PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY. 



1838. No. 12. 



May 14. 

 SIR Wm. R. HAMILTON, A. M., President, in the Chair. 



Henry Watson, Esq., William T. Kent, Esq., and John 

 Thompson Young, Esq., were elected members of the Royal 

 Irish Academy. 



His Excellency, the Lord Lieutenant, attended the 

 meeting as a guest. 



The President read the conclusion of the paper by 

 the Rev. Dr. Hincks, " on the Years and Cycles of the 

 ancient Egyptians." 



According to the views advocated in this paper, a lunisolar 

 cycle of 600 years was in use prior to the deluge, its epochs 

 being at the autumnal equinox in the years B. C. 3567, 

 2967, &c. The knowledge of this cycle was preserved by 

 Noah, and diffused through the different nations at the 

 dispersion. It was certainly used in Persia and in Egypt. 

 In the former country, the commencement of the year was 

 fixed at the vernal equinox by Jamshid ; the epoch of this 

 change being 7th April, 2007 B. C, when 360 years of the 

 current cycle had elapsed. The Persian years were however 

 reckoned from the first day of the following cycle, that is, 

 from 6th Feb. 1767 ; between which and the era of Yez- 

 digerd (16th June, A. D- 632) there elapsed exactly 2400 

 years of 365 days, that being the form of year introduced by 



