SCIENCE OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA 



actual year; but the relative unimportance which he 

 ascribed to the solar year is evidenced by the fact that 

 he interpolated an added month to adjust the calendar 

 only once in six years. Indeed, it would appear that 

 the Babylonians and Assyrians did not adopt precisely 

 the same method of adjusting the calendar, since the 

 Babylonians had two intercular months called Elul and 

 Adar, whereas the Assyrians had only a single such 

 month, called the second Adar. 8 (The Ve'Adar of the 

 Hebrews.) This diversity further emphasizes the fact 

 that it was the lunar period which received chief at- 

 tention, the adjustment of this period with the solar 

 seasons being a necessary expedient of secondary im- 

 portance. It is held that these lunar periods have 

 often been made to do service for years in the Baby- 

 lonian computations and in the allied computations 

 of the early Hebrews. The lives of the Hebrew pa- 

 triarchs, for example, as recorded in the Bible, are per- 

 haps reckoned in lunar "years." Divided by twelve, 

 the "years" of Methuselah accord fairly with the usual 

 experience of mankind. 



Yet, on the other hand, the convenience of the solar 

 year in computing long periods of time was not un- 

 recognized, since this period is utilized in reckoning the 

 reigns of the Assyrian kings. It may be added that 

 the reign of a king " was not reckoned from the day of 

 his accession, but from the Assyrian new year's day, 

 either before or after the day of accession. There 

 doe's not appear to have been any fixed rule as to 

 which new year's day should be chosen ; but from the 

 number of known cases, it appears to have been the 

 general practice to count the reigning years from the 



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