end. This gives 19 × 354 + 6 × 30 + 29 = 6935 days, to be distributed among 235 lunar months. But every leap year one day must be added to the lunar month in which the 29th of February is included. Now if leap year happens on the first, second or third year of the period, there will be five leap years in the period, but only four when the first leap year falls on the fourth. In the former case the number of days in the period becomes 6940 and in the latter 6939. The mean length of the cycle is therefore 693934 days, agreeing exactly with nineteen Julian years.
| Years of the Century. | X4r = 1 | X4r = 2 | X4r = 3 | X4r = 0 |
| 0 | C | E | G | B, A |
| 1 29 57 85 | B | D | F | G |
| 2 30 58 86 | A | C | E | F |
| 3 31 59 87 | G | B | D | E |
| 4 32 60 88 | F, E | A, G | C, B | D, C |
| 5 33 61 89 | D | F | A | B |
| 6 34 62 90 | C | E | G | A |
| 7 35 63 91 | B | D | F | G |
| 8 36 64 92 | A, G | C, B | E, D | F, E |
| 9 37 65 93 | F | A | C | D |
| 10 38 66 94 | E | G | B | C |
| 11 39 67 95 | D | F | A | B |
| 12 40 68 96 | C, B | E, D | G, F | A, G |
| 13 41 69 97 | A | C | E | F |
| 14 42 70 98 | G | B | D | E |
| 15 43 71 99 | F | A | C | D |
| 16 44 72 | E, D | G, F | B, A | C, B |
| 17 45 73 | C | E | G | A |
| 18 46 74 | B | D | F | G |
| 19 47 75 | A | C | E | F |
| 20 48 76 | G, F | B, A | D, C | E, D |
| 21 49 77 | E | G | B | C |
| 22 50 78 | D | F | A | B |
| 23 51 79 | C | E | G | A |
| 24 52 80 | B, A | D, C | F, E | G, F |
| 25 53 81 | G | B | D | E |
| 26 54 82 | F | A | C | D |
| 27 55 83 | E | G | B | C |
| 28 56 84 | D, C | F, E | A, G | B, A |
| Month. | Dominical Letter. | ||||||||||
| Jan. Oct. | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | ||||
| Feb. Mar. Nov. | D | E | F | G | A | B | C | ||||
| April July | G | A | B | C | D | E | F | ||||
| May | B | C | D | E | F | G | A | ||||
| June | E | F | G | A | B | C | D | ||||
| August | C | D | E | F | G | A | B | ||||
| Sept. Dec. | F | G | A | B | C | D | E | ||||
| 1 | 8 | 15 | 22 | 29 | Sun. | Sat | Frid. | Thur. | Wed. | Tues. | Mon. |
| 2 | 9 | 16 | 23 | 30 | Mon. | Sun. | Sat. | Frid. | Thur. | Wed. | Tues. |
| 3 | 10 | 17 | 24 | 31 | Tues. | Mon. | Sun. | Sat. | Frid. | Thur. | Wed. |
| 4 | 11 | 18 | 25 | Wed. | Tues. | Mon. | Sun. | Sat. | Frid. | Thur. | |
| 5 | 12 | 19 | 26 | Thur. | Wed. | Tues. | Mon. | Sun. | Sat. | Frid. | |
| 6 | 13 | 20 | 27 | Frid. | Thur. | Wed. | Tues. | Mon. | Sun. | Sat. | |
| 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 | Sat. | Frid. | Thur. | Wed. | Tues. | Mon. | Sun. | |
By means of the lunar cycle the new moons of the calendar were indicated before the Reformation. As the cycle restores these phenomena to the same days of the civil month, they will fall on the same days in any two years which occupy the same place in the cycle; consequently a table of the moon’s phases for 19 years will serve for any year whatever when we know its number in the cycle. This number is called the Golden Number, either because it was so termed by the Greeks, or because it was usual to mark it with red letters in the calendar. The Golden Numbers were introduced into the calendar about the year 530, but disposed as they would have been if they had been inserted at the time of the council of Nicaea. The cycle is supposed to commence with the year in which the new moon falls on the 1st of January, which took place the year preceding the commencement of our era. Hence, to find the Golden Number N, for any year x, we have N = x+119r , which gives the following rule: Add 1 to the date, divide the sum by 19; the quotient is the number of cycles elapsed, and the remainder is the Golden Number. When the remainder is 0, the proposed year is of course the last or 19th of the cycle. It ought to be remarked that the new moons, determined in this manner, may differ from the astronomical new moons sometimes as much as two days. The reason is that the sum of the solar and lunar inequalities, which are compensated in the whole period, may amount in certain cases to 10°, and thereby cause the new moon to arrive on the second day before or after its mean time.
Dionysian Period.—The cycle of the sun brings back the days of the month to the same day of the week; the lunar cycle restores the new moons to the same day of the month; therefore 28 × 19 = 532 years, includes all the variations in respect of the new moons and the dominical letters, and is consequently a period after which the new moons again occur on the same day of the month and the same day of the week. This is called the Dionysian or Great Paschal Period, from its having been employed by Dionysius Exiguus, familiarly styled “Denys the Little,” in determining Easter Sunday. It was, however, first proposed by Victorius of Aquitain, who had been appointed by Pope Hilary to revise and correct the church calendar. Hence it is also called the Victorian Period. It continued in use till the Gregorian reformation.
Cycle of Indiction.—Besides the solar and lunar cycles, there is a third of 15 years, called the cycle of indiction, frequently employed in the computations of chronologists. This period is not astronomical, like the two former, but has reference to certain judicial acts which took place at stated epochs under the Greek emperors. Its commencement is referred to the 1st of January of the year 313 of the common era. By extending it backwards, it will be found that the first of the era was the fourth of the cycle of indiction. The number of any year in this cycle will therefore be given by the formula x+315r , that is to say, add 3 to the date, divide the sum by 15, and the remainder is the year of the indiction. When the remainder is 0, the proposed year is the fifteenth of the cycle.
Julian Period.—The Julian period, proposed by the celebrated Joseph Scaliger as an universal measure of chronology, is formed by taking the continued product of the three cycles of the sun, of the moon, and of the indiction, and is consequently 28 × 19 × 15 = 7980 years. In the course of this long period no two years can be expressed by the same numbers in all the three cycles. Hence, when the number of any proposed year in each of the cycles is known, its number in the Julian period can be determined by the resolution of a very simple problem of the indeterminate analysis. It is unnecessary, however, in the present case to exhibit the general solution of the problem, because when the number in the period corresponding to any one year in the era has been ascertained, it is easy to establish the correspondence for all other years, without having again recourse to the direct solution of the problem. We shall therefore find the number of the Julian period corresponding to the first of our era.
We have already seen that the year 1 of the era had 10 for its number in the solar cycle, 2 in the lunar cycle, and 4 in the cycle of indiction; the question is therefore to find a number such, that
