Armenian years elapsed by 365; add the number of days
from the commencement of the current year to the given
date; subtract 176 from the sum, and the remainder will
be the number of days from the 1st of January 553 to the
given date. This number of days being reduced to Julian
years, add the result to 552, and the sum gives the day in
the Julian year, or old style.
In the ecclesiastical reckoning the year begins on the
11th of August. To reduce a date expressed in this
reckoning to the Julian date, add 551 years, and the days
elapsed from the 1st of January to the 10th of August,
both inclusive, of the year 552,—that is to say (since 552
is a leap year), 223 days. In leap years, one day must be
subtracted if the date falls between the 1st of March and
10th of August.
The following are the Armenian ecclesiastical months
with their correspondence with those of the Julian
calendar:—
| 1. | Navazardi begins... | 11th | August. | |
| 2. | Hori | 10th | September. | |
| 3. | Sahomi | 10th | October. | |
| 4. | Dre Thari | 9th | November. | |
| 5. | Kagoths | 9th | December. | |
| 6. | Aracz | 8th | January. | |
| 7. | Malegi | 7th | February. | |
| 8. | Arcki | 9th | March. | |
| 9. | Angi | 8th | April. | |
| 10. | Mariri | 8th | May. | |
| 11. | Marcacz | 7th | June. | |
| 12. | Herodiez | 7th | July. |
To complete the year, five complementary days are added in common years, and six in leap years.
The Mahometan Era, or Era of the Hegira.
The era in use among the Turks, Arabs, and other
Mahometan nations is that of the Hegira or Hejra, the
flight of the prophet from Mecca to Medina, 622 A.D. Its
commencement, however, does not, as is sometimes stated,
coincide with the very day of the flight, but precedes it by
sixty-eight days. The prophet, after leaving Mecca, to
escape the pursuit of his enemies, the Koreishites, hid
himself with his friend Abubekr in a cave near Mecca, and
there lay for three days. The departure from the cave
and setting out on the way to Medina is assigned to the
ninth day of the third month, Rabia I.—corresponding to
the 22d of September of the year 622 A.D. The era begins
from the first day of the month of Moharram preceding the
flight, or first day of that Arabian year, which coincides
with Friday, July 16, 622 A.D. It is necessary to remember that by astronomers and by some historians the
era is assigned to the preceding day, July 15. It is stated
by D'Herbelot that the era of the Hegira was instituted by
Omar, the second caliph, in imitation of the Christian era
of the martyrs. (For details of the Mahometan year, names
and length of months, and for the method of reduction of
Mahometan dates to Christian, see vol. iv. pp. 679–681).
Era of Yezdegird, or Persian or Gelalæan Era.
This era commences with the elevation of Yezdegird III.
to the throne of Persia, on the 16th of June in the year of
our era 632. Till the year 1079 the Persian year resembled that of the ancient Egyptians, consisting of 365
days without intercalation; but at that time the Persian
calendar was reformed by Gelal-ed-din Malek Shah, sultan
of Khorasau, and a method of intercalation adopted which,
though less convenient, is considerably more accurate than
the Julian. The intercalary period is 33 years,—one day
being added to the common year seven times successively
at the end of four years, and the eighth intercalation being
deferred till the end of the fifth year (see vol. iv. p. 667).
This era was at one period universally adopted in Persia,
and it still continues to be followed by the Parsees of
India. The months consist of thirty days each, and each
day is distinguished by a different name. According to
Alfergani, the names of the Persian months are as follows:—
| Afrudin-meh. | Merded-meh. | Adar-meh. |
| Ardisascht-meh. | Schaharir-meh. | Di-meh. |
| Cardi-meh. | Mahar-meh. | Behen-meh. |
| Tir-meh. | Aben-meh. | Affirer-meh. |
The five additional days (in intercalary years six) are named Musteraca.
As it does not appear that the above-mentioned rule of
intercalation was ever regularly followed, it is impossible
to assign exactly the days on which the different years
begin. In some provinces of India the Parsees begin the
year with September, in others they begin it with October.
We have stated that the era began with the 16th June
632. But the vague year, which was followed till 1079,
anticipated the Julian year by one day every four years.
In 447 years the anticipation would amount to about 112
days, and the beginning of the year would in consequence
be thrown back to near the beginning of the Julian year
632. To the year of the Persian era, therefore, add 631,
and the sum will be the year of our era in which the
Persian year begins.
Chinese Chronology.
From the time of the Emperor Yaou, upwards of 2000 years B.C., the Chinese had two different years,—a civil year, which was regulated by the moon, and an astronomical year, which was solar. The civil year consisted in general of twelve months or lunations, but occasionally a thirteenth was added, in order to preserve its correspondence with the solar year. Even at that early period the solar or astronomical year consisted of 36514 days, like our Julian year; and it was arranged in the same manner, a day being intercalated every fourth year.
According to the missionary Gaubil, the Chinese divided the day into 100 ke, each ke into 100 minutes, and each minute into 100 seconds. This practice continued to prevail till the 17th century, when, at the instance of the Jesuit Schall, president of the tribunal of mathematics, they adopted the European method of dividing the day into twenty-four hours, each hour into sixty minutes, and each minute into sixty seconds. The civil day commences at midnight and ends at the midnight following.
Since the accession of the emperors of the Han dynasty, 206 B.C., the civil year of the Chinese has begun with the first day of that moon in the course of which the sun enters into the sign of the zodiac which corresponds with our sign Pisces. From the same period also, they have employed, in the adjustment of their solar and lunar years, a period of nineteen years, twelve of which are common, containing twelve lunations each, and the remaining seven intercalary, containing thirteen lunations. It is not, however, precisely known how they distributed their months of thirty and twenty-nine days, or, as they termed them, great and small moons. This, with other matters appertaining to the calendar, was probably left to be regulated from time to time by the mathematical tribunal.
