A complete dictionary of the Greek and Roman antiquities explaining the obscure places in classic authors and ancient historians relating to the religion, mythology, history, geography and chronology of the ancient Greeks and Romans, their ... rites and customs, laws, polity, arts and engines of war : also an account of their navigations, arts and sciences and the inventors of them : with the lives and opinions of their philosophers / compiled originally in French ... by Monsieur Danet ; made English, with the addition of very useful mapps.

ANNUS,

the Year. 'Tis, properly speak∣ing, that Time which the Sun takes in passing through the 12 Signs of the Zodiack. After several Observations, Astronomers having deter∣min'd, That the several Recesses of the Sun have certain Periods, after which that Planet seems to return to the same Points, in respect to us, and much about the same time makes the same Alteratoins of Seasons, and Temperature of the Air; call'd the Year that Number of Days which the Sun is passing through those several differences of Di∣stances and Recesses.

Those who observ'd these things with grea∣ter Exactness, did first acknowledge, That the Sun did run from East to West, round the Earth in twenty four Hours, by the swift Motion of the Pri∣mum Mobile, or Highest Orb. Then they ob∣serv'd, That the Sun, besides this Motion which is common to all the Planets, had another also proper to it self, which was from West to East, round the same Globe of Earth, in the Ecliptick, which cut∣ting the Aequator obliquely, rises on both sides to∣wards the Poles, as far as the Tropicks. And lastly, That the Sun running, in one Year. through the full Extent of this great Circle of the Ecliptick, which they have divided into twelve Parts or Signs, by its Motion causes two very different Seasons, viz. Summer and Winter, when it arrives at the Tropicks, that is to say, at the two Points of the Solstices; and two other more temperate, viz. Spring and Autumn, when the Sun cuts the Ae∣quator, or the Aequinoctial.

The Year is call'd in Greek 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that is to say, Returning into it self; whence it is, that the Egyptians have represented the Year by a Serpent turning round and biting its Tail: which made Virgil say in his Georgicks, lib. 2. v. 402.

Atque in se sua pervestigia volvitur annus.

The Year is either Natural, which is other∣wise call'd Tropical, or Civil. The Natural or Tropick Year is that exact Space of Time which the Sun takes in passing through the Ecliptick, which is not always the same, be∣cause of the Inequality of the Sun's Motion; which seems to have been observ'd in the most antient Times by the Aegyptian Priests, and Sacrificers to Jupiter Ammon, by means of the different Quantity of Oyl which was burnt continually before the Statue of that God; for measuring with all the exactness possible what they spent in the whole year, they found that there was a considerable Difference between one Year and another, and from thence infer'd that the Years were not exactly equal.

Astronomers have since by the Exactness of their Calculations and Observations, proved that the Mechanical Conjecture of the Aegypti∣ans for the Term of the Solar Year, observ'd in the time of Hipparchus and Piolemy, and a∣bout 750 years after by Albategnius, was still found very different in the time of Alphonsus King of Castile, which was about 400 years af∣ter, and the Modern Discoveries that have been made from the most curious and diligent Observations have no Agreement with the Antients.

And as the Duration of the Solar Year, which we have from Ptolemy's Observations, is the greatest of all, that in Albategnius the least, so that in Alphonsus's time is in some sort a Mean between both, but that of our time seems to come near the greatest. Copernicus, who liv'd about the end of the last Age but one, took occasion to conjecture that these, tho different Inequalities, had their deter∣min'd Periods; and that, in a certain Revo∣lution of time, they pass'd through all these Differences, and then return'd to the same Posture they were in before.

He has found out, by a laborious Computa∣tion, that the Term of this Period is about 1716 years, in which time the Solar year runs through all these several Changes.

But because it would be very hard to fix up∣on a Computation of Years, according to such nice Differences, which consist in some few Minutes for each year, the Astronomers have, for that reason, made use of a mean Duration between the greater and the less, which con∣tains 365 days, 15 hours, and about 49 mi∣nutes.

The Civil Year, which is commonly us'd by all Nations is very different, both as to its Beginning and Duration; which nevertheless may be refer'd to three different Heads, for

they either follow the Course of the Sun, or of the Moon, or of both.

The Hebrews had two sorts of Years, the Secular or Natural Year, and the Sacred or Ec∣clesiastical.

The Secular had respect to the Civil Go∣vernment for buying and selling, and began at the Autumnal Aequinox, in the month called Tisri, which answers to our September, because they believed that God created the World at that time.

The Sacred Year had reference to their Reli∣gion, and began at the Vernal Aequinox, in the month called Nisan, which answers to our A∣pril, at which time they kept their Passover.

The Aegyptians, Chaldaeans and Assyrians were the first that measur'd their Year by the Course of the Sun, and they thought at first, that the Solar Year had 360 days only, which they di∣vided into twelve months containing thirty days each; at the end of which, as we may conjecture by the Story which Plutarch relates concerning Rhea and Saturn, Mercury added five days, which he called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, i. e. Added, by which means the year became 365 days long, without counting the six hours or there∣abouts, by which the Solar Year exceeds that number of days, and which, making one day in four years, is the cause that Thot, i. e. the Aegyptian year has no determin'd and fix'd place in any part of the Solar Year, which it anticipates one day every four years, and one month in 120 years, running through its whole Course in the space of 1440 years; after which it returns to the same point from which it first began.

This way of reckoning the Years has been a long time in use among the Aegyptians, till, af∣ter the defeat of Mark Anthony by Augustus at the Battel of Actium, their Country was made a Province of the Roman Empire, and they were forced to submit to the Laws of the Conque∣rours and their Computation of years, which was the Julian, keeping only the Names of the months, which answer'd after such a manner to the Roman Months, that their Thot, the first day of the Year, always happen'd upon the 29th. of August; whence it comes to pass that the first day of the Aegyptian Year, which is al∣so call'd the Coptick Year, is four whole months and three days before the Kalends of January, which is the first day of the Roman Year.

The Persians count their Years as the Aegyp∣tians do, ever since Cambyses became Master of Aegypt. For having ransack'd the Sepulchre of Simandius, he found a Circle of 365 Cubits round, every Cubit representing a day of the year, which was graven and mark'd by the rising and setting of the fix'd Stars, which made them fix their year to 365 days, without mentioning the hours. Quintus Curtius tells us, that the Persians adore the Sun, and have an holy Fire, kindled by its Rays, to be carry'd before their King, who is follow'd by 365 young Lords, cloath'd with yellow Robes, to represent the 365 days of the Year.

The Arabians, Saracens, and Turks, at this day reckon their Year by the Course of the Moon, making it to consist of twelve Moons, whereof some have thirty, and some twenty nine days, alternatively one after the other, which make all together but 354 days; so that the Duration of time being less than the Solar Year by about eleven days, it follows, that their Month Muharran, which they count for their first place in the whole Course of the Solar Year, which it precedes 11 days every year, and more than a month in 3 years; so that in less than thirty four years it runs through all the season of the Solar Year, and returns to the Point from which it first be∣gan.

And since the exact time of the 12 Moons, besides the 354 whole days, is about 8 hours and 48 minutes, which make 11 days in 30 years, they are forc'd to add 11 days extraor∣dinary in 30 years; which they do by means of a Cycle of 30 years invented by the Arabi∣ans, in which there are 19 years with 354 days only, and 11 intercalary, or Embolismical, which have every one 355 days; and these are they wherein the number of hours and mi∣nutes, which are Surplus to the whole days in every year, is found to be more than half a day, such as 2, 5, 7, 10, 13, 16, 18, 21, 24, 26, and 29, by which means they fill up all the Inequalities that can happen.

The Greeks consider the Motions of the Sun and Moon in their Year, and as they suppos'd in antient times, that the Moons Course was exactly 30 days, they made their Year to con∣sist of 12 Moons, and by consequence of 360 days; but quickly perceiving their error, they took out 6 days, to bring it to the Lunar Year of 354 days, which being less than the Solar Year by 11 days, they found it convenient, for reconciling the Inequalities in the Motions of these two Luminaries, to insert at the end of every second year an intercalary month of 22 days, which they call'd, upon that account, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, id est, a Month added, or inser∣ted.

They understood afterwards, that the 6 hours they had omitted, which yet are a part of the time of the Solar Year above the 365 days, and make one whole day in four years, were the cause that their Year anticipated the true Solar Year one day at the end of four years; which oblig'd them to change their In∣tercalation, and put it off to the fourth year:

and then leaving only 354 days to the 3 first, under the name of the Common Year, they reckon'd 399 days to the fourth, by the addi∣tion or intercalation of one month and an half, consisting of 40 days, arising from the 11 days by which every Solar Year exceeds the Lunar, being four times counted, and the day which arises from the adding of the six hours in four years.

And to render the Intercalation more re∣markable, they made a noble Consecration of it by instituting the Olympick Games, in the time of Iphitas, at which all Greece met toge∣ther every fourth year, and hence came the Computation of time by Olympiads, every one of which consisted of four years, and are so fa∣mous in History.

Nevertheless they found at last, that this space of four years did not rectifie all the Irre∣gularities that happen'd in the Courses of the Sun and Moon, which oblig'd them to double 'em, and make a Revolution of 8 years, and because they were not hereby yet fully satis∣fy'd, they introduc'd another of 11 years.

Notwithstanding this, the Athenians did not receive such satisfaction as they hop'd for by this last Period of 11 years, but they had still remain'd in a perpetual Confusion, had not one of their Citizens, nam'd Meto, an Astro∣nomer of very profound Judgment, at last dis∣cover'd, that all these different Changes which happen'd betwixt the two Motions of the Sun and Moon would be accommodated by a Pe∣riod made up of the two former of 8 and 11 years, i. e. in the space of 19 years, after which those Stars return again to the same place where they were at first.

This Period of XIX. Years of Meto, was ordinarily call'd The Enneadecas eterais, and was receiv'd with so great Applause among the A∣thenians, that they would have it written in large Characters of Gold, and set up in a pub∣lick Place, which gave it the Name of the Gol∣den Number, and the use of it became common not only in Greece but also among the Jews, who made use of it to regulate their years, afterwards among the Romans, and lastly, a∣mong the Christians.

The Athenians began their Year at the New-Moon after the Summer Solstice, in the Month call'd 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, i. e. between the months of June and July. All the Magistrates, says Plu∣to, must meet in the same Temple the day before the Kalends of the Summer Solstice, when the New-year begins.

Some made their Year to consist only of three Months, others of four, as we read in Macrobius his first Book of his Saturnalia, Chap. 12.

The Carians and Acharnanians made their Year to consist of six months, and Justin tells us, That they reckon'd but fifteen days to their Month.

The Romans had three sorts of Years; 1. That of Romulus, which contain'd but ten months, beginning with March, whence it comes that December is call'd the last Month. 2. Of Numa, which corrected the gross Mi∣stake of Romulus, and added two months to the year, viz. January and February, making it to consist of 355 days only, which makes 12 Lunar months. 3. Of Julius Caesar, who dis∣covering a further Error in the Calculation, viz. That there were ten days more than Numa reckon'd, made a Year of 365 compleat days, and reserving the six hours to the end of four years, made a whole day of 'em, which he inserted before the 6th of the Calends of March; so that in that year they counted the 6th of the Calends twice, Bis sexto Calendas, whence came the word Bissextile; and the year had 366 days, and was call'd Bissextile. And this way of com∣putation has continued to our time, and from its Author is named the Julian Year.

Now the 10 days which Caesar added to the year were thus distributed, to January, August, and December, each of 'em two; to April, June, September, and November, each of 'em one.

But because in these latter times there is still an Errour found in this Calculation, and the Equinoxes insensibly go back from the point where Julius Caesar had fix'd them, they have found out, that the year had not just 365 days and six hours, but wanted about 11 minutes, which in 131 years, make the Aequioxes go back about a day; for an hour having 60 such minutes, a day must have 1440, which being divided by 11 make 130 and 10 over, so that the Aequinoxes were come back to the tenth of March. For which reason in the year 1582 Pope Gregory XIII, to reform this Error, caus'd 10 days to be taken from the Year, to bring the Aequinoxes to the 21 of March, and the 22, and 23 of September, and to prevent the like for the future, he order'd, that since 131 thrice counted make 393, i. e. almost 400 years, this matter should be regulated by Centuries, to make the account more easie and compleat, so that in 400 years, the Bissextile of 3 years should come to 100 Bissextiles. And this is that which is call'd The Gregorian Year.

The Jews count their years by weeks, and call the seventh Sabbatical, in which they were not allow'd to plow their Ground, and were oblig'd to set all their Bond-Servants at liberty. They had also their Year of Jubilee and Release, which was every 50 years, or according to o∣thers every 49 years, so that every year of Ju∣bilee was also Subbatical, but yet more famous than others, and then all Possessions, and what∣ever

else had been alienated, return'd to its first Owner.

The Greeks counted their years by Olympiads, of which every one contain'd the space of four whole and compleat years. These Olympiads took their Names from the Olympick Games, which were celebrated near the City of Pisa, otherwise call'd Olympia in Peloponnesus, from whence they were call'd Olympicks. These years were also called Iphitus's, because Iphitus first appointed them, or' at least reviv'd that Solemnity.

The Romans counted by Lustra, of which every one is 4 compleat years, or the beginning of the fifth. This word comes from Luo, which sig∣nifies to pay, because at the beginning of every fifth year they paid the Tribute impos'd on them by the Censors. They also counted their Year by a Nail, which they fix'd in a Wall of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.

The Year is divided into four Parts or Sea∣sons, viz. Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. The Aegyptians divided it but into three Parts, Spring, Summer, and Autumn, allotting to each Season four months. They represented the Spring by a Rose, the Summer by an Ear of Corn, and the Autumn by Grapes and other Fruits. Nonnius, at the end of his Lib. 11. of his Dionysinca, describes the four Seasons of the year thus, The Seasons, saith he, appear to the Eye of the Colour of a Rose; the Daugh∣ters of the inconstent Year come into the House of their Father. The Winter casts a seeble Ray, hav∣ing her Face and Hair cover'd with Snow, and her Breast with Hoar-Frost, her Teeth chatter and all her Body is rough-coated with Cold. The Spring, crowned with Roses, sends forth a sweet Smell, and makes Garlands of Flowers for Venus and Adonis. The Summer holds in one hand a Sickle, and in the other Ears of Corn. And lastly, the Autumn ap∣pears crowned with Vine Branches, loaden with Grapes, and carrying in her hands a Basket of Fruits.

The Greeks begin to count the Years from the Creation of the World, on the first of Sep∣tember.

At Rome there are two ways of reckoning the Year; one begins at Christmass, because of the Nativity of our Saviour, and the No∣taries of Rome use this Date, setting to their Deeds à Nativitate: and the other at March, because of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, this is the Reason that the Popes Bulls are thus da∣ted, Anno Incarnationis.

The antient French Historians began the year at the Death of St. Martin, who dy'd in the year of Christ 401, or 402. They began not in France to reckon the year from January till 1564, by virtue of an Ordinance of Charles IX, King of France, for before they began the day next after Easter, about the twenty fifth of March.