4lS TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



the Zodiac and the corresponding 12 months. The myth, accord- 

 ing to which Hercules, being still in his cradle, killed two ser- 

 pents, signifies the sun's victory over the two houses (signs) of 

 Saturn (serpents), near' the point of the winter solstice. The 

 myth, according to which Typhon (the water) killed Osiris (the 

 main-land), and Pontus (the sea) overcame Demarus (adam-areZy 

 the earth), refer to the deluge. The myth allegorizing Jupiter 

 (the sun) to burn Semele (the vineyard), whereupon he saved 

 and perfected Bacchus in his thighs, simply contains a mythical 

 description of the origin of the vine, and the like. Therefore the 

 myth of the Phoenix burning itself in Heliopolis (the sun), must 

 involve a similar contemplation of a natural phenomenon, and 

 not Ihe transmigrations of the human souls. The ancients ex- 

 pressly say that only one specimen of the fowl (planet) Phoenix 

 (Bennoh) is in existence, and "nobody had seen it eating." 



'5. The Seasons of the Greeks^ discussed in extenso in the 

 author's " Berichtigungen," pp. (>"] & 262, are very important in 

 correcting the common Greek history, and establishing a correct 

 chronology of the Greek eclipses, especially those mentioned by 

 Thucydides and Xenophon. Plutarch (Symp. iii. 7, i ; viii. 10) 

 certifies that the Greek year was divided into "two equal parts," 

 viz. ■d^ipoz and yzifxcov^ ofwhich the former commenced subsequent 

 to the winter solstice, or, according to the aforementioned Calen- 

 dar, with the month Anthesterion (Jan. 3d). Hence the Greek 

 summer contained the six months January, February, March, 

 April, May and June, and the following months belonged to the 

 Greek winter. Moreover, that &ipo<; was divided into the spring 

 (!«/>) and the shorter &£po!;, — the former comprising January, 

 February, March, the latter April, May, June. Xei/xcov likewise 

 was subdivided into drrwpa (July, August, September), and the 

 shorter ^ei/uou (October, November, December). Plutarch's 

 reports are confirmed by Thucydides and Xenophon ; for Thu- 

 cydides (iv. 52, 117 ; V. 20; vii. 19, etc.) expressly says that the 

 spring {iap) belonged to the semi-annual &£po^. This division of 

 the Greek year, moreover, is easily proved ; for in Homer's days 

 and later times vSirius rose heliacally, i.e. prior to sunrise, on July 

 25th, and Orion rose on July lOth. Both risings Homer (II. xxii. 

 17), Aristotle (Probl. xxvi. 4), and Theophrast (De vent. p. 414) 



