Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-08-14
LEAP YEAR.
The InuentiOn Cluimed tor an Egyptian
astronomer.


Mr. Samuel Sharpe writes thus in the
London Atheneum.
Honor to whom honor is due; and | beg
to claim for Ichonuphys, the Egyptian
astronomer, the title of being the inventor
Of the lntercalary day on every fourth
year, which with us is the Goth of Febru-
ary. He was the teacher of Eudoxus,
who reformed the Greek calendar, but on
another plan. We usually have given
this honor to Sosigenes, the adviser
of Julius Caesar, from whom the calen-
dar with such leap year is called the
Julian calendar; but the discovery of the
Decree of Campus robs Sosigenes of that
honor, by showing that like reform for
Lower Egypt had been proposed in the
year D. G. 23S; and now wish to show
that the same reform had been actually
introduced in Upper Egypt yet earlier in
B. G. 357 We have Greek inscription
in the Great Oasis, near Thebes, copied
by Mr.. G.. A. Hosklns, and published in
Boeckh 1857, dated by two calendars.
At the beginning it is dated Sin the
second wear of Galba, on the first
day of Phaophi, according to
the Agustan-Julia calendar, " that is, on
the 2Sth of September, A. D. IS. But
lest this new mode of dating the decree
should not be understood, it is dated at
the end by another, which we may call the
Theban calendar, in the first year of Gal
ba, con the twelfth day of Epaphi." The
old moving new-year's day, belonging to
civil year of 365 days only, was always
becoming earlier by one day in every four
wears. Augustus, by introducing the Ju-
Ian year in B. G. 25, had fixed it, as 1t
then was, on the 25th of August;
but when the Theban calendar fixed it,
it had not moved back so much by
eighty three days. The new years day
was then fixed at the Goth of November.
Now eighty-three multiplied by four
equals 332, and 1872 plus twenty live equals
357; therefore, we have proof that this
Theban calendar was introduced in B. G.
357. Again, the regnal year was always
changed on the new years day; and thus,
as the date of the inscription, 2Sth Sep
TENDER, fell after the new years day OF
the Augustan. Julian calendar, it was in
the second year of Galba, but as it was
before the new years day of the Theban
calendar, it was in the first
year of Galba Again, it is neces-
sary to remark that in the division OF
Egypt into two provinces. Upper Egypt
on the east side of the Nile included Hell
iopolis, although on the west side of the
river it did not come so far northward
hence the calendar which came from
Heliopolis, the seat of science, would
naturally be used in the Thebaid and its
Osasis. If we now look back in history
to the year B. c. 327, we shall find that
it was five years before the death
of the Greek astronomer, Eudoxus,
the reformer of the Greek
calendar. He had lately spent
sixteen months in Heliopolis studying
under Ichonuphys, from whom he learned
the true length of the year Diogenes
Laertius, viii, 90). We now learn from
our inscription of Golba's reign upon
what Ichonuphy's fame rested, and what
brought Eudoxus to Heliopolis 20 study
under him; and we may with confidence
claim for Ichonuphys the reform of the
Theban calender, which was at that time
made, and the honor of being the inven-
tor of the leap-year.