17th day of the second month (Gen. vii. 11) 

 to the 17th day of the seventh month (Gen. viii. 4,) 

 that is, 5 months of 30 days. 



A year thus settled as a period of a certain 

 number of days is called a Civil Year. It is one 

 of the earliest discoverable institutions of states 

 possessing any germ of civilization ; and one of the 

 earliest portions of human systematic knowledge 

 is the discovery of the length of the civil year, 

 so that it should agree with the natural year, or 

 year of the seasons. 



Sect. 3. Correction of the Civil Year. (Julian 

 Calendar.) 



IN reality, by such a mode of reckoning as we 

 have described, the circle of the seasons would not 

 come round exactly. The real length of the year 

 is very nearly 365 days and a quarter. If a year 

 of 365 days were used, in four years the year 



