January i6, 1902] 



NATURE 



249 



In the Greek information so admirably collated by M. 

 Ruelle in the article on the calendar in Darembar^' and 

 Saglio's monumental " Dictionnaire des Antiquite; Grecs 

 et Remains," the earlier Gregorian dates on which the 

 seasons were reckoaed to commence in ancient Gresce 

 were as follows : — 



Summer 



Winter 

 Spring 



May 6 

 August II 

 November lo 

 February 7 



I may also add from the same source that in the 

 calendars of the Latins the dates become : — 



Summer 

 Autumn 

 Winter 

 Spring 



May 9 

 August 8 

 November 9 

 February 7 



Now we see at once that these dates are, roughly, half- 

 way between the solstices and equinoxes. 



This, then, at once brings us back to the orientation 

 problem, which was to fix by means of a temple in the 

 ordinary way dates nearer to these turning points in the 

 local farmer's years than those fixed by the solstitial and 

 equinoctial temples. 



It must be borne in mind that it is not merely a 

 question of stately piles such as Karnak and the Par- 

 thenon in populous centres, but of the humblest dolmen 

 or stone circle in scattered agricultural communities, 

 which were as certainly used for orientation purposes, 

 that is, for recording the return of some season of the 

 year important to the tiller of the soil, the advent of 

 which season could be announced to outlying districts 

 by fire signals at night. 



I have already pointed out that any temple, dolmen or 

 cromlech pointed to a sunrise or sunset at any dates 

 between the solstices will receive the sunlight twice a 

 year. 



If the temple is pointed nearly solstitially the two dates 

 at which the sun appears In it will be near the solstice ; 

 similarly, for a temple pointed nearly equinoctially the 

 dates will be near the equinox ; but if the ancients wished 

 to divide the ninety-one days' interval between the 

 solstice and equinox, a convenient method of doing this 

 would be to observe the sun at the half-time interval, 

 such that the same temple would serve on both occasions. 

 This could be done by orienting the temple to the sun's 

 place on the horizon when it had the declination 16' 20' 

 on its upward or downward journey. 



What, then, are the non-equinoctial and non-solstitial 

 days of the year when the sun has this declination ? 



They are, in the sun's journey from the vernal equinox 

 to the summer solstice and back again, 



May 6 and August 8 Sun's decn. N. 16° 20'. 



Similarly, for the journey to the winter solstice and 

 return we have 



November S and February 4 



Sun's decn. S. 16° 20'. 



We get, then, a year symmetrical with the astronomical 

 year, which can be indicated with it as in Fig. 3, a 

 year roughly halving the intervals between the chief 

 dates of the astronomical year. 



With regard to the dates shown I have already 

 pointed out that farming operations would not occur at 

 the same time in different lands ; that ploughing and 

 seed time and harvest would vary with crops and lati- 

 tudes ; and I must now add that when we wish to determine 

 the exact days of the month we have to struggle with all 

 the difficulties introduced by the various systems adopted 

 by different ancient nations to bring together the reckon- 

 ing of months by the moon and of years by the sun. 



In more recent times there is an additional difficulty 

 NO. 168 I, VOL. 65] 



owing to the incomplete reconstruction of the calendar 

 by Julius Coesar, who gave us the Julian year. Thus, 

 while the spring equinox occurred on March 21 at the 

 time of the Council of Nice, in 325 A.D., by the year 

 1 75 1 the dating of the year on which it took place had 

 slipped back to the loth. Hence the Act 24 George II. 

 c. 23, by which September 2, 1752, was followed by 

 September 14 instead of by the 3rd, thus regaining the 

 eleven days lost. This change from the so-called " old 

 style" to the " new style" is responsible for a great deal 

 of confusion. 



Another cause of trouble was the forsaking by the 

 Jews of the solar year, with which they commenced, in 

 favour of the Babylonian lunar year, which has baen 

 continued for the purposes of worship by Christians, 

 giving us "movable feasts" to such an extent thatEister 

 Day, which once invariably marked the spring equino.x, 

 may vary from March 22 to April 25, and Whit 

 Sunday from May 10 to June 13. It is at once obvious 

 that no fixed operations of Nature can be indicated by 

 such variable dates as these. 



Hence in what follows I shall only deal with the months 

 involved ; these amply suffice for a general statement, 

 but a discussion as to exact dates may come later. 



With regard to the astronomical year it may be 

 stated that each solstice and equinox has in turn in 



Setting. 

 .\ugust 8, May 6. 



Sept. 23. 



Rising. 

 May 6, August 8. 



Fig. 3. 



some country or another, and even in the same country, 

 been taken as the beginning of the year. 



We have, then, the following, so to speak, astronomical 

 years : — 



Solstitial /June December June 



Year. ^December ...June December 



Equinoctial ("March September March 



Year. (September ...March September 



Next, if we treat the intermediate points we have found 

 in the same way, we have the following vegetation 

 years : — 



Flower fMay November May 



Year. (^November ...May November 



Harvest fAugust February August 



Year. \February August February 



It will have been gathered from Fig. 3 that the temples 

 or cromlechs erected to watch the first sunrise of the 

 May-November-May year could also perform the same 

 office for the August-February-August year ; and in a 



