Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/725

Rh fixing dates that have been otherwise imperfectly expressed, and consequently form important elements of chronology. &#65279; Chronology has shared with history the fruits of the novel researches and remarkable discoveries in the field of antiquity which have especially distinguished the present century. The memorabilia of early peoples and ages were set down not only in written records but in monumental inscriptions. The latter, graven on stone or metal, could resist the touch of time and the hand of the barbarian better than the former; and although at various times terrible havoc has been made among them, immense numbers are in existence to this day. In Assyria, Egypt, Persia, Greece, and Italy, the practice of monumental inscription was very general. These inscriptions have attracted the attention of learned men from very remote ages. But as contributions to history and chronology, they have within the present century risen into new and surprising importance. By Grotefend's decipherment of the cuneiform characters, the language of the Babylonian and Persian inscriptions, and by Young's decipherment of hieroglyphics, the language of the Egyptian monuments, two discoveries made within a few years of each other, new fields of vast extent and unknown richness have been opened to historical explorers. These fields are now being diligently worked by some of the greatest living scholars; and from granite block and fragile papyrus roll results are already obtained of rare value and of rarer promise. The Assyrian inscribed cylinders, disinterred but thirty years ago, are yielding up the secrets of a long-buried past, enlarging the horizon of history, and even furnishing the means of giving a precise chronology to periods where all was vague. The publication of the Assyrian Canon by Sir Henry Rawlinson in 1862, verified as it was by the subsequent discovery of a record of a solar eclipse, must mark an epoch in chronological science. Egyptian researches and interpretations have been of similar service, and have strongly tended, if not to establish the complete accuracy, at least to indicate the credibility, of Manetho's account of the Egyptian dynasties. The period through which these dynasties apparently reached was so vast, stretching so far beyond the traditionally accepted limits of man's existence on the earth, that modern chronologers, when they grew critical, could for a long time only shake their heads in profound doubt over Manetho and his vistas of shadowy kings. For Egyptian chronology the discovery by Mariette, in 1864, of the Apis Stelæ is one of the highest importance. A flood of light has been poured on some obscure pages of early Persian history by the great cuneiform inscription of Behistun, discovered in 1835 by Colonel Rawlinson, who subsequently copied and translated it. &#65279; In the article (q.v.), that part of chronology has been already treated of which relates to the measurement of time, and the principal methods explained with sufficient detail that have been employed, or are still in use, for adjusting the lunar months of the solar year, as well as the intercalations necessary for regulating the civil year according to the celestial motions. In the present article it is our purpose to give an account (without repeating what has been discussed in full in ) of the different Eras and Periods that have been employed by historians, and by the different nations of the world, in recording the succession of time and events, to fix the epochs at which the eras respectively commenced, to ascertain the form and the initial day of the year made use of, and to establish their correspondence with the years of the Christian era. These elements will enable us to convert, by a simple arithmetical operation, any historical date, of which the chronological characters are given according to any era whatever, into the corresponding date in our common are of the Incarnation.

Julian Period.

&#65279; Although the Julian Period (the invention of Joseph Scaliger, in 1582) is not, properly speaking, a chronological era, yet, on account of its affording considerable facilities in the comparison of different eras with one another, and in marking without ambiguity the years before Christ, it is very generally employed by chronologers. It consists of 7980 Julian years; and the first year of the Christian era corresponded with the year 4714 of the Julian period. (See . .)

Olympiads.

&#65279; The Olympic games, so famous in Greek history, were celebrated once every four years, between the new and full moon first following the summer solstice, on the small plain named Olympia in Elis, which was bounded on one side by the River Alpheus, on another by the small tributary stream the Cladeus, and on the other two sides by mountains. The games lasted five days. Their origin, lost in the dimness of remote antiquity, was invested by priestly legends with a sacred character. They were said to have been instituted by the Idæan Heracles, to commemorate his victory over his four brothers in a foot race. According to a tradition, possibly more authentic, they were re-established by Iphitus, king of Elis, in concert with the Spartan Lycurgus and Cleosthenes of Pisa. The practice was long afterwards adopted of designating the Olympiad, or period of four years, by the name of the victor in the contests of the stadium, and of inscribing his name in the gymnasium of Olympia. The first who received this honour was Corœbus. The games in which Corœbus was victor, and which form the principal epoch of Greek history, were celebrated about the time of the summer solstice 776 years before the common era of the Incarnation, in the 3938th year of the Julian period, and twenty-three years, according to the account of Varro, before the foundation of Rome. Before the introduction of the Metonic cycle, the Olympic year began sometimes with the full moon which followed, at other times with that which preceded the summer solstice, because the year sometimes contained 384 days instead of 354. But subsequently to its adoption, the year always commenced with the eleventh day of the moon which followed the solstice. In order to avoid troublesome computations, which it would be necessary to recommence for every year, and of which the results differ only by a few days, chronologers generally regard the 1st of July as the commencement of the Olympic year. Some authors, however, among whom are Eusebius, Jerome, and the historian Socrates, place its commencement at the 1st of September; these, however, appear to have confounded the Olympic year with the civil year of the Greeks, or the era of the Seleucidæ. &#65279; It is material to observe, that as the Olympic years and periods begin with the 1st of July, the first six months of a year of our era correspond to one Olympic year, and the last six months to another. Thus, when it is said that the first year of the Incarnation corresponds to the first of the 195th Olympiad, we are to understand that it is only with respect to the last six months of that year that the correspondence takes place. The first six months belonged to the fourth year of the 194th Olympiad. In referring dates expressed by Olympiads to our era, or the contrary, we must therefore distinguish two cases. &#65279; 1st, When the event in question happened between the 1st of January and the 1st of the following July, the sum of the Olympic year and of the year before Christ is always equal to 776. The year of the era, therefore, will be found by subtracting the number of the Olympic year from 776. 