SEYFFARTH — ON THE THEORY OF THE MOON S MOTIONS. 41 I 



days" ; consequently on August 6th, but "after the end of the bat- 

 tle," as Herodotus narrates. Accordingly, the battle at Marathon 

 belongs to — 488 (Arch. Phoeiiippus), and not, as Petavius ima- 

 gined, to — 489 Thus, in the same time, the year is fixed in 

 which Xerxes occupied Attica, viz. in — 478, for Thucydides 

 (i. iS) bears witness that the latter occurred "ten years after the 

 Marathonian battle" in — 488, to which it is likewise referred by 

 the planetary configuration on the pedestal of the Olympian Zeus 

 (p. 406). 



Further, the eye-witness Aristophanes (Nubes, 580) testifies 

 that in the tenth year of the Peloponnesian war ( — 420) both a 

 very small eclipse of the sun and a total of the moon were, in the 

 early spring, a short time prior to Kleon's orderly election as 

 strategus, perceived in Athens ; and the Scholiast in Scaliger's 

 Synagoge (Euseb. 165S, p. 431) reports that the former took place 

 on the i6th day of Anthesterion, i.e. according to our Calendar 

 (p. 408), on January i8th. Since it happens very seldom to see 

 two eclipses within 15 days, and because only after 19 years a 

 solar eclipse coincides again with January iSth, which was the 

 case in — 420, two hours after noon, the loth year of the Pelo- 

 ponnesian war and the archonship of Aristophanes are fixed with 

 mathematical certainty. 



Furthermore, Thucydides (viii. 20) specifies 21 days from the 

 eclipse of Nicias to the capture of the Attic army in Sicily (Thuc. 

 vii. 50 ; Clinton F. H. ii. 70), and the latter event happened on 

 the 27th day of the Spaitan month Carneius, the 29th of Meta- 

 geitnion (Pint. Nic. 28; Thuc. iv. 118) ; accordingly on the 30th 

 day of July, Julian style (p. 408). Therefore Nicias's eclipse, 

 perceived 21 days prior to Metageitnion 29th, belongs to the 8th 

 day of Metageitnion, i.e the 8th of July ; and on this very day, 

 7h. 45m. after noon, an eclipse of the moon took place in — 410, 

 and not, as Petavius imagined, in — 411. Since this was the 

 20th year of the Peloponnesian war (Thuc. vii. 18), the latter 

 must have commenced in — 429. Petavius, again, has antedated 

 b\' one year all events reported by Thucydides. 



The ten Attic Pritany ruled each 36 days, and their office 

 commenced on the 1st day of the lunar Hecatombaeon (Corsini 

 F. A, ii. 26). An inscription, referring to Archon Glaucippus 

 (Boeckh's Corp. Insc. i., Pt. ii., Nos. 107 & 108), parallels the 



