Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/816

CHRONOLOGY. 718 CHRONOLOGY. suggestion, it is said, of the philosopher Era- tosthenes, who was in charge of the library in Alexandria, in the Third Century B.C., the year was introduced as the unit of time. The diller- ence in epochs led to various suggestions which were gradually discarded with the spread of civilization and the closer intercourse of men. The systems used hy the C; reeks and Romans were most important in antiquity. The Greeks calculated by Olympiads, beginning their era from the years of the victory of t'orcebus in the Olympic games, which corresponds to the year B.C. 776. The Romans began their era from the founding of the city, generally accepted as the year B.C. 753. The study of the astronomical units and the measurement of tinu belong to the department of mathematical astronomy. The historian em- ploys chronology to enable him to transfer events in history located in time acconling to various eras to his own system, the Christian Era. The method of reckoning time by Olympiads was used by the historian Timanis about B.C. 240, and was generally adopted by other Greek his- torians. The Olympiads were determined by the Olympic games, which were held every four years inthe summer-time. The Olympic year there- fore begins in the middle of our year, and the first and latter half of our year belong to differ- ent Oh-mpiads. Thus, Socrates was put to death in the first year of the O.ith Olympiad. The reckoning is as follows: 94 X 4 = .'i7(); this sub- tracted from 770 gives 400, but his death took place in the eleventh month, hence 1 should be subtracted, so that u.c. 300 is the year of his death with reference to the Christian Era. If the date falls after Christ. 771) nnist be sub- tracted from the Olympic year. The calculation by Olympiads lasted down to the Fifth Century of our era. The date of the foundation of Rome is given by Fabius Pictor in a year corresponding to B.C. 747. by Polybius in B.C. 7.^0. by M. Poreius Cato in B.C. 751, by Verrius Flaceus in B.C. 752, and by Terentius Varro in n.c. 753. Among Roman writers l.ivy follows Cato and at times Fabius Pictor. Cicero and Pliny follow Varro. The 'arronian date is gcnerall' accepted by mod- ern writers. In changing from the Roman to the Christian Era. subtract the years of Rome from 754 if the date is before Christ, but if the date is after Christ subtract 754 from the year of Rome. The Greek and Roman methods continued in use long after Christ. Constanline the Great is said to have introcUiced the system known as indiction. This was a cycle of fifteen years which were denoted Indiction 1, Indiction 2, up to In- diction 15. when the series began anew. There are four kinds of indictions. which owe their dif- ference merely to the fact that they are reckoned from ditl'erent days. Thus the Indiction of Con- stantino])lc began with September 1, A.D. 312; the Imperial, on Se])teml)er 24, A.n. 312: the Roman or Pontifical, on December 25. A.n. 312. or .Tanuary 1. A.n. 313; that of the Parliament of Paris, in October. As ..>. 1 ecpials Indiction 4. add 3 to the year of the Christian Era and divide by 15. and the remainder will be the num- ber of the Indiction. If there is no remainder the Indiction is 15. The year of the Christian Era. as now ar- ranged, like the Julian year, established by Julius Caesar, extends from January 1 to Decem- ber 31. The Christian Era was lirst used by Dionysius Exigius in A.u. 533. He regarded the birth of Christ as taking place in the year of Rome 754. although early Christians placed it in 7.")0. The Dionysian year, however, dated from the Annunciation, ilarch 25 of the preceding year. The commencement of the year was as- signeil to dilfcrent days in ditl'erent places. Thus in England down to the Conquest it was counted from Christmas or from March 25; from the Conquest to 1155 from January 1, from 1155 to 1451 from March 25. In France the beginning of the year varied in dilTcrent dioceses, being either Christmas or ilarch 25, until 1564, when .lanuary 1 was selected. In the midille of the Sixteenth Centurv .January 1 was determined upon in Germany, Italy. S])ain. and Portugal. The era of the creation of the world is obtained from the Old Testament, but varies in the differ- ent texts. The Hebrew version reckons 1656 years from creation to the flood and 4000 years from creation to the birth of Christ. The Samaritan makes the latter interval much longer, though it counts from the creation to the Hood only 1307 years. The Septuagint version removes the creation of the world to 6000 vears before Christ and 2250 ,vears before the flood. It is now, how- ever, universally admitted that the creation of the world cannot be i)laced at so recent a date as B.C. 6000. and the modern understanding of the first chapter of (Jenesis leaves the period of the creation quite indeflnite. and one scheme of intcr- juetation stretches ovit the davs of creation into jieriods of indeflnite length. Des 'ignolcs. a writer on the chron(dogy of sacred history. col- lected more than two hundred different estimates of the era of the creation, the shortest being 3483 and the longest 6984 years. If such or such a ilate from the creation means anything, it is probably to be read by the date flxed by Arch- bishop Usher, which was B.C. 4004. 'arious other eras arc worthy of mention. The era of Constantinople dates the creation of the world 5508 years and 4 months before the he- ginning of our era. the civil years beginning Scj)- tendjcr 1, the ecclesiastical Mareli 21 or .pril 1. The era of .lexandria used by the Christians of that city placed the creation of Adam 5500 years before the birth of Christ. We must allow three years for the date assigned by the early Chris- tians to the Incarnation. Hence we may change dates of this era to our own by subtracting 5502. When Diocletian became Empi'ror. ten years were omitted, and after that date, which is 5786 ac- cording to the .lexandrian Era. we must sulitract 5492. The mun<lane era of Antioch, used by the Christians of Syria, is the same as the Alexan- drians after the time of Diocletian. The .Tulian ]ieriod should be uu'ntioned here. It was in- vented by .Joseph Justus Scaliger in 1582 to ob- viate the inconvenience of counting in two ways, before and after Christ. He estimated a period of 7980 .lulian years, and the first year of th<' Chris- tian Era corres])onded to 4714 of his era. The era of Xabonassar. which obtains its name from the founder of the Kingdom of Habylon. was used by astronomers. Its date is February 26. n.c. 747, which was calctilatcd from records of Ptol- emv, based on celestial phenomena. The Mace- donian era. known also as that of the Seleucida", began on September 1 of the .Julian year, 312 y<'ars before our era. The era of Spain, used in