YEAR. 



or Gemfcl.id, king of Perlia, obferved on the day of his 

 public entry into Perfepolis, that the fun entered into 

 Aries ; and in commemoration of this fortunate event and 

 coincidence, he ordained tlie beginning of the year to be 

 removed from the autumnal to the vernal equinox. 1 his 

 epoch was denominated Neuruz, vi^. New-day, and 18 itiU 

 celebrated with great pomp and feftivity. 



The ancient Swedifh year commenced at the winter lol- 

 ft.ce, or rather at the time of the fun's appearance m the 

 horizon, after an abfence of about 40 days. The fealt ot 

 tliis epoch was folemnized on the 20th day after the folitice. 

 Some of the Grecian itates computed from the vernal, fome 

 from the autumnal equinox, and others from the fummer 

 tropic The year of Romulus commenced m March, and 

 that of Numa in January. The Turks and Arabs date 

 the year from the i6th of July ; and the Amencan Indians 

 reckon from the firft appearance of the new moon of the 

 vernal equinox. The church of Rome has fixed new-year's 

 day on the Sunday that correfponds with the full moon of 

 the lame feafon. Tiie Venetians, Florentines, and Pifans 

 in Italy, and the inhabitants of Treves in Germany, begin 

 the yoar at the vernal equinox. The ancient clergy reckon 

 from the 25th of March ; and this method was obferved in 

 Britain until the introduftion of the New Style, A.D. 

 1752, after which our year commenced on the firft day of 

 January. See ErocHA and Chronology. 



They were the Egyptians, if we may credit Herodotu?, 

 that full formed the year, which was luni-folar, making it 

 to contain 360 days, which they fubdivided into 12 months. 



This year was correfted by the Thcbans, who added to 

 it five intercalary days. The Medes and Perfians, who 

 were anciently a part of the Affyrian empire, adopted the 

 old Chaldean year of 360 days, which they afterwards 

 reformed. 



Some miflionaries report, that the luni-folar year was 

 correfted in China ; the year of the Indians contained 360 

 days, and was divided into 24 months. But befides this 

 form of the year, the Indians ufed another, for aftronomical 

 purpofes, confifting of 365 d. 15 h. 31' 15"; which In- 

 dian days and hours are equal to 365 d. 6h. 12' 30", ac- 

 cording to our mode of computation. Or, as this year is 

 fidereal, if you fubtraft 21' 35" on account of the motion 

 of the ftars in longitude, the Indian tropical year will be 

 365 d. 5 h. 50' 55". The Mexicans received the luni-folar 

 year from the Indians or Chinefe, and divided it into 18 

 months of 20 days ; adding five days to the laft month, and 

 dating the year from March. That the ancient Grecian 

 year waslnni-iolar, is evident from many teftimonies of Hip- 

 jiocrates, Plato, and Pliny. The Latin year, before Numa's 

 correftion of it, confifted of 360 days, 304 of which were 

 divided into 10 months ; and to thefe were added two pri- 

 vate months, not named in the calendar. Plut. in Vit. 

 Numa. Serv. ct Virgil Georg. 1. i. v. 43. 



It has been faid that Mercurius Trifmegiftus added five 

 days to the Egyptian year of 360 days. And,on this footing, 

 Thales is faid to have inftituted the year among the Greeks ; 

 though that form of the year did not hold throughout 

 all Greece. Add, that the Jewilh, Syrian, Roman, Per- 

 fian, Ethiopic, Arabic, &c. years were all different. 



In effeft, confidering the imperfedl ftate of aftronomy in 

 thofe ages, it is no wonder different people fhould difagree 

 in tho computation of the fun's courfe. We are even 

 affured by Diod. Siculus (lib. i.), Plutarch in Numa, and 

 Plinyl lib. vii. cap. 48. ),that the Egyptian year itfelf was at 

 firft very different from that now reprefented. 



The imperfeftion of the luni-folar year became more 

 and more apparent as the arts and fciences improved ; but 



the necelTary correflion depended ijpon a competent knoiv^ 

 ledge of the folar year. Every nation, by degrees, invented 

 or adopted the method of intercalating a few days at certain 

 intervals. The author of the difcovery is not certainly 

 known : the Egyptians have claimed the merit of it ; and 

 the Theban priefts have attributed it to Hermes or Thoth. 

 It appears that they were acquainted with the year of 36J 

 days in a very remote period. ( Herodot. 1. iv. c. 4. Strabo 

 Geog. I. xvii. SyncuU. Chron. p. I2l.) The length ot 

 the folar year was reprefented in a golden circle fixed upon 

 the tomb of Ofymandes ; and this circle was 365 cubits in 

 circumference, having on each cubit a day of the year in- 

 fcribed, together with the heliacal rifings or fettings of the 

 ftars. This Ofymandes is faid to have flourifhed either in 

 the 13th or nth century before the Chriftian era. For 

 perpetuating the memory of this correction, though inac- 

 curate, the firft month of the year was diftinguiftied by the 

 title Thoth, or Sothis, which was the Egyptian appellation 

 of the dog-ftar, the heliacal rifing of which announced the 

 inundation of the Nile. Hence, it is faid, originated the 

 fable, invented of the priefts of Thebes, that Mercury, or 

 Thoth, regulated the civil year by extending it, as we have 

 already obferved, to 365 days ; and, in return, the firft 

 month was called by his name. See Egyptian Year, and 

 Canicular Tear. 



The method of correfting the civil year, by the addition 

 of five epagomenae, was communicated by the Chaldaans 

 and Egyptians to other nations ; but it has not been afcer- 

 tained at what epoch the folar year was obferved to be 

 almoft 6 hours longer than the civil year of 365 days. The 

 priefts of Thebes claimed the merit of tlie difcovery (Diod. 

 Sicul. l.i. p. 59. Strabo Geog. 1. xvii.) ; but Herodotus 

 takes no notice of it ; nor Thales, who, on his return from 

 Egypt, taught the Greeks to form a folar year of 365 days 

 without any intercalation. Plato and Eudexus are faid to 

 have obtained it, as a fccret, from the Egyptians, about 80 

 years after Herodotus, and to have carried it into Greece ; 

 which ftiews that the knowledge of this form of the year 

 was then recent, and confined to a few of the learned, while 

 the old form was ftill retained, and the Egyptians ufed no 

 intercalation until the correfted Julian year was received at 

 Alexandria by the order of Auguftus ; and even at this 

 time the Greeks and Romans, who refided in Egypt, alone 

 obeyed the imperial mandate. The fuperftitious nations 

 refufed to admit any addition to a form of the year wliich 

 had been fo long eftabliftied among them. 



The reformed year of the Chinefe confifted of 365 d. jh. 

 20', which were divided into 24 months, each of thefe equal 

 parts including 15 d. 5 h. 14-^'. (Du Halde. Hyde. 

 Relig. Vet. Perf.) The quantity of the Indian year was 

 fomewhat different from that of the Chinefe : the lunar 

 year contained 364 d. 22 gurris, i pull ; and the folar year 

 365 d. 15 gurris, 30 pulls, 22^ puts; 60 puts = i pull, 

 60 pulls =: I gurri, and 60 gurris = i day : fo that their 

 folar or rather fidereal year confifted of 365 d. 6h. 12' 7". 

 This mode of computation is ufed by the Bramins, by the 

 Moguls, and by other Mahometans in India. 



Year, Solar, is the interval of time in which the fun 

 finifhes his courfe through the zodiac ; or in which he re- 

 turns to the fame point of it from whence he had de- 

 parted. 



This, according to our account, is 365 days, 5 hours, 

 49 minutes ; though fome aftronomers make it a few 

 feconds, and fome a whole minute lefs ; as Kepler, for 

 inftance, who makes it 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 57 

 feconds, 39 thirds. Ricciolus, and Tycho Brahe, 365 

 days, 5 hours, 48 minutCE. 



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