35S 
CHRONOLOGY. 
This compendium of chronology is suffi- 
cient for (he purpose of reading history, but 
is by no means a complete account of the 
methods of computing time in every parti- 
cular country which, lias been mentioned. 
To have done this, would have carried us 
beyond our present purpose, and too far into 
the customs of particular countries. For a 
fuller account, the reader may be referred to 
Dr. Blair, and other chronologers. 
PROBLEMS IN CHRONOLOGY. 
1. To find whether any given year be leap- 
year. 
Rule . — Divide the given year by 4 : if 0 
remains, it is leap-year; but if 1, 2, 3, re- 
mains, it is so many years after. 
Every fourth year is leap-year, so called 
from leaping or advancing a day more that 
year than any other; that year has- then 366 
days in it, and February 29- 
2. To find the dominical letter before the 
year 1800. 
Rule. To the given year add its fourth 
part, omitting fractions ; divide that sum by 7; 
the remainder taken from 7 leaves the index 
of the letter in the common year’s reckoning. 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 
A B C D E F G 
But in leap-years this letter and its preced- 
ing one (in the retrograde order which these 
letters take) are the dominical letters. 
The dominical letter is that letter of the 
alphabet which points out in the calendar the 
Sundays throughout the year; thence also 
called the Sunday letter. Of these letters 
there are consequently seven before mention- 
ed, beginning with the first letter of the alpha- 
bet ; and as in leap-year there is an intercalary 
day, there are then two; one serving January 
and February, and its following letter the re- 
maining part of the year. 
3. To know on what day in the week any 
proposed day of the month will fall. 
Rule. First find the dominical letter, then 
the day of the week the first of the proposed 
month falls on, which is known by the two 
following lines: 
At Dover Dwell George Brown, Esquire, 
Good Christopher Finch, And David Frier: 
where the first letter of each word answers 
to the letter belonging to the first day of the 
months in order, from January to Decem- 
ber. If I would know on what day of the 
week the 24th of June will be this year (1806) ; 
I find the Dominical letter is E, and by the 
lines just read, E is the first of June, which is, 
of course, Sunday ; the 22nd also is Sunday, 
therefore the 24th will be a Tuesday. 
4. To find the year of the solar, lunar or 
golden number, and indiction cycles. 
Rule. To the given year add 9 for the 
solar, 1 for the lunar, 3 for the indiction : di- 
vide the sums in order by 28, 19, and 15, the 
remainder in each shows the years of its re- 
spective cycle. 
The solar cycle, or the cycle of the sun, is 
a period of 28 years ; in which time all the 
varieties, of the dominical letters will have 
happened, and the 29th year the cycle be- 
gins again, when the same order of the let- 
ters will return as were 28 years before. 
At the birth of Christ, nine years had passed 
in this cycle. 
The lunar cycle, or cycle of the moon, or 
golden number, is a period of 19. years; con- 
taining all the variations of the days on which 
the new and full moons happen, after which 
time they fall on the same days they did 19 
years before, and she begins again with the 
sun. 
But when a centesimal or hundredth year 
falls in the cycle, the new and full moon, ac- 
cording to thp new style, will fall a day later 
than otherwise, l ire birth of Christ happen- 
ed in the.second year of this cycle. 
The Roman indiction is a cycle of 15 
years, which first began, the third year before 
Christ. 
5. To find the epact till the year 1900. 
Rule. Multiply the golden number for 
the given year by 11; divide that product by' 
30, and from the remainder take 1 1, leaves 
the epact. If the remainder is less than 11, 
add If) to it, and the sum will be the epact. 
6. to find the moon’s age. 
Rule. To the epact add the number and 
day of the month ; their sum, if under 30, is 
the moon’s age. But if that sum is above 30, 
the excess in months of 31 days, or the ex- 
cess above 29 in a month of 30 days, shows 
the age or days since the last conjunction. 
The moon’s age taken from 30, leaves the 
day of the next new moon. 
When the solar and lunar cycles begin to- 
gether, the moon’s age on the first of each 
month, or the monthly" epaets, are called the 
numbers of the month, and are as follows, 
viz. 
For Jan. Feb. Mar. April. May. June. 
These 0. 2. 1. 2. 3. 4. 
For July. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. 
These 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 
7. To find when Easter-day will happen. 
Rule. Find on what day of March the 
new moon falls nearest to the 21st in com- 
mon years, or nearest the 20th in leap-years; 
then the Sunday next after the full, or 15th 
day of that new moon, will be Easter-day. 
If the 15 th day falls on a Sunday, the next 
Sunday is Easter-day. 
Among the earliest writers on chronology, 
after the discovery of printing, was Paulus 
Constantinus Phrygio, whose “ Chronicon 
Regum Regnorumque omnium” was printed 
at Basil in 1534. A second was Bibliander’s 
work, in 1558; and a third, Eggard’s “ Ta- 
bula: Chronological,” printed at, Rostock, 
1577. Among the most valuable which are 
now in use upon the continent, are the 
tables of Du Fresnoy and Berger, both ori- 
ginally published in 1719. The title only" of 
the latter, we believe, (“ Synchronistische 
Universalhistorie,”) is known in England; 
but those of the former have been long re- 
ceived in credit; although they are now su- 
perseded not only by Dr. Blair’s Tables, but 
by professor Playfair’s System of Chrono- 
logy* 1784, 
The following, as the greater epochs in 
the chronology" of history, have been selected 
from Dr. Blair. The history of the intervals 
may be easily' supplied by the memory of a 
retentive reader. 
Bef. Chr. 
4004 Creation of the world 
3875 The murder of Abe$ 
3874 The birth of Seth 
3017 Enoch translated 
2348 The deluge 
2247 The tower of Babel built 
2000 The birth of Abraham 
1921 The covenant made with Abraham 
Bef. Chr. 
1728 Joseph sold into Egypt 
1689 The death of Jacob 
1635 The death of Joseph, \yhich conclude! 
the book of Genesis 
1574 TJie birth of Aaron 
1571 The birth of Moses 
1491 God’s appearance to Moses in the 
burning bush 
1451 The Israelites under Joshua pass the 
river Jordan 
1285 Deborah defeats the Canaanites 
1263 The Argonautic expedition undertaker 
1236 The death of Gideon 
1188 Jephlhah’s vow 
1 184 Troy taken 
1117 Sampson betrayed to the Philistines 
1104 The return of the lleraclidse to Pelo- 
ponnesus 
1095 The Israelites ask for a king. Sau 
anointed 
1070 Athens governed by archons 
1048 Jerusalem taken by David 
1044 The migration of the Ionic coloniel 
from Greece 
1023 Absalom’s rebellion 
1004 Solomon’s dedication of the temple 
926 The birth of Lycurgus 
907 Homer supposed to have flourished \ 
897 The death of Ahab 
896 Elijah’s translation 
8 1 4 The kingdom of Macedon begins 
800 Jonah prophesies 
790 Amos 
785 Ilosea 
758 Nahum 
757 Isaiah, who prophesied above 60 years 
754 Micah prophesies 
753 The sra of the building of Rome 
750 The rape of the Sabines 
731 Ilabakkuk prophesies 
721 Samaria taken. The first eclipse o 
the moon upon record 
710 Senacherib’s army destroyed 
696 Isaiah the prophet put to death 
686 Archilochus the poet flourishes 
677 'Pile combat of tJie Horatii andCuriat 
658 By zantium built 
627 Jeremiah prophesies - 
628 Zephaniah 
623 Draco establishes his laws at Athens i 
6o5 The beginning of the captivity 
600 Sappho flourishes 
593 Ezekiel prophesies 
59 1 Institution of the Pythian games 
587 Jerusalem taken by r Nebuchadnezzar 
560 Pisistratus usurped the tyranny 1 
Athens 
558 Daniel prophesies 
539 Pythagoras flourishes 
536 Cyrus gives an edict for the -return 
the Jews 
528 Ilaggai prophesies 
527 Zechariah 
525 Cambyses conquers Egypt 
520 Confucius flourishes 
515 The temple of Jerusalem finished 
509 The consular government begins 
Rome 
490 The battle of Marathon 
480 'Flie defeat of Salamis 
458 Ezra flourishes 
456 Nehemiahthe prophet 
45 1 Laws of the twelve tables compiled 
445 Herodotus reads his history at Athens 
43 1 Beginning of the Peloponnesian war 
