Smvly — Examination of Dates of the Assouan Aramaic Papyri. 247 



8th year of Darius, according to the Jewish reckoning ; in the 9th year, 

 according to the Egyptian ; and from Papyrus K, that the 10th of February, 

 410, was in the 13th Jewish, and in the 14th Egyptian year of Darius — 

 hence his first year was counted from the 1st of Nisan (March-April), 423, 

 by the Jews; from the 1st of Thoth (7th of December), 424, by the 

 Egyptians. I have already pointed out that if the usual custom was 

 followed of post-dating by the Babylonian, and ante- dating by the Egyptian 

 calendar, it would result that Darius came to the throne between the 1st of 

 Thoth and the 1st of Msan, that is, after the 7th of December, 424, and 

 before the end of March, 423. The date of his accession is placed by 

 historians two or three months earlier, in September, 424. This date is 

 obtained by adding two months for the reign of Xerxes II, and seven 

 months for that of Sogdianus to the date of the death of Artaxerxes I, 

 which is given by Thucydides. Thus E. Meyer deduces from the narrative 

 of Thucydides (iv. 50) that the death of Artaxerxes I occurred about 

 December, 425, or January, 424; that of Xerxes II, about February, 424; 

 that of Sogdianus, and the accession of Darius II, about September, 424. 

 So, also, Clinton, in the "Fasti Helleuici" ii., p. 314: "If the death of 

 Artaxerxes was known at Ephesus in the winter of the Archon Stratocles, 

 as may be collected from this narrative, he would barely surviA'e the Thoth 

 of N.E. 3*24, or December 7, B.C. 425, although his reign is extended by the 

 Canon to December of the following year." The narrative in Thucydides 

 does not, however, exclude a later date for the death of Artaxerxes ; he 

 writes : tov 3' kmyiyvo/jLevov \Hniovug ' ApiaTii^t^g 6 ^Ap\iinrov . . . ' Apra- 

 (jiipvriv av^pa Uipat^v napa (^acriXiwg Tiopivopivov ig AaKtSaipova E,vXXapl5avei 

 EV Hlovl ry ivri ^rpvpovi. kuI avrov Kopicr^ivTog ol A6i]valoL rag plv 

 iiriaToXag peTuypuxjjapei'OL Ik twv ' Aaavpitov ypappciTwv av^yvwaav . . . tov 

 c' ^ ApTu<ptpi'i}v ijcFTepov oi ^ AOi}va'ioi tnroareXXouai Tpii]pei Ig 'E(f>t(TOv kuI 

 irpiai^Hg apa. ot nvdoptvoL uvtoOi (SaaiXiu ^ ApTagip^r]v tov lEiip^ov vcwtrri 

 TedvriKOTu [KUTa yap tovtov roi' ^povov iTtXevT ijaev) eir o'ikov a)'e\wpi]Gav. 



Thucydides thus tells us that during the winter Aristeides captured 

 Artaphernes at Eion ; that Artaphernes was brought to Athens, where his 

 despatches were read, and that he was afterwards sent to Ephesus, where the 

 envoys of the Athenians heard the news of the recent death of Artaxerxes, 

 There is nothing to indicate the part of the winter in which Artaphernes was 

 captured, nor how long he was kept at Athens; the vague word " afterwards" 

 (vcTTtpov) does not even necessarily imply that he was sent away from 

 Athens, much less that he arrived at Ephesus, before the beginning of the 

 summer. In this case we need not discuss the exact meaning of the 

 words 'winter ' and 'summer' in Thucydides, because the very beginning of 



