month Adar; of whose name it seems to have been a translation. And these three months determine the whole series. 66 The Attic month was divided into three decads; the days of the first two decads were reckoned progressively, πρωτη ἱσταμενου, "first of the beginning," devrɛpa iσтaμɛvov, “ second of the beginning," &c. πρwτη μεσоνvτos, “first of the middle,” dɛvtɛpa μεσOνντoç,“ second of the middle," &c.; but by a singular variation, introduced by Solon, the days of the last decad were counted in a retrograde order from the end of the month, the 21st being called SEKATη POLVOVтOS, "tenth of the waning;" Evvarη φθίνοντος, POLOVтos, "ninth of the waning," &c.: and this mode was adopted also in the Roman and Arabian calendars. IV. MACEDONIAN MONTHS. V. SYRO-MACEDONIAN MONTHS. These two differ only in the anticipation of a month, earlier in the former than in the latter. The cause of it, we are told by Plutarch, in his life of Alexander, was this: When that prince was going to attack the Persians at the river Granicus, he was warned that it was unlawful for the Macedonians to make war in the month Desius. In order, therefore, to remove the scruples of his army, with that presence of mind for which he was so remarkable, he immediately ordered that the preceding month, Artemisius, should be repeated, and substituted for Dæsius; and that Desius should be postponed till the following month. And in compliment to the Macedonian conqueror, this new order was adopted after the battle of Arbela, which decided the fate of the Persian empire. This change, however, not being universally adopted, was productive of confusion; some reckoning by the new order, others adhering to the old. Thus Plutarch makes the month Lous, correspond to the Attic Hecatombæon; retaining the old; and also Galen, Ptolomy, &c. Whereas Josephus refers the same month, Lous, to the fifth Hebrew month Ab, which corresponds to Metageitnion, the month after Hecatombaon: and he uniformly adheres to the Syro-Macedonian months throughout his works *; and is followed by Eusebius, Epiphanius, Evagrius, Bede, and the ecclesiastical writers in general. *Josephus reckons that Xanthicus corresponded to the first Hebrew month, Nisan. Ant. 1, 5, 3, &c. VI. ROMAN MONTHS. In the time of Romulus, there were ten months with names, and two without names, in the Roman Calendar; of which the first was Martius, in honour of the god Mars, beginning about the vernal equinox. His successor, Numa, named the two intercalary anonymous months, Januarius, in honour of Janus, the god of time, which he made the first of the year, beginning about the winter solstice; and the second, Februarius, from februo, to purify; because in that month purifications of the people, and lustrations, were customary. It is remarkable that the Roman Calendar retained the primæval names of the months, longer than any of the Oriental nations, except the Chinese: Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, December; denoting their numeral places reckoned from the vernal equinox, as in the Hebrew. The Roman Month was divided into three unequal parts, the first days of which were called Calends, Nones, and Ides. The Calends were so called from кaλew, because the appearance of the new moon was then " called," or proclaimed, by the public crier, on the first day of the month. The Nones were the "ninth” day from the Ides; which were so called from ados, the "appearance" of the full moon. In the four months of March, May, July, and October, the Nones fell on the seventh day of the month, and consequently the Ides on the fifteenth; but in the Artemisius, to the second, Iar. Ant. 8, 3, 1. Lous, to the fifth, Ab. Compare Bell. Jud. 6, 3, 5. with Ant. 10, 8, 5; Jer. lii. 12. Dius, to the eighth, Marheshvan. Ant. 1, 3, 3. Ant. 11, 5, 4; 12, 7, 6. And the venerable Bede thus reduces the Syro-Macedonian months, to the Julian; with a slight corruption of their names: "Vocatur autem apud eos, ipse December Apileos, Januarius Exdynius, Februarius Perithius, Martius Distrius, Aprilis Xanthicus, Maius Artemiseas, Junius Deseos, Julius Panemos, Augustus Loos, September Gorpieos, October Hyperberetaos, November Dios." This passage, taken from a very ancient MS. of Bede's works, in the Cotton library, rectifies a gross adulteration of his printed text, Cap. 12, in the list there given. See Selden, Tom. 2. p. 1489. rest of the months, the Nones fell on the fifth, and consequently the Ides on the thirteenth. All the days of the Roman Month were counted in a retrograde order, according to their distance from the ensuing division: thus, the second of January was the fourth of, or before, the Nones; but the second of March, the sixth before the Nones; the fourteenth of January was the nineteenth before the Calends of February; but the fourteenth of March, the day before the Ides. But from the sixteenth, to the end, the reckoning was the same in all: thus, the twenty-fifth in every month, was the eighth of the Calends of the ensuing month. VII. EGYPTIAN MONTHS. The first month in the Egyptian Calendar, Thoth, was consecrated to the Dog-star, and it began with the dog-days, at the Heliacal rising of Canicula, about the summer solstice. According to Josephus, Pharmuthi corresponded to Nisan, Ant. 2, 14, 6; and according to Eutychius, at the time of the deluge, Thoth corresponded to the sixth Hebrew month, Ælul. Annal. p. 40. VIII. PERSIAN MONTHS. The Persian months were originally the same as the Egyptian; and the first month, Fervardin, corresponded to the Egyptian Thoth. IX. ARABIAN MONTHS. The Arabian months seem to have originally corresponded to the Hebrew; and the first, Muharram, to have begun about the vernal equinox: for the first, Muharram, and the seventh, Rajab, were counted sacred, as among the Hebrews; and the latter was set apart by the Pagan Arabs, before Mahomet, for their solemn fast; like the Hebrew Tisri, on the tenth of which, was the great day of atonement. But Mahomet transferred the fast from the seventh, to the ninth month, Ramadan; which had been formerly devoted to eating and drinking to excess; like the Roman December. See Sale's Koran, Prelim. Disc. p. 148. X. PAPHIAN MONTHS. The Paphian, or Cyprian months, corresponded to the Macedonian, and Syro-Macedonian; and the month Dius, of the former, Hyperberetæus, of the latter, and Paphian Aphrodisius, began at the autumnal equinox. According to Epiphanius, "CHRIST was baptized on the 16th of Apogonicus, among the Paphians, six days before the Ides of November." But, at Christ's birth, the autumnal equinox happened about Sept. 24, when the 16th of Apogonicus was the eighth of November, or the sixth of the Ides. Bevereg. Lib. I. cap. 13. p. 83. XI. HINDU MONTHS. The riddle of Cleobulus, noticed in the Attic month, is to be found in the emblematical astronomy of the Hindus. According to which, the god Soma, or Lunus, married twelve celestial nymphs, presiding over the constellations of the Zodiac; on whom he begot twelve Genii, or months, who were named after their respective mothers. The thirty Tithis, or days of the month, are represented as so many beautiful nymphs. On the Maha Cala, or day of the conjunction, they perform obsequies to the Pitris, or ancient "fathers" of mankind; to whom the darker fortnight is dedicated. See Asiat. Researches, Vol. II. p. 227-295; Vol. III. p. 522. YEARS. The primitive sacred year originally consisted of twelve months of 30 days each, or 360 days. This was in use before the deluge; as appears from Noah's reckoning five months, or 150 days, from the seventeenth day of the second month, to the seventeenth day of the seventh month; as expressing the time of the rising of the waters; and seven months and ten days more, till the waters were dried up, and Noah and his family left the ark, after a residence therein of 370 days, or a year and ten days, till the seven-and-twentieth day of the second month of the ensuing year. Gen. vii. and viii. This was also the original Chaldean year; for Berosus, in his History of the Antediluvian Kings of Babylonia, counted their reigns by Sari, or decads of years; and a Sarus, as Alexander Polyhistor related (apud Syncell. p. 32.) was 3600 days; or ten years, consisting each of 360 days. After the deluge, this primitive form was handed down by Noah and his descendants, to the Chaldeans, Egyptians, Phœnicians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Indians, and Chinese; as is evident from the testimonies of the best and most ancient writers and historians. Diodorus Siculus relates, that at the sepulchre of Osiris, the Egyptian priests appointed to bewail his death, filled 360 milkbowls every day, to denote the number of days in the primitive Egyptian year, used in his reign. And he represents an ancient custom at Acanthe, near Memphis, on the Libyan side of the Nile, for 360 priests to fetch water every day from the Nile, and pour it into a vessel full of holes, to represent the 360 days in continual flux, or succession. Diod. Lib. I. p. 26, 109. The Egyptians attributed the invention of their year to the Phoenician Taaut, Thoth, or Hermes, the son of Misraim, who went with the first colony into Egypt, in the reign of Uranus, who lived in Phoenicia, soon after the dispersion, and was a great astronomer, or a diligent observer of the risings and settings of the stars; who discovered the year from the motion of the sun, and the months from the course of the moon, and was deified after his death. Diod. Lib. III. Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch, and Q. Curtius, relate that the Persian kings had 360 concubines, one for each day of the year; who went each in their turns to the king in the evening, and returned in the morning into the house of the women; as we learn from Herod. Lib. III. 69; and from Scripture, Esth. ii. 12-15. Harpocration, Suidas, and Julius Pollux relate, that in the original constitution of Athens, the people were divided into four tribes, representing the four seasons of the year; and these tribes into twelve wards, corresponding to the twelve months; and each ward consisted of thirty families, answering to the thirty days of each month; in all 360, as many as the days of the year. Suidas, voce levvnraí et гevvñтaι. This year, therefore, was introduced into Greece many ages before the arrival of Cecrops in Attica, from Sais in Egypt; probably by the first settlers, the Javanians, or descendants of Japheth; or by the old Pelasgi, from Phoenicia. The first Latin and Roman year consisted of 360 days, as we learn from Plutarch; who says, in his life of Numa, that "in the reign of Romulus, the months were very irregular, some not being reckoned twenty days, others had thirty-five days, and others, more: the Latins not then understanding the difference between the solar and lunar year; but only providing for this one point, that the year should contain 360 days." The Chinese year originally consisted of 360 days; as did |