SEYFFARTII — ON THE THEORY OF THE MOON S MOTIONS. 405 



during a period of 2146 years, in which the procession of the 

 fixed stars amounts to 30 degrees, one sign of the Zodiac ; and 

 because the ancients, being destitute of the Copernican System, 

 could not calculate earlier places of the seven planets. All epochs 

 of ancient history determined by a planetary configuration are 

 fixed with mathematical certainty. We mention the following 

 ones only : 



Sixteen Egyptian monuments, representing the planetary con- 

 figuration, observed on the day of the summer solstice in — 27S0, 

 previous to the beginning of the first Canicular period on July 

 19th, the time of Menes' arrival in Egypt. Hence the Canicular 

 periods of 1460 Julian years commenced in —2780, —1320, -f- 

 140, and not, as Petavius imagined, one year earlier. Together 

 with the same dates, the Apis periods of 25 Egyptian years, each 

 of 365 days only, commenced ; and hence these periods recom- 

 menced, during the period from — 1320 to -j- 140, in all years 

 which being divided by 25 give the remainder 20, e.g. in —520, 

 —495, —320. This is ver}' important, because several events of 

 Persian and Greek histories are linked to the epochs of Apis pe- 

 riods. With the same July 16 in —2780, moreover, the Egyptian 

 period of 30 years, called TpiaxovTazTrjpi:i^ so often mentioned on 

 Egyptian monuments, had begun. To-wit, in —2780, July 16, a 

 close conjunction of Mars with Saturn took place, and this con- 

 junction returned after 30 Egyptian years, whereb}- several epochs 

 of Egyptian and Gieek histories are mathematically fixed. The 

 renewals of this Triacontaeteris occurred, during the period from 

 — 1320 to -(-140, in such years, of which the number being divided 

 by 30 leaves the remainder o, e.g. in —210, in which Ptolemasus 

 Epiphanes, "the lord of the Triacontaeteris," was born. A copy 

 and the explanation of the planetary configuration of — 27S0 will 

 be found in the author's "Berichtigungen," etc. 



The Olympian Altars. Pausanias (v. 14) and the Scholiast of 

 Pindar (01. v. lo, x. 59) narrate that at the beginning of the 

 Olympiads six altars were erected, and each of them contained 

 two statues, one of a planetary, and one of a zodiacal god. This 

 planetary configuration, expounded in the same "Berichtigungen," 

 p. 230, refers to —777, March 29, the day of the vernal equinox, 

 preceding the first Olympian games. Consequently the latter 

 were celebrated in June of the year —777, and hence "Ol. i. i" 



