fixing dates that have been otherwise imperfectly expressed, and consequently form important elements of chronology.
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.
In the article Calendar (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 the article just named) 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.
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 vol. iv. p. 670.)
Olympiads.
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.
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.
