The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1897-01-23
TIME MEASUREMENT.
SYSTEMS OF CHRONOLOGY USED BY
THE ANClENTS.

Chinese and Babyionian Astronomy.
The Egyptian year began with the rising
of the star Sirius and consisted of 36H
days. There were IL months of 30 days
each, and at the close Of the year five days
were intercalated. All reckoning was by
this year. The festivals were celebrated
by it, and as consequence, like the Ro'
man festivals of later times, circled around
from one season to another On account OF
the omission from the calendar of the
quarter day. Notwithstanding this omis-
sion the Egyptians seem to have known
that the addition of quarter of day each
year was necessary in order to keep cor
rect measurement of time, and their So
thiac cycle" This cycle was period OF
1,461 vague or /, 400 true years, and was
called 'sothiaG" because its beginning was
fixed at date when the dog star, known
by the Egyptians as Sothis rose with the
sun on the first of Thoth, which was the
commencement of their year This rising
of Sirius and the sun on the first OF Ihoth
took place in the years b. c. 27S2 and Is.
G. 1929, and also in 1873 A. d. The Egyp-
tians knew that the last named year was
the first of sothiac cycle The year b. c.
1922 was also probably known as such,
but we have no knowledge whatever re-
garding b. G, 27S2. The ancient Egyp-
tians, therefore, appear to have been aware
that for accuracy it was necessary to have
1851 instead of 800 days in the solar year,
but they do not seem to have realized that
this extra quarter day was in excess, and
provided for it as it is provided for in the
Gregorian calendar
The Egyptians seem to have had no sys-
tenn of chronology. They made use of no
era, but dated events by the regnal years
of their kings Thus the astronomers
would note an eclipse Of the sun as taking
place in the fourth year of Rameses III,
which would be utterly unintelligible as
regards to time to one Of another country.
This fallacious method resulted in an in
terminable chronological observation
which the most astute researches of savants
have not succeeded in unwinding.
The ancient mortimer reckoned by win
ters, and tho beginning of their year was
probably dated from the 10th of October.
The festival in honor of Thor was held in
midwinter, about our Christmas time, and
in fact, was the origin of the Christian
holiday merrymaking. We get the names
of at least three, if not four of our days of
the week from the Morse gods of the Odin
religion. Tuesday is from Tir, or Diss-
day, on which the offerings to fate were
made and tho courts of justice held;
Wednesday is from Wooden, or Odin, one of
the Morse trinity; Thursday, or Thor's
day, from Thor, the chief of the trinity,
and Friday from Frigg, another of the
minor deities of the trinity.
There is nothing of especial Importance
in the Jewish chronology except in so far
as it pertains to Scrptural matters, and
even then the only valuable knowledge we
have in this regard is based on the Penta-
teuch Tho only information the Jews
possessed of astronomy was obtained from
the Assyrians. Like the ancient Greeks
and the modern Turks, they divided their
year into IL months of 20 and 30 days al
ternately, with an intercalary month every
three and sometimes every two years to
amend inaccurate measurement. They had
six seasons--seedtime, winter, cold season,
harvest, summer and hot season. The
Jews that returned to Palestine after the
overthrow of the Jewish nation used the
c. The Jews of today, like the Freemasons
claim to date their calendar from creation
which, they assert, was 1850 B. G.
1t seems very easy and natural thing
for us to now use a year as unit of TIME
measurement, but If one would but stop tt
think a moment he would readily see how
difficult it must have been originally tt
have formed that unit with nothing bu
space upon which to operate. Even as lat
as 450 B. c. Herodotus referrd to a centur,
as three generations, and formerly in near
ly all countries the phrase five winters o.
three summers was used instead of the ex
preston Of so many years. In the earl.
times the elapse of historical events wa
chronicled from central figures, as king
or great chieftans who had won renown
In Rome and Athens reference was mad
to u magistrate when an occurrence of tina
year was mentioned and as these officer
We're elected annually the method was
very convenient one In the same wa
Bahylonian and Assyran events wer
chronicled from tho term of office of tn
limu much moro frequently than from tn
reigns of the kings. Such systems, how
ever, were necessarily very limited in thei
scope and the want of better Garlic
chronology has been felt in the study Q
authentic ancient history.
The great progress that was made i
astronomy by China and Babylonia at tn
dawn of civilization opened the way for
better time measurement. Mems view
were broadened, and the invention of era
was begun. The Chinese began tim
computation that is undoubtedly prehi'
toric, for their records of the eclipses tha
have been observed show a chronology c
at least 400 years duration, and thei
historians assert that they had yea
measurement similar to our Julian systeI
fully 1900 b. G.
The earliest authentic date that has bee
handed down to us was inscribed on tn
foundation stone of the temple to the su
god at Sppara by Naram-Sin, son of Sal
gon. This stone was exhumed by Nabon
dus, who reigned over Babylon about 81
b. c., and it is asserted that Naram-Si
ruled 5000 years previously. From thes
dates we learn that the chronology {
Babylon began with the reign of Sarge
l, king of Agade, $500 B. @. From til
best information we have the calenda
came into use 1880 B. G. with week {
seven days and year of IL months, name
after zodiacal signs. The year consisted {
500 days, which probably suggested IL
division of the circle into degrees. Astrt
nomical chronology was divided into CYCLE
of go years. 900 years, and the star {
5000 years. Tho observations of Bel,
%I,o ,,,oot Ilab,-1opinn work on nctr0pOu1