Digitized by
Digitized
by
LIBRARY OF
W.
J.
QTS
HUSSEY
AN
HISTORICAL SURVEY
'*;
op the
Aswan
aik;*>'
SIR
22
r
PARKER,
ONDON
BOURN, WEST STRAND.
SO'*
1862.
The
right,
r Tranilalion
is
reserved.
Digitized by
'
^IajC % V O
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Jr
a&
o
L (ol
Digitized by
/zct'-cA
o*
f~<
TiujsU*/
A dr- So
6-314?
) ~
CHAPTER
........
8
9
IO
national calendars
Greece.
The
12
Astrology
.........
CHAPTER
....
....
58
62
70
II.
from
the time
of Thales
to
of Democritus.
.........
.......
16
22
25
30
32
34
of Heraclitus
of
Xenophanes
....
....
....
....
72
78
85
90
91
94
96
99
Digitized by
CONTENTS.
iv
IO
of Empedocles
II
of Anaxagoras
12
J3
i4
i5
16
17
18
19
20
J
t
109
113
114
122
.....
.......
....
.......
4
5
!
Uq
7
to Eratosthenes.
.....
.........
.......
.........
phantus
LQ
LI
The Phenomena
12
Aristarchus of Samos.
Archimedes.
....
universe
LA
*1
Ill
ib.
III.
Eudoxus of Cnidos.
135
136
137
ib.
writings
99
100
102
p.
of Diogenes of Apollonia
CHAPTER
Scientific
....
....
....
of Euclid
.........
......
.......
115
151
158
163
165
111)
111
HA
183
180
His orrery
The Alexandrine school of astronomers Aristyllus and
Timocliaris, Conon of Samos, Eratosthenes, Dositheus,
189
ISA
Apollonius of Perga
Note A, on the passage in the Timoeus respecting the supposed
195
202
Digitized
by
CONTENTS.
Note E, on the passage of Archimedes
tric
.....
theory of Aristarchus
Note C, on the
CHAPTER
Scientific
to
Ptolemy.
b.c.
to 160 A.D.)
Hipparchus
astronomical
his
coveries
observations
.
Extant
and
dis-
de Mundo.
Confusion of the
scientific
Caesar
Roman
.
Its reform
calendar.
Uj
234
236
Roman
....
CHAPTER
220
222
by Julius
io
214.
religious festivals
of each state
1
8
practical
with their
207
treatises of
Pseud-Aristotelic treatise
The
203
205
IV.
p.
(160
241
242
24.5
248
252
V.
....
....
2511
262
Digitized by
CONTENTS.
VI
....
have
p.
.......
268
211
218
281
The Canicular
and Egyptian
priests
in
11
i_4
12
12
i_$
l5
and Italy
.......
CHAPTER
266
or Sothiac period
265
285
291
296
238
301
306
309
314
VI.
.
*
Egyptian chronology for the period anterior to 670 B.C.J
315
320
32G
ib.
331
338
Attempts
5
6
7
ib.
339
(1)
By
reducing the
.
362
Digitized by
CONTENTS.
By placing
Vll
lO
(2)
II
and by other
contrivances
p.
12
366
367
......
375
....
377
Arguments
CHAPTER
VII.
.......
.....
.....
........
Assyrian history
Babylonian history of Berosus
Babylonian kings of the Astronomical Canon
5
6
And
Examination of the
.3
II
different
.........
........
Examination of the
nominal Canon
series of
398
400
404
ib.
405
their discrepancies
tament
IO
397
406
423
425
CHAPTER
428
433
VIII.
as the origi-
.......
in navigation
....
446
Their voyages
448
Digitized
by
CONTENTS.
Vlll
3
4
Amber
.....
.....
......
5
6
Index
p.
450
457
466
481
48!)
497
2ilfi
Digitized
by
GoogI
Chapter
I.
ROMANS.
HMIE
-L
with a
scientific
lighf upon the special science of which the origin and progress
are described.
end
it is
is
subsidiary to the
In
like
it
successively
his-
No
is
not versed in
this peculiarity,
that
it
is
conversant
with subjects which from the earliest ages have attracted the
daily attention of mankind, and which gave birth to observa-
methods.
minations.
Digitized by
Googl
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OP
moon
[CHAP.
I.
The
it
all civilized
nations.
It has, in con-
little
historical
criti-
cism.^)
it
fix
will
with confidence
all
the principal
how
far the
of being teachers.
Digitized by
SECT. 2 .]
The
poems, and as
it still
we
Homeric
find it in the
was a
it
was a
downwards. (4)
its
The
from the
to result
was
circular,
on a high
is
in the
led,
was
entire earth
struct maps,
circular.
When
size of
one country to
the earth.
and
treats it as childish.
it is
Many
even
now
flow
round
(3)
it.
6
( )
The
ancients
(says
is
map
of
if its
made
Agathemerus, in
Tata
(he says)
error of drawing a
to
his
bk to 1 TroiitTov
rities cited
l^ovTas t^Tjyi]aap(POP' 01 oiKeavbv re p( opt a ypaepowri ne'pi rrjp yijv e ovtrav kvkXot epea if djro T&pvov, iv. 36. A ropvos was probably a string fastened to
a pin or peg, with which either a circle or a straight line could be drawn on
a flat surface. It is used in the latter sense by Theognis, v. 803. Eurip.
Bacch.-1066, describes a tree bent down to the ground by force as follows:
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
4
treatise
figure
[chap.
its
of Greece. (*)
central point
I.
circular
was
It
illustrated
by an
etiological legend,
out two eagles, one from the east, the other from the west,
scribes the
and nearly
thus determining
Homer
(he says)
and the
as the
scientific
all
it
Geminus, a
at this spot
stars to rise
from and
kvkXovto
(V
it,
as a horizon;
Hence they
&are toov,
t\
Kl'pTus rpo^os
cAt Spopov.
,-
6)
i.
and he
is
1.
Od.
8 ) Pindar, Pytli.
Homer makes
i.
50.
Digitized by
SECT. 2.]
who
This belief
is
is
Even
Hero-
constructing
maps
still
to be incon-
The measures
and Scythia,
and the
stars appeared to
move upon,
and hence,
like a
The
sun, the
moon,
as the ocean
was supposed
(
(
it
at their setting. ( 12 )
Herodotus
(it) Sid
plane.
ward
and he
poet,
ii.
it
to
Homer
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
Thus Homer
[CHAP.
Ii
ls
;(
He likewise speaks
15
;(
and he
never sinks
into
the ocean-stream. (
16
)
fabulous reason
for this
it
was
The
422; Od.
iii.
1, xix.
433.
See Volcker,
ib.
into
pp. 20-23.
Homer
Nec quum
viii.
ii.
68, 157
Lucan,
Taygete simul os
vii. 1, ix.
rising
Aut eadem
625.
morning star as
honestum
from ocean.
terris ostendit
Et
In
squore
tingi.'
Xoirpuv uaavoio.
II. xviii. 489 ; Od. v. 275.
Compare Kruses Hellas, vol. i. p. 245-273.
Thus, Aratus, V. 48, aperot xvavtov rrttpvXaypivai uKtavoio, and Virgil,
Georg, i. 246
(16)
Digitized by
SECT.
2 .]
similar report
mentioned by Tacitus
is
18
shed tears
sisters,
at his death,
poetical, figment,
metamorphosed into
poplar-trees,
is
though apparently
than Horner^ 20 )
later
The
personification
pine^ 23 )
In
like
it is
describes
everywhere pre-
sent. (**)
ed.
Bake
Auson. Epist.
HeXioj
(21)
of
jr
avr
ipopjic
icai
irdvr Iwanovug.
iii.
( 22 )
( 23 )
Horn.
Hymn. Cer.
all-seeing witness,
Agam.
69.
Gr. voL
iv. p.
II. xiv.
344.
632.
i.
10, 10.
31.
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OP
moon; hut
of the
Homer and
The
[chap.
I.
this identification
how
the sun found his way from the west, after his daily course
through the heaven, back to the east and the region of the
dawn.
this
According to Aristotle,
many
believed that the course of the sun was not under the earth,
its
east,
it
travelled
round the
In
Underneath,
souls,
was placed.
It
all
cold.
was conceived
as a subterranean abode,
Its only
<V
A.vio\ti 6 ijXioy.
ii. 1.
Compare Avienus, Ora Maritima, v. 647.
The descent of Orpheus through the Tsenarian cave illustrates this
(27) Meteorol.
(28)
belief
Digitized by
Googl
SECT. 3.]
of the dead.
fire
Etna
modem
as a spiracle of hell.( 29 )
tion for this natural phenomenon, and they supposed that both
3 The sun exercises so decisive and conspicuous an influence upon the actions of men during every hour of their life,
that
it
all
nations,
from their
earliest existence,
movement
and from
The
their observa-
diurnal course of
the sun, and the alternation of day and night, would be easily
observed, and would lead to simple rules of conduct.
number of
The
is
requisite for
corresponding to
must have been soon
Hence
the earths
motion round
determined
its
orbit
It
latitudes of Greece
nights
fixed
and Western
sical
cause
is
substituted.
Digitized by
Googl
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
10
The
solstices.
[CHAP.
I.
The
the great
would be of
course
circle
its
obliquity
when compared
later introduction,
and
is
not necessary to
life.
suffi-
for the
S1
(
originally
meant
words
is
Greek
that
upUcog, or idptcoQ,
is,
a ring.
period. (82)
The succession
civil
communities, have
The
cattle,
&pas rov
(
32 )
annus.'
apay
Ut
Compare
tic
unde
Virgil,
Georg,
Atque
ii.
401
Ap. Stob. Eel. i. 8 Meineke, Fragm. Com. Gr. vol. ii. p. 380. The word
ruias in v. 3, seems to show that those verses were spoken by a chorus of
.
Dpai.
(
33 ) See Gen.
i.
14
viii.
22.
Digitized by
SECT. 3 .]
the open
air,
11
War
At
Houses were
stage of society.
a period of semi-barbarism,
ill
at a
more
men
civilized
evil.
and
exist.
unskilful.
The division
quity,^ 4 )
is
The
is
obvious
But autumn
is
a marked epoch. ( 35 )
Hence a
antithesis
is also
division of the
Germans
is
of the ancient
testimony of Tacitus
are denoted
is
The year
37
;(
at fixed intervals is
The recurrence
'
autumn1
of the seasons
(34) See Galen, ad Hippocrat. Epidem. i. vol. xvii. L p. 18, ed. Kuhn.
The treatise of Hippocrates de Diala, iii. 68 (rol. vi. p. 594, ed. Littre),
says that the year is generally divided into four seasons that the winter
lasts from the setting of the Pleiads to the spring equinox ; the spring
from the equinox to the rising of the Pleiads ; the summer from the rising
of the Pleiads until the rising of Areturus and the autumn from the
rising of Areturus to the setting of the Pleiads. The treatise De Diteta,
is either genuine, or as ancient as Hippocrates, Littre, vol. i. p. 356.
Manilius, li. 656, considers the four seasons as marked by nature.
:
spring,
(37)
(38)
v.
i.
26.
Prom. 454
Germ. 26.
6.
Harvest.
Digitized by
12
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
nature, and
it is
often employed
by the ancients
[CHAP.
I.
as a proof of
nomena
life
which returned
called
at annual periods.
Such were certain winds,
by the Greeks the Etesian, from their annual recurrence,
which
last
date.( 41 )
Homer were at an
Now,
the poems of
Sinope to Massilia,
poem
Nam
Hesiod speaks of the annual cry of the crane, as marking the time
for ploughing and the winter season.
Op. 446. See likewise Aristoph.
Av. 710.
(41) See below, ch. 2, 2.
The
third
and
fourth
years
are
mentioned in Od. ii. 89, xxiv.
(42)
141-2 four years in Od. ii. 107, xix. 152 five years in II. xxiii. 833, Od.
xxiv. 309; seven years, Od. xiv. 285, vii. 269; eight years, Od. vii. 259,
261, xiv. 287 nine years, II. ii. 134, 295, Od. v. 107 ten years, II. viii. 404,
418, xii. 15, Od. v. 107, xv. 18
eleven years, Od. iii. 391 ; twenty years,
H. xxiv. 766, Od. ii. 175, xvi. 205, xvii. 327, xix. 222, 484, xxi. 208, xxiii.
102, 170, xxiv. 322 on the year as a recurrent period, II. ii. 295, Od.
xiv. 294.
The word XvitdjSas is used for pear in Od. xiv. 161, xix. 306, i.e.
the course of the sun. That Homers was the tropical year is held by
(40)
i.
p. 260.
Digitized by
SECT. 3.]
siege of
13
tropical
ceived the dog Argus to have died in the twentieth tropical year
from
It is clear that
known
known
the age of
their children.
years.
riage.
His wife
M
(
The same
is
mar-
and
Homer
third. ( 46 )
nine generations of
man
nymphs ten
phoenix. ( 47)
generations of the
+ 25 = 92 years. (49 )
at 67
computed by Herodotus,
is
as
Mimnermus
man
lives
The
by the Psalmist,
life
of
at seventy
years, (w)
The
successive ages of
man
are enumerated
P- 694.
She
( 44 ) lb.
by Solon, who
(43)
fourteen.
Hermann,
( 45 )
46 ) H.
i.
250.
table f&do^LtjKovra.
( 49 ) Diog. Laert. ix. 19.
(
50 )
i.
32
compare Psalm
xc.
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OP
14
[CHAP.
I.
He
hebdomad, from
have reached
its
He
considers
life
age at which a
man became
was
to
51
The
liable to or
service,
and
The accounts
sent annual magistracies as created immediately after the abolition of the heroic royalty.
are stated
the decennial
The
officers.
is
b.c.
The Spartan
ephors, the
and
but
it
gistracies
established
23
i.
5.
The
53 ) The
The
aW
Ip %tipac
avipolv
outc
Sept. Theb.
67982.
Digitized by
SECT. 3.]
till
509
b.c.
officers
15
of State to
mark the
whose
Tyrtaeus,
lifetime is placed,
b.c.,
on
sufficient evidence, in
War having
by the
flight of the
Both
Homer
In the 15 th book of
(v.
By
sun.*
Ortygia
it
is
The
is
meant by
;
solstices
were noted. ( 87 )
The
solstices are
"Works and
I)ays.( 58 )
In the
first
In the second,
solstice.
summer
Thucydides
tion
He
is
defined
is
studious to
by natural
mark
periods,
that
89
torical year is the solar or tropical year.( )
is
civil calendar.
Notwithstanding
(55)
Fragm.
(56)
(57)
Homer
sun, Ud.
all
the
4, ed. Gaisford.
vol.
ii.
p.
563.
xii. 4.
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
16
Greek
is
[chap.
I.
made
for a definite
number
of years. ( 80 )
Biot supposes the points of the compass to have been originally determined
made by
setting of the
lines
The
spectator would give the south and north, with a close approach
to accuracy;
Jay
a wall running due east and west cast no shade at sunset and
sunrise. ( 61 )
It
may be
solstitial
its
astro-
4 A
2h. 44m.
It
is
equal to 29d.
month of the
A five years
truce was
By
made between
Mythol.
p. 349, 413.
(63) firiv ion \povo C dtri ovvbSov iiri ovvoSov, f) ano vavoe\i}vov iiri
oravoiXpvov. sort de ovvoSoy piv urav Iv ry avry poipf ylvyrai 6 rj\iof xai r)
at\i)vri' tovt' eon wept rt)v rpiaeaba ot\ijvr]s, Gemin. C. 6 .
KaXtXrai p>)v to
Digitized by
SECT. 4.]
17
combining the course of the sun with that of the moon, the
tropical year was assumed, at a rough and approximate computation, to consist of 12 lunations, or
The month
is
300 days.( 64 )
often mentioned by
Homer, and
is
treated as
The
its
it
as
Arrb
ingenio acri quidem sed agresti statum proprii ordinaret imperii, initium
cujusque mensis ex illo sumebat die quo novam lunam contigisset videri.
jMacrob. Sat. i. 15, 5.
vrt pkv ovv r/pipa rt ytyovtv oi5r<o Kai ha rarra, ) rijc pi as nal <ppovipiorarpv
KvicXijaiiitQ irepioboy'
pile
iirixaraXaSy, Iviavros
14, p. 39.
Si
{~f
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
18
days.( 87 )
[CHAP.
I.
month
Even
Aristotle, in
to the
primitive
Roman
both
given
The system pursued by the ancient Greeks was to determine their months by the moon, and their years by the
sun.
The laws of the State and the oracles of the gods concurred in prescribing that sacrifices should he regulated ac-
and years.
This precept
all
and by
regulating the years according to the sun, and the days and
By
Varro, ap.
27, fix the number at three hundred.
p. 361, ed. Gerlach et Roth.
Non.
c.
12 (in luces),
absolutas.
Lastly, Diog. Laert. v. 75, says that three hundred and sixty statues
to him. The number of statues fluctuates, and the reference
is doubtless fanciful and fabulous.
were dedicated
De Cam.
(69)
He
(70) Aristot.
number
days
is
71 )
Num.
18.
Digitized by
SECT. 4.]
19
sacrifices, for
fall
in the spring,
and the
summer
sacrifices
sacrifices
in the
summer.
but
it
of the
civil year.
sisted in counting
regulation of days
or thirtieth. ( 7S )
triacas,
may
73
;(
in-
twelve lunar
whence
(72)
c. 6.
Finit Aventino
(73) Leg.
(74)
De
vii.
Leg.
14, p. 809.
ii.
12.
vol. v. p. 55.
c 2
Digitized by
Googl
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
20
It
is
made
[chap.
I.
dar, intended to
synodical lunar
it
This
tvr]
Kal via)
hollow
and in
the former
If this
b.c.,
it
Thales.
The
is
periodical, as distinguished
moon makes
a revolution from
round numbers
length of a lunar
The lunar
at
twenty-eight days
month according
year,
is
and
it
consists
sometimes taken
and
this
the
is
78
)
is
354d. 8h. 48m. 36s., being nearly eleven days shorter than the
solar tropical year.
59.
'
medes, i. 3,
Geminus, c.
days.
(78) Blackstone,
Com.
vol.
ii.
p. 141.
Digitized by
SECT. 4.]
21
fifty
flocks
Lam-
mon
The
is
280 days,
is
months.
thirty-one days,
months. ( 81 )
(79)
Od.
xii.
129,
cum
Schol.
See Nitzsch, ad
loc. vol.
iii.
p. 387.
Homer, Od. xiv. 13, says that in Ithaca, belonging to the palace of Ulysses,
were twelve enclosures, each containing fifty breeding sows (
600).
The
males slept outside, and were much fewer, lor their number was diminished
by the suitors, to whom the swineherd supplied the fattest their number
was 360. Mr. Gladstone, Studies on Homer, vol. iii. p. 435, thinks that
this number alludes to the number of days in the year but the coincidence
:
Digitized by
PKIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
22
[CHAP.
now
is
extant,
and
I.
all
The duration
of
moon round
as
antiquity.
course of
its
orbit
its
nations.
racy,
from a want of a
scientific
ment
all
deficient in accu-
knowledge of astronomy, of
scientific
for the
measurement of
time,)
Owing
which
want of
this
gious calendar of
its
own
different national
Each
State,
months; and
as the
commencement
menced
its
course from
a different day.
with reference to
sacrificial
The
calendar, as
is
observances
In
some
later times,
same period.
( 82 )
The
derivations of the
will
throw
Digitized by
SECT. 5.]
when
23
flattery
Julius, in
Sextilis
Some
name
of
Au-
of the subse-
light
'
was
The
last
day of the
and the
festival of
month the
metria.
(84) See Censorin. c. 22 ; Maorob. Sat. i. 12, 34 ; Dio
Appian, B.C. ii. 106; Suet. Csesar, 76; Plut. Num. 19. This month was
selected because his birthday fell in it. The chauge took place in 44 b.c.
Cass. xliv. 5;
(85) Suet.
The
Macrob.
i.
12,
35
Plut. ib.
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
24
quent
Roman
[CHAP.
I.
same enduring
success. ( 86 )
was considered a
Rome
In
religious function,
and
it
earliest
That a
civil
common
M
)
is
in.
astronomical facts.
all,
if all
satisfied
for example, ( 89 )
Digitized by
SECT. 6 .]
is intelligible
state.
25
But inasmuch
as
what was
.useful to
men
of
all
was best
it
for
common
No
trace of
signation of years.
Herodotus or Thucydides.
series of
own
their
lifetime
which
is
assumed to be known.
own time by
Hesiod and Homer by 400 years. (91 ) The same historian reports
the statements of the Egyptian priests that 900 years had
elapsed between
the death of
own
their
time ;(") and that 17,000 years had intervened between the time
of Hercules and the reign of Amasis;( 93) also the statement of
the Tyrian
priests, that
In
like
manner, Thucydides
Sicily,
HelL
vol.
iii.
by stating that
is
to
A iov
it
i.e.
See
p. 350.
xvii.
iv. 37.
(91)
ii.
53, 145.
(92)
ii.
13.
(93)
ii.
43.
vol.
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
26
[CHAP.
own
I.
birth
by about 550 years :(96 ) he states that the interval between the
legislation of Lycurgus and the end of the Peloponnesian war
was a
He
96
little
its
He
capture.
likewise
for the
war respectively
at
main
Xenophon adopts
years. (T)
mode
first
referred.
An
era or epoch
is
date
is
fixed
foundation
Hegira
fixed
by the years
of
Rome,
the
after the
birth of Christ,
as
after
it
as a
The refewhen a
rence
it,
when
as
a date
is
birth of Christ.
known
when
at a later period,
about 256
made
b.c., is stated to
Timseus,
95 )
i.
Olym-
who
earliest historian
(96)
first
reckoned by the
it
died
who
was always
18.
last
War
is
404 b.c.
,
(97) v. 112,
(98)
(99)
i.
13.
i.
2. 1.
Digitized by
SECT. 6.]
27
use in
and
civil
for
astronomical purposes.
The Greeks
assuming
it
Thus Thucydides
from Arne
to Boeotia sixty years after the capture of Troy, and that the
after the
same
epoch. ( 10J ) All the subsequent Greek writers use the Trojan era
first
and even
In
as the
like
the city ; and sometimes from the expulsion of the kings or the
Gallic conflagration.
mode
name
many
mode
of
;
is,
at Sparta
an ephor
In
formed
of the
official
this function
civil
103
;(
reli-
The reckoning
Digitized by
Googl
28
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
gistrates implied
an
era,
[chap.
I.
point.
the names into a numerical date must have often required reference or calculation, and could only have been obvious to the
memory for recent years. Yet the Romans appear to have used
this mode of chronological notation not only for civil, but also
for domestic purposes
by the names of the consuls; and they marked their winecasks, in order to denote the year of the vintage, by the names
birth
officers. ( 104 )
of the same
The
official
kings reign
practised in
England
is
ture.
of an
that the
by the year
officer
states
in the
The ode
to the
Amphora begins
mecum consule
:
nata
institutae
Horat. Carm.
21.
Manlio.
iii.
8.
iii.
to in
Amphora centeno
viii.
45.
Calcatamque tenet
Where Ruperti
Digitized by
SECT. 6.]
There
end of a
no
is
phenomenon
visible
it
29
was taken,
it
wherever
summer
solstice;
it
The
was observed
or
of a lunar month.
unlike the moon,
to
autumnal equinox
the
Boeotian, Delphian,
Roman
the
Bithynian
last- mentioned
the
and
The commencement of
standard.
first
month
many
and
year
first
make use
of January.
As according
of a year
in
England
is
reckoned
Thus
parochial purposes
Lammas
civil
states, it is
is
legal
109
after
March, however,
is
In Scotland, the
is
cles,
(
106 ) See the description of the moon's phases in the verses of SophoFragm. 713, Dindorf.
107 ) K. F. Hermann, Griech. Monatskunde, p. 122-9.
Phys.
meant.
(
i.
12, 7
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
30
[chap.
I.
is
to a great extent,
first
of January was,
commencing on the
March
dif-
The most
of
festival
25,
which
fifteenth century,
till
all
antecedent probability,
months
determined within
has been
Some
statements of ancient
however,
critics, are,
its
orbit,
according to the
Copemican system.
Thus the Arcadians
113
;(
months. (
113
)
(for
its
duration
is
:(
lu
)
(no) See
c.
21
it is
ii.
six
varians
variously re-
is
them
it
as Pralu-
was regu-
p. 325-343.
ib.
Plut.
Num.
ib.
Macrob.
Solin. ib.
( 114 )
npo<rtkr)voi.
iv.
264.
Eudoxus
is
here
Digitized by
SECT. 7.]
reason
is insufficient,
31
116
;(
It
was the
but this
months,
it
solar year
The
Arcadian community.
fit
to
who were
who
Mnaseas,
it
despised
b.c. re-
In the feeble
Arcadians
is
treatise
on Astronomy ascribed
astronomy, and
were
the
ignorant of
moon.( 118 )
These abnormal years are designated by Censorinus as
in-
lun3,
gens prior
ilia fuit.
(118)
De
Astrol. 26.
(119) Caligine
jam profunda
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
32
months
and 374
days which
attributed
is
[chap.
to
the
I.
Lavi-
nians.( 120 )
we
shall
Egyptian
astronomy. ( 1S1 )
Of
who
much
consideration
is
that of Eudoxus,
Now
1 -3
it is
impossible
astronomy
mote date
common
solar
year.
The Egyptian
is,
and divided
first
of
all
it
Herodotus
states that
the
year,
We
that the Egyptian year was changed from 3G0 to 365 days, in
unknown
to the Egyptians.
v. 4, 7.
r
( 1
) Below, oh.
on A lyvKTioi riv pfjva Iviavrov l*a(122) el li xai o <pr)<riv ESJoijoc
\ovv , ovk iiv Tj tSiv 7roAAwv tovtwv tvtaurutv aerapWprjatQ t^oi Tt Qavpatrrov.
123 )
( 124)
ii.
4.
Sat.
i.
By
Ivuleica plpea,
p. 22, B.,
<i
X<5Awy,
12, 2.
Digitized by
Googl
SECT. 8.]
33
If,
origin,
as to the nature of
referred
it
many
footing as the
and
it
may be put on
the same
The statements
the division
ai;e
attestation
which
is
They
clearly of
Greek
wpai ) as
legend
origin.
are,
to a day.( 126 )
merely as a contrivance
for
Bailly uses
the same hypothesis for reducing the long periods cited for
the
astronomical
is difficult to
to give
it
observations
of
the
It
which the
Chaldeans. ( 127 )
later
we
call
a day, and
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
34
vvxO(jfiipov.(
l2s
necessary idea
[CHAP.
this simple
it.
I.
and
If they had
form an idea of a year, they could have had no name for this
important measure of time. As soon as they formed an idea of
a year, they would naturally give it a name ; but
must have been different from that by which they
day.(
12
name
9
is
this
signified a
The most
the ancient
Roman
abnormal years
Romulus.
he had a taste
for literature
and had
up some
fasti in
a temple
Junius
tion to chronology;
set
b.c.,
antiquities, is likewise
and wrote on
legal
and constitutional
fact.( 132 )
of
is also
Romulus
was
and by Macrobius,
Gellius,
and
others.
xi.
25.
(129) Curtius, viii. 83, states that the Indians used months of fifteen
days.
month of fifteen days, like a year of three or four months, is
doubtless fabulous.
Digitized by
GoogI
SECT. 9.]
by the ancient
delivered to us
we
details,
but also
(as
35
not only in
writers, differ
shall see
presently)
may be
Romans,
points
in fundamental
considered as an outline
Romulus,
Roman
state, instituted a
He
first
Ilia.
months
of
his
own
the
name
named
Aprilis
being
family, he
to govern
namely,
elders,
The remaining six months received no allusive appellations, hut were named by him numerically, in their order, from
Quintilis to December.
Of the ten Romulean months, April,
June, Sextilis, September, November, and December had thirty
days and March, May, Quintilis, and October had thirty-one
days thus making the sum of 304 days (180 + 124 = 304). 134 )
jnniores.
Csesar, in Aprili
Hie ad
Et fit
See also
614.
Qui dies mensem Veneris marina}
iv.
Findit Aprilem.
Horat. Carm.
iv. 11.
a<j>pos.
D 2
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
36
[CHAP.
I.
place of that
first
month of the
year,
and obtained
its
135b
name, on account of
Others thought that
the
whom
generation, by
known
aperire,
life
man
Rome under
at
were repaired.
name
of "Venus was
m
)
The
derivation
quartum,
i.
35.
b
So Ovid, in explaining the origin of
( I 35 ) See Festus in Martius.
the name of this month, says
Mars Latio venerandus erat, quia praesidet armis
Arma fer genti remque decusque dabant.
:
Fast.
iii.
85, 6.
Scorpius
(136) Aries was assigned to Mars, and Taurus to VenuB.
was likewise divided between Mars and Venus. The sting was assigned
to Marg, and the anterior part to Venus
the libra of the Latins and vy!>s
of the Greeks because this goddess united persons in the yoke of matri-
mony.
(137)
In
name
Aprilis, as given
by Macrobius,
Cincius the antiquarian, and Varro, L.L. vi. 33, concurred. It is alluded
to by Ovid, Fast. iii. 85 90, whose loyalty to the Julian family is, however, shocked at the idea of rejecting the derivation of April from Venus,
Greswell, Origines Kalendari Italic, vol. i. p. 161, thinks
24.
ib. 115
that the month Martius derived its name from the planet Mars, and that
the month Aprilis was named from aperire, in the sense of the opening
Digitized by
SECT. 9.]
37
304 days, April would not always have been a spring month.
of
Rome would
would have
fallen in
The
various.
name Maius
said to have
are even
more
Tusculum,
Cin-
titles
and
as unable to choose
He
attributes.
among
reign power.
Juvenes.
He
3.
2.
Ovid
is
perplexed as
1.
Majestas, or sove-
name Junius,
To Juno, referring to other examples of the same
To Hebe, Juventas wife of Hercules. 3. To
Juniores. 4. To the junction of Romulus and Tatius.( ul ) Others
supposed the month Junius to have taken its name from Junius
and
is
traces
name.( 140 )
2.
Brutus. ( W3 )
The
been reformed by
is
his successor
thus described. C 43 )
To
by Romulus
Numa.
is
stated to have
The reform of
Numa
month.
Greeks.
6.
(138) Fast. v. 1
63.
(140) Fast. vi. 59
(>39) lb. 11
110.
in Crete, Bithynia,
and Delphi.
(141) Fast. vi. 1
100.
Fast. p. lxxix.
iii.
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
38
[CHAP.
I.
355 days.
existing
who
Februus,
Numa
month of Mars,
in his
days,
Numa
sought to bring
He
is
it
into
harmony with
Greek system of
made,
is
is
This
ten months. Florus, i. 2, and Eutrop. i. 3, say that Numa distributed the
year into twelve months. Victor, de Vir. 111. 3, states him to have distributed the year into twelve months, and to have added to it January and
February. According to Lydus, de Mens. i. 16, iii. 4, Numa made a year
of twelve months, and reconciled the courses of the sun and moon. He
also prefixed January and February to the year: making it begin in the
middle of Capricorn ; at which time the day has lengthened by half an
hour since the winter solstice. (In our latitude, the increase of the day
in the ten days from Dec. 21 to Jan. 1, is sixteen minutes.)
The popular belief that the year of Romulus consisted of ten months,
and that it began with March, was referred to at Rome in interpretation
of a Sibylline prophecy, in the time of Belisarius, 537 a.d. Procop. de
Bell. Goth. i. 24.
Serv. Georg, i. 43, states that the original Roman year consisted of ten
months, and that March was its first month. Tibullus, iii. 1, 1, says that
March was originally the first month of the year.
Suidas, in N ovpac IIo/jjriAiof, says of Numa ivtavriv re irpwroc ivparo,
ei'c cun u:a pijva{ ti)v 7)\taKrjv Karaviipas irepioiov, xvtt]v re Kai dcaravo);riu
wavraxairi irpo airoii irapa 'Pwpaiotj tptpopiv t)v.
:
Digitized by
SECT. 9.]
months of 29 and 30
The
difference
39
between
and the
this year
solar
year, being
8,
for
intercalation.
for
days.
But
as his year
8 days in 8 years.
On
the
full
Numa
is
at
eteris.( 144 )
7
But the
by
year.
error of
is
intercalation
His statement
tri-
an
period ; and deviated further from the truth than the intercalation attributed to
Numa.
Unless, therefore,
we make the
method of
Numa
was
less defective
than the
A
is
given by Plutarch
ferent road.
assigns ten
intercalation of
but he arrives at
it
by an
Numa
entirely dif-
months
to the year of
Roman
Compare
( 144 ) c. 18.
738 and 730 days.
Ideler, vol.
i.
p. 270.
Digitized by
Googl
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
40
[chap.
I.
very unequal length, some having less than twenty days, some
months of
last
Numa
the
before
this year.
Eomans were
between the lunar and solar years, and only sought to bring
the year to 360 days
but that
Numa knew
Numa
Numa,
is
the intercalation
is
intercalation to be of a
month
alternately of twenty-two
and
reformed
Roman
calendar,
This
is
and therefore
lost
intercalation ascribed to
Numa
With
took the
it
method of
Numa
to have
Roman
Rome, who
(145)
Num.
:n the Life of
18,
19
Numa,
Quaest.
is
Bonn.
Digitized by
SECT. 9.]
calendar. ( 14S )
41
Numa
on a
scientific basis,
but
tifices.( 147 )
Livys statement
is,
that
Numa
first
bring
it
into
calendar.
it
was introduced
His account
intercalation of
Numa
and
that, in order to
is
as a correction to
(as
But
of 354 days.
as the year of
Numa
In order to correct
The motive
for
it
sub-
solstitialis in this
A similar misapplication
of the word is cited from Servius, ad JKn. iv. 653. The word solstitium is
commonly used by the Latin writers to denote the summer solstice thus
:
Ovid
Longa
same
(
sense.
149 ) Sat.
i.
13, 9
13.
Digitized by
Googl
42
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
[chap.
I.
months.
octaeterids
two
first
if
were inter-
number
it
into months.
355 days,
applied to
it is
it
If the
Roman
to digest this
difficult
mode
of intercalation
was
An
entirely different
He
states that
sists
when
it
Numa, by which
is
year.( 161 )
the
given by Solinus.
reformed
on
The Greeks introduced
adopted
nistered
Romans
at first
corruptly, in order to
it fell
suit
priests,
who admi-
it
was
( 150 ) Siccama de Vet. anno Romuli et Num, Grv. Thes. vol. viii.
supposes the Romulean year to have consisted of 354 days, and twelve
months, of which March was the first, and January and February the last.
He supposes further that Numa altered this year by adding a day, and by
p. 83,
Solinus supposes this to have been done for the purpose of pre( 151 )
serving the odd number of days, in obedience to the precept of Pythagoras:
whom he therefore connects with Numa. See below, n. 173.
bility of
Digitized by
SECT. 9.]
43
Rome from
by
is cited
months ;( 15B )
later,
Roman
He
at least
156
)
common
Roman
have begun with March, and to have ended with January and
February.
Roman
Roman year
Licinius Macer,
to consist of twelve
who
author of intercalation.
assumed
Tullius. ( 167 )
Cassius
Hemina and
Decemvirs, in 451
49
b.c.;
have been
first
established
by the
its
b.c.,
Fragm.
own
consulship. (
c.
la9
)
20.
was
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
44
[chap.
T.
Numa,
is,
its
head.
none of these
(for
Roman
The
Numa
that of
by 500
earliest
There
years.
is,
moreover, no reason
knew more
of the year of
Romulus
Numa
are like-
The
by the
wise described
diversity.
from
of the early
of
it
different
all four.
Roman
differ
all
while
calendar,
it is
the time
when
similar
Greek calendars.
If
it is
which
Numais
of Romulus,
is
is
160)
Postmodo creduntur
Tempora
this year,
by
Fast.
The meaning of
an essential
unsupported by
ii.
53-4.
Digitized by
: :
SECT. 9.]
Now
Numa.
has
45
the appearance of
all
It
if
December,
but
would
have
denoted
two remaining
the
is
But
this
Roman
it
calendar) should
The
month
the months.
all
began at the
fifth
Cicero
last
last
last
last in
month was
year.
163
(
The Terminalia,
and
after this
164
; (
that
is
is
Other fragments
(162) Varro, Epist. Qutest. ap. Serv. Georg, i. 43.
from the same wort are in Varro, vol. i. p. 194, ed. Bipont.
Sed tamen, antiqui ne nescius ordinis erres,
(163)
Primus, ut
est,
fuit,
ii.
47
52.
(164) The intercalation was after the 23rd of February, between the
Terminalia and the Regifugium, Macrob. i. 13, 15 Censorin. 20.
Terminalia, quod is dies anni extremus constitutus ; duodecimus enim
;
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
46
to say,
it
it
I.
final
fixed
it
a month of a certain
There
name
March
[CHAP.
was
and tenth
Numa,
the founder of
festivals,
The whole
story
may
Romulus
is
placed, in
honour of
name
Falerii,
Aricia,
Tusculum,
mensis fuit Februarius ; etquum intercalatur, inferiores quinque dies duodecimo demuntur mense. Varro, L. L. vi. 13.
According to Augustin, C. D. vii. 7, January was dedicated to Janus,
and February to Terminus, propter initia et fines. He seems to consider
February as having at one time been the last month of the Roman year.
Sat. i. 13, 14
( 165 )
Philargyrius ad Georg, iii. 304 likewise considers February as the last
month in the year, of which Mareh was the first month. He makes this
statement in explanation of the passage of Virgil, in which he speaks of
Aquarius as marking the end of the year. This constellation sets in
February.
(
166 ) Fast.
iii.
87
96.
Digitized by
SECT. 9.]
47
'A Jotoc.(
168
Moreover, even
it
if
likewise
had
month
of
kings,
for
month
The
Venus
wise denied by the
existence of
as a
Roman
was
like-
Both
Numa,
attesta-
dary tradition.
by which the
have been
It
stance.
Numa;
and
it
rectified, is related
was
apparently
the
best
authority
placed
it
as
earliest
late
as
b.c.( 171 )
( 167 )
(
Ovid, Fast.
iii.
8998.
( 169 )
p. 47.
Ibid, p. 48.
vi.
It
is
is
meant.
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
48
it
may
attributed to Cleostratus, a
is
Numa
is
Numa
b.c.,
earlier.
The
I.
Greek
[chap.
b.c., at least
derivation
of his
The
inferiority of the
Romans
to the
Greeks in astronomy,
Rome
the
and
it
may
Romans had
its
scarcely an existence.
of 355 days.
an
octaeteris,
There
is,
it
be in the
years, or of
dedicated by
its
dedication
Rom.
Hist,
luna
vol. li. p. 34, thinks that the right reading in Pliny is 355.
;
Digitized by
Googi
SECT. 9.]
49
rectified.
is felt
differing
Numa,
number
into
it
and
was made
made
could easily be
at
Rome
if
at the
was con-
no provision
if
improbability of the
if it
known
This sup-
it
Romulean
year,
entirely
destroys
the
it
He
thus describes
its
spirit of
the legend,
length
Ergo animi
Annus
erat,
iii.
119
21.
i.
12, 39.
August.
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
50
[CHAP.
1.
On
definite
number of years
who
assigned a
nected them with the series of years reckoned from the foundation of the city,( 177 )
natal
theme of Rome,
cast
by L. Tarutius
Romulus
Rhea
Ta-
b.c.),
tion of
Rome, we obtain
= 753
b.c.,
the
of ten
is
rejected
is
likewise
by sup-
by Scaliger
as incredible. ( 179 )
and were of
sufficient
length to
make up an ordinary
solar
Lydus, de
(178) See Plut. Rom. 12 ; Solin. L 18 ; Cio. de Div. ii. 47
Mens. i. 14. Compare the authors work on the Cred. of the Early Rom.
Hist. vol. i. p. 393. The 23rd of Choeak corresponds to Dec. 20, and the
21st of Thoth to Sept. 18, in the Julian Calendar, according to the table in
The pregnancy of Rhea was therefore reckoned by
Ideler, vol. ii. p. 143.
Tarutius at nearly nine calendar months.
;
(179)
De Emend. Temp.
lib.
ii.
Digitized by
SECT. 9.]
year.( 180 )
it
may he
51
observed, destroys
months
to be ordinary lunar months, and connects them indisnumber of 804 days, wanting sixty days, or
two ordinary months, to complete the number 364. Merkel, in
addition to
it
cryphal^ 181 )
On
matizing upon
no
valid
ground for
subject of
primitive
Roman
fiction,
may have
it
to
which
proves nothing.
is
It
would be
(180)
De
Roman
Lord Macaulay, Hist, of Engl. c. xiv. vol. iii. p. 461, says of Dodwell
He had perused innumerable volumes in various languages, and had
acquired more learning than his slender faculties were able to bear. The
small intellectual spark which he possessed was put out by the fuel. Dodwell was a man of great learning, and great logical acuteness, but was
destitute of judgment and good sense. Felicia memorise, expectans judicium. I question whether his intellect was oppressed by his knowledge.
On the contrary, his opinions would probably have been still more extravagant, if ho had known less of positive facts, and of the opinions of others.
ad Fast.
Prffif.
(183) Die
(Berlin, 1841.)
p. lxxvii.
(181)
(182)
vol.
ii.
p. 27.
Eomiache Chronologic
i.
31
6,
iii.
121
6;
Lydus, de Mens.
i.
15.
E 2
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
52
[chap.
I.
Rome
for their
women
mourned a
nearest relations.
The
no mourning
is
stated
for children
under
many months
months
is
mourning
Paulus,
likewise stated
for a father
who
as the child
is
that the
is
mourning
for
dren below six years of age a month ; for a husband ten months ;
and
for
The
It
may more
and
it
extended from
the mourning for husbands to the mourning for other near relations.
It appears that
(186) Cicero, pro Cluent. 12; Ovid, Fast. i. 35, iii. 134; Seneca ad
Helv. c. xvi. 1. Maiores decern mensium spatium Iujjentibus viros dederunt. Dionysius speaks of the Roman matrons mourning a year (eviavtrcoc
xpovoc) for Brutus and Publicola, as for their nearest relations, v. 48.
Plutarch, Publ. 23, makes the same statement respecting Publicola. Plutarch, Num. 12, says that Numa fixed the longest period of mourning at
ten months, and that this was the period for widows. He repeats this
statement in the Life of Coriolanus, Cor. 39. Dionysius states that the matrons mourned a year for Coriolanus, viii. 62.
Seneca, Epist. 63, 11,
states that the time of mourning anciently fixed for women was a year ; but
that men did not mourn.
(187) Plut.
Num.
12.
lib.
i.
tit.
21, 13.
Digitized by
SECT. 9.]
53
prohibited from marrying within the ten months next after her
husbands death.
by
190
Custom seems
to have like-
do not
customary
men
for
to
at
Rome
five
it
was not
given for
be observed
It should
women
mourn. C 92)
months. ( 193 )
was twelve
it
states it did
credit
be
supplied. ( 195 )
years
is
Rome and
Horat. Ep.
( 193 )
i.
7,
Hermann,
De R. R.
8.
c. 146
The dos was payable within three years there
( 195 ) Polyb. xxxii. 13.
is no ground for the supposition of Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. vol. iii. n. 107,
though it is adopted by Rein, Romisches
years
meant
cyclic
are
that
;
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
54
[CHAP.
I.
requires examination.
full,
and
six
number was
and
reform of
at the
As the
make two new
months, a day was taken from each of the six hollow months,
man writers who describe the Romulean year in detail the two
former of whom are learned and intelligent antiquarians
therefore supposes that
it
century,
304).
198
(
Dutch
that 304
it
in the
The author of
this
is
a multiple of 8 (38 x 8
remark that
six years
years nearly
of 304
199
coincide with five years of 365 days (1825 and 1826 days).
him
in
( 197 )
Solm.
i.
Romulean lustrum of
Censorin.
8
37
c.
20.
Macrob.
Sat.
i.
six years,
12 ,
3,
corresponding
38;
i.
13,
7.
( 199 )
See Ideler,
vol.
ii.
p. 25.
Digitized by
SECT. 9.]
He
month
56
Hence he obtains a
five years.
is,
that
if
Romulean
was twice
years.
20
The
is less
latter
exact
makes
it
pro-
bable that the Etruscans had fixed the tropical year at 365d.
5m.
40s.;
that
the
Etruscans,
in
of
os
(
down by
among
tradition
the Etruscan
Oxford University
Kalendame
Italics:,
Romulean year was founded upon a nundinal cycle. He conceives that a nundinal year consisted of nine months of thirtytwo days, and of a tenth month of sixteen days ; hut adverting to
the numerical coincidence pointed out by former writers, that six
years of 304 days are only one day less than
five
years of 365
Upon
that 360
aos
(
this conjectural
is
( 200 ) Niebuhr, with his usual confidence in his own conjectures, lays it
down that the Roman antiquarians were mistaken in two of their suppositions, viz., that the calendar of ten months was originally the only one
in use, and that it was afterwards entirely abandoned. Hist, of Rome, vol.
Engl. Tr.
1. p. 282.
( 202 )
Niebuhr
Hist, of
is
2, p. 163.
(
203 ) Yol.
i.
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OP
56
[CHAP.
I.
of twenty-four days,
days.^ 04)
equally
make up
sum
the
of 40,176
re-
ment of
may be added
It
that nothing
is
and that
known
if
to the primitive
be no adequate inducement
for
days w as a multiple of
8.
science
and
probability.
is
ture.
the
that
probably
it
never had any real existence, and was merely a fiction conto account for the numerical
trived
months.
Dionysius describes Romulus as the author of the nundinse
307
; (
or, as
the
( 204 )
Romans
Chron.
vol.
expressed
ii.
308
it, (
at
Rome
reckoning
p. 27.
( 208 ) See Dion. Hal. vii. 8 where he says that seven complete days
intervened between each two successive nundin.
,
Digitized by
SECT. 9.]
both days
call a
inclusively, in the
57
Cassius
fifteen days.
who
when he formed
therefore include
among
dation of the
city. ( 209 )
century
b.c.,
Tullius. ( 210 )
made by Romulus
establishment to Servius
the kings
The market-day
at
Rome
no
212
(
There
civil year,
had
and of
The week, on
mical division,
being
month. (21S )
Ap. Macrob. Sat. i. 16, 32.
(310) lb. 33, and c. 13, 20.
lb. 33.
Macrobius, who attributes this opinion to Geminus,
( 309 )
( 311 )
Compare
Virgils
Moretum,
v.
79-81
Nonisque diebus
Venales olerum fasces portabat in urbem,
Inde domum cervice levis, gravis are, redibat.
There
( 313 )
is
a short
title
Macrobius,
Comm.
in.
Somn.
Scip.
i.
Digitized by
58
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
[CHAP.
I.
10
and moon for the regulation of the calendar, astronomical observation in Greece was, at an early period, directed to the
Homer,
fixed stars.
variations,
specifies
by name the
he adds,
is
Wain
which
last,
lations, it
No
Homer were
designated by
same names
by
its
known by the
in later times.
clearly defined
its
by
double
its
is
name
horizon.
literature
and erudition,
why
it,
set.( 216 )
he supposes that by
Aristotle thinks
The
solution
the Bear/
Homer
known among
of Strabo
is
designates
all
i.
p. 340.
rviii. 485-9
Od. v. 272-6. The difference consists in the
which in the Iliad is IIAijiaiac 8 'Taitic re to rt crSivoc Opioivos,
Odyssey is IIAijiafaj r laopoivn tai 01pi Sbovra Boiirijv.
The last verse is translated by Virgil, but is applied to both the Bears
(
214 ) Iliad,
'
first verse,
and
in the
Georg,
i.
246.
The passage
As
to the
Kat rb oh)
( 215 )
Poet. c. 25.
S'
Digitized by
SECT. 10 .]
the
59
One grammarian
altered
mical reputation
that
Homer
better to admit
it
supposition seems to be that the Great Bear was the only por-
tion of the arctic sky which, in Homers time, had been reduced
into the form of a constellation. ( 219 )
The
inasmuch
as the constellation is in
his rising is
rapid,
position. ( 22)
Homer
Dog
and as being of
evil
omen, because
it
His emen-
on
riyviei.
fiber die
Stemnamen
Coma Berenices
says
ii.
Quum jam
Flectant Icarii sidera tarda boves.
Prop.
23, 24.
iii.
6 , 35.
to.
ii.
et plaustra Bootes.
Prop.
On
221 ) Iliad,
An
xxii. 26-31.
ovXios aarr'ip is
Compare
mentioned
v. 5,
xi. 62.
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
60
Homer
in the
[CHAP.
by the
open sea
I.
stars
heaven turns must have been before his time identified with
the north
poem, frequently
refers to
them
He
Thus he
com
He
advises the
husbandman
He
and
which
this
as
the
to
223
:
is
and
222
)
sixty
soon followed
he designates
but he
adds that as soon as the snail emerges from the ground, and
the Pleiads have risen, the care of the vines must cease. ( 224 )
He
summer. ( 226 )
He
lays
it
down
heat of
and he
He
is,
warns
when
The
Buttmann
in
imitated
by
his Lexilogus.
Op.
et Di. 381
223 )
v. 662.
224 )
v.
book of the
Iliad
is
5.
569.
585.
Imitated by Alcaeus, Fragm. 39, Bergk. Sirius is twice
( 225 )
mentioned in the Hesiodean poem of the Shield of Hercules, as characteristic of the heat of summer, Scut. 153, 397.
v.
226 )
v. 596, 607-615.
( 227 )
v.
616-27.
Digitized by
SECT. 10.]
summer
when
solstice,
end (Aug.
There
the heat of
(51
an
to
20).
is
was observed
as
Egypt on account of
coin-
its
The
fell
at
name
which we
shall
have
motion of the
stars,
with respect
Homer
and Hesiod.
fail
tcf
be
It is alluded to
by Homer
as affording a
measure of time
The
stars. 23 )
This comparison
is
dances of the
circular dances
(228) See Ideler, vol. i. p. 125, 129, 328. 2eipwc, or atipSp, is an adjective
signifying hot, scorching hence oeipios aarijp is used for the sun by Hesiod,
Op. 415. ffti'ptoc alone is used by Archilochus and others for the sun,
fr. 42, Gaisford, with Jacobs Dote, Hesych. in v.
2'p>c signifies the dogstar in Hesiod. ACschylus, Ag. 967, and Soph, fragm. 941, have aeipwQ
Compare Eurip. Hec. 1102; Iph. Aul. 7. Virgil, JEn. x. 273, has the
an
adjective.
c.
24.
Od.
xiv.
483
a\,Y OTt
Si)
rpt\a vvktS c
fijv,
ptra
S'
darpa
fitfipsu.
setting of the moon and the Pleiads is used to mark the middle of
the night in the fragment of Sappho, fr. 68, Bergk. Compare Anacreont.
The
Od.
iii.
pole, pursuing
i.
v. 521.
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
62
[chap.
I.
circumpolar
The
stars.
planets,
stars,
tings,
to
the moon,
is
stars
planet
is
star. C233 )
heaven^231 ) and
Hesperus
is
also of Eosphorus, or
likewise alluded to
The
is
set-
alluded
brilliant
mentioned by
the morning
No
merely as a calendar.
The discovery of
star.
attributed
to
Pythagoras,
by
toils
morn-
their identity
Ibycus,
and
Par-
menides. t 231 )
11
The
religion
heavenly bodies.
some modem
existence rests
its
was not
till
existed;
but
It
( 231
xxiii. 226 ; Od. xiii. 93. In the latter passage the morning
( 232 ) Iliad,
According to Varro, the star of Venus
is called 6<rrr)p <paavrarog.
guided ASneas from Troy to Latium, Serv. JEn. ii. 801.
Fragm. 96, Bergk.
( 233 )
star
Laert. viii. 14, ix. 23; Stob. Eel. Phys. i. 24; Plin. ii. 8 .
( 234 ) Diog.
Pliny dates the discovery by Pythagoras in Olymp. 42, 142 u. c. (=612
b.c.).
Achill. Tat. c. 17, assigns the identification to Ibycus, who is placed
b.c.
Compare Karsten, Phil. Gr. Eel. i. 2, p. 249, 255. The
authority cited by Stobasus for its being a Pythagorean doctrine is Apollodorus in his treatise ntpi 6t5>v ; gee Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol. i. p. 428.
about 640
Digitized by
celestial
SECT. 11.]
moon^ 336
63
beings,
driving
their chariots
across
as
the vault of
When
certain stars
constellation,
and
of their mythology, and were for the most part wholly unconnected with their religion^ 238 )
Merope
!>
This
is
KaX ft,
its
resemblance in
(237) Neither the sun nor the moon drives a chariot in Homer. But
Eos or Aurora has a chariot in a passage of the Odyssey, xxiii. 244i-6, and
the names of her horses, viz., Lampus and Phaethon, are given.
The chariot of the sun is mentioned by Soph. Aj. 845; Eurip. Ion.
1148 Plut. Sept. Sap. Conv. 12. It is also an essential part of the story
of Phaethon, which is as early as Hesiod. The god of the sun is called
Imrovapas, Aristoph. Nub. 572. JSschylus speaks of the XtvKoiraXns fjpepa,
Eurip. Ion. 1150, and Andromed.
Pers. 386. The chariot of night occurs
fragm. 1 Dind. : see likewise Theocrit. ii. 163, where in v. 166, avrv vvktXs
means the vault of night,' not the chariot, as it is incorrectly rendered by
the Scholiast. In Mosch. Id. ii. 38, arrv( ripiropo is the semicircular disc
of the moon ; its Bhape when it is in dichotomy.
The Homan poets are more frequent than the Greek poets in their
See Ovid, Fast. ii. 110, iv. 374,
allusions to the chariot of the moon.
Manil. i. 667 Claudian. Rapt. Pros. iii. 403
v. 16 ; Rem. Am. 258
Auson. Ep. v. 3. According to Manilius, the chariot of the sun has four
horses, that of the moon only two, v. 3. Nonnus, vii. 234, mentions the
chariot of the moon as drawn by mules.
;
Engl.
Tr.).
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
64
The nature
will best appear
[chap.
I.
first
for
as a
She
punishment
was
and
239
)
skies as
ance of the Great Bear above the horizon, by saying that the
by Aratus
he supposes
by
the
,:!41
The
Met.
Juno
p.
ii.
627-30:
At
Pellite,
Quam
Digitized by
SECT. 11 .]
while
their
fitted
setting
their
65
name from
the verb
the
Greek
termination.
They
navigation
marked
its
in
sisters
of
The
stars. (***)
:(***)
iEschylus,
em-
The
them
constellation
(***)
.
according to
two of the
fifth,
sixth,
stars.
The
ancients, from
some numerical
It is therefore
more than
fancy, thought
Ausc.
fit
six.( M7 )
to desig-
11;
( 242 ) See Muller, Mythol. p. 191 (131, E. T.). Other fanciful etymologies are given by Schol. Iliad, xviii. 486 ; Schol. Arat. 254.
Simonides.
(
245 )
uvoparrptvai
ul 8 orr ArXavros jral 8
vrarpdf fiiytarov 80Aov oipavcxrrfyrj
(cAaiWicov, fv8a vvurepav (pavraapiiTaiv
Ap. Athen.
p.
491 A.
(See Blomf. ad iEsch. Ag. 81, Gloss.) This passage is alluded toby Schol.
iEschylus assigns their grief for their fathers labour in
II. xviii. 486.
carrying the world, as the cause of their metamorphosis.
(
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
66
[CHAP.
gave a
Some
fictitious
29
:(
I.
and they
Bear
248
;(
it
light-
of the Great
tail
with a mortal, whereas each of the six others ascended the bed
of a god
Vergilise
it
rose
after
the
spring. ( 252 )
As
name from
name from
navigation, so the
rain (uv).( 2 3 )
Hyades derived
their
The Hyades,
they were sup-
Some
de-
14, 23.
Arat. 257
c.
23
(251) It was a sign of grief among the Greets to muffle the head, Horn.
Od. viii. 85; Eur. Hec. 432; Orest. 42, 280; Suppl. 122. Weeping seems
to have been considered as of bad omen, and was therefore concealed.
Eas stellas Vergilias nostri appellaverunt, quod post ver exoriunHygin. P. A. c. 21. The rising of the Pleiads was in the middle of
Festus, p. 372. Vergili diet quod earum ortu ver finitur, stas
(252)
tur,
May,
incipit.
(353)
i.
3,
radiantia flammis,
Virgil, dEn.
i.
them
tristes.
'YciSfr rt vavrCkoti
<ra<f>((mtTov crqfif'iov.
Where
Homer and
other poets
shorten.
(254) Hygin. fab. 192; P. A. ii. 21; Ovid, ubi sup.
five Hyades were enumerated in the astronomical poem
Their number
The names of
attributed to
was variously stated.
Digitized by
SECT. 11 .]
rived the
its
name
culae
The Romans
called it
Su-
on a confusion with
256
0e.(
It
is,
this
67
it
shcchs,
and
that, like
257
)
fly
From
position in the
his
said to be watched
Various
fables were connected with his translation into the sky.( 259 )
One
The time of
its
name
rising connected
its
at
it
The ceremonies
Roman
the connexion between the dog and the star in question. ( 261 )
stories explanatory of
and Arcturus.(
2G2
)
255 ) Schol.
II. xviii.
486
25 c)) See Meineke, Analecta Alexandrina, p. 133 Hygin. Astr. ii. 34.
Orion is called a stormy constellation, in allusion to ita setting in the late
autumn, Virg. JEn. i. 535, iv. 52 ; Horat. Ep. xv. 7 ; Ideler, Sternnamen,
;
p. 219.
Another story
vol. vii.
p. 431.
(
r 2
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
68
times of
rising
liis
and
[chap.
I.
stormy constel-
setting, considered a
lation.^ 63 )
The
seem
The
till
to have been
its
number of
lunations,
When
It
year.
tance of the
circles of
ecliptic.
They included
the sphere;
all
Hence
by fySla,
m
(
band was
who mentions
Aristotle
is
as these
or figures, on the
it
called
were called
it is
likewise mentioned
by
( 263 )
Nam
Vehemens sum
Prol. v. 69-71.
No
is
Digitized by
SECT. 11 .]
He
states,
69
circle,
rise,
every night. { X7 )
On
and
six set,
Eudoxus,
to
little
con-
nexion with the heavenly bodies, and the mythical stories which
origin.
Thus
it
wanted in
its
later writers
an
primitive form.
the story of the sun turning hack his chariot, and con-
who had
own murdered chil-
dren,^
is
Where
Turn
sol pallentes
haud unquam
umbras.
discutit
(269) Polybius, ap. Strab. i. 2, 15 (p. 1120, ed. Bekker), says that the
benefactors of mankind and the authors of useful inventions became kings
and gods. Among these he instances Atreus, who first taught that the
course of the sun was contrary to that of the heaven. Lucian, Astrol. 12,
has the same statement respecting Atreus. Euripides, ap. Achill. Tat.
Isag. c. 1, spoke of Atreus as discovering the proper motion of the sun
8(ias yap afrrpuiv
8/jpovs t ccracra,
T171/
<cai
rfjv
(vamiav 68ov
Tvpavvos
68611
tov
ifopijv.
Ivavrlav ovaav
rijs
to>v
Digitized by
PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY OF
70
lie
[chap.
I.
Plato gives
turn
different
to
He
the fable.
supposes
271
changed
Another
same
cause. ( 272 )
As
12
little
of birds. (
To
these the
entrails of victims,
Romans added
by means of
and by the
275
)
among which
flight
the interpretation of
Both
also
an important place.
The
bata sunt dicta. Serv. Ain. i. 568. Repeated in Hygin. fab. 258. The
former explanation refers to the sun turning back in his course the latter
to the darkness caused by the suns disappearance. Compare Grote, Hist,
of Gr. vol. i. p. 220.
;
repaj.
Herod,
rj
mint
Digltized by
SECT. 12 .]
71
civilized
antiquity in
viewing
less
comets,
eclipses,
yet they
drew no prognostics from the ordinary movements of the heathey had no astrological science, or system of
venly bodies
astrological prediction.^ 76 )
For
this deceitful
them
It
after the
who introduced
it
it
among
time of Alexander.
they made
mitted
it
it
an adjunct to their
scientific
which prevailed
in the third
after Christ.
We
Zovm
TrpuiTa
iii.
Dindorf.
She was supposed to have learnt astronomy from her father Chiron.
See below, ch. ii. 1. Archdeacon Hare, Phil. Mus. vol. i. p. 25, thinks
that the predictions of Hippo intended by Euripides, relate only to the
art of foretelling the weather from the heliacal rising of the stars.
v. 10.
Digitized by
72
Chapter
II.
SPHERE
is,
as
we have
no trace of any
scientific
astronomical knowledge in
Some
Atlas
is
Thus
he
is
imparted
it
and
further re-
who
to the Greeks.^)
knowledge of astronomy
Egyptians.
(i) Diod. iii. 66, iv. 27 ; Piin. N. H. vii. 57 Herodorus ap. Clem. Alex.
Strom, i. 15, 73 (Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol. ii. p. 34) ; Serv. JEn. i. 741
Heraclit. de Incred. 4. Diogenes Laertius, Prooem. 1, makes him a philosopher.
Diodorus likewise makes Uranus, king of the Atlanteang, the first
astronomer, and describes him as the ancestor of the sun and moon, iii.
56, 57. The fable of Atlas bearing the heaven on his shoulders (of which
the stor^in the writers above cited is a rationalized version) is of great
antiquity.
See Horn. Od. i. 52
Hesiod, Tlieog. 517 Asch. Prom.
347, 430 Aristot. de Mot. Animal. 3. Hesperus is fabled to have been a
son of Atlas, remarkable for his piety and justice. He used to observe
the stars on the top of Mount Atlas, but was carried away by a violent
wind, and never reappeared. His subjects gave him divine honours, and
called the most beautiful star in the heavens by his name.
Diod. iii. 60.
;
Digitized by
SECT. 1 .]
obliterated in Greece
by a
73
Hyperion
as having
been the
first
their course,
and
as
whence he was
moon were
first
scendants.^)
and
as the author of
civilizer,
The
treatise
on astronomy ascribed
the Greeks. (
The fable of Prometheus chained to the rock,
on Caucasus, was likewise interpreted by late writers to contain
)
nomer upon
lofty mountains.
Newton, in
his treatise
7
)
His argument
1.
rests
(2)
Diod.
v. 57.
(3)
Diod.
v. 67.
(4)
Diod.
iii.
constellations,
and was a
371-4.
56, 57.
(6) c. 10.
(7) Nec vero Atlas sustinere ccelum, nec Prometheus affixus Caucaso,
stellatus Cepheus cum uxore, genero, filia traderetur, nisi ccelestium
divina cognitio nomen eorum ad errorem fabulm traduxisset. Cic. Tuse.
Disp. v. 3. Concerning Prometheus as an astronomer, see below, ch. v.
Cepheus, his wife Cassiopea, his daughter Andromeda, and his son1.
nee
Digitized by
Googl
74
practical astronomer.
[CHAP.
it
II.
2.
among
first
the Greeks
who made
re-
one,
Argonautic Expedition.
3.
attri-
Alcinous,
it
made some
stay there
Philyra
;(
and thus,
of Jupiter. ( 10 )
as
of Chiron.
Homer
calls
him
him
as the
virtues of plants,
Mount
8 ) Chronology of Ancient
Compare
vol. v. p. 63-6.
The Mag-
p. 17.
(n)
II.
xi.
830-2.
Hesiod, Theog.
Medea.
12 )
(
Nem.
iii.
53.
Compare
Schol. Apoll.
Rh.
i.
The
( 13 ) Diceearch. de Pelio, 12; Fragni. Hist. Gr. vol. ii. p. 263.
spear of Achilles was made of an ash from Pelion, and was given by
Chiron to Peleus, II. xvi. 143, xix. 390. Chiron was supposed to inhabit
Pelion, and there was a cave on this mountain called the Chironian cave.
Pelion was the scene of the amour of Saturn and Philyra.
Digitized by
Googl
75
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 1.]
to
Chiron as
author of
the
medicine. ( u )
An
epic
name
the
and Diana
selected Chiron,
numerous
16
(
Xenophon
on account of
They were
Pindar parti-
first
of Chiron's
heroes.( 17 )
this
lyre. ( 18 )
In the Achilleid of
The
made
to
He
The
No
among the
science. ( 19 )
arts taught
allusion
According
by Chiron. (J
(16) Pyth. vi. 21 j Hesiod, fr. 206. ib. Apollo is described as seeking
counsel from Chiron in Pyth. ix. 29. Compare Eurip. Iph. Aul. 709.
(17) Cyneg. c. i. 1-4.
Philostrat. Heroic, c. 10
Imag. ii. 2.
(18) See Ovid, Fast. v. 385
According to Plutarch de Mus. 40, 6 aofpmraTns Xtipav was pouo-ucijf re
Ana Kal Sucaiotrvvrjs *al larputijs UMaicaXos. Pindar, I*em. iii. 53, calls him
jSa&i/x^njs. His instruction in music is alluded to by Horace, Epod. xiii. 11.
;
Ausomus,
Compare i. 38.
453.
(19) ii. 382
Concerning Chiron, soe the essay of Welcker,
(20) Met. ii. 638.
Chiron der Phillyride, Kleiue Schriften, vol. iii. p. 3 ; Fabric. Bibl. Gr.
vol.
i.
Digitized by
76
[CHAP.
II.
An
respecting Diogenes,
that,
anecdote
being reproached
is
for
was permitted to
it
is
But, whatever
it is
may
certain that
<ro<f>6v
koAcI,
i<f>'
ov
(tol
rrjv
opKovs
KM
ytvos
tjycrye,
ax r!P aT
&ftas
'
OXvpirotf.
Welcker, Ep. Cyclus, vol. ii. p. 411, thinks that the ancient musician
is referred to, and conceives that the dances invented by Olympus
are intended. It is clear from the context that something considered by
the Greeks as having an ethical influence is meant. Chiron, it is said, first
turned mankind to justice, by teaching them the use of oaths and sacrifices.
The third subject of his instruction can hardly be the forms of the
constellations, which have no connexion with morality. It is possible that
Olympus
ib. p. 556.
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 1.]
is
77
being a wise
man and
Peleus celebrated
make
Having waited
for a season
when
there was
The age
of Staphylus
alize the
of late date.
In
He
is
is
known
not
probably
Chiron
is
supposed to be
The Latin
astronomy
is
that he
The
is
Musseus w as the
r
Musmus,
like
is
first
who composed a
theo-
i.
558;
iv.
vol. iv.
p. 505.
( 24 )
iv. p.
B.C.,
442.
( 26 )
381-414
( 27 )
Promm.
3.
Compare
Suid. in Movcralor.
Digitized by
78
on a singular
error.
ascribed
It
[CHAP.
by Newton
II.
Nau-
to
her maidens. ( S9 )
terms from
is
common
The
earliest historical
so
)
J.
is
that of Thales.
By
origin
32
;(
is
b.c.,
His lifetime
is
i.
3.
A similar
T)
c. 2.
Origenes, Philosoph.
i.
aquam
dixit esse
170.
He
waB present,
may
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 2.]
His
of Pisistratus.
life
"
79
nearly coincides
Homan
chronology.
Thus he
is
an
eclipse of the
which put an end to the battle between the Medes and Lydians*, ^
is
to 560 B.c.
modem astronomers at
He is reported to have
Miletus,( 35 )
and
The
respectively.
b.c.
various
dates
is
b.c.
625
585
renowned
There
b.c.)
b.c.( 37
is
a uni-
Wise Men
3C
According to Herodotus, he
S8
)
its
He is reported
to 546 b.c.
from 560
by^-
been fixed
and he
reign of Cyax-,^--
army
which lasted
Empedocles died
known,
is
certain Minyes,
cited as the authority for this statement.
de Leg.
of
live to 109,
whom
nothing
is
ii.
1 says Thales,
i.
with Herod,
i.
141,
Digitized by
SO
many
of Thales.
A philosophical rivalry is
41
)
b.c.(42 )
is said
into the
whom
hands
seems to
all
He
came
II.
cup given by
the latter of
controverted by Xenophanes^ 43 )
On
[CHAP.
variations, of a gold
made
first
life
of Thales
may
be re-
44
(
Hieronymus,
46
by
With
it
to the resistance of
know-
is probably unfounded.
It assumes that Miletus was not reduced
Croesus, which seems to be inconsistent with the fact.
Diod. ix. 7. Bekker, Phoenix ap. Athen. xi.
(41) Diog. Laert. i. 29
495 D. Plut. Solon, 4 Val. Max. iv. 1. ext. 7 ; Schol. Aristoph. Plut. 9.
ii. 46.
Suid. in
Diogenes recites
(42) Diog. Laert. i. 122
Concerning the lifeletters between Pherecydes and Thales, i. 43, 122.
time of Pherecydes, see C. Muller, Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol. i. p. xxxiv.
Diog.
Laert.
ix.
18.
(43)
(44) The spurious letter from Thales to Pherecydes in Diog. Laert.
i. 44, speaks of his intention to visit Egypt, in order to confer with the
Josephus, contr. Apion, i. 2,
priests and astronomers of that country.
states it to be universally admitted that the earliest Greek speculators upon
astronomical subjects, such as Pherecydes of Syros, Pythagoras, and
Thales, were scholars of the Egyptians and Chaldscans, and left little in
writing.
Plut. Sept. Sap. conv. 2, mentions his visit to Egypt.
Plut.
Plac. Phil. i. 3 says that Thales, having studied philosophy in Egypt, migrated in his old age to Miletus. Clem. Alex. Strom, i. 15, 66, p. 130,
Sylb., states that he had conferences with Egyptian priests.
Compare
Euseb. Prcep. Ev. x. 4.
Pamphila declared that he learnt geometry from the Egyptians, Diog.
Laert. i. 24. Pamphila was a learned Egyptian lady, who lived in the
time of Nero. Phot. Biblioth. Cod. 175.
The story is repeated by Pliny, xxxvi. 17. It
(45) Diog. Laert. i. 27.
and
by
p.
is
differently told
(46)
Athen.
ii.
2.
31
Galen,
ib.
23
38 ; Diog. Laert.
Plut. Plac. Phil. iv.
i.
iv. 2,
i.
37
1.
Digitized by
"
'
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 2.]
He
is
stated
81
eclipse of
the sun which separated the Median and Lydian armies under
He
is
seasons,
and to have
this fact
and
solstices,
to
"
"
also to
five
to
interior zones
;(
first
day of the
month
He
is
further said to have held that the sun, the moon, and,
and to have
all
its light
fiery
He
nature
eclipse of the
moon
moon
moon be--
is
earth. ( 51 )
the principle of
i.
'
all things, (
52
)
'
27.
and an
were likewise of a
i.
23, 24.
(49) Plut. Plac. Phil. ii. 12 ; Galen, Hist. Phil. c. 12 (vol. xix. ed.
Kuhn) Stob. Eel. Phys. i. 23, p. 196, ed. Gaisford. Eudemus, in his History of Astronomy (ap. Theon. Smyrn. c. 40), stated that Thales explained a solar eclipse, and showed that the circuit of the sun through the
solstices is not always equal.
j
i.
24.
(51) Plut. Plac. Phii. ii. 13, 24, 28; Galen, Phil. Hist. 13, 15; Stob.
Eel. Phys. i. 24, 25, 26. p. 214, 216. Stobaeus, p. 205, has the following
passage : GaAijs yfoeiSrj [read yctli8ri~\ rov rj\iov' elAelnetv Se airov Trjs <re\rfvrji
imtpxofievr)s Kara KaBfrov, otfcnjr (pvcea>s ytadovs' ffkemaOai 8 e tovto KaTOTTTpiIn the corresponding passages, Galen, c. 14,
ki
imoTiBtfUPOv r<5 SloKcp.
and Plutarch, ii. 24, have {nrimBefiiva. Wyttenbach ad Plut. corrects avrljv
for tovto and wroridf/xenji/. The meaning of the passage thus emended
would be, and the moon is seen by reflexion, being in a direct line with
the suns disc: which is not intelligible. On the meaning of the word
KdToirrpov, see Galen, ib. c. 25
Plut. ib. iv. 14.
The words in Stobams appear to be right, and the sense to be that
the shadow of the moons disc is projected on the sun. According to
Cleomedes, ii. 5 p. 134, the most ancient of the physical philosophers and
astronomers of Greece knew that the moon derives its light from
the sun.
(52)
See Brandis,
ib. p.
113.
Digitized by
^
ASTRONOMY FROM THALES
82
fire
fed
is
by aqueous
[ciIAP. II.
exhalations. ( 6S )
moon
as the
He,
720th
M
)
its
who
it
offered
this
He communicated
apparent orbit.
he would
attri-
like a
to others,
he
is
float
earthquakes by
ported by water
is
supported.
Hence
it
is
how
the water
The
is
stated to have
He
is
i.
3.
(54) In the passage concerning the phases and eclipses of the moon, in
Stob. p. 217, where Thales is mentioned, his name is omitted in the corresponding passages of Plut. ii. 29, and Galen, c. 15.
(55)
This anecdote
is
related
by Apul.
Flor.
iv. 18, 6.
ov
ad Aristot.
p.
506
b. ed. Brandis.
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 2.]
83
which
is
related
by
names Thales
nomer
t^ 1 ) and
Timon
and
astro-
mend
as
satirical
According to Pamphila, he
scribing
first
8S
:
and he
is
M
(
Ije
le ft
it
(61) Nub. 180, where the Scholiast speaks of Thales as ra mp'i vox
o lpavi>v npioTOS eevpa>v. Av. 1009.
An
which
elegiac inscription
commemorated,
is
under
his statue, in
recited
by Diogenes.
Ibid.
(63) Diog. Laert.
i.
24.
Compare Brandis,
ib. p.
110.
G 2
Digitized by
84
of his
life
[chap.
II.
earliest historians^/
fable.
It is difficult to
is
probably apocryphal
is
profited
if
Thales
of
is
is
and
mode
winds
Greek phi-
priests in geometry, it
Egypt,
Ilis visit to
not ascribed to
is
Thales. ( 66 )
Even
if
it
1.
it
among
There
their writers.
dry in summer
67
:(
2.
The Greek
rivers,
whereas
many
Accordingly,
upon
it.(
69
)
vol.
ii.
p.
297
ii.
p. 286.
Temperiem
ccelo,
mediis sestatibua
exit.
x.
228-231.
Carm.
i.
( 69 )
2.
See Herod,
ii.
19
Diod.
i.
38
Athen.
ii.
c.
87, ed.
Dindorf
Digitized by
Googl
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 3.]
85
known
likewise
J
J
Whether he approximated
year as to
ful
fix it at
365 days,
whether he departed so
is
uncertain
far
more
it is still
'J
doubw
to"'
The statement
the universe.
absurd
that he
is ^
it
Herodotus
n
(
is
lasted,
with alternate
night battle
Hero-
and he adds
when
would occur.
the
for-
The
who
which the
place of day, they desisted from the combat, and were eager to j
Eudemus,
i.
23.
Digitized by
86
[chap.
II.
made through
it
Cyaxares.
this eclipse
in
his
It
may be
considered
is
highly
b.c.,
should
It
by Herodotus,
cans, reported
faitli
it
Now
to have
bom
Herodotus was
begun the
about 455
b.c.
If
76
may be supposed/
we suppose the
eclipse to
we suppose
it
to have taken place in 610 b.c., the interval would he 155 years.
This period
sion
is
are preponderant.
consists of
two parts
The
Diog. Laert.
( 73 )
error of
Rom. Gesch.
vol.
i.
p. 253.
Digitized by
GoogI
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 3.]
87
its historical
accompaniments.
not wide.
Pliny fixes
Alexandria places
Eusebius assigns
it
at the
it
about the
it
to
Olymp. 48.
2,
Clemens of
b.c.( 78 )
Olympiad, 580
583
b.c.
Among
the
B.c. ;( 79 )
it at
585
b.c.;( 81 )
fix
May
date at
28,
others.
were partly
and the
visible,
both armies, and to cause them to believe that the gods signified their anger at the conflict.
mere diminution of
total, the
alarm
and the
eclipse is
total in the
expression of Herodotus,
was
it
The
An
(77)
ii.
12.
He
fixes
the time
by two
dates, viz.,
Olymp.
48. 4,
and
170, u.c.
(78)
Strom,
i.
14, 65.
Compare
(81)
On
1853, p. 179.
Abridg.
(82)
vol. x. p.
310 (1758).
Compare Delambre,
Hist. dAstron.
Moderns,
vol.
i.
p. 601.
Digitized by
88
could not
total,)
fail
period in question
make
to
and
if it
[chap.
were
total,
II.
or nearly
its
is
bable.
moon
eclipse
is
subject
to/
84
greater doubts than the occurrence of the eclipse itself/ )
vj
Now
all, it
He
is
eclipse
was to be
it
it
total, his
conduct would be
intelligible
who had no
If he had predicted
it
it
if
it
Thus he
is
but
to the Ionians,
modern/
also ascribed
related to have
by
known
(83)
(84)
(85)
have
made a large
profit
Livy says of the first year of the Second Punic War: Roma:
aut circa urbem multa ea kieme prodigia facta ; aut (quod evenirc sokt,
motis semel in religionem anirnis) multa nunciata ot ternere credits sunt.
xxi. 02.
Martin, TimOede Platon, tom. ii. p. 109, thinks that Thales pretended
to have predicted the eclipse, after it had occurred, or that the story of his
prediction was invented after his death. The prediction of Thales is likewise doubted by Lalande, Astron. 184, 201.
It is difficult to understand why Chios should be named.
Samos
is nearer than Chios to Miletus ; but neither island belonged to Miletus
in the time of Thales.
The w ords koi Xiai appear to be corrupt.
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 3 .]
was gathered. ( 86 )
89
fire,
in
predicted by
the
fall
The
by Thales. (87 )
like
Anaxagoras^88) who
fall
is
declared
J
J
of a large aerolite
is also
89
)
Democritus saved
is,
fall
of a part of
Pherecydes of Syros
is
Thus Empedocles
is
stated to have
Augustus.
The prediction of this
(88) See Schaubach, Anaxag. Fragm. p. 41.
occurrence is expressly mentioned by Plut. Lysand. 12 ; Diog. Laert. ii.
10 ; Plin. N. H. ii. 59, who doubts the possibility of the prediction, as
being beyond the reach of the human mind. Ammian. Marcell. xxii. 8,
5.
Philostratus also mentions the
(89) Philostrat. vit. Apollon, i. 2, 2.
prediction of an eclipse, as well as of the fall of stones at -Egospotamos.
a story of Simonides receiving a divine warning of the fall of a house,
see Cic. de Orat. ii. 86.
For
78
vi.
13, 32.
(464
Marcell.
xxii. 16.
Digitized by
90
[CHAP.
II.
asses skins
on the
hills;
whence he
The
Men whose
He may be
He
temporary of Thales. ( 93 )
is
594
b.c.,
and he
flourishing period
is
of the
the result of which was that the months did not coincide with
the moon, Solon
so that
354 days, and thus coincided, within about nine hours, with
the true lunar year;
The
moon.
to
It is not stated
make
the
months harmonize
w'ith the
Les 6crivains grecs les plus graves ont repdtd des contes populaires
oil ces premiers philosophes etaient considers comme des espeees de
;
Borciers.
(93) Clinton conjectures that the life of Solon may have extended from
638 to 658 b.c.', F. H. vol ii. p. 301 but the exact times both of his birth
and death are uncertain.
spurious epistle from Thales to Solon is in
Diog. Laert. i. 44.
(94) Plut. Sol. 26 ; Diog. Laert. i. 57 ; Proclus in Tim. i. j>. 25 ; Schol.
Aristoph. Nub. 1131 ; Varro, L. L. vi. 10, on the expression fvij Kal via as
applied to the moon, see Plat. Cratyl. 24, p. 409.
;
(95)
vol.
i.
p.
266.
Digitized by
though
it
was employed
precise,
As we
tion.
91
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 5.]
less accurate
than
it
It
months
moon
to the
caused
calendar
an
failed
it
object of
Hence
no
real importance in a
assigned by
namely, 609
He
and was
(96)
the
ancients for
b.c.( 100 )
is called
his junior
Compare
by about
Clinton, F.
H.
thirty years.
vol.
ii.
p.
336
He
left
a statement
(97) See Clinton, F. H. vol. ii. p. 336, note e, and below, cb. iv. 5
Thuc. ii. 28, uses the expression vov previa tear a at\i}vt]v, in order to designate
the time of a solar eclipse. This marks that the vovfirjuia of the calendar did
not always agree with the real new moon.
(08) Apollodorus, ap. Diog. Laert.
ii.
8.
Pirn.
N. H.
ii.
8,
agrees as to
the date.
(99) iElian, V. H. iii. 17.
(too) Clinton, ad Ann.
Miiller, Hist, of Gr. Lit. vol.
(101) Brandis,
ib. p.
Compare Clinton
i.
in Philol.
Mus.
i.
p.
89;
p. 321.
123.
Digitized by
92
this
[chap.
method of communication.^ 02 )
and
II.
first
He
fixed stars,;
map
of the earth.
He
108
)
is like-
'
have set up one at Sparta, which showed the time, the seasons,
the solstices, and the equinoxes. lw
)
whence
stars
10S
:(
likewise^
its
circular
J,
He
fire,
which escaped
that after
and
that')
102 ) Brandis,
ib. p.
124.
Strab.
i.
1,
ii.
2; Aga-
104 ) Diog. Laert. ii. 1 Enseb. Prap. Ev. x. 14 Plin. vii. 56. Pliny
attributes the invention of the gnomon, and the establishment of the sun -dial
at Sparta to Anaximenes, ii. 76, apparently confounding the names. Suid.
in Avafjipavdpos, rjXiorpcmidv, and yvapwv.
(
i.
13.
The words ixp
more than one sphere.
c.
c. 13.
330
b.c.
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 5 .]
he held that
its
from
diverged
first
108
)
He
this
centre
spokes. ( 109 )
like
the earth
His
hand
is
that the
its exterior,
movement
the circumference of
that within
of the sun
is
due to
its
when
opaque
the cen-V
similar
doctrine
was
it is
is
dis-
and
which
93
History of Astronomy, yj
is
is
is
three times
its
thickness, freely
(no) Stob. Phys. i. 25, p. 203 ; Plut. Plac. Phil. ii. 20, 21, 24; Galen,
Hist. Phil. 14, who states the ratio at twenty-seven to one. Origen, Philosoph. p. 11.
(in) Stob. Phys. i. 26, p.213,216; Plut. ib. ii. 25; Galen, c. 15
Origen, Phil. p. 11. In Plut. ii. 29, Avatpevj]s rod oropiov to0 wept tov
rpo)(6 v im<t>j>arroptvov, read 'Avalpav8pos, from Stobams and Galen.
1 or an
example of n-pijor^p in the sense of bellotcs, see Apollon, llhod. iv. 777.
Galen, c. 15. On the other hand,
(112) Stob. ib. p. 215; Plut. ii. 28
Diog. Laert. ii. 1, states him to have held that the moon is not of a luminous nature, and that her light is derived from the sun.
Plut. Plac. iii. 10, where Brandis
(1 13) Plut. ap. Euseb. Prsep. Ev. i. 8
properly reads Xidivto kIovi, Galen, ib. c. 21 Aristot. de C1. ii. 13 ; Origen,
Phil. p. 11, has the following clause: Trjv fie yrjv tlvai percapov eV oifie'vor
;
KpaTovpcmjv, pevavoav fiia Ttjv bpotav iravruv anwraaw. to fie oxrjpa avrijr
The word bypbv seems redunvypbv, arpoyyvXov, \lovi Xldip TrapanX^otov.
dant ; and for y/ort \ida> read (cion Xidlvw, as in Plutarch. Martin, Etudes
sur le Timee de Platon, tom. ii. p. 127, is of the same opinion. Both,
Gesch. der Phil. ii. 2, note 133, reads rpo^bv for vypov ; but this reading is
Digitized by
94
verse. ( 1W)
[CHAP.
II.
him
to have held that the earth was not cylindrical, but spherical in
He
form.( 118 )
is
obli-
He
why
it
As Anaximander reduced
there
is
more probability of
their having
We
may
he/
first
celestial sphere, to
make
time by a sun-dial.
It
map
was in 500
that Aristagoras of
b.c.
map
it,
directly or indirectly,
man, Anaximander.
6 Anaximenes of Miletus was the
He
Ionic philosophers.
is
b.c.
He
is
it
him
to havey
companion, and^
supposes
If
inconsistent with, the context, according to which the shape of the earth
is
cylindrical.
14 )
'Aw(iBibl. Gr. ed. Harless, vol. iii. p. 462) the following clause occurs
pavbpos be oti ear'll f) yrj pereeupos, Kill KlveiTM irepl t6 tou Koapov peerov. Montucla reads icetTai for Ktrnrai, with the approbation of Ukert, Geogr. ii. 1
Boeckh agrees with Ideler that Anaximander did not hold the
p. 20.
Philolaos, p. 122, Dote.
doctrine of the rotation of the earth on its axis.
:
ii.
(116) Plin.
1.
ii.
ii.
8.
13 , 25 .
ii.
ad ann. 548.
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 6.]
The
95
make him
may he
which would
The
menes
are reported to us
sphere
is
earthy, or solid
121
nature, hut that there are certain solid substances, invisible toy.
our eyes, which are carried round with them; that the stars arey
fixed, like nails
summer and
the/
also
stars, as
/
^
under
but round the earth; that the sun does not descend beneath/
the earth, but that
when
distance
its
its light is
is
great ;(
fire,
intercepted
by
light
is
124
; (
air,
solstitial
moon
mountains/
is/
being/
lofty
it is flat,
it is
is
trapezium
flat
own j
back
in its course.
( 124 )
Stob.
i.
26, p. 213.
Plut. Plac.
( 125 )
c.
21
iii.
Aristot. de Coel.
ii.
10;
i.
8;
Galen,
13, 16.
Digitized
by
ASTRONOMY FROM THALES
96
He
applied
same doctrine
tlie
[chap.
II.
b.c.( 127 )
504
who may be
Heraclitus of Ephesus,
The
is
He may
b.c.
first
The
jEschylus.
to
The
him
following doctrines
upon
celestial
of an igneous nature
is
formed of compressed
stars are
fire,
the J
j
winter,
130
;(
dark concavity
is
and that
that
summer and
128
; (
it is
is
is
its
mag-
apparent magnitude,
foot
:(
1S1
)
On
iiro\ei<rdai
( 128 )
Stob. Phys.
i.
23.
ix. 9.
( 131 ) Stob.
Laert. ix. 7.
i.
25, p. 204
Plut.
ii.
21, 22,
24
Galen,
c.
14 ; Diog.
Stobmus ascribes to Heraclitus and Hecatseus the tenet that the sun
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 7 .]
is
97
howl-shaped
m
:
that the-/
same manner
13S
:
or
is
owing to
its
is
au
at
that
position
hijj
moon
is
owing to
is
down
laid it
that the
who
position in a turbidy
its
He
is
an arnppa votpbv to
0aXdmjs. Galen attributes to Heraclitus the
tenet that the sun is an dvuppa tv ptv rats avaToXals tt)v
c ov
TV t'
^
Stobieus likewise ascribes to Cleanthes the tenet
trffttriv ev rail Svtrpais.
that the sun is an Svappa votpov to (< <9aXarn)r, p. 206. Plutarch, ii. 20, attributes it to the Stoics generally, and not to Heraclitus. According to
Diog. Laert. vii. 145, Zeno held that the sun was fed ck rrjc peydX tjs dakdrtijc vofpov ovra ilvappa.
It seems that there is some confusion here, and
that the opinion in question does not belong to Heraclitus. Compare
Schleiermacher, ib. p. 399.
is
ii.
pevr/v,
dycurrpd(j)cvToc.
Plut.
ii.
28 (whose version
is
tho best)
Galen,
c. 15.
(135) Stob.
i.
Compare the
Zetir aldpios.
1, 6.
verse of Theocritus
dXXoKa S'vf 1.
Id. iv. 43.
Jupiter
was
supposed
to
preside
peculiarly
Digitized by
98
Heraclitus
is
[chap.
II.
138
;(
whether astro-
view,
may be
Some
He
tinguished every day, and are lighted again at night, like coals
and that
He
settings. ( 1S8 )
and
same manner
as the stars
is
He
He
many
which case
it
disappears, as
it
He
explained the
apparent rotation of the sun round the earth by the vast distance to which
it is
moon was
it is
weather.
that
carried. (
1<0
)
that
it
shines
oiKrjtriv
Atov.
7.
Tat.
our
Phy 8
of
c.
Plut. ii. 20
( 139 ) Stob. Pliys. i. 24, 25
are not quite consistent with one another.
;
life
to 500 b.c.
138 ) Stob.
i.
25; Plut.
ii.
Galen,
24; Galen,
c.
14.
These notices
c. 14.
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 9.]
with
own
its
light
and that
He remarked
fluity.
(*
41
which
held
is
a super-
com-
He
its
to he motionless,
it
necessary
is
moon
it
was that
living things
99
its
therefore
figure.
Eleatie School, appears to have been born about 520 b.c., and
:(
to
He
is
by
bauds is of
the third
is
air
is
is
a mixture of
ii.
25
iii.
26; Plat.
i.
29
i.
Plut.
is
of
That the
fire
and that
air is secreted
is
;(
Galea,
Galen,
yairjs pfv
fiery
fire
148
that the
Morning
c. 15.
c.
18.
down
uparai
that
composed of three
the universe
Kara)
p.
164183.
(144)
vol.
i.
part
(145)
i.
15,
2, p.
Metaph.
64
i.
is
9.
5.
i.
;
22,
Cic.
7; Galen,
c.
11; Euseb.
ib.
i.
Digitized by
100
star,
which he
Evening
[chap.
star,
II.
occupies the
highest place in the ether, and that next in order comes the
sun
ven
149
:(
)
moon
1B0
in
its
He
first
him:(15S )
is
fiery
moon
pseudo-luminous.
is spherical,
the
:(
by the mixture of
are caused
(\ptv$o<pavfc).(}
hea-
moon
moon
and
is
who
was ascribed to
Xenophanes
and
as
the
of
gave the
first
In
respect
10
verse
this
vehicle
they
Agrigentum, who
of
and who
is
(149) Stob.
Parmenides
their
selected
physical
hexameter
speculations,
and
as
flourished
model to Empedocles
about 455
444
b.c.,( 164 )
i.
his Commentaries.
Hadrian.
24.
stars
Diog. Laert.
ix.
23.
first
to identify the
in the fifth
book of
ix.
21.
The cosmology of
(*53) Dy Posidonius, ap. Strab. ii. 2, 2.
illustrated by Karsten, lb. vol. i. part 2, p. 240 256.
ii.
p.
12, supposes
Parmenides
Empedocles to
57.
viii.
55, 56.
Digitized by
101
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 10 .]
He
is
heavenly bodies.
of air condensed by
fire,
fire
and
two
air
formed of
on the
is
from the
being
fiery nature,
air
stars are fastened to the crystalline vault, but that the planets
are free
158
;(
fire,
169
:(
is
sible sun,
from the
and sharing in
its
motion; reflecting
fiery air
its
own
light
at the solstices is
eclipse
intervenes between
moon
its
is
it
an
suffers
it
; (
16 )
is
that of a disc
that
it is
161
;(
is
lighted
twice as
is
the model which Lucretius had before his eyes. See the eulogy of him in
i. 72734.
(156) Both Herodotus and Empedocles went as colonists to Thurii,
which was founded in 443 b.c. Diog. Laert. viii. 62.
(157) Stob. Eel.
in A rat. c.
Introd.
23
i.
Compare
5.
c.
12
321.
Achill. Tat.
The word
KpvoraWas always meant ice in the earlier writers, though the later writers
use it for crystal. The expression 'ln>xP f ' v<Ar appears to be used in the
sense of crystalline orb by Alexander iEtolus in the verses cited by Theo
Smyrnteus, c. 15, p. 186, ed. Martin. Crystallus always signifies crystal in
the Latin writers.
(158) Stob. Eel. i. 24 j Plut. ii. 13 ; Galen, c. 13 ; Sturz, ib. p. 334.
t
i.
i.
21
Plut. Plac.
ii.
1.
i.
i.
Digitized by
102
[CHAP.
is
It.
and the inclination of the world, by the impulse of the sun and
the consequent withdrawal of the
He
cular
air.(
163
)
universe
and he attributed
movement
its state
it.
He compared
this
effect to
is
Anaximenes. ( 166 )
menes
at
575
placed at 499
b.c.,
for the
B.c.
Athens ; and in
is
this city
He
historian.
107
de
orbe lunac,
at
in
c.
2,
is
He
needed.
(162) Stob. i. 26 ; Plut. ii. 31 ; Galen, c. 15 ; and Euseb. Pra p. Evang.
xv. 63.
Stobteus represents Empedocles to have held that the distance of
moon from the earth is twice her distance from the sun.
,
tbe
ii.
8; Stob.
i.
15
Galen,
c.
11
Empedocles ridiculed
(164) Aristot. de Coel. ii. 13, 21; iii. 2, 3.
the notion of Xenophanes, that the foundations of the earth are infinitely
deep, ib. ii. 13, 12. See above, n. 143.
Concerning the astronomical and phy(165) Stob. Eel. Phys. i. 26.
sical doctrines of Empedocles, see Karsten, ib. vol. ii. p. 416
440; Sturz,
An extant poem, in 168 iambic verses, entitled 'S.rfxupa, is
p. 321.
ascribed to Empedocles ; but it is borrowed from Aratus, and is of late
date.
See Fabr. Bib. Gr. vol. i. p. 814, 825, ed. Harl. Sturz, ib. p. 88.
Emped.
33.
Fragments
full
(Lips. 1827), p. 3.
Digitized by
SECT. 11.]
TO DEMOCRITUS.
defended by Pericles.
At
103
life,
he migrated to
Anaxagoras was
celestial
phenomena. ( 169)
lie
is
re-
v/
Mount Mimas,
near Miletus,
astronomical observations.^
tomb by
...
is
71
to
His
have acquired
462
b.c.
(168) Alcidamas, ap. Aristot. Ehet. ii. 23, 11, states that the Lampsacenes gave Anaxagoras a public funeral, although he was a foreigner
that they continued to show him pnbiic honours, even in the w riters
Alcidamas lived in the generation between Anaxagoras and
lifetime.
and
Aristotle.
(171) Philostrat.
ii.
vit.
ii.
7, 10.
See Schaubach,
Apollon,
ii.
p. 9.
5.
viii.
19.
Plut. Per. 5, describes Pericles as having learned pireapoAdyta and perapatoAfaxta from Anaxagoras.
Digitized by
104
[CHAP.
II.
He was
is
like-
impiety. ( 174)
The following
He
flat
ceived
He
it
a plane
is
its</
it is
as
With
17S
)
it
He
its
circular or vor-
Anaxagoras
is
said to have
ad
init.
Plut. de Exil.
Compare Schaubacb,
18.
(175) Diog. Laert. ii. 8 ; Origen. Philos, p. 11. tt\ 9f ytjo ri <rx'lpari
n\arclav fivai Kai fUvt tv fUTf'apov Sia to ptyfdos Ka\ Ad to prjiiv aval Kfvbv,
Kat bia to tov atpa laxopurarov ovra <j>*pt iv cVo^oegc'wje rijv yfjv. According
to Aristot. de Cool. ii. 13, 16, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, and Democritus
considered the breadth of the earth as the cause of its immobility. Simplicius, ad Aristot. do Ccel. p. 91 b, p. 124 a, distinctly states that Anax-
Compare Sckaubach,
p. 174-5.
i.
Plut. Plac.
iii.
Origen,
ib. p. 14.
(177) Plut. Plac. ii. 13; Origen. Phil. p. 14; Euseb. Praep.
xv. 30 ; Plut. Lysand. 12 ; Diog. Laert. ii. 12.
Evang.
(178) Plut. Plac. ii. 21; de fac. in orbe lun. 19; Diog. Laert. ii. 8;
Stob. Eel. i. 25, 3; Achilles Tatius, Isag. c. 2, 11. The expression which
he applied to the sun was that it is a pv&pos diairvpos. See Xen. Mem. iv.
7, 7 ; Plat. Apol. 14 ; and numerous other passages cited by Schaubacb,
142. pitSpos meant in general a heated mass of iron fresh from
p. 139
the furnace. Sophocles, Ant. 264, applies it to the bars of iron used in
the fiery ordeal. Aristotle applies it to the heated stones ejected from
Digitized by
from the
the
moon
phenomenon by
179
;(
at all events
earth,
and revolving
to be
an earth, having in
he ex-
He
in the heaven.
it plains,
/Egospotami, in
fell at
and
considered J
mountains,
180
)
He
and/
derived''
105
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 11.]
'
eclipses of the
moon between
sun-'
JEtna. See Schol. Callim. Dian. 49. The word is derived from pvtida, to
melt. Concerning jtufipot Suinvpos, see Bayle's Diet. art. Anaxagore, note B.
The tenet of Anaxagoras respecting the sun is held by the ancient commentators to occur in Euripides. Porson, ad Or. 971.
(179) The date of this event is fixed by the Parian Marble, at 01. 78.1
b.c. ; by Plin. ii. 58, at 01. 78.2 (467 b.c.)
and by Eusebius at
Ol. 79.1 (464 b.c.) As to the connexion of Anaxagoras with it, see Diog.
Laert. ii. 10, 12 ; Plut. Lysand. 12 ; Plin. ubi sup. Amm. Marc. xxii. 8,
5. The event was mentioned by Diogenes of Apollonia, Stob. Eel.
Phys. i. 24 ; Plut. Plac. ii. 13 ; and is referred to by Aristot. Meteor, i. 7.
Plutarch states that the stone was shown in his time, and was worshipped
by the Chersonites. Compare Schaubach, p. 41. The fall of the aerolite
is made by Plutarch contemporaneous with the end of the Peloponnesian
"War (405 b.c.) ; but this date differs from the other statements, and is,
moreover, inconsistent with the reference to Anaxagoras, who had been
dead more than twenty years. Compare Ideler ad Aristot. Meteor, vol. i.
468
p. 404.
ii.
(181) Plat. Cratyl. 56, p. 409; Plut. de fac. in orbe lun. 16;
Stob. Eel. i. 27 ; Origen. Phil. p. 14.
;
Plac.
30
Digitized by
106
dom
concerning
tlie
place at the
183
eclipse of the
Athenian army
at
of the cold
air,
to the
sun takes
moon takes
he may have
unknown
that
to the
184
Syracuse in 413
moon
be
It is certain
phases of the
II.
may
[CHAF,
It
B.c.f
solstices
and the
of the sun
to the resistance
course.
its
185
(
He knew the
difference,/
seemV
to have
fixed orbits
upon
atheist ( ls7)
He
celestial
subjects
first
Greek
of the
as
an J
'
(183) Thuc.
ii.
vii.
50.
nee
decimo cursus
Geminus,
moon.
full
c. 9,
Ideo
quinto
remarks that
ii.
9.
Com-
(187) Eucian, 1 imon. 10, rdv rrorptoTrjv A va*ry6pav tis *77176* rots' SpiXrjTns
priSi SXas rival rtvas rjpas tovs 6(ovs.
Iren. ndv. Hicr. ii. 14, Anaxagoras
t
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 11.]
107
gods
18R
; (
'
to earthy materials.
greater plainness and courage, and probably carried his physical explanations further
offence
is
who drove
still
air
which
moon
his
Thus
was
was
like-
by his
ii.
p. 80.
rjixlxovro
to vs (pvaiKOvs
rat
With
We
(189) Plutarch, ib., says that Anaxagoras was the first who wrote with
boldness concerning the cause of eclipses; but that at the time of the
Athenian expedition to Sicily, his opinions were limited to a few, and were
(191) Plato, Leg. xii. p. 967, speaks of this tenet as an atheistic error
which had brought discredit upon astronomy, and had deterred men from
Digitized
by
108
had
plains,
inhabited
was
valleys,
II.
also considered as
speculation.^ 92 )
[CHAF.
gave
impiety which
is said
to have/
or by
He was
Cleon.
life
defended by Pericles,
of/
and''
is
also
stated
that
who
who denied
War,
b.c.,
is
by
allegorizing
the gods of
Homer j
for example,
by con-
( 192 ) See Plat. Apol. 14, where the published doctrines of Anaxagoras,
that the sun is made of stone, and that the moon is an earth, are classed
together as irreligious opinions, such as Meletus might make the subjects
of criminal prosecution.
,
According to Favorinus, the doctrines of Anaxagoras concerning the
sun and moon were not his own, but were borrowed from some previous
speculator, Diog. Laert. ix. 34. He did not, however, specify from whom
they were derived.
On
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 12 , 13 .]
109
to
The
Thucy-
12
Like Anaxagoras, he
stars. ( 199)
He
con-
He
tether. ( 20)
13
of Anaxagoras.
He
b.c.,
fifty
The
that
it
characteristic pecu-
avoided
that
it
of the earth
dwellings of
human
from the
men ; and
aether
feelings,
that
actions,
celestial
all
its
speculation
component
and
tical.^)
( 197 )
Schaubach,
p. 37.
Digitized by
110
[chap.
it.
had
set himself in
hostility
to the
fit
it
life
current
upon the
and when he
feelings
fixed
of the
upon him
as
what were
and published
it
down
his conversations.
He
his disciples
whom
The Athenians
and reviews.
less
un-
founded, and the picture which he drew of Socrates was not less
unlike, than if
as
his contemporaries
tlieo-
tt)v xpfjmpov apcrr/v *ru rfjv ~nX irucr)u airfKKtvav ol (j)iXn<f>v<r(a>s <A>)c, rrpbs
noiJioDm f. De Part. An. i. 1. Ab autiqua philoaophia usque ad Socratem
(qui Archelaum, Auaxagor diseipulum, audierat), numeri motusque tractabantur, et unde omnia orirentur, quove reciderent : studioseque ab his
siderum magnitudines, intervalla, cursua anquirebantur, et cuncta coslestia.
Socrates autem primus philosophiam devocavit e cgbIo, et in urbibu3 collo-
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRIT0S.
SECT. 13 .]
203
)
logian.
Ill
Apology,
Platonic
more
difficult for
him
The
to meet.
who
did not
him
in private.
and
rhetorician,
pound
Socrates.
who taught
The
for
money, and
called the
com-
Socrates himself
floor.
his
phenomena ; engaged
He
is,
and
in contemplating
sus-
is
earth,
moon ;
(*
04
)
he
on
is
moreover, represented
He
aiv
ort
ytjt,
Kai Btoiit
vopi^tiv
icai
tov
tJttix)
Xdyov
N ub.
180.
The astronomer
tI &r)T
( 205 )
lleton is, in like manuer, called a Thales in the Birds, v. 1009.
tKtivov tov QaXrjv 0nvpxioptv,
wtTtiopa
In
v.
Digitized by
GoogI
112
[chap.
II.
by
bill
of indictment
In refuting
this charge,
2(w
(
he says that
but he
disrespect,
If
Anaxa-
him on the
stage,
heated stone.
But
affairs
the
who
drew of
diverted philo-
sation was not only not true, but was the very reverse of the
him
It represented
truth.
avoided,
for
as teaching
what he deliberately
and teaching
other
subjects.
The
out at
set
Mem.
far as it could
and considered
be serviceable for
i. 1
1, the indictment distinctly charged Socrates with not reoognising the gods recognised by the State, and with introducing new deities.
The idea of cloud-worship is the same as that of the saying reported by
Madame de Stael, that the French had the empire of the land, the English
of the sea, and the Germans of the air.
,
(208) TOuivTa yap ta> pare (cat avro'i tv rf) Apurroffidvovs KaptaSia, SioKpdrri
Tiva eKfi tr(pi<j>(pop(vov, <pd<rKovrd rt depotiareiv, Kai dXKtjv naWr/v (jAvaplav
rpAvapovvra Sit* (yd ovSfv ovrt pty a ovrt trptKpov irepi eirau0, ib. 3.
The
allusion
is
what he
is
by Strepsiades
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 14.]
it
113
With regard
to astronomy, lie
mining the day of the year or month, and the hour of the night,
for journeys
by land or
sea,
and
He
held
that the marks of time for this purpose could easily be learnt
pilots,
different orbits
it
stars,
with the planets, and to inquire about their distances from the
earth, and their orbits,
Not only
He
who
who
on the
human
in-
14
suit of astronomy,
to which he
fell
scientific
nomy,
pur-
citizen,
his lifetime.
Mem.
iv. 7, 3, TO
Xen.
( 209 )
yctoficrpiav pav&avfiv drr$OKipa^ev.
(
210 )
( 211 )
vvKTorrjpai,
Xen. Mem.
Xen. Mem.
iv.
Se
Siaypapfidrav
iv. 7, 4.
7, 2-7.
Compare Grote,
viii.
p. 571-6.
(
212 ) Xen.
Mem.
i.
1,
11-15.
X
Digitized by
114
Meton appears
to have
[CHAP.
by Theophrastus,
II.
in the Birds
which was
he
is
stated,
from an observer
he
is
ridiculed
as
a geometer,
streets of
is
415 b.c.^ 16 )
His
lifetime
it
sailed in
that of Thucydides.
15
of 360 days.
The
seasons.
make
the
year agree with the periodical circuits of the sun, and thus to
it
Philoehor.
fr.
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 15.]
tional
115
Two
month
month of 30 days
to
two
years of 360 days would produce 750 days; and the addition of
In the former
days.
it
remedy be
effectual
would
would be 7] days.
the latter,
month.
common
number
it
319
;(
in
an intercala-
It is inconceivable that
medy
month of 30 days
was intended to
re-
The
of astronomy.
probability
is,
that
when the
intercalation
Numa
is
sisted of 22 days
(216) Censorin.
c.
19; Geminus,
c. 6.
Compare
Ideler, vol.
i.
p.
269,
272.
(217) Herod,
ii.
4.
mos
ip^6\i/iov
infpffaWovm tmv
0)p0)U CtV(KV.
Digitized by
GoogI
116
[chap.
II.
was an error of only 1 days in a biennial period.^) It appears that tlie Roman year was administered according to this
system of intercalation before the Julian reform.
Great laxity
dotus
mical questions
and the
who regulated
We
Greek
States,
The next
intercalary cycle
period.
nial
It
was the
was founded on a
different basis
from the
When
we, with
cause
and that
it
this
number of
lunations
is
230 ) Above,
it
exclusively
by the sun
(as is
done by
p. 38.
222 ) Polyb.
xii.
11.
(223) It will be observed that the terms tetraeteris and octacteris, for
a quadrennial and an octennial period, are formed upon a different prinfrom the term trieteris for a biennial period.
The btcratr i/pi'e was also called Ivvatrppip. and the rtrpatrijpip Trtvratrrjpig,
Censorin. 18. Compare Ideler, vol. i. p. 287.
Aristoph. Plut. 583, says that the Olympic Games were celebrated
ciple of counting
it'
truvs irtpirrov.
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 15.]
117
its
civil
or calen-
dar months according to the course of the moon, and eking out
the aggregate of months thus measured by intercalary days.
The
essence of
the year
should
be
formed of that integer number of lunar months which approximates most closely to the solar year
is
made up of
full
and hollow
months, of twenty-nine and thirty days, forming in the aggregate 354i days,
we have
A fractional
by
four,
it
cycle.
tetraeteric intercalation
there
ll days
no
is
is
is
any Greek
calendar.
Although
forty- five is
days would form only a month and a half of the ordinary lunar
length
and as
it
this
a quadriennial period.
(224)
ii.
p. 316.
(225) Plin.
N. H.
ii.
48.
Digitized by
118
third, fifth,
and eighth
[chap.
II.
it
865^ days.
its
would be important to
It
introduction
since
it
would indicate
the epoch at which the true length of the solar year was
But
in Greece.
tainty.
Its
introduction
is
attributed
seems unquestionably to be of an
ascribes
it
to Cleostratus of Tenedos,
conjecture to the
first
known
Eudoxus
who may be
but
it
Censorinus
earlier date.
referred
upon
It appears,
Meton. (" 9)
It can scarcely be
it
and
if this
is
Digitized by
119
TO DEMOCBITUS.
SECT. 15.]
of 865j days.
much
solstices had, as
attention
we have
tions of the turns of the sun in its course from the north and
We
may naturally
much atten-
phenomena
in
multiples of
But the
it,
octaeteris implies a
and
if it
Now
is
it
certain
common
right in
trieteric
An
is
determined by
Digitized by
120
[CHAP.
The
argument
is
II.
principal
festival
An
olive-stick
was crowned
brazen
ball,
middle a
purple
to which
fillets,
attached;
it.
at
The same
the
fixed, and
The large
The 365
the
fillets
octennial period
same argument.
There
is,
solar year
fifth
or that
century,
of high antiquity.
The
purposes.
287
(
It
is
365 days.
The
diffe-
rence between six hours and 5h. 48m. 48s. (namely, 11m. 12s.)
is
the measure of
its
annual inaccuracy.
There
is
a deficiency of nearly
is
less close.
(
(
235 )
236 )
ii.
6 11
,
Geminua remarks that the octaeteris coincides with the sun ; but
( 237 )
that the assumption of 29 J days for the lunar month makes it
of a day
too short. See Ideler, vol. i. p. 295.
Digitized by
:
;
The
hut while
121
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 15.]
moon.
cycle of
this defect
it
the moon,
Me ton
it
made
With regard
moon, the
to the
but as this
it
is
and
it
civil calendar,
improvement of the
civil
calendar,
it
The Metonic
enjoyed
cycle
ancient astronomers
j(*
40
)
and
it
great celebrity
is
stated
among the
by Diodorus to have
Gemin. 0. 6 ; Censorin. 0. 18
(238) Theophrast. de Sign. Pluv. 3
Diod. xii. 36 ; Schol. Arat. 752 ; Ailian, V. H. x. 7. The cycle of nineteen years is ascribed by Geminus to Euctemon, Philip, and Callippus.
The name of Meton appears to have fallen from the text.
Compare Ideler, vol. i. p. 297-343 ;
he well, Hist, of Ind. Sciences,
vol. i. p. 128-132.
Concerning Philip, see Smiths Diet, in Philip Medmseus, no. 16, p. 259.
Euctemon was the assistant of Meton, Ideler, vol. i. p. 298.
Euctemon, Meto, and Philip, are mentioned together by Vitruvius,
ix. 6, as the authors of astronomical parapegmata.
;
of a day too
(230) Geminus remarks that Meton makes the year
day, c. 19.
Ptolemy, Aim.
2, p. 164., ed.
rfi
npoppr/ad
is
alluded to
ravTT] davpatrrtos
Greece
ra yap mmuiSerai rj& tj
tvvfaKaiSfKa Kvx.\a (f>a(ivov r)(\ioto.
The
Arat.
V.
752-3.
Scholiast on this passage states that the Metonic cycle was derived
Digitized by
122
The
[chap.
octaeteric
II.
and Metonic
had
attained, not later than the fifth century b.c., to great accuracy
in determining the respective lengths of the lunar
month and
V of a day than
made the
From
seventy-six years.
this cycle
The
by
The
is
Metonic
it
was used
astronomers.
scientific
There
more
The Cal-
first
regulation of the
civil
it
calendars of Greece.
and geometry,
Not only
as
by
life
and
The
by the Greeks from the Egyptians and Chaldmans. Theophrastus says that
Easter,
ib. p.
129, 130.
See Ideler,
vol.
ii.
p. 197.
( 241 ) Callippus and certain of his astronomical hypotheses are mentioned by Aristot. Metaph. xi. 8 p. 1073, Bekker. On this passage, see
Simplicius ad Ccel. p. 500, Brandis.
,
242 ) Geminus,
c.
Censorin. 18
Ideler, ib. p.
344
Whewell,
ib.
p. 130.
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 17.]
123
is,
than 569, and his death not later than 470 b.c.^)
Pythagoras himself was exclusively an oral teacher: he
made no
He
is
and astronomy
he
is
priests in
geometry
Chaldfeans.
easily be reached
travels,
and
scientific
life
for
too suspicious to
fulfil
credibility^ 346 )
The
Philolaus,
ii.
1, p.
Hist. vol.
i.
p.
431.
down
38
Digitized by
Googl
124
How
himself,
and how
far they
no means of judging
teristic of the
[CHAP.
II.
but they
may be
we have
considered as charac-
fifth
century b.c.
ascribed
is
mass of
fire,
of the
of Jupiter,
Round
is
occupied by a
following order
At
moved
taining the fixed stars, next the five planets, then the sun, then
the moon, then the earth, and after the earth the antichthon.
The region of the fixed stars and planets, and of the sun and
moon, was considered as orderly and the subject of science ; the
lolaos, p. 5.
bom
goras.
247 ) See Boeckh, Philolaos, No. 11. The doctrine is stated in Stob.
i. 22.
Compare Aristot. de Coel. ii. 13, and the account of Simplicius
founded upon the Treatise of Aristotle respecting the Pythagorean tenets,
Schol. Aristot. p. 504 b, and 505 a, Brandis.
This last important testimony is omitted by Boeckh. See Brandis, Aristoteles, vol. i. p. 85.
Aristotle, in his work on the Pythagorean philosophy, reported a secret
dictum of the sect, that there were three sorts of rational beings, gods, men,
and Pythagoras, Iamblich. vit. Pvth. 31.
The Pythagorean scheme is likewise described by Plutarch in his Life
of Numa, with reference to the supposed tradition which made Numa a disciple of Pythagoras (c. 11). It is there stated that the Pythagoreans placed
fire in the centre of the universe, and called it Vesta aud the Monad
that
they did not suppose the earth to be immoveable, or in the centre of the
moveable orbs, but revolving in a circle round the central fire ; and that
they did not conceive the earth as first in dignity among the celestial
(
Eel.
bodies.
Diog. Laert. viii. 85, states that Philolaus was the first to teach that the
earth moves in a circle ; but that others ascribed the doctrine to Hicetas.
shall see lower down that the doctrine of Ilicetas was properly heliocentric, which was not the case with that of Philolaus, although the latter
supposed the earth to move in an orbit.
We
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 17.]
125
system
this
is,
that
it
conceived the
It
had constructed a
fire is
more
worthy than earth j that the more worthy place must be given
to the
is
it
is
more worthy
fire is
as the
universe, and that the earth, together with the heavenly bodies,
fiery centre.^ 50 )
But
central fire
and
it
was no heliocentric
sun
this
and by
it is
The
this hypothesis
It
inhabited side of the earth was always turned to the sun, and
was never
visible
It is difficult to understand
fire
how
rau> pc\pc
crcXrjvrjs
fie
Aristot. ib.
The Pythagoreans likewise held that the circular
( 250 )
motion is the most perfect motion, see Aristot. Probl. xvi. 10.
( 251
Boeckh,
ib. p.
116.
Digitized
by
126
[CHAP.
II.
the sun, and the nocturnal movement of the stars, were recon-
ciled
as the apparent
and
it
would be
precession
is
The
was disco-
made
may
a purely gratuitous
it is
their
discovery to
Pythagoras. ( 264)
It is further stated that Philolaus supposed the existence of
cated
is
them to the
earth. ( 2SB )
correctly represented,
which the
crystalline
wc must suppose
sun derives
its light
and heat
the central
is
fire
moreover
cally, it
earth,
it
It is a distinct
it
Practi-
253 ) (Ettinger,
art.
shows tnat
this
p. 1667,
system
and day,
254 ) This conjecture was advanced by Boeckh, Philolaos, p. 118, and
was accepted by Martin, ib. p. 98. It is, however, rejected by Ideler,
Astron. Beob. der Alten. p. 89, and by (Ettinger, ib. p. 1669, and has been
abandoned by Boeckh himself, Manetho, p. 54 ; Kosmisches System des
Platon, p. 93.
(
In the passages which contain the statesun is said to be in the heaven or the
it to be the central fire, this doctrine is not
consistent with the Pythagorean or Philolaic system of the world.
(
ment of
aether.
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 17.]
known
to the ancients.
127
He
fire.
make
it
har-
fect
and
the fixed
stars,
the
five planets,
make
the
moon might be
and added
that, according
an
eclipse of the
or of the antichthon. (
257
Another branch of
this
Pythagorean scheme
is
preserved by
The
central fire
was
set
down
as unity
and the
and so on,
moon twenty-
number.
According
moon
fire.
1257 ) Stob. Eel. Phys. i. 26 ; Plut. Plac. ii. 29 ; Galen, c. 15; Euseb.
Philip of Opus was a disciple of Plato, and a volumiPrtep. Ev. xv. 51.
nous writer : see Diog. Laert. iii. 40. In the list of his writings given by
Suidas, several treatises on astronomical subjects are included.
(
iii.
9.
Digitized by
128
which
is
both a square
cube
[chap.
II.
and cube.(259 )
aiul a
from
Pythagorean system of
name
of observed phenomena. It
is
invisible
The
central
The mythological
fanciful
the
character of
system.
entire
we know,
it
was the
first
was,
far
it
So
originality.
made
it
move
in a circular
round a centre.
shared by other
knows of a
who
Sim-
he only
who
by some
modem
have
Be
Coel.
ii.
13.
whom some
(
ib. p. 93.
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 17.]
129
The
centre.
central position
its
scheme.
laic
the immovability
are wanting in the Philo-
Philolaic hypothesis
upon the
its
and the
upon
may
its axis,
fire
accounts.
to have varied in
Thus we
its astro-
are informed
by
Plutarch, that Heraclides of Pontus, and Ecphantus the Pythagorean, supposed the earth to move, but to turn only upon
from west to
axis
tion.^'*)
east,
its
is
the
as npos
iii.
13.
ttjv St yfjv
ptaov xoapov
is
ascribed to Ecphantus by
airijs Ktvrpov
Kivci<r$ai nfpl to
avaToXrjv.
K.
Digitized by
130
[CHAP.
II.
is
the centre of the universe, round which the sphere of the fixed
stars,
the
five planets,
scientific
This,
astronomers of
the
philosophers
following
and Plato
critus,
The Orphic
sect
earth
by a
sensible,
viz.,
Demo-
the centre of
is at
w hich comparison
philosophers. (
28
Aristophanes in
')
the
himself,
is
more
and
intricate
orbits,
artificial.
According to this
Mercury.
fire.
10.
Earth. ( 289 )
7.
2.
Saturn.
The Sun.
is
4.
The sphere
1.
Mars.
5.
Venus.
3. Jupiter.
8.
According to
a.
Achill. Tat. c. 4.
See other illustrations of the itnmobility of
( 267 )
the earth in the same passage.
( 268 )
Nub. 264.
(in Kiesslings edition
of Iamblichus and
Digitized by
Googl
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 17 .]
moon was
the
fire
was
The Pythagoreans
force
and
131
They
down the
first laid
first
five
is
at the
The
moving
supposed that the sounds of the different spheres, in their respective circular orbits, were combined into a harmonious sym-
phony. ( 27i)
Hence they
.established an analogy
between the
276
:
TONES.
_L
The
makes
1 tones
Gem in us,
c. i. p. 2.
below
ch. iii. 3.
(273) Simplicius, ib. p. 453 a.
(274) Aristot. de Ccel. ii. 9.
Aristot. de Mundo, c. 6.
Compare Athen.
xiv. p.
632.
Pseud.
(275) See Theo Smyrn. c. 15, p. 181, and the verses of Alexander of
Ephesus cited by him, Achill. Tat. c. 16; Cic. Somn. Scip. c. 5 ; Macrob.
Comm, in Somn. Scip. ii. 1 4.
(276)
c.
13.
K 2
Digitized by
132
[chap.
II.
from Saturn to the zodiac, and therefore his entire scale contains 7 tones instead of
In
this
G^ 277 )
in the system,
its
movements, represented
as being the highest above the earth, and the most rapid in
its
is
loud,
as
to
transcend
the
is,
it
impercep-
of our sense of
capacity
hearing. (*79)
Pythagoras
is
five zones,
The
its
is
stated
to
have
derived from
Anaxagoras. (
2S1
)
( 377 )
278 )
22
life
De Coel. ib.
De Rep. vi.
279 )
tin,
12
Plut. Plac.
ii.
12, 23.
Compare Martin,
ib. p.
101
281 ) See Plat. Erast, ad init. ; Diog. Laert. ix. 37. Two sayings attributed to him are preserved in the Parallels Sacra of Joann. Damase. ad
Compare Dr. Smiths Biogr. Diet,
calc. Stob. Eel. p. 760, ed. Gaisford.
(
in v.
(
i.
5.
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 17.]
that the
movement
133
The Pythagoreans
comets are planetary
lost
stars,
their brilliancy
cury, which seldom rises above the horizon, and only appears at
A portion
'
had
was composed of
it
stars
which
Way was
fEnopides
is
the original
Thyestean banquet,
changed
it
its
it
Way,
men
Pythagoras
translated into
it
is
heaven^ 287 )
is
ii.
16
He
Stob. Eel.
i.
24
Galen,
c.
13.
Aristot. Meteor, i. 6
( 284 )
Meteor, i. 8
In the words olov olv Sia to KeKavodai tov
( 285 ) Aristot.
rtmov tovtov tj n toiovtov aXAo mirvvdivai Trades V7TO TTjt <popas civtuv (c/xirriW,
the sense seems to require aivo 0 for avriov. The substance of this passage
Plut.
Plac. Phil. iii. 1.
in
Stob.
Eel.
i.
is repeated
26
286 ) Ap. Achill. Tat. c. 24, p. 86 ed. Petav. See above, p. 96.
(
.
( 287 )
i.
701802.
288 ) Plut. Symp. viii. 2, 4. Non posse suav. vivi sec. Epic. 11. In the
(
latter passage Pythagoras is stated to have sacrificed an ox upon the dis-
Digitizad by
GoogI
134
ASTRONOMY FROM
Til ALES
[CHAP.
investigation.^ 289 )
II.
He
Egypt
It
-n
may he
gorean
Italian sect
known by
name
that
founder^ 291 )
we
possess, to
neither are
we
able in general to
upon them by
his followers.
The
attempt
ment of the
self
original idea.
(Anth. Pal.
iii.
vii.
36.
119.)
'ATvo\\6B<opos
(289) Iamblich. de vit. Pyth. S 89. Plato, Pined, p. 96, applies the
loTopia to physical investigation ; and the word iornpla, used simply,
denotes physical knowledge in the fine verses of Euripides, frag. 101,
word
Pindorf.
(290) Piod. ubi sup.
(291)
In
Pe
Be Uvdayopfioi.
Ccelo,
In
ptvoi Tlvdaynpdoi
ii.
Ccel.
ii.
Meteor,
Meteor,
TraXmv, KnXovpcvoi
and Metaph. i. 5, o koAov-
ot irrpl rrjv
2,
1.
i.
i.
8,
KaXovpcvuiv XlvBayo-
pttotv.
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 18.]
135
is
unquestion-
18 A cycle of 59 years, made apparently for the adjustment of the calendar, is ascribed to the early Pythagorean School.
QEnopides,
a contemporary of Anaxagoras,
already mentioned as
293
)
If
this
is
294
no
intercalation.
Pliilolaus,
and he
at
is,
is
stated to
The obvious
that Pliilolaus
made a
in-
cycle
If this be the
An
intercala-
enormous error in
excess.
We
may indeed
assume, with
cycle
it
still
:(
this interpretation
is,
Censorin. 19.
No.
16.
p.
262
6,
782.
(
296 ) Philolaos,
p.
134.
Digitized by
136
may
Some
[CHAP.
II.
total of
mean
as
Boeckh has
lunar
month of
29] days.
19 Leucippus, the founder of the Atomic philosophy, is
said to have been a disciple of either Parmenides or Zeno, and
Upon
trines.
which involved
movement,
it
like a
is
a sphere; that
membrane, was
its
external coat,
that these at
first
were
stars.
That the
its
fiery property
from the
stars.
That the
to,
space
moon were
caused by the
on account of the
( 297 )
Ideler, vol.
i.
p.
303, thinks
it
and
where-
solid,
and
no
ii.
2,
light
(
i.
p. 294.
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 20.]
137
He
held that
and that
its
He
own testimony
tries.^ 03)
to have travelled
It is asserted that
must have
he
is
lived
appears from
many
foreign coun-
to
His birth
b.c.
He
302
He
he visited Egypt
Red
That he made
and
(300) Diog. Lr.ort. ix. 30 33; Plut. Plac. ii. 7, iii. 12; Stob. Eel.
Phys. i. 15, 22 j Euseb. Prp. Ev. xv. 38 ; Origen, Ref. Ilsur, p. 17 ;
Galen, c. 11, 21.
The passage respecting the earth stands thus in Diogenes, n. 30, rij v
yfjv oxctadai nfpi to pt<rov Cnvovptirqv, (TXijp.il rf avrrjs Tvpnavoddts fivat.
The
words mp\ to pto-ov 8ivovpfin]v appear to mean, fixed by the Sivl) about the
centre
they may be compared with the celebrated passage respecting the
earth in the Timsus. The statement that Leucippus supposed the shape of
the earth to resemble that of a tympanum, recurs in Plut. Plac. iii. 10
Euseb. Praop. Ev. xv. 56. The Greek tympanum appears to have been
like a tambourine, or to have been hemispherical.
In Stob. Eel. Phys. i. 22, AvwctTnros rai ArjpoitptTos ^irui<a kvk\u> rat
vpiva TTpiT(lvnv(TL roi Koopa>, tha to)V ay klitt pat (daiv aarpoiv ipnejrktyptvov, the
sense requires aTopav for aorpiov, the conjecture of Heeren. The words
ovpnXtKciv and TrepmXeKuv are used, with reference to the Leucippic con
ib. p. 17.
was stated
41.
(302) Concerning the lifetime of Democritus, see Democriti Fragments, ed. Mullach, p. 2 36.
(303) See Mullach, p. 3.
See Cic. de Fin. v. 19 ; Strab. xv. i. 38.
(304) Mullach, p. 40 49.
Digitized
by
138
lield intercourse
[chap.
II.
but he
him
may be inferred
having derived much in-
from which
it
He
is
and
astronomical knowledge. ( 30 )
In
on
much
the
list
Among
on the Chaldaeans.(306 )
several treatises
his
This cycle
(as
the fragments of
of
for
calendar.
evidently
Upon
with eighty-two
The year
tercalary
is
years
Democritus accords
months
and immovable.
He
conceived
form to be that
its
its
support to be
Dioa.
(309) 82
= 29950|.
(
iii.
310 )
10.
355
6.
129131, 142147.
Compare Mullach,
28
X 30
p.
143
5.
Kotkifv 5c to
and 82 X 305 (
c.
21; Euseb.
Digitized by
TO DEMOCRITUS.
SECT. 26.]
139
air. ( 311
He
held
He
by
saying, that, as
was equidistant on
it
all sides
why
it
was subject to
vibratory motions,
should incline in
it
first
With
represented
two.( 3u )
He
to the south,
its
con-
He
held
He
placed the
we inhabit to have
moon nearest to the
supposed the
he
He conceived the
S18
He perceived that
He likewise
to west.
is
from east
That
the sun
ment;^
tains
17
moons
face
818
; (
iii.
Agathemer.
Plut. Plac.
move-
313 )
( 314 )
(315 )
( 316 )
its vortical
is
(
(
an ignited mass of
by
valleys,
tial bodies is in
i.
moon
that the
and
is
i.
iii.
ii.
i.
13, 16.
16.
Galen,
c.
21.
12; Galen,
e.
21.
15
1.
i.
8 , vol.
p. 60, ed.
(
(
Galen,
i.
25
i.
26, p. 550,
e.
14.
564
Heercn; Galen,
c.
15.
Digitized by
GoogI
stars gain
stars is
moon
[CHAP.
II.
"With
know more
Like Anaxagoras, he
821
)
119 ) See Lucret. v. 619 34, where this singular attempt to account
for the proper motion of the sun is clearly expounded.
(
( 321 )
Aristot. Meteor,
i.
Galen,
c.
17
i.
27.
Digitized by
141
Chapter
SCIENTIFIC
rPHE
III.
touches upon
it
Even the
astronomical questions,
is
The
tion,
he condemns
all
phenomena
He rejects,
science
In the Republic
it
as im-
as a vulgar prejudice,
is
sublime;
its
use of
mechanical causes, was founded on a gross and material conception of the science
who
full
culating in space. ( s )
is
a sphere, sus-
(1)
(
2)
De
De
Rep.
Leg.
vii. p.
529, 630.
xii. p.
967.
3 ) In the Phffido, c. 132, p. 109, Socrates lays it down (hat the earth
of circular form, in the midst of the heaven ; and that it is kept in its
(
is
Digitized by
FROM
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
142
His language on
[CHAP.
III.
who
shared by others,
among
the ancients.
Nor was
It
was
who took
dem
a different view
expositors
agree in
rejecting
this
construction.^)
It
word
and suggesting,
was not
this
6
( )
place by its equilibrium, and by its resemblance to the surrounding circular heaven.
That the sphericity of the earth was taught by the followers of Socrates is stated by Cleomed. i. 8. Compare Ukert. i. 2,
Martin, Timtie, p. 90, 118.
p. 29.
(4)
See Martin,
ib. vol.
ii.
p.
91
88
Journ. des Sav. 1841, p. 76, thinks that the word implies the rotundity of
the earth, without expressing any rotatory motion. Compare Journ. des
Sav. 1819, p. 329. The use of the word n-oXos for axis is peculiar to this
passage; see notes A. and C., at the end of the chapter.
Cicero reports the theory of Hicetas that the earth is in the centre
of the universe, but moves on its axis that the other heavenly bodies are
stationary, and that their apparent motions are due to the real motion of
the earth. lie then proceeds to say Atque hoc etiam Platonem in Tima:o
dicere quidam arbitrantur, sed paullo obscurius, Acad. ii. 39.
;
(6) dfofppaaros be
Ka'i
7Tpnm<rropet Tea IIXutcom TrpeopvTe'pip yevopevtp ptraTrj yjj r t)v pecrrjv \u>pav tov 7ravrbc, Plut.
Digitized by
Coogle
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 1.]
The
is
143
M. Martin
questioned by
who
The ground
among
dignity
arguments.
Plato
It
may
is
It has
no
first
is
in
reference to
is
not the
is
visits to Italy
and
Sicily,
to
Now
and
sect,
the
was
(as
Philolaic cosmology.
alludes
ecliptic in a
to the
great
circles
9
)
He
of
makes mention
had
movements
TTjv yfvopfvov fiuii'f I'orjtrPlat. Qnffist.viii. 1. ravra fie kcu HKdrwvd (j>am irp*
Oai ircpl TT/r yjjs ois (V tTipn xd>pa KuOt irraurqs, t fjv fie' peaTjv xai KvpitoraTrfV
OoilipiiFO AristOt. de Cod
TfpO) TIPI KpflTTOV l 1Tpo(n]KOV(TaVy Plut. Nuffl. 11.
ii. let,
3.
vol.
( 7 ) Tim 6 e,
Plat. p. 149.
ii.
p. 91.
Syst. des
ed. Kiessling
9 ) Martin,
ib. p. 39.
Digitized by
FROM
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
144
planets
[chap.
III.
five
To
which he
star,
Stil-
is
so
named on account
of
its
He
Phsenon.( 10 )
not
fiery,
red colour
is
and,
called
slowest circuit, and that next after Saturn comes Jupiter; but
The
They
star.
Morning
name
be distinct
Eosphorus or
Plato consolidates
star to
to the other planets, Plato says that they were first observed
and
first
received
names
in
Egypt and
Syria.
summer sky
He
This priority he
in those countries,
same
signification,
(10)
Tim.
p.
(11)
Tim.
p. 38.
38
Epinom. p. 987.
Compare Martin,
ii.
ib.
distinctive
p. 66.
Pyroeis
and charac-
is
one of the
193.
art.
atrrrjp irptv
piv fXafxiTfs
tvi
fwonr iv
layni,
(jidifitvois,
Epinom.
p. 987.
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 2 .]
teristic
the
name Pyroeis
for
Mars
145
Star of Mercury.
2 We have now reached the period when the Greek astronomy, though still in an imperfect and unformed state, was beginning to assume the character of a science founded on systematic
observation.
to
350
may
to Aristotle, ( 15 )
B.c.,
He
life
probably extended
He
was a
scientific
disciple of Plato
mouth of
is
at
period
it likely
priests.
Eudoxus remained
communication with
the
This
is,
Heliopolis,
appears,
however,
be
to
who wrote
nor
exaggerated,
is
More
credit is
due to
This statement
is,
that
Eudoxus
him
letters of
brows
Egypt sixteen months, shaving his eyeand that he then composed his
;
xvii.
( 17 )
See Clinton, F. H.
i.
29.
vol.
iii.
p. 526.
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
146
FROM
[CHAP.
III.
to Egypt,
b.c.
this year
Egypt,
if
of fifty-three.
Eudoxus was
and he died
age
at the
count of Sotion.
visited
calls
visit to
It is
whom
Eudoxus,
lessons of Chonuphis
22
;(
by the
rise to
is
The
Eudoxus
is
likewise
is
instruction in
priests,
during his
mentioned by Diodorus, p)
and whose
b.c.,
Mausoleum to
his
18 ) Diog. Laert.
19) Clinton, F.
viii.
H.
wife,
memory.
he
Plato, as well as
He
25
)
is,
younger of
87.
vol.
ii.
p. 213.
Compare Grote,
p. 499.
(
20 )
( 21 )
viii.
De
90.
Diog. Laert.
( 25 )
Clinton, F.
viii.
H.
87.
vol.
ii.
p. 286.
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 2.]
Syracuse
and 356
28
;(
which
147
visit
b.c.
His chief
He was
tions, not
Canopus. ( 29 )
He
is
30
on a high
it
the star
hill,
in order
As
stories concerning
p. 180.
(
28 )
De
L 2
Digitized by
FROM
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
148
The
[CHAP.
him
III.
to discern
map
Eudoxus appears
to
in two works, nearly identical with each other, one called the
These works are no longer extant ; but the second of them was
versified
270
b.c.,
by Aratus, an Alexandrine
poet,( 3S )
it
it
nomy
It appears
work of
( 31 )
EC80 |ot Si
t]S\(TO,
globe.
(33) dvacftiperai Si (Is tov F.vSoov Svo
(Tvptftava <ara ndvra crx^Sov aXXijXoiv, ttXtjv
ttoirjcriv
verbal.
list of ancient commentators on Aratus, printed in Petav.
( 34 ) The
Uranolog. p. 147, contains no less than thirty-six names. It must, however, have been framed by some ignorant compiler, for it contains the
names of Thales and Parmenides. The names of the two Aristylli likewise
occur twice.
(
cr<j>aipas,
i.
irepl
KaranKevijs 'Apardas
p. 257.
Digitized by
149
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 2 .]
As Aratus was not himself a scientific astrohe may be supposed to have faithfully reproduced the
cedonia.( 36 )
nomer,^ 7)
critical
who
is,
moreover, extant.
stars.
partly
by
zodiac,
and to the
modem
and
by their
arctic circles.
relation to the
He
places by celestial
measurement: he
laid
down
neither their
tude
territorial position
and
limits, according to
groups distinguished
by a common name.(38)
The
constellations
ecliptic
into twelve
celestial
motions of the sun, moon, and visible planets are made,(89 ) had
(36) See the ancient lives of Aratus, in Westermanns Biogr. Gr. p. 53,
The ancient biographer states that Aratus versified the Karinrrpov of
calls his tvompov ; but Hipparchus, whose authority is
decisive, states that the poem of Aratus was founded upon the (paimpeva.
Antigonus Gonatas reigned, with certain interruptions, from 277 to 239
b.c.
For the time of Aratus, see Clinton, F. H. vol. iii. p. 488 ; and
for an account of his writings, see Donaldsons Hist, of Gr. Lit. vol. ii.
59.
Eudoxus, as he
p. 425.
i.
descriptive
p.
61
74;
(39)
i.
15,
Ptolemy, Synt.
viii. 4,
10.
Digitized by
150
[CHAP.
III.
name
The
originality of the
motion of the
stars,
They defined
world. (*)
at
is
this course
set,
at
The
twelve part3 by
a constellation or sign.
Greeks acquired,
zodiac
of the
determined by
But
originally
it
courses of the planets had been observed, and before their dis-
The ancient
astronomers, until Hipparchus, were ignorant of the precession of the equinoxes, and they
made no
distinction between
They did not know that the sidereal year is different from the
solar year.
The sign of Aries, as corresponding with the
vernal equinox, was taken as the beginning of the astronomical
year
of other ancients,
sometimes
at the
sign, affords
no
who reckoned
40 )
(.
vol.
i.
On
it.(
which
modem
41
)
p. 505.
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 3.]
151
tioned in the
presumption
raises a strong
that they were passed over in nearly total silence by his guide.
The
the only
following
mentioned by the
into English verse
of Aratus
versifier of
Eudoxus(42 )
by Dr. Lamb, in
is
thus rendered
poem
To
and
their
bounds define
fired stars,
and trace
it
4S
(
),
did
not introduce any mention of the planets into his Mirror of the
Heavens and
his
Phenomena
first
Greek
tom.
i.
p. 122.
Mais
les
cest quil n'a point regard^ le ciel, quil a recueilli les observations grossieres faites a vue, peut-etre en difitjrens terns et en difRrenSipays. II nest
pas 6tonnant quavec des Siemens aussi imparfaits, il ait donnS des discordances cnormes ; ce qui S tonne davantage, cest la peine inutile que se sont
donnee quelques moaernes pour expliquer tout cela, en supposant des
observations faites a des Spoques Sloignees les unes des autres. II faudrait
autant dSpoques difierentes qu Eudoxe a nommd dStoiles. On sest
accords a prendre pour id6e fondamentale que les observations etaient
bonnes. II Stait bien plus naturef de les supposer mauvaises ; mais alors
on
naurait
pu
batir
aucun systeme.
interprets, appears to
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
152
FROM
[chap.
His planetary
tlieoiy
III.
was,
by the
it
astronomers of Greece
scientific
world.
it
who
It appears to
propounded
as a
general and uniform course of the fixed stars, were the five
planets visible
to
* The
and
moon.
is
more oblique
for the
moon than
moves
Each of the
five
planets has four spheres, two of which are the spheres of the
fixed stars
its
circle.
Of
in a
( 44 )
Simplicius,
p. 498, Brandis.
Geminus
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 3 .]
Such
is
number
and
for effecting
it
was twenty-six
five planets,
from which
by
the complex motions of the sun, moon,
Eudoxus
153
48
Commentary upon
my
would be foreign to
Some
analyse.
valuable criticisms
still
which
it
more to
Eudoxus. ( 49)
The general
for
into
compounding
its
directions
namely, to re-
to decompose
it
It is difficult to understand
how
motion
their astronomical
The hypothesis
Metaph.
xi.
by an oversight or
In composing this
48 ) See Schol. Aristot. ed. Brandis, p. 498.
account Simplicius consulted the History of Astronomy by Eudemus, and
the Commentary of Sosigenes, the astronomer who guided Julius Casar in
the reform of the lloman calendar. He likewise refers to a work of
(
Eudoxus on
(
Velocities
ire pi
Tapin'.
p. 73.
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
154
FROM
[CHAP.
III.
which the
crystalline firmament, in
made a
stars
were
set,
and which
who spoke
as
sphere
60
; (
fastened.
It
an independent movement,
tain constantly the
same
all
had
should
relative positions to
itself,
came
the
ability
hut
makes
it
became apparent.
It
movement of the
moon, and
fixed stars,
explanation lost
its
mendation, while
it
simplicity,
fixed stars
which was
its
principal recom-
stars, accord-
The
doxus, as
we
61
:
the following
by Euis
his
statement, to which the true times are subjoined, for the sake of
comparison
( 50 ) See above, p. 95. The word rj\os in Homer is used merely to signify
an ornamental stud, and not a nail for fastening. It probably had the
same meaning in the writings of the aneient Ionian Anaximenes.
(
51 ) lb. p. 199 b.
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 3.]
Statement of
Eudoxus.
Venus
Mars
Upon
155
True time.
V.
Mercury
H.
D.
Y.
87
23
224
16
821
23
Jupiter
12
11
315
14
Saturn
30
29
174
it is,
in
The proximity
common.
Mercury
of
is
First,
considerable;
this determination
Aristotle remarks
to the sun
its
would render
but the cause
is
not
apparent.
With
respect to
is
close;
32
(
),
as
is
shown
several
M.
Mercury
Venus
Mars
5S
(
Jupiter
Saturn
...
...
...
nearly
52 ) Simplic.
53 ) Ideler,
ib.; in p.
ib. p. 78,
D.
110
19
20
Y.
D.
116
219
49
34
13
13
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
156
FROM
[CHAP.
III.
Setting aside
be supposed),
parison
may
Time of Eudoxus.
True time.
Days.
Days.
Mercury
110
116
Venus
Mars
570
584
f"f
iter
Saturn
The
early
780
899
.bout 390 v
'
378
little
no
assistance.
temporary of Socrates
their movements.
The same
number and course of the planets
The fuller and more exact knowledge of
planets,
and particularly
his determina-
priests. (
66
)
Mars are corrupt, and that the true reading is probably twenty -five
months twenty days. The irregular curve line described by the planets
was called EeSofov imroirtdr). See Simplic. ib. p. 600, ool. a, and Ideler, ib.
for
p. 88.
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 3.]
is
well attested
157
down by
successive
we may reasonably
celestial bodies,
and that
and more
scientific neighbours.
years,
like a
many
them many
comet
some of the
only hearsay. ( 67 )
It will
is
credible though
tions in writing.
It
is
mer
56 )
57 ) Meteor,
(58)
CcbI.
ii.
this
12, 3.
Epinom.
i.
circuits
58
)
See below,
4.
6 , 9.
11, p. 990.
Digitized by
158
SCIENTIFIC
ASTRONOMY FROM
[chap.
The
affairs are
it
as
move-
III.
mentioned by
Physical speculation
may be
and
rise
its
fifth
and
century. (
61
form, took
So rapid was
among
Ethical
b.c.
scientific
this highly
comprehend the
entire circle
and
ethical,
logical,
political
of
metaphysical,
physical,
and
One of
fl2
Heaven (mpl
oiipa-
its
science considered in
rology
is
its
widest extent.
The
treatise
on Meteo-
A third
Way.
is
entitled wept
( 59 )
(
60 )
Cic. de Div.
p. 40.
it
is
42.
ii.
(poftavs
cti'i
oTjfjfla
Xoyl{e<rdai nepnovai.
61 ) Aristotle
years after Plato.
(
was
bom
and
forty-five
See Meteor,
i.
Digitized by
GoogI
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 4.]
159
century
b.c.
Apuleius.( M)
Latin translation of
it
is
in the works of
Aristotle
on astronomy, now
separate treatise
lost,
which, according to
Diogenes Laertius, was comprised in one book, and was therefore of limited extent.
65
)
Aristotle considered
astronomy
as
a science founded on
He
calculation^ 66)
describes
it
as occupied with
an essence
which
and
all
This region
verse.
and immortal
and
is
is
it is
imperishable
(64)
The
treatise
De Mundo
See
c.
ii.
own
treatise
on astronomy
Xeyo
(66) 8o rat pen apx&s rat nepi eKaarov epneipiat eerr'i napadovvm.
TTjv a<TTp6\oyeKt)v pep epneipiav rijt dgrrpoXcryiKijt em<rn)pr)t' Xr]<f>8ePTop yap
owp
An.
i.
1.
(67)
Metaph.
xi. 8.
ii.
p.
59
92.
i.
apxaiav 8uiSeSocr8ai pe\pi rat rov pvp \p6pov, tovtop top rpdnop vnoXap^avoprop
Digitized
by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
160
He
end
and
whose nature
form
is
it
to
is
The
a sphere.
[chap.
III.
move
human handj(^)
its
motion
is
motion
attainable
is
is
likewise equable. ( n )
heaven the
this spherical
This
In
FROM
Their
They
are attached.
air.( 72 )
themselves
is,
spherical.
is
no motion of
He
their own.
spherical.
moon.
is
in an
But, he
words in Meteor,
i.
3.
why heaven
is
supposed to be the
Et
The word
rapidi fremitus, et
derived from
al6r)p is
a18a>
yap
li.
Tt df'iov),
to Qclw
ici
Klvtprtv dt&iav
vKapyciv.
and derives
it
f7Tfi
3, 2.
(
Kai
ditiyKT]
70 )
on
Coal.
ii.
4,
18
on piv
oZv
<T<f>aipotiif)S
ir\r]!riiDS ptfr
( 71 ) Ccel.
aXXo
ii.
prjdev
.
ran nap
ware
f]piv iv
n toutov,
d(pda\poU
irapa-
cpaivapivatv.
(
72 )
CcbI.
ii.
7,
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 4.]
reasons,
if
is
161
He
planets,
by the
is
an affection of our
remote an
sight,
object. ( 74 )
caused
He
like-
wise argues that the stars have no rotatory motion, from the
fact that the
moon always
With regard
their order in
75
)
succession
He
lays
it
on
down, however,
that the circular motion of the external sphere of the fixed stars
is
the most rapid, that the motion of the spheres nearest to the
centre
the slowest
is
The
tances.
latter fact
is,
is
mathematicians. (76 )
difficulty,
hypothesis.
It
simple
intricate
moon from
planets are
more
earth than the sun and moon, Aristotle mentions that he had
moon when
half
and emerging
planets,
he
refers, for a
With regard
to the other
11(73) Cob1
(75) lb. 11.
-
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
162
lonians,
FROM
[chap.
difficulty
contain so
many
states
III.
Another
is,
whereas the
movement
peculiar to
itself.
life.
If
we assume,
orb accomplishes
The
command.
its circuit
as
life,
we
hut
Each
its
and
The
earth,
tion
it
are unable to
move with
effect
78
)
As
to the second
CKaarov
Tali
ta! rrcpi
mWas
iifjrpwv, Coel.
ii.
12, 3.
iricrrtu
sidus vocamos.
Schol. Arat, 10 lariov 8 e oti darfjp pev tariv 6 ccal udvov cart (cat ov k ad
avrov (ctsccrcu, olov Kpovos, ZfVi, (cat TCI TOiavra atrrpnv 8 c ro tc Kivovpxvov (cat
Read (eat lead air 611
(tat to e(c (rXcicrrwi'daTcptov w{<TTT}u(i, oiov Kap/cteos, Acaiv.
The latter definition adds a condition which is not in the first.
Ktvctrat.
Moreover, if it be strictly interpreted, neither word could be applied to a
similar definition is given
single fixed star, such as Sirius or Arcturus.
by Galen in Hippocr. Epid. i. vol. 17, part i. p. 16, ed. Kuhn. He remarks
that a single- star is sometimes called airrpov, but that a constellation is
never called da-rr/p. The distinction in question may bo observed in later
times, but it is unknown to the earlier writers. Aristotle, for example, uses
the two words interchangeably. Achilles Tatius, c. 14, who draws the
same distinction, admits that it was not observed by the earlier writers.
The Latin writers are equally inconsistent as to the distinction between
Sidus is sometimes
stella and sidus, attributed to them by Macrobius.
applied to the planets, and sometimes to the sun and moon.
:
(78) This explanation of the motion of the planets is not very unlike
the explanation of the origin of evil, given by Leibnitz in his Theodieee.
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 5.]
163
and most
perfect,
of stars
the superior
The
giving to
He
Aristotle^ 80 )
some of the
who may
readers
own
rities
some doubt ;
for
He
mogives
from his
He
first
made by
Callippus.
(79 ) CcbI.
ii.
12.
who
ancients.
(81) Above, p. 152.
M 2
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
164
hypothesis.
FROM
[CHAP.
III.
move
number with
But
Callip-
number
to
thirty-three.
it
to the world in
his-
Cal-
The reason
it
and twenty-five
He
is
these, according
82 ) Simplie. ib. p. 398, col. b. The first year of the Callippic cycle
(
d.c.
The lifetime of Callippus may be supposed to have coincided nearly with that of Aristotle (384322 b.c.). Concerning Callippus, Bee the article in Dr. Smiths Diet, of Anc. Biogr. Concerning the
Callippio cycle, and its scientific character, see above, p. 122.
was 330
84 ) Simplie.
ib. p.
500, col.
is
432
b.c.
a.
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 6.]
for each,
165
two highest
planets,
and sixteen
number of
makes the
Callippus, he
the
By
8s
six for
total
number of spheres
fifty-five^ 84 )
Callippus,
As has been
all
which
motive principle
it is
its
motion
is
itself is
devoid
borne.
and
Callippus.
Aristotle.
Moon
5 spheres
Sun
Mercury
Venus
Mars
6+4
Jupiter
Saturn
5
5
5+4
5+4
4+3
4+3
4
Total
...
spheres
+4
33
55
Aristotle calls the spheres which give the retrograde motion contrary
to the motion of the spheres to which they are respectively attached
ofpaipai avfXiTTovtrai, from dveXiTTw, to unroll or unwind ;
the reversing or
retracting spheres.
In Simplic. p. 500, col. a, 1. 34, ed. Brandis, the sense requires, 6 be
ApurrorfA^ff per a to loTopgovu ttjv KaAAbnrov 5oae sat r+ avrov rtf pi rtov
av(\iTTov<ro>v (7rr)yayev. The theory respecting the additional os/witpai m-'fXiYrovcrai is given by Aristotle as his own, and it is so regarded subsequently
by Simplicius.
1
(86) Aristotle adds, that if the additional spheres for the sun and moon
are omitted, the total number will be only 47. On referring to the table in
the previous note, it will be seen that this statement cannot be reconciled
with it. If the moon has no unwinding spheres, the omitted spheres
would be only 4, and the total number would be 61, instead of 47. Various
attempts to explain this apparent inconsistency, which puzzled the ancient
astronomers and commentators, may be seen in Simplic. ib. p. 505 b,
808. ,The difficulty would notarise if we could suppose Aristotle to have
regarded Mercury and not the Moon as the lowest planet.
Digitized
by
FROM
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
C.166
is
great
upon the
earth,
He
is
rapid
by
As
is
its
very explicit.
is
remoteness,
their
ill.
[CHAP.
its
He
examines and
air,
owing to
its flat
shape
it is
He
reports
or tambourine, or circular
of the sun, at
cular,
which
its
it
rising
drum
flat
and
would be
tympanum,
setting, is straight,
if
its
an argument in
and not
cir-
He
answers this argument by the distance of the sun and the magnitude of the earths circumference.
88
)
it
He
fire,
likewise rejects
its axis,
of Plato. ( 89)
the universe.
He
is
es-
all
bodies to the centre of the earth, and partly from other argu-
ments.
all
Hence he
circuit
by a simple motion.
the centre, or
if it
turned upon
(87)
Meteor,
(88; Ccel.
ii.
its axis at
i.
an
orbit
the centre,
it
round
would
3.
13.
14, 1.
Digitized by
;
:
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 6.]
But
if it
16 V
Another argument
rise
and
is
places.
mathema-
same
set in the
is,
is
He
for the
moon
in her phases,
moon
sometimes a crescent
the shadow
is
always circular
and
spherical form.
He
as the eclipse is
this result
phenomena of
but that
it is
for,
produced -
must be owing to
is
a sphere,
he remarks, with a
we have a new
thus some of the stars which are visible in Egypt and the Island
of Cyprus are invisible in the countries to the north, and some
of the stars which never set in the countries to the north set
further south.
a paradoxical opinion.
He
but that
its size is
infer,
is
at
who
it
therefore, with
Digitized
by
168
SCIENTIFIC
ASTRONOMY FROM
[chap.
III.
after-
its
full
Greek astronomers
and of his
them
Differing
in
are reported
and
Against this
He
it
some of the
tail.
has often
fixed stars
He
tail.
states that
same
at the
many
whereas
and
limits,
upon
it,
it
Sirius,
but that
was more
it
if
the
visible
Against the
all
(93 ) Pliny notices this opinion, and thinks that Aristotle is mistaken :
Aristoteles tradit et plures simul cerni ; nemini compertum alteri, quod
equidem sciam, N. H. ii. 25.
Digitized by
He
of several.
first
day
they
was not
it
left
still
b.c.),( 96 )
Asteius(373
on the
169
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 6.]
it
it
visible,
because
its
it
sun
there ceased.
He
tail.(
96
)
it,
but without
as-
that comets are in the nature of meteors, and that their range
is in
Way
Milky
Way
Milky
was the
result of
some
another, that
it
the heaven which was in the shadow of the earth as the sun
passed beneath
it
and a
third, that it
Milky
Way
diffused. ( 98 )
is
reddi. Nee hoe tunc tan turn evenit, quum stella stellam attigit, sed etiam
qum appropinquavit. Intervallum enim, quod inter duas est, illustratur
ab utraque, lnflammaturque, et longura ignern efficit.
Aristotle was in this year eleven years old.
( 95 )
(96 ) Meteor, i. 6
.
by Pliny
ire,
Digitized by
170
SCIENTIFIC
ASTRONOMY FROM
The
III.
[CHAP.
a congeries of small
one another.
stars, close to
it is
Eudoxus and by
Plato,
Some
philosophers, however,
movement
of the sun
might be
stars
The
earliest
Greek to
whom
this
hypothesis
is
its axis.
ascribed
His date
is
is
not ex-
may
with Socrates or
contemporary
Plato. ( 10)
Ileraclides of
and
is
He
is also said
to have
His lifetime
may be
to 840 B.c.
His writings
101 ) Simplicius,
ad Aristot. Phys.
u.
119,
makes him
Brandis, calls
him a com-
Romer,
p. 362, ed.
i.
2, p.
panion of Plato.
( 102 )
Diog. Laert.
v.
86 .
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 7 .]
Without being a
scientific
171
round
its
heaven
is
axis at
He
laid it
down
at rest.( 103 )
It is specially
not give
who was
statement, in the
from west to
east,
The
distinct
movement
of the earth to be
is at rest,
is
not
may
appear to be in motion.
by him
to the
movement of
the heavens.
In his Treatise de
Ccelo,
rat
rjpfp(h, HpUK\cL&T]5 6
ad
Tim.
Digitized by
172
FROM
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
[CHAP.
III.
The
and
it
is
the heaven and the stars must be at rest, or that both must
Now
moves
If,
it
supposed
is
and the
stars
both move, or that one of the bodies moves and the other
rest.(
106
)
mind was
rest.
is
it
It is manifest
is at
of the stars might be explained by the hypothesis of the rotation of the earth.
upon the
still
its
what was
central position,
round
we do
It
and hence, as
it
appears,
with impiety.
to this time
had
The Greeks
is also described by Seneca in the following pashe supposes a simple daily rotation of the earth in the centre of the
universe, not a motion of the earth in an orbit
Illo quoque pertinebit
hoc excussisse, ut sciamus, utrum mundus terra stante circumeat, an mundo
Btante terra vertatur. Fuerunt enim qui dicerent, nos esse quos rerum
natura nescientes ferat, nec cceli motu fieri ortus ot occasus, ipsos oriri et
occidere.
Digna res est contemplatione, ut sciamus in quo rerum statu
simus ; pigerrimam sortiti an velocissimam sedem ; circa nos Deus omnia,
an nos, agat, Nat. Qua-st. vii. 2
By ipsos is meant ourselves; Lipsius
proposed ipsos nos.
sage
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 7.]
173
axis, of
which
only one pole was visible to them, and which, therefore, was
Homer knew
many
that the
10s
(
)
philosophers. ( 109 )
ball or
heaven.
sphere
As the
Greek
originally signified a
it
celestial vault
Even
Eudoxus employed the word to denote the star nearest the
it was not, however,
till a later
age that its
north pole
modern use was fully established.
Phasnomena of
as revolving round
it
in the
He
its axle.
adds that
Aratus does not specify the material of which the cosmical axis
is
to a spit.
it
universe resembled a
spit,
is
contrary to the
is
supposed to be of
fire,
it
supposed to be of
spheres.
if
the
will either
fire,
or exif it is
be destroyed
The geometers, he
iii.
12.
Digitized
by
174
ASTRONOMY FROM
SCIENTIFIC
adds, conceived
as a mathematical line
it
philosophers regarded
it
it
III.
[chap.
for characterizing
They were
metaphysical entity.
ball spinning
this
on
motion was
earth,
and was
Two
its axis,
effected. ( in )
any
that
The
in six
is
cited
by Simplicius
Eudoxus and
as containing
Callippus.( 113 )
The
century
b.c.,
made such
progress as to admit of
its
history
the
sun, the
moon, the
it
five planets,
(no) Isag.
stars
Compare note
The
to determine the
at the
end of the
chapter.
(in)
Aristotle, Coel.
ii.
8, 8, states
By
Sltnja-is
two
any
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 9.]
175
the fixed
stars.
It
essential use
when
which was of
and
in order to furnish
of
time at night. ( lu )
Plato lays
it
is
out
at
command. (lls )
length the
of
utility
which he
will
know
He
ing periods.
can likewise
tell
interven-
suns shadow; and the hour of the night by the rising and
setting of the zodiacal constellations, and in cloudy nights
by
The importance of a
clocks.
is
is
(114) ovkovv k at (irfi&ri 6 piv r/Xios (^aTfivos &>v rds TC S>pas rijs fpiipas
Sia to (TKOTfivrf tlvrn aaacjxoTcpa <<rrU>,
rnXXa navra cra<fiT]vi(fi, V fie
rds &pas TTj s VVKTOS ip<j>avl{fi ; mil Sta tovto
atrrpa iv Ty vvkt'i dveiprivav, (1 7 u
no\\d t>v hfoptda npaTTopev. Words of Socrates in Xen. Mem. iv. 3, 4.
#cat
( 115 )
De Hep.
( 116 )
ix.
vii. 9, p.
527.
determined by the
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
176
almanacs in
and their
countries
all civilized
is
[CHAP.
methods are
III.
similar,
divisions
FROM
The conventional
of time
year
their
for all
it
As
Christendom.
which
derived.
it is
It is
though
fourth
century
almanac
and partly
In Greece, in the
every person
civil
it
or religious
his
work was
tive
gnomon or
and the
The reports
style),
and,
when not
manifestly
grounded suspicion.
probable by
many
fictitious, are
by
117 )
is,
however, rendered
This statement
in the later
Roman
yvt!)p.ova Ka't
ii.
109.
ra tvuieKa
It is proved
vol. viii.
apa Ba@v\iovto>v
to
Digitized
by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 9 .]
177
weights of Babylonian origin, and that the latter word was bor-
By
The Greeks
of later times, as
we
shall
show
presently,
Accord-
ing to the popular method, they divided the period from sun-
upon
scientific
Accord-
equinox were severally divided into twelve equal parts, and each
of these was reckoned as an hour.
The
The
gnomon and
dial into
Anaximander by
makes a
Diogenes Laertius,
is,
is
on the autho-
Pliny
m
)
The
historical,
it
to the Greeks.
If
(Berlin, 1838),p. 32
42.
( 119 ) Boeckh, MetrologischeUntersuchungen
Ahaz, eleventh king of Juda, whose sundial is mentioned in 2 Kings xx.
8 11, Isaiah xxxviii. 8, is stated to have reigned from 740 to 724 b.c.
His reign corresponds with the period of the earliest Greek colonies in
Sicily.
Compare Winer, Bibl. K. W. in Hiskias.
(120) efpc fit Kill yvapova TpwTOS Kill icmjacv orl r5>v <nuo8i)pav cv \11KCHaipavi, Kiida (prjal Qafiapivos (v navTodairj) 'hrropia, Tptmiis tc Ka'i lenjpepias
Kavorinus lived in the time of
ii. 1 .
Hadrian
it.
76.
Digitized by
178
SCIENTIFIC
ASTBONOMY FROM
[chap. III.
The use
of the
word
was
1SS
;(
but
it
gnomon, when
first
equinoxes and
day.( 123 )
solstices,
and not
for
This mode of
feet long.
common gnomon,
or to a
gnomon
According to the statement of Philechorus, Meton, the celebrated astronomer, set up a sundial against the wall of the
i.
p. 238.
Athen.
i.
( 124 )
1.
2,
17
?/
8 Aa 7rodo)P.
TrdXoff rod* (otlv' ( iTa
notmjv
rfXtor TtTpairrai
Where
see
Wyttenbachs note.
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 9.]
Pnyx
433
b.c.( 125 )
179
The
all
length and direction of the shadow of the sun during the day.
dial
or
ypappaai 8ciKwpcvaL
A horologium,
day,
is
a } 8c per airac
ZH0I
\eyovcn j9porois.( 1M )
divided
the season.
The instrument
summer and
shorter in winter.
its
was longer
8c $i\<>xopof cv KoXwwj! pcv avrov ov8ev dcivai Xeyci, cttX ' A\]scv8ov?
( 125 ) 6
8c roil npo HvdoSopov rjkiorpomav iv T'l viiv oCaji cKKXr/cria, irpo s T(p Tti\ci Tip (V
IlyvKi.
Schol. Aristoph. Av. 997 ; Frag. Hist. Gr. voi. i. p. 400.
If this date, and the date of DioIdeler, Chron. vol. i. p. 326.
dorus for the cycle of Meton are both correct, the sundial was prior to the
cycle by one year.
ipotprjv rriXoy eic rov Kara Tijv A-xpaSlvrjv diropcpipripcvov
( 126 ) Kara 8c tt]i>
r]\toTpoTriov, Athen. v. p. 207 E.
tt]
Compare
129 ) Fragm. Com. Gr. ed. Meineke, vol. iv. p. 499. He was contemporary with Arcesilaus and Cleanthes, ib. vol. i. p. 480. It appears to me
that this passage is misinterpreted by Meineke. The poet means to
say that the person addressed carries round his oil-cruse, and scrutinizes
He does not mean to imply either that
it clos dy as if it were a sundial.
a sundial is portable, or that it resembles an oil-cruse.
(
N 2
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
180
were in
common
use.
FROM
[chap.
III.
summer
solstice,
but
The
twelve hours. (
m
)
on
months, and annexes to each a table for finding the hour of the
He
divides
the interval between sunrise and sunset into twelve equal hours,
and
shadow
for the
The following
tables for
will illustrate
were
called, temporal,
hours
Hours reckoned
from sunrise.
June.
in feet.
December.
22
29
12
19
15
12
10
jj
-qptpa
fivti-
Digitized
by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 9.]
181
Hours reckoned
from
Noon
December.
June.
sunrise.
10
feet.
12
15
10
12
19
11
22
29
when
gnomon
was the
The
The length
shortest.
of the
gnomon
is
Rome was
subsequent
to 450 b.c., the date of the Twelve Tables, in which the only
parts of the day mentioned were noon, sunrise, and sunset. ( 18S )
Up
to the First
b.c., it
call
for the
when he saw
the sun from the senate-house between the Rostra and the Graecostasis
and to
when he saw
Rome by
that the
first
It
was
sundial was
(134)
Suprema summum
a superrimo.
Hoc tempus
xii
Tabulte
supremum quo
esse
Varro, de L. L.
was
diei, id
solis
sed postea lex Plmtoria id quoque tempus jubet
prteco in comitio supremam pronuntiavit populo.
5, ed. Muller. The enactment in the Twelve Tables
artificial light,
The
He probably lived
(136) This writer is mentioned only by Pliny.
about the end of the Republic. The sister of Terentia, the wife of Cicero,
was named Fabia, and she was a vestal virgin. Sallust, Cat. 15 Oros.
;
vi.
Plut. Cat.
Min.
19.
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
182
indicated
is
vow made by
293
[chap.
III.
his father
The year
ticated.
FROM
b.c.(
137
This
According to
dial,
b.c.,
and placed on
the latitude of Sicily, did not show the hours accurately for
Rome;
nevertheless,
it
224
b.c.,
he was hungry. ( 14 )
which
it
occurred ; but
was
comedy
in
it
dern hour-glass
phanes.
It
orifice of a vessel
was used
allow ing
similar to a mo-
by
142
The sun-
)
:
it
w as un-
( 138 )
was received
Eutrop.
ii.
10.
iii.
3.
( 141 )
( 142 )
p. 458.
93.
Digitized by
Hence Plato
night.
183
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 10.]
serviceable during
is
reported to have
the
made an instrument
like a
night.( 144 )
b.c.,
erected a
name
This
The improved
The
rarity of sundials,
to the
employment of
whose duty
it
about 140
n.c.(
14<i
among
147
)
it
was natural
we have
rise
With such
10
slaves
city,
first
movements of the
Such, as
Athen.
iv. p.
174
cirurKevdaparos
iSpavXtKU, olov KXetyvdpav peydXijv
c.
vii.
i.
p. 133,
Eng.
tr.
Digitized by
FROM
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
184
tises of
which Astronomy
earliest
[chap.
III.
is
treated geometrically.
is
him
to Sardis. (
Two
disciple of Autolycus,
lt8
As
and
may be
supposed to
it
can with
difficulty
be consulted. (
Kirou^fvrje 'Sipalpa c,
is
tra-
Autolycus
300 b.c.(ub
b.c.,
Upon
icat
15
One
Avotwv,
On the
and
exists
entitled Flept
is
The former
so rare
No copy of it
Museum.
is
the other
of eighteen propositions.
The
treatise
is
motion of the
at the centre,
is
intended to
celestial globe.
It assumes
and
it
this hypothesis.
Delambre
when they
are propositions of
all
They
Anc.
p.
all
who
sup-
465, confounds
Digitized by
185
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 10.]
have been reduced into a systematic form when Autolycus composed this
little treatise.
His work
is
monument
it is
only a
of the applifirst
step
it
The
treatise
and
settings.
relates
The apparent
or heliacal risings and settings are alone the subjects of observation by the naked cye.( 16S )
fixed stars
and there
is
The theorems
The following
down on this
sets,
The
but
rays.
is
The
by the earth or
rises
nor
it is
visible
Of the
afterwards
4.
rise.
Every
morning and
It has
Six
by the sun,
months between
an interval of
at least thirty
its
it is risible.
days between
its
evening
Philoponus, on Aristotles
( 152 ) Hist. dAstr. Anc. vol. i. p. 21.
Physics, remarks that Autolycus has treated the motion of the sphere in a
method than Theodosius, and more according to
physical methods.
Theodosius was
Schol. Aristot. p. 348, ed. Brandis.
a mathematician later than the reign of Trajan.
p\it rfielleraent
Fastronomie des
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
186
setting and
morning
its
FROM
[chap.
rising,
it is
III.
invi-
sible.
Aratus
is visible,
states, in his
and that
in
which number
This state-
practical object
stated
1 1
treatise of the
title
is
or
aivo/itva ,
The Appearances of
poem
of Aratus.
823 2S3
b.c.( 158 )
The Phanomena
their demonstrations,
some of which
tracted, is given
by Delambre
U8
;(
are long
it
contains a
intricate.
and
167
(
summary
antiquity,
is little
and as the
of Euclids astronomical
mers.
ad ann. 306.
i.
p.
51
58.
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 11.]
latter,
187
teristic
which
The fixed stars rise at the same point, and set at the same point ; the
same stars always rise together, and Bet together and in their course from
;
the east to the west they always preserve the same distances from one
cir-
star
is
visible
revolving upon
itself.
every part of the circumference of each circle described by the other stars,
it
all
all
move along parallel circles, having this star as their common pole.
Some of these neither rise nor set, on account of their moving in
elevated circles, which are called the always visible. They are the stars
*
nearest the pole describe the smallest circle, and those upon the Arctic circle
the largest.
The
circles
The
and
set,
on account of their
being partly above and partly below the earth. The segments above
the earth are large, and the segments below the earth are small, in propor159
the motion of the stars
(
) because
is made in the longest time, and of those
below the earth in the shortest. In proportion as the stars recede from
this circle, their motion above the earth is made in less time, and that below
the earth in greater. Those that are nearest the south are the least time
above tho earth, and the longest below it.
The stars which are upon the middle circle make their times above and
below the earth equal whence this circle is called the Equinoctial. Those
which are upon circles equally distant from the equinoctial, make the
alternate segments in equal terms. For example, those above the earth to
the north correspond with those below the earth to the south and those
above the earth to the south correspond with those below the earth to the
north. The joint times of all the circles, above and below the earth, are
equal. The circle of the Milky "Way and the zodiacal circle being oblique
to the parallel circles, and cutting each other, always have a semicircle
above the earth.
( 159 )
<paiv(T<u,
CiIt5>V
/XODOV
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
188
Hence
it
heaven
FROM
[CHAP.
For
were cylindrical
spherical.
is
if it
or conical, the stars upon the oblique circles, which cut the equator,
III.
would
not in the revolution of the heaven always appear to be divided into semibut the visible segment would sometimes be greater, and sometimes
For if a cone or a cylinder were cut by a plane not
less than a semicircle.
circles
ments
will
is
is
It
ellipse).
is,
be unequal
if it
seg-
its
by
is
visible,
is
invisible.
The horizon
is
visible
It
is
a circle
for if a
The tropics are circles which touch the zodiacal circle, and have the
same poles as the sphere.
The zodiacal and the equinoctial are both great circles, for they bisect
one another. For the beginning of Aries and the beginning of the Claws
(or Libra) are upon the same diameter
and when they are both upon the
;
and
set in conjunction,
nings six of the twelve signs, and two semicircles of the equinoctial
in-
asmuch as each beginning, being upon the equinoctial, performs its movement above and below the earth in equal times. If a sphere revolve equally
round
the points on
its
ares of the equinoctial, one above and the other below the earth.
Conse-
is a semicircle
for the circuit from
and from west to west is an entire circle. Consequently the
zodiacal and equinoctial circles bisect one another. But if in a sphere two
circles bisect one another, each will be a great circle.
Therefore the
zodiacal and equinoctial are great circles.
:
east to east
The horizon
is
for
it
and
round
it
is
at rest,
Accordingly, Euclids
first
Digitized
by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 12.]
theorem
that
is,
stands to
the earth
is
1S9
it
its relation to
is
at the centre
the universe
that of a
is
make
four.( 160 )
still
We
gated.
to
which
the earth, together with the sun, the moon, and the other
heavenly bodies, revolved in circular orbits round the central
fire.
was
They supposed
it,
preserving
and by
this
its axis
its
place in
from west to
scientific
grounds, for the diurnal motions of the sun and fixed stars.
Aristotle and others of the ancients likewise supposed Plato
In the
first
is fixed
by the
summer
we shall
solstice of the
He
was likewise, as
who
suc-
b.c.( 163 )
His
(160)
De
(161)
Mag. Synt.
2.
Compare
viii. 1.
Clinton, F.
H.
vol.
ii.
Kuhn.
p. 340, note.
Digitized by
b.c.(
FROM
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
190
may be
lifetime
103
secondary sources
could not
fail
is
only
of Aristarchus
known
b.c.
to us
Archimedes,
is
from
who
and to report
correctly.
[CHAP. TIT.
it
is
stated
That the
the sun
is
the centre
is
is
is
car-
which
fixed stars
is
to its surface.
Archimedes
infinite
is as
is
is
the sphere by
and he adopts
substitutes
this interpre-
meaning of Aristarchus, in
It will
mean
be observed
is
The express
Martin, Tim 6 e, vol. ii. p. 127, cites Pappus as stating that the
( 163 )
fame of Aristarchus attracted Apollonius of Perga to Alexandria. I have
been unable to verify this quotation. Apollonius, moreover, who was born
under Ptolemy Evergetes, 247 222 b.c., and who died under Philopator,
222 205 b.c., seems to belong to a later date.
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 12 .]
stars,
all
191
by the
of the Philosophers
solar eclipses
earth. ( 185 )
solar
It appears, moreover,
fixed stars.
He
endea-
an oblique
in
axis.( 1M )
circle,
Commentary upon
its
axis.
Simplicius,
to
make
167
)
at rest
The word
nearly
daily
is
motion
when he
includes Aristarchus
Plut. Plac. Phil. ii. 24; Stob. Eel. Phys. i. 25; Galen, Phil.
( 165 )
Hist. c. 14; Euseb. Pra;p. Ev. xv. 50. In the two latter writers, read tt\v
8c yrjv for tt]v 8c o-cXrjvr/v, from the two former.
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
192
FROM
[chap.
III.
and a certain
it.(
it
169
as a hypothesis,
Archimedes
he
whereas
mentions
the
theory
it is
is
He
whom he was quoted on a question
He wrote against Crates, who like-
by
172
;(
Seleucus like-
We
is
in-
178
)
at the time
religious of the
Greek philosophical
Samos ought
that Aristarchus of
at Athens, the
most
opinion
because he taught that the hearth of the universe was movable^ 174)
By
and he employed
central
17S
)
His indignation
at the here-
ol ye jir)v rou KOd/xov KiVijoU' aviKivrt s, TTJV 8e yf/v KtvturOai 8odcrav( 68)
Sext.
res, d>s oi nfp'i Kpifnap\ov tov pnOrjpaTUCov, ov KoiKvovrai voelv \povov.
Emp. adv. Dogmat. iv. 174, Bekkcr.
1
(
(
vol.
viii. 1.
iii.
neke.
( 171 )
(
Strab.
172 ) Joan.
i.
1,
9.
Damasc.
ib.
ii.
p. 115.
Digitized by
193
SECT. 12.]
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
tical doctrine of
it
had occupied
it
not
(which Hera-
its axis
it
it
from the
at the centre
a wanderer through
The appeal of Cleanthes, however, met with no response the general opinion of Greece had become more tolerant
space.
and Socrates.
it
We
176
)
works, a
A
of the
treatise of Aristarchus,
is still
The geometrical
extant. ( 177)
dia-
modern astronomers ; but as his observed data were inexact, owing to the defective instruments
are considered sound by
78
which he used,
in Wallis,
75,
Opera
and Donkin,
Digitized by
194
ASTRONOMY FROM
SCIENTIFIC
179
;(
improved
it
[chap. in.
inventors
may have
He
his time.(180 )
is
made
a great
astronomical combination.
He
of his time.
is
He
sical science.
distances of the
all
is
measured the
and
fixed stars
p. 79.
(179) Vitruv.
(180)
1, 17.
i.
Scaphen
Samius
(dicitur inve-
nisse), ix. 9.
(181) Censorin.
c.
18.
cceli
Somn.
Scip.
ii.
3.
(184) See Cic. de Rep. i. 14 ; Nat. D. ii. 36 Tusc. Disp. i. 25, from w hich
passages it appears that the orrery of Archimedes was made of brass that
exhibited the revolutions of the sun, moon, and five planets, and showed
the nature of eclipses ; and that it was removed from Syracuse by Marcellus, and deposited in the Temple of Virtue at Rome.
The Temple of
Virtue was dedicated by Marcellus from the plunder of Syracuse. Plut.
Marcell. 28 Val. Max. i. 1, 8.
Ovid, Fast. vi. 271,
;
it
Digitized
by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 14.]
195
scientific
men
which
of Greece.
Nevertheless, his extant works show that his attention and inventive powers were principally directed towards mechanics and
geometry.
His
life
He
b.c.
appears
was
by a Roman
killed
soldier,
who had
derived
14
early Ptolemies.
it
it
its
creation of the
principal feature
but
literature
and
science,
who were
attracted to Alexandria
Among
by the
the sciences
Aristarchus, to
whom
is
stated
classed
same
city.
They
are
vol.
ii.
o 2
Digitized
by
196
SCIENTIFIC
ASTRONOMY FROM
[chap. III.
It is stated
by Ptolemy
'1
Observations of
b.c.( 191 )
Conon
of Samos,
He
of Archimedes,
who
He
192
)
made astronomical
is
stated
by Ptolemy
ApionAXot
'A p'kttvWos
diio
is like-
yfasfitTpcu,
flLKpoS.
Nabonassar,
x. 4, p. 205.
Cceli
i.
19.
Servare de
coelo
seems to
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 14.]
Upon
197
243
b.c.,
his
it
was deposited,
This
it
name
still
The name
of this constellation
stars,
satellites
him. The fame of this lock of hair has likewise been perpetuated
to the
have been the technical phrase for the observations of the flight of birds
made by the augurs.
In medio duo signa, Conon et quis fuit alter,
(195)
Descripsit radio totum qui geutibus orbem?
Tempora quse messor, quse curvus arator haberetP
Virg. Eel. iii. 40 42.
The second portrait is conjectured to be that of Eudoxus.
;
Omuia
Coma
Conon
of
is
Ut Triviam
The
constellation lies
Scliol.
between the
66.
99) See Eastlakes Materials for a History of Oil Painting (Lond.
268.
Her golden hair is mentioned by Catullus, v. 62,
p. 230
1847 ],
Devota:
BtpfvlicTj
was used
in lower
Greek
as the
name
of amber.
Compare Du-
Digitized by
198
ASTRONOMY FROM
SCIENTIFIC
[CHAP.
Having been
Alexandria.
He was
scientific
geography
astronomy^
201
scientific
School of
Athens by
head of the
III.
b.c.,
and
proficient in
astronomer.
It
cast
be employed by a modern
no shade there
is
under
at the
summer
solstice.
It
was likewise
The
The
by Eratos-
Hence
number
divisible
In
by 360 without a remainder,
Eratosthenes supposed the number to be 252,000, and thus obtained 700 stadia for a degree. ( 20S )
cange, Gloss,
iuf.
Grace,
in
BepopUrj,
Diez,
Romanisches YYdrterbuch,
p. 368.
xvii. 1. 48.
cans ideas
it.
586, 7.
In other passages he
Digitized by
199
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
SECT. 14.]
He
likewise
made
stadia,
cele-
short
him
letter
to the people
reached the lowest point of the earth, and that the distance was
42.000 stadia.
mean that
= 42,000
x 6).
206
)
dorus
is
by Eratosthenes.
unknown. ( 207)
There
is
name
of Eratosthenes
but
it
the
Greek gram-
Astronomicon
Poeticon
late
common
source. ( 208 )
of
The
(204)
described. Also Incerti Auctoris excerptum Mathematicum, in Macrobius,
ed. Janus, vol. i. p. 219.
See also Plin. ii. 108; Strab. ii. 5, 7;
(205)
Compare DeVitruv. i. 6; Martianus Capella, vi. 596, ed. Kopp.
lambre, Astr. Ano. vol. i. p. 89, 221; Mr. De Morgans art. Eratosthenes,
in Dr. Smiths Diet, of Anc. JBiog. and Myth.; De la Nauze, Mom. de
lAcad. des Inscript, tom. xxvi. ; Schaubach, Gesch. der Griech. Astr.
(206)
Bernhardy, Eratosthenica, p. 57. Assuming the stadium to be
. 275
;
(207)
of a mile, the degree of Eratosthenes would be
87a miles.
?th (208)
Macrob. in Somn. Scip. i. 20, 6. He cites the libri dimen-
aionum.
Stob. Phys. i. 26 (where the word pvpidtiav should be expunged,
with Bernhardy); Euseb. Prsep. Ev. xv. 53; Galen, Hist. rhil. c. 15.
The passage of Plut. Phil. Plac. ii. 31, is mutilated. Compare Bernhardy,
ib. p. 56.
distance
is
pvptdSts TSTpaxoaiai
Kai oKTaKurpvpim
The
KaTaorepia-po'i
Digitized
by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
200
FROM
[chap.
III.
author and the date of the latter work are likewise undeter-
mined. (
Another
scientific
him
his treatises
He
Dositheus.
Ptolemy.
it
is
21
Spirals,
was
Geminus and
where the length of the longest day was 14 hours. (211 ) It does
not appear what place can be meant. He is mentioned by
Censorinus as one of the improvers of the octaeteric cycle
ascribed to Eudoxus.^ 12 )
Apollonius of Perga
is
bom in
the reign
He
The
latter of these
was, therefore, a
his trea-
211 ) P. 53.
( 212 )
C. 18.
( 214 ) Ptol.
Bekker.
ap.
p.
151
b,
ed.
Digitized by
SECT. 14 .]
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
tise
201
title
of
the Great
as
an astronomer, and he
is
reported to
he was the
first
volving spheres, and to substitute that of eccentrics and epicycles, for explaining the
movements of the
planets.
21T
(
This
an accomplished geometer.
circle
eccentric
its
elaborated
ground in
by Hipparchus and
scientific
astronomy until
who
centuries,
it
by
established the
Copernican System.
rf;r
rav fiaBrjparav
detopias, cited
by
Eutocius, ibid.
(216) Ptol.
Heph.
ib.
Digitized
by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
202
Note A.
FROM
142.)
(p.
Mk. Geote
has recently made this passage the subject of a separate investigation, in which all the main arguments bearing upon the question
are fully and perspicuously stated. See his dissertation entitled Platos
Doctrine respecting the Rotation of the Earth, and Aristotles Comment
upon that Doctrine. Lond. 1860. 8vo. There were two hypotheses respecting the interpretation of this passage one that Plato meant the
earth to be motionless, and to be attached to the cosmical axis the other
that he represented it as revolving round or upon that axis. Mr. Grote
substantially adopts the latter hypothesis he understands Plato to assign
a rotatory motion to the earth, but he conceives the axis to be material and
rigid, to be a solid revolving cylinder, and the earth to turn with the axis,
not round or upon it. He renders the word sSWoptm/v, being packed or
fastened close round, squeezing or grasping around.
This view of Plato's conception of tne cosmical axis is expressed in the
follow ing passage of Achilles Tatius, p. 95, ed. Petav. : o <<ov ant> dpicn
kov iroXov peypi rov avraptcriKov Siijkc t, 8ta rov aldepos leal t0>v aXAcov (rroi\fia>v
Ixvovpevos.
t] yr) iwv fiapVTarr] ovoa ivf iKTai [lege fpdpxrat] sal ipnempovriTat
pr] Svva<r9ai Kivdadm. rd Si aXXtl j^avvor epa
to 0 d ovos,
oirra ranov e\n vra crrpiffxTai' (brrrrtp av fins d/9cAiVita> vAov (ikivtjt(os fpirtpovr)<rr]
epnfpiBds Tip vXa> rpo^ovs KveXorepas. avpfiaivt i yap rovr pit* rpoxoiis Kivdo6m, to Si vAov aKivTjrdv vtto rat' KpaToiiyroi ortvox<opovptvov.
The best sensible image of this hypothesis is that of a joint of meat
fixed upon a spit, and turned by it before the fire, according to the suggestion of Achilles Tatius, c. 28. See above, p. 173.
It is, however, difficult to discover what is gained by this hypothesis.
Sir Edmund Head seems to me to have conclusively established againstButtmann, that the idea of rolling is original and fundamental in (tXu and its
cognate forms. (Philological Museum, vol. i. p. 405.) IXXopivav dporptov,
in Soph. Ant. 341, denotes the zigzag course of the plough, always returning upon itself. The word iXAdr, applied to oxen, appears to be derived from their use in ploughing, Soph. Fragm. 80, Dindorf. Cleomedes
twice uses ciAc'a to denote a circular motion of revolution round a centre,
d Toivvv oipavd s kvk\u> dXoipfvos imip rov dtpa sal yijv, De Met. i. 3, p. 20.
(Kacrros rir a7rXavwi/ aoripwv <rvv r <5 KoiTpip tiXovptvos iTfpl to ohtdov Kivrpov
kvkXov nepiypd<f>a, i. 5, p. 29.
If w e are to suppose that Plato assigns a rotatory motion to the earth,
the most natural interpretation would therefore be to render dXXopivrjv by
revolving, and to understand (as Aristotle appears to have done), that the
earth turns round the axis of the world.
The ancients in general undoubtedly conceived the cosmical axis as
immaterial ; as a geometrical line. If Plato supposed the earth to be
turned by a solid revolving cylinder, he must have supposed this cylinder
to project from the north pole of the earth, and to be visibly fixed in the
north pole of the heaven an idea of which no trace, so far as I am
aware, occurs in any ancient writer.
The following passage from the Commentary of Hipparchus upon the
Phenomena of Eudoxus and Aratus, proves that neither Eudoxus nor
Hipparchus supposed the cosmical axis to be a solid cylinder attached to
the celestial poles
ntpl pin ovv rov fiopdov ndXov Eu8ooc dyvod Xiyav
ovrms'
f iTT iv 6c ns d<rrr)p pevav del Kara tov airrov rojrov, ovtos Si 6 iurrijp
noXos cot) tov Koapov,' Ctrl yap rov wo'Aov ovSe fls dtrrgp ndrai, dXXd Ktvos
t pnfptfiXijppivrj V7TO
Digitized by
GoogI
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
203
tori tottos, a TTapaKtivrai rpeis dortpts, p,t6 &>v TO tnjfitiov to Kara TOT rrdXov.
TtTpaya) vov tyyurra o\ripa ntpit\ti, naddnep <tai Hvdt'ae t/n/olv 6 MaooaXianjc,
lib. i. p. 101.
Stella quae dicitur polus, Vitruv. ii. 6.
The unsubstantial nature of the cosmical axis is marked by Manilius :
292-302.
Aristotle, in his Treatise on the Motion of Animals, c. 3, p. 699, informs us that there were different ways of explaining the revolution of
the heaven. Some supposed that the motion of the celestial sphere was
produced by the energy of its poles. Others conceived that Atlas symbolized the revolving force of the diameter.
Here, however, the axis or
diameter is used for the purpose of explaining the movement of the starry
sphere ; it has no reference to tfie eartn.
is
the use of
Plin.
ii.
15.
Dr. Whewell, in his Platonic Dialogues, vol. iii. p. 372, admits the difficulty of supposing Aristotle to have misunderstood Plato, but rightly
urges the improbability that Plato should hold the rotation of the earth
round an axis, except in order that he might thereby account for the apparent diurual motion of the heavens.
Prantl, in his translation of the Treatise of Aristotle de Coelo (Leipzig,
1857), tries to get over the difficulty by supposing that a tremulous or
vibratory motion is meant. He translates the passage in ii. 13 as follows
Einige aber behaupten auch, dass die Erde, wahrend sie sich am eigentliclien Mittelpunkte befinde, in einer zitternd schwankenden Bewegung um
die durck das All gespannte Axe sei, wie dies im Timaus geschrieben
steht, p. 159.
The passage in c. 14 is similarly translated, p. 173. Compare the note, p. 311. But Aristotle's argument clearly shows that he
understood a rotatory motion to be meant by Plato.
Simplicius, in commenting on Aristot. de Coel. ii. 1, says, that Aristotle
must have been well acquainted with the doctrines of Plato concerning
the cause of the circular motion of the starry heaven, inasmuch as he condescended to compose a summary and abridgment of the Timseus sat
irdvrtov oipm pdXAov 6 ApiorortXrjs ttjv tv Tt/tatft) irtpt tovtoov tov II A CTO),'Of
yvd)prjv rjiriaTaTO, on xai ovvoyf/tv KLU tniTOprjv roO Tipaiov ypdcjifiv ovk wn^uscre,
p. 491 b, ed. Brandis. The lists of Aristotles writings, however, make no
mention of an abridgment of the Timecus of Plato. Diogenes Laertius,
v. 25, has the title of a work in one book,.vi ex voC Tt paLov xai ra>v Apxvrtiaiv,
and the Anonymus has a similar title, see Brandis, Arwtoteles, vol. i. p. 85;
but this was a summary of the opinions of Timseus himself, the Pythagorean philosopher, and of the followers of Archytas (like the extant summary of the opinions of Xenophanes, Zeno, and Gorgias), not of the Platonic Dialogue.
It seems tnerefore probable that Simplicius made a
mistake.
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
204
Note B. (p.
Archimed. Arenariua,
19
FROM
L.)
Kart^tis bt
on
KaXttrai Koo-pos
irrrb piv rav nXtiovav darpoXiryav d iripa'ipa, it firri Ktvrpov to rat yas Ktvrpov,
i if (K TOO Ktvrpov lira TO evBeia ra pfrav tov Ktvrpov rou AXiov Kai tov Ktvrpov
rat yds. ravra yap iv rats ypatpopivais irapa Ttdv atrrpoXoya/v biaKpovtras A pitrt>v viroKtipivatv a-vpTapxoc 6 Saptos vno6tmu>v ifcibcoKtv ypumas' tv als
fiaivti rdv Kotrpov iroXXairXdawv fivai tov vvv tipijpivov.
inrmlOtTai yap ra pip
dirXavr) Tatv dtnpivv jail tov dXtov pivtiv dKivrjrov' rav be yav irtpKpiptoOai irtpl
tov aXiov Kara kvkXov irtpKpipnav, os totiv tv picrcp raj bpupcp Ktiptvos' rdv be
Totv airXavwv dtrrptvv mpiupav, 7Tfpi to aiirb Ktvrfxiv rip AXtip Kf ipivav, Tip peytutl
raXiKavrav ttptv, dicrre tov kiikXov ku$' bv Tin yav vmrtOerai irepitpeptaOai toiavrav *X (Ll dvaXoyiav irort Tav toiv dirXavav diroaraoiav oiav i^ti to Ktvrpov rds
atpaipus irort rav initfiavflav.
tovto be eCbrjXov i>s abivardv itrriv. inti yap To
rds aepalpas Ktvrpov ovbiv t^ti ptytOos, ovbt Xdyov t%tiv ovbeva nori rdv (mlpmvtiav Tat mbaipas biroXairrtov otto.
eKbenreov bi tov KpLirrapxov biavotiodai
robt" intibi) rav yav biroXapjjdvoptv Sicrnep ptv to Ktvrpov tov Kaapov, bv i\fl
Xdyov & yd mrri tov vlp Apuiv tiprjpivov Koorpov, tovtov e^eiv rdv Xdyov rav
orpaipav, tv a ecrriv 6 kvkXos kci0 ov rdv yav vnoridtrai nt piepta dai, 7rorl rav
to>v anXaviat v dtrrpwv orpatpav.
rat yap anoitiias, Twv (paivopiviov ovrtos 1770Kt iptvav, ivappd{ti' Kin pdXitrra (palvtriu to ptyiOor Tat atpaipas iv 9 noitlrai
rdv yav Kivovptvav crov vnoriOtirdai to v<p Apcov tiprjptvip K a apip.
As the works of Archimedes are not commonly found, even in good
classical libraries, and as this passage contains the earliest distinct statements of the heliocentric hypothesis, I have reprinted it at length. The
sentence beginning ravra yap tv rats ypatpopivais is ungrammatical and incoherent, and its sense can only be guessed. It is thus translated by
Peyrard, CEuvres d'Archimede (Paris, 1808), vol. ii. p. 232
Aristarque
de Samos rapporte ces choses en les rifutant, dans les propositions quil a
publiees contre les astronomes. This version supposes Kara to be read for
irapa.
It is likewise impossible to combine tv rais ypnipopivais virodtoUvv.
The following form of the sentence would make sense, but the use of
ypatpas for /ShjSXovr or SipIXov is inadmissible ; and the sentence cannot be
restored without the help of better manuscripts ravra yap tv rots ypaipoptvoie Kara rd>v duTpoXdyiav buiKpovtras * Apltrrapxos 6 Edpiov vnodtaiuv i^tbioKt
ypa (par.
The Arenarius of Archimedes is printed in Wallis, Opera Mathematica
(Oxon. 1699, fob), vol. iii. p. 513, who by tv rals ypatpopivais vnodeatiov understands tv raTf ypacfwpevats imoBtcrttriv.
It may be observed that the Greek astronomers conceived the earth as
being merely a point, and having no magnitude, as compared with the
distance of the sphere of the fixed stars. The first theorem of Euclid's
Phenomena is, 17 yij iv pitrto rip ka it pip tor1 sal Ktvrpov Tiifciv iirt\ei irpds tov
K iapov.
The same proposition is laid down by Ptolemy, Synt. 5 ; Cleomedes, i. 11 , p. 70, Bake ; Geminus, c. 13, p. 31, and Achilles Tatius, c. 21,
'
p. 83.
Ut docent mathematici
Digitized by
PLATO TO ERATOSTHENES.
guem
10
modum
obtinere voluerunt.
205
In Somn. Scip.
i.
16,
Lower down, ii. 9, 9, he makes the same assertion with respect to the
orbit of the other celestial bodies. Item quia omnis terra, in qua et
oceanus eat, ad quemvis eoelestem circulum quasi centron puneti obtinet
locum, necessario de oceano adjeeit : qui tamen tanto nomine quam sit
juarvus rides.
licet apud nos Atlanticum mare, licet magnum vocetur ;
de ccelo tamen despicientibus non potest magnum videri, cum ad ccelum sit
terra signum, quod dividi non possit in partes.
Compare Martianns Capella, ed. Kopp, p. 491, note.
Aristarchus of Samos lays it down that the earth is as a point and a
centre to the moons sphere Wallis, Op. Math. vol. iii. p. 669, ed. Oxon.
This proposition was denied by Hipparchus and Ptolemy, Pappus ib.
Ptolemy affirms that the distance of the sphere of the moon from
p. 670.
the centre of the earth is not, like the distance of the zodiacal circle, so
great that the earth is as a point in comparison with it. Synt. iv. 1, vol. i.
p. 212, Halma.
According to the exposition of Archimedes, Aristarchus assumed the
orbit of the earth to have no magnitude, compared with the distance of
the fixed stars.
Nam
Note
C.
(p.
179.)
and hence
Geminus.
shade.
casts
Digitized by
206
be marked on
it
upaav
<TKonla(t
enjfiavropa ^a\Kov
p*XPl hvo}h(<u6oi.
Anth. Pal.
<Tt>(f>ov
avrrjs fK fiovdios
ix.
779.
The epigram
Quod superest,
vol.
i.
p. 691.
auspicio prmdicta est. Cum enim in villa Caietana esset, corvus in conspectu ejus horologii ferrum loco motum excussit, et protinus ad ipsum
tetendit, ac laeiniam togas eo usque morsu tenuit, donee servus ad eum
occidendum milites venisse nuntiaret. Yal. llax. i. 5, 5.
Digitized by
;:
207
Chapter IV.
SCIENTIFIC
.ROMANS,
TO
160 B.C.
FTER
-ti-
160 A.D.
the death of Archimedes,
Museum became
astronomical observation
and of astronomical
Alexandrine
seat both of
science in Greece.
charis, Apollonius,
by Ptolemy. (')
is
the
b.c.,
He was
a native of Bithynia.
treatise of
tary on the
Phenomena
short
Commenname of
may be an abridgment
but in
its
Augustan
(1)
( 2)
(3)
present form
and
age,
is
See Clinton, F. H.
In three books ; at
Ib P- 142
-
It
is
certainly subsequent
to
the
vol.
p.
iii.
p. 632.
Digitized by
208
ASTRONOMY FROM
SCIENTIFIC
Out knowledge
[chap. IV.
principally
is
The
summary
following
of these discoveries
is
given by
by Hipparchus.
He
He
mean motion
laid
its
apogee, as well as
of the moon, of
its
its
mean motion
nodes, and of
its
orbit
apogee
its
means
His Commentary on
of,
ecliptic
and of the
east,
degree.
metry.
He was
which
is
now
called the
therefore possessed of
His calculations
oil
_a
the eccentricity
ecliptic,
nonagesimal
spherical trigonoof-
the
moon prove
He
projection.
astronomical instruments.
At
this period,
an approximation to
it,
especially
when
Hipparchus
the zodiac, is used in c. 7, p. 146. This term appears to be of later introduction than the time of Ptolemy. Hipparchus himself is cited, in c. 6, as
Compare Delambre, Hist. Astr.
stating the number of the stars at 1080.
Anc. tom. i. p. 173; Bernhardy, Eratosthenica, p. 185.
Digitized by
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT.'l.]
but
complicated;
his
error
209
minutes.' ( 6 )
One
great astronomer
is
derived from
his
name
of a
determination of the
Combined
The theory of
Aristotle,
was exclusively
theory
first
This
who
The hypothesis of
who
applied
it
to de-
of
Aristotle, Euclid,
The
when
since
since the ocean has been crossed in every direction, and the
i.
p. 184.
Compare
It is only
by
Digitized
by
210
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
FROM
[chap.
XV.
and
it
was only
The
was
circular orbits
far
five planets,
to
and im-
ideas,
The
by Callippus and
Aristotle,
geometrical resource
but
it
was
intricate,
and
it
failed in the
phenomena. (r)
The Apol-
was-
more
subtlety,
and
it
but
it
exhibited
more geometrical
The
all
the
intricate,
accomplished
known phenomena.
of the importance of
erroneous
appre-
but approximative
is
sometimes
in his
That which
no succeeding
is
(7 )
ta rip
i>s
rj
Simplicius
81a
*ai 6
Tti>v
2 <u<riyVijt
eVio-xynTfi
iv.
Xf'yaiv,
p.
502
b,
Brandis.
Concerning
6.
Digitized
by
GoogI
HIPPABCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 1 .]
an assemblage of
The
circular motions.
is,
that
it
211
by which,
The assumption
said, false
their.,
may
and
the funda-
is
This assumption
is,
it
its
favour.
is
in order that
is,
it
may
all
To express an
known place;
known law
;
is
on
that
respect to
its
an inequality, but
continues
is,
is
it
how-
by means
its
equalities of
observations,
inequality
then increases
again,
and so
motion as completely as
it
quantity.
this,
is,
in fact,
modem
astronomers
is
to resolve
partial
that
is,
modes of measuring
cosines,,
circular motion,,
And
v 2
Digitized by
FROM
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
212
[chap.
still
is
IV.
two
great
the
seen
its applicability
gives
a circumstance which
in other cases, is
great
first
great astronomers/
theory of epicycles
served to
embody
is
that
it
all
methods of making
new
objects
more
of attention and
first, it
research
in,
and
and preserve,
all
the
new
it
and persever-
new theory
and
till
office.
It
arose which
is,
valuable characteristic.'
its
really
8
)
ecliptic,
which
is
As
this
mo-
make
a degree
access,
had
observations only preceded his time by about 150 years, the detection of this
anomaly
is
(8) Vol.
i.
p. 181, 185.
Digitized by
213
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 1.]
The
is
is
of knowing
its
true author
by Ptolemy,
;
and
it
ap*
unknown to
When we consider the
gestion,
in antiquity, there
is
his
We
may
perhaps rather
faint indicia
He
said that
less
it
which were
its real
fifty-nine seconds,
amount.
and not
Eudoxus had constructed a map of the heavens, by enumerating the constellations, and by describing their positions with
relation to each other
made a
stars, of
is,
Hipparchus
eye
ecliptic,
by
their latitudes
and longi-
naked
achievement of Hipparchus,
stars,
to count the
12 )
N. H.
ii.
26.
Digitized
by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
214
tries
FROM
He
five planets.
left
[CHAP. IT.
no geometrical
cessors.
Inasmuch
sufficient
number of
moon
by
his suc-
as his predecessors
had not
left
him
by means of these
a demonstration,
theses of the mathematicians of his time did not agree with the
phenomena.
predecessors
circular motions
difficulties
of the
problem was owing to the shortness of the time for which there
When/
says Delambre,
him
calculations
as
men
It continued,
made
several
are
its
and
still
extant.
( 13 )
little
however, to be expounded in
Synt.
ix. 2.
who was
( 14 )
boT.n about
Jb. vol.
i.
135
p. 185.
Digitized by
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 2.]
b.c.,
215
He
Geography. (15 )
it
i.
16
From
it
was made
method
different
17
:(
it
only
He
18
)
and the
The extant
tuv Mtrtulpwv,
treatise of
in
(15) Galen,
De
viii.
The doc-
1, vol. v. p.
652, ed.
Kilim, says that Posidonius was the most scientific of the Stoics, on account of his geometrical training.
The sphere of Billarus, taken from
(16) Cic. de Nat. D. ii. 34.
Sinope, was preserved by Lucullus, Strab. xii. 3, 11. Nero had a round
table which turned perpetually like the heaven, Suet. Ner. 31. An
extant treatise of Leontius Meclianicus, n tpi Kavmricei/ijr 'Apartias Sipaipas,
printed in Buhle's Aratus, vol. i. p. 257, describes the method of constructing a celestial globe. Leontius is conjecturally referred to the sixth
century a.d. See Dr. Smiths Diet, of Anc. Biogr. and Myth. art.
Leontius Mechanicals, vol. ii. p. 758.
The word
Aafaiptov, for
dark
It is
the Italian azzurro
is
of Arabic origin
(18) Plin.
H. N.
ii.
21.
(19) Cleomed.
likewise
i.
15, 7.
Digitized by
216
SCIENTIFIC
trines
which
it
ASTRONOMY FROM
[chap. IV.
The
and modem.
The
is
date of Cleomedes
unknown
is
Ptolemy,
may be
it
His attack upon the Epicureans likewise implies that the work
makes him
As
an epitome
serve
will
Letronne, however,
Ptolemy^ 24)
of the
to
exhibit
of Posidonius,
it
in
era,
view.
The
An
treatise of
Geminus, entitled
that of Cleomedes in
its
probajdy of
is
Rome
Greek, writing
Greeks.
names
(21)
for
is
Roman, shows no
26
or Italy
The
:(
).
latest
trace of
he appears to be a
writers
whom
he
Ad fin.
The work
Leontius
vol.
i.
On
p. 257.
Uranologium of Petavius, p. 1.
given by Delambre, Hist. Astr. Anc., tom. i. p. 190.
He
mentions
his
Rome
name with
a circumflex
summary
of
it
on the penult,
in c. 14, p. 33.
Digitized by
27
)
217
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 2.]
Lius,
the latter of
whom was
alive in
129
b.c.
It appears,
28
;(
(27)
which
13, p. 31.
c.
fact brings
at least
The
him down
to a lower date,
(28) Simplie.
ad Aristot. Phys.
p. 348,
Brandis.
(29) Petavius, Doctr. Temp. ii. 6, p. 62, attempts to determine the time
of Geminus by a statement in c. 6, p. 19, of his treatise, relating to the EgypGeminus says that, .according to the Egyptians and
festival of the Isia falls at the winter solstice
which was
true 120 years previously, but at the time when he wrote, owing to the
omission of the } of a day, it fell a month earlier. The number 120 is the
result of calculation, and is obtained by quadrupling the number of days in
a month. Geminus cannot mean to imply that the interval between Eudoxus and himself was exactly 120 years. Geminus quotes Eratosthenes
as having said that the Isia were once celebrated at the summer solstice
so that they went round the entire year. Achilles Tatius, c. 23, p. 85,
says that the Egyptians celebrated the Isia at the time of the winter solstice, and put on mourning for the departing sun. Ideler, Ueber die Stern-
Eudoxus, the
namen,
p. 175, places
Geminus before
Caesar.
Some
drawn from
rum ravra
fieivav 7Tpo(njydpevrat
Kill
ing passage:
eclipticus,
i.
6,
53.
The term ecliptic is never used in this sense by Ptolemy, and so far
as this word goes, it leads to the inference that both Geminus and Cleomedes are subsequent to him, and wrote about the end of the second or
'igitized
by
218
SCIENTIFIC
ASTRONOMY FROM
[CHAP. IV.
The work
is
De Mundo, falsely
this period,
is
ascribed to Aristotle.
acci-
The author of
dedicates the
it
it,
works of Apuleius.
is
The only
first
part of
it
among the
Its
its
date.( 31 )
is
the
method
The
cultivation of
the earth
is
motionless at the
it
in circular orbits.
Astronomy
seems to have
at Alexandria
which
it
had owed
its
It
was,
however,
The Greek
Of
sects,
Posi-
donius was a Stoic ; Cleomedes and the author of the pseudAristotelic treatise
De Mundo
sect.
first
to
uncorrected im-
the beginning of the third century. Macrobius was as late as the fifth
century.
Geminus, c. 13, p. 13, says that the torrid zone had been explored in
his time, and that an account of it had been written, through the influence
of the kings at Alexandria. This passage appears to fix the age of Geminus to a period prior to the Soman conquest of Egypt.
(
30) The
writer says
twv ioropiav
(31)
See
ptrieyai.
oipal ye Kai
See above,
ao't
ijyepovuv
otm
In
c. 1
the
peyicr-
p. 15y.
c. 3, 6.
Digitized by
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 2.]
from 342 to 27 0
219
b.c.,
him.( 32 )
the heaven, (
of
all
,,s
things to a centre^ 84 )
and that
its
is
to be in the centre of
They
no greater than
diameter
is
its sphericity,
it
appears to our
only a foot.^ 6 )
They extended
the(32)
same primitive doctrine to the moon.( 3S )
Epicurus likewise
held that the stars are extinguished at their setting, and lighted
Ergo
sed
i.
ita,
primum
ut
6.
The physics of Epicurus were principally borrowed from those of Democritus, Cic. N. D. i. 26.
(33) Lucret. v. 535.
Km an6
>
o'<j>aipLKi)v
14
Nec nimio
Esse
Civ. Acad.
iv.
26
91
solis
major
potest, nostris
Fin.
i.
rota,
quam
ii.
21
c.
6.
6.
8.
Digitized by
220
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
again at
absurd, than
were
He
tlieir rising.
if
FROM
[chap. IY.
any one were to say that men were alive when they
sight. sr)
in sight,
he gave
calls
faith
an old womans
tale,
in
and
which Cleomedes
Some
belief,
of the Epicureans,
return from the west to the east by an oblique course above the
earth. ( S9 )
It appears
phenomena by common
by
scientific
argu-
that he denounced
41
)
and that
he sought to apply the operation of known and familiar analogies to the celestial bodies.
3 It
is
progress in Greece.
made immense
diligently
to the
its relation
earth and to the fixed stars had been determined with a close
refutation.
(38) lb. p. 109.
(39)
Epicureorum
i.
v.
652.
646
2, p. 27, 125.
(40) x. 84.
(41)
fifj
(faoftovftfvos
ib. 94.
Digitized by
GoogI
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 3 .]
tlety
221
celestial
nomical problems.
The
plied to
scientific
as ap-
which
it
owing
to the
fruits
It
to
at Alexandria
was only
and endowment.
But
it
was owing
still
more
especially of
and
tables,
lastly, to the
to the
want of
an instrument,
to the imper-
to the scantiness
want of the
telescope,
Owing
Greek astronomers were unable to reach the accuracy of determination to which their
scientific
methods,
if
supported by
their
commanding
that attention,
The
dis-
occupied.
be,
new sense.
known.
It revealed
When
seen under
invisible to the
naked eye.
is
it
it
satellites of Jupiter,
it
without a telescope.
telescopes of
modern
first
The
man
time
great
has been
Digitized
by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
222
FROM
[CHAP. IV.
mind almost
re-
and
all
causes, to prevent
mind. ( 42)
it
by the gods
sent
as a
Among
future conduct.
men
warning to
prodigies,
eclipses
This subject
but Anaxagoras
clear
and
racter.
is
who had
tion of Anaxagoras,
first
to promulgate
Pericles,
is
profited
by the physical
instruc-
at
sian
War.
place at the
The
story told
moment
by Plutarch
is
among them
latter,
of his
own
pilot,
held
Digitized by
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 4.]
was not a
sign of calamity
223
rence being that in the eclipse the body which caused the
obscuration was the larger of the two^ 43 )
Notwithstanding the
and conspicuous
position,
to his country-
sacrificed to a super-
men under
his
command^
44
)
fleet
on account of the
sinister
omen; and
had
Plutarchs
elapsed.
It happened,
curious.
no experienced
customed to
he
comment on
rely,
on
had
In
fact
(he con-
able to those
for deeds
is
moment
been ac-
at the
whom he had
rather propitious
gerous to them.
is
dan-
circuit of the
Omens,
lays
it
purified as soon as
Frontin.
i.
12, 10.
See Thuc. vii. 50; Diod. xiii. 12 ; Plut. Nic. 23 ; Polyb. ix. 19.
( 44 )
Compare Grote, vol. vii.
date of the eclipse is Aug. 27, 413 b.c.
433; Zech, Astron. Unters. iiber die wichtigeren Finsternisse des
Alterthums (Leipzig, 1853), p. 32.
The
p.
( 45 )
Nothing
is
known
of this writer.
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
224
FROM
[chap. IV.
she had passed the dark region under the shadow of the earth.*
own ground
he admits that
some delay was requisite, but he thinks that Nicias was misled
by unskilful diviners, and that the delay which he prescribed
was unnecessarily long. The circuit of the moon * appears
to be the periodic month of 27 i days, and to correspond to the
f
thrice nine
days of Thucydides.
from
this event
is,
commander.
military
account
for he
the
it
own
to his
The comment of Polybius may be illustrated by the wellknown anecdote of Columbus, who is said to have terrified the
Indians of Jamaica by predicting an eclipse of the moon, and
for the
maybe
It
whose time no
scientific
later
as
upon an
effected.
eclipse of the
sun
it
b.c.
Pelopidas, however,
(46)
made
and
lost
his
life
in
the
rash
+7
)
ii.
According to the
latter,
the inter-
Digitized by
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 4.]
On
225
is
The
As
ward was a
ability to predict
an
eclipse
Dion likewise
rarity.
is
must
at this time
said to have
Zacynthus
the re-
feast
which he gave to
at the full
moon.
Their
assured them that the event prefigured by the gods was the
eclipse of
more con-
its
brilliancy
It
Academy^
50
)
The
courage which Dion showed on this occasion, and his persistence in his expedition against Dionysius, notwithstanding the
serious
omen
of the eclipse,
is
An
eclipse of the
B.c.,
fell
on Sep-
the sun, moon, and earth, as being the three powers concerned
in the production of the
phenomenon.
He adds that
Aristander
pretation put upon the departure of the army by the prophets was, that
* the sun of the state was eclipsed.
The eclipse in question has not been exactly identified. See Grote,
vol. x. p. 424.
eclipse
( 51 )
p.
F. H. vol.
( 52 ) Compare Clinton,
347 ; Zech, Astron. Unters. p. 33.
ii.
ad ann.
i.
Digitized
by
226
SCIENTIFIC
ASTRONOMY FROM
omen
The account
He
ander as
terrified
distance from
by the
home
a good
is more cirarmy of Alex-
of Curtins
describes the
eclipse, as
[CHAP. IV.
moon was
eclipses),
diviners
calmed
their fears
moon
the
480
b.c.,
own
cities
soothsayers
moon
If this response
was
given,
really
it
place,
signified
an
for
Herodotus
against Greece in
Greek
The complete
eclipse of the
been predicted.
it filled
It
them with
consternation.
He
favourable.
(53) Arrian,
is
66
)
Agathocles
surprise, for
reported to
is
Anab.
iii.
evil
to
7, 6.
p. 199,
thinks that a
TqkiKavn)v fickfnfnv rj'Xiov tnivifir) ycvicrdai axrre okovv< ra, Sccopovp ivav TQ)i' u<rripa>v iravra^oi' 8i6irep oi rrtfH Toy
Ay aOoKkia vopuaavres Kai to df~iov avrois irpoarjpaiveiv to 8v(TX c P s * tl paWov
The authority of
virep too peXkovros iv ayu>via KudfiemjKfurm/, Diod. xx. 5.
(36)
rrj
v<rr epaia
cr)(fp>s <$>avr)vai
Diodorus
is
Digitized
by
SECT. 4.]
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
that if
sailed, it
Carthage. ( 67 )
fixed
310
it
to
The
The
b.c.,( 58 )
227
it
fleet
was
But
August 14 of that
E9
year.
earliest
as it
by Livy of an
Roman
eclipse of the
sun
Another
eclipse occurred, in
168
b.c.,
On
previous year,
is
have
stated to
prtetor in the
them.
the
moon would be
As
this
at stated times,
and predicted
and a prodigy.
its
successive
it
On
unreformed
known beforehand
should be eclipsed,
earth.
eclipsed
phenomenon took
when
it
at
it
Roman
calendar) the
moon was
dicted time.
Gallus as
Compare
p.
3-4,
q 2
Digitized
by
FROM
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
228
their diviners
were
terrified
[CHAP. IT.
and
their
of alarm until
the
the account of
Livy
#1
:
camps
two
illustrates the
is
who
corroborated by Pliny,
states that
army from
their fears.
subject. (82 )
on the
On
tinus^ 83 )
He
is
repeated by Fron-
camp
in his fathers
De
Republics!,, that
in Macedonia, the
Romans
moon in her
of torches
and
trouble,
by the
he describes
the
clatter of brass
He
eclipses,
moon.(87)
He makes no
ment of Polybius
describes the
Romans
frag-
and the
elated
as
allusion
Macedonians
as depressed
N. H.
(64)
De
ii.
Rep.
(63) Strat.
9.
i.
(66) Quintilian,
15.
i.
10, 47.
(65) Val.
i.
12, 8.
Max.
viii.
11, 1.
Digitized by
that
229
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 4.]
he observes, furnishes an
illustration of the
common
proverb
false alarms.'
are
described in the
latter
him
as playing
The
It
skill
but there
an
is
eclipse,
even
if
nothing impro-
them
its
We
true cause.
of Cicero,
astronomy, and
it
dict eclipses. ( 69 )
is
left
monies now
birth of Cicero
The
The death of
lost.
to
testi-
Eth.
ic. iii.
ir
|Sn<riXfias
17,
where
kX< u/riv,
it is
11.
Digitized by
FROM
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
230
its
[chap. IV.
terrified
by the ap-
They follow
by
physical cause.
Drusus,
soldiers, to bring
180
about
b.c.
Ennius
he describes
moon.
of the
tion
The
it
as
particular
due
the
to
interposi-
mentioned by
eclipse
is
B.C.,
by Ennius,
in
which
Romulus
to heaven.
the year
before
lica,
accompanied
the
supposed translation of
his dialogue
De Repub-
The
eclipse
ancient
belief of the
of witchcraft. ( 72 )
course.
A certain Aglaonice,
the
70 ) Ann.
moon
( 71 )
i.
24.
The
obstitit et nox.
Hist. vol.
i.
soli
luna
p. 159, 430.
513; Menander
Digitized by
Googl
4 .]
SECT.
or
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
Hegemon, was
by her
been able to
said to have
231
skill
the purpose
of-
7S
;
down the
The
physical nature
Anaxagoras ; a knowledge of
Thucydides
and
it
was
it
fully
understood by Aristotle. ( 74 )
and
It is
tary
upon Eudoxus,
predictions
states
Hipparchus, in his
Commen-
of lunar eclipses
by more than two digits, and that the error was rarely so
great.( 75 )
Even the Chaldscans are stated by Diodorus to
ap. Mein. Fragm. Com. Gr. vol. iv. p. 132; Plutarch, de Pvth. Orac. 12 ;
Apollon. Shod. iii. 533, cum Schol. Cleomed. ii. 6, cum Tsot. Wyttenback, ad Plut. Price. Conj. vol. xii. p. 901 ; Virgil, Eel. viii. 69 Horat.
Epod. v. 45, xvii. 77 ; Tibull. i. 2, 41 ; Ovid. Heroid. vi. 85 ; Manil.
Lucan, vi. 420. In Schol. Apoll. ubi sup., it is stated that before
i. 227
the time of Democritus eclipses were from this belief called Kadaipirras.
Ou the verses of Sosiphanes, see Wagner, Poet. Trag. Gr. Fragm. vol.
Sosiphanes lived in the reign of Philip or Alexander.
iii. p. 376.
The subject of the Thessala of Menander was the contrivances of
women for drawing down the moon, Plin. xxx. 1.
;
48;
De
iv. 59.
(74)
and w as
p. 583, ed.
(75) tovtov
t^w v
oi/rfi,
Ap.
allis.
Op. Math.
vol.
Oxon.
yivopivov, ffittvar
*]
TJjs trtXiji'ijr
Digitized by
FROM
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
232
[chap. IV.
many
years beforehand
and the
risings
stars.
Augustine,
P)
and lunar
verified
eclipses,
by the
which
event. (78)
The nature of
eclipses,
is
treatises of
all eclipses
of the
Such appears
(76)
pressed,
ii.
The
moreover, that
moon were
latter states,
predicted by the
81
)
to be his meaning,
though
it is
31.
quoque
sit,
De
Div.
ii.
6.
(80)
(78)
quo anno
E onfess.
(81)
v. 3.
Gemin.
Astr. Anc. tom.
The
c.
i.
8 and
9.
Hist.
p. 201.
difference
Cleomedes, ii. 4, p.
Ach. Tat. c. 21.
[Luna] etiam turn subjects atque opposita
eclipses
eclipses,
is
ii.
explained by
6.
Compare
Kal
rjirj
[i.e.
of the moon]
Digitized by
SECT.
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
4 .]
Among
233
Epicurus
and
risings
periodical
by appending them
settings of stars. ( M )
But these
The
name
of Ptolemy,
is
exclu-
No
The
ancients had
no
is
in it.( M )
named
scientific calendar,
constructed by skil-
of the State, such as the Nautical Almanac, and the Connaissance des Temps, which are authorized by the English and
as a foundation for
by the occurrence of an
eclipse
easily
be
dif-
among
the soldiers.
twv
KavovtKi>v,
ii.
Digitized by
234
FROM
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
skill,
and
if
he would have
[CHAP. IV.
an
of engineers
officer
little leisure
When
had
means of re-
or
who
directed
is
the event
exist,
field
would
campaign
in
which a
visible eclipse
when
For one
result.
for
powers of
a short time
b.c.,
by the
men
of
scientific
scientific
astronomers,
The
festivals,
and,
authorities. ( 66)
facility for
tampering
A remarkable
Digitized by
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 5.]
235
is
afforded
the Carnean
hostilities. ( 87 )
fell
manner
into disorder
moon
from
humorous passage
in the Clouds of
when
merry
so
were
sitting,
it
had
month by one or
by lengthening
were left
The
result
of
this
that the
months
89 ) Verr.
KfCO
p.
117
( 91
'
ii.
fiptpa, OTi
7" if
o6ev XfyfTiu,
B
)
AOijyatoi
52.
ov%
ecrracriv al
vol.
rjpepai,
and Macho,
ap.
Athen.
i.
p.
405
viii. p.
349 B.
Aristox. Harm. ii. p. 37 oiov orav Kapivdcoi pev 5e< arqv aycocnv,
And Plutarch, Aristid. 19,
Se nepim)v, erepoi Si rives iyS6r)v.
:
Digitized by
236
SCIENTIFIC
6 The Roman
ASTRONOMY FROM
[CHAP.
IV.
which we have
The calendar
historical accounts of
it,
Pontiffs, as
mus^98 )
What
by the
we
pontiffs,
nor honestly.
but
it
was administered
neither scientifically
falsified
the time in
When
46
b.c.,
office
or contract. ( w )
he found the
Roman
first
month
This coinci-
month, and
as they
fell
at
wrong
this(93)
inconvenient state of things
periods. ( 95 )
Csesar rectified
by an important change.
The
rrjv fie tuv fjpepwv dvwpaXiav ov davpaarcov, onov ical yvv SirjKpiaarpoXoyia pu.Xkoi aX\t]v uXAoi prfvos dpxl v Kui t(\cvtt}v aynvari.
Plutarchs lifetime falls in the first century after Christ. Compare K. F.
Hermann, Gottesdienstl. Alterth. der Griechen, 35, where the subject is
fully illustrated.
Anacreon, fragm. 6, Bergk. describes Posideon ns a wet
and wintry month, which implies that it occurred constantly at the same
season.
Compare above, p. 116.
Plataea, says
fiatpevatv tu>v (v
Censorin. 20.
See the authors Inquiry into the Cred. of the Early Rom. Hist,
155 ; Gottling, Gesch. der Rom. Staatsverf. p. 179. The days
in the Annales Maximi
(Serv. A5n. i. 373), which gave to these annals the character of a retrospective almanac.
(93)
vol.
i.
p.
Amm.
lated their
(95) Solin.
i.
45
Plut. Ctes. 59
Digitized
by
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 6.]
237
no
less
than
Caesar inserted
these,
its
proper place.
By
this
355
He
by
to the
months of January,
Sextilis
He
tercalate the
and
month Mercedonius
after the
to in-
23rd of February,
tercalary month. ( 98 )
The custom of
iii.
155
166;
Suet. Caesar. 10
Dio
Plut. Cats. 59
Sat. i. 14;
Amm.
Die moras
Lustrum
is
(98) Celsus, Dig. 50, 16, 98, states that the intercalary
month consisted
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
238
FROM
[chap. IV.
it,
intercalated
last half of
first
Hence they
24th
called the
sex-bis ;
and the previous eleven days which were counted back from the
Calends of March retained their former designations unchanged.
The year
in
been called
bissextile .(")
him
represents
and he
the
is
stars. (
101
)
Lucan
paigns, he
He
cam10
;
on the motions of
he was assisted by
ii.
Media
(100)
p.
129
inter prtelia
semper
Supera
is
(101)
Alexandrine School.
( 102 )
Plin.
apiorois ray
N. H.
xviii. 57.
Digitized by
239
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 6.]
Roman
clerk,
named M.
By
the re-
eman-
form thus
was
purely
civil
regulation
10
by the sun
reference to lunar
*)
by a constant
months and to
was discarded; the year was defined
all
pontifices,( 10S )
was regulated
law.
of time
if
rise
it.'(
on the following
106
)
year was partly copied from the Egyptian year of 365 days,
which, however, was not kept in harmony with the sun by a
quadriennial intercalation of a day.( 107 )
first
civil
accurate basis.
It
common
(103)
Macrob. Saturn,
i.
14, 2.
(104) Appian, B. C. ii. 154, says : *ai rou ivtaurbv avaipa\ov ~Ti ovra Bia
Tour eo-fl ore pr/ms ip,Bo\ipovs ((cord yap a-eAijj'iju avrolr ripidpf ito), is tov tou
Bpopov jifTf'/SaAfV, b>s rjyov Atywmoi.
iJXiov
On
tiffs
of the
Digitized
by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
240
Nevertheless, in the
first thirty-six
FROM
[CHAP. IV.
tiffs
year.
by which
From
Roman
The
and
its
recur-
With this
mode
still
slight
continues
series
from the
it.
Roman
world,
it
its
for
adop-
Roman
and Greek writers to mark the time of the year by the rising or
setting of
some known
constellation, or
by the equinoxes or
(108) Macrob. Sat. i. 14, 13; Pliny, xviii. 57 (who states that Sosigenes wrote three treatises on the successive amendments of the calen-
dar)
Solin.
i.
46
ii.
p.
298
304;
Mod. tom. i. p. 184. For the different times at which the Gregorian
amendment was received in different countries, see Delambre, ib. p. 72.
In England, the Gregorian reform was introduced in 1752, by the omission
of eleven days between 2 and 14 September. The change was established
by Act of Parliament, the Bill being moved by Lord Chesterfield, and
seconded by Lord Macclesfield (24 Geo. II. c. 23). See Lord Stanhopes
Hist, of England, c. 31, vol. iv. p. 21, 8vo ; Lord Campbells Lives of the
Chancellors, c. 122, ad fin.
Digitized
by
GoogI
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 7.]
time
241
solstices.
after,
whom
followed by
But
who probably
is
modem
it
As soon
writer on husbandry.
would be marked by
as the calendar cor-
responded with the annual course of the sun, and the month
artificial
measure of time
pos-
They
still
as the ordinary
measure of time
common
life.
the number of hours vary with the length of the day, the
ancients (as
we have explained
in a previous chapter)
111
(
made
the number of hours constant, and made the length of the hour
Roman calendar, with its national months, over Greece and Asia
Minor, and the rest of the Roman empire. The least civilized parts (such
as Gaul and Spain) would probably be the first to adopt it. The Alexandrine astronomers continued to use the Egyptian months in the time of
Ptolemy. Josephus, in his History of the Jewish War, uses the Syrian
months. For a list of the Roman months, see Anth. Pal. ix. 384.
(hi) Above, ch. iii. 9.
the
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
242
;;
FROM
[CHAP.
IV.
p.m.,
common
sundial,
which
Vitruvius.
men
Some
made by
skill, ( 11S )
Ctesibius of Alexandria,
of travellers, so constructed
14
)
1]9
)
Even,
its
du Moyen Age,
ii.
p. 66.
p. 512.
Digitized
by
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 8.]
Bemardus Monachua,
hours.
243
of the year.(117)
less
The use of
variable hours
still
subsists in the
penetrated. (118)
for the
many
centuries.
Cassiodorus,
The latter, he remarks, tells the hour at night, and also in the
day when the sun is hidden by clouds^ 120) The clock presented
by the King of Persia to Charlemagne in 807 a.d., and also that
presented by Pope Paul to Pepin, King of France, were waterclocks.
The latter is called horologium noctumum. (121 )
Even water-clocks, however, were costly and scarce, and few
c. 64.
Ap. Martene de Ant. Bit. vqj.
Hist, of Inv. vol. i. p. 429.
( 117 )
mann,
i.
p. 83;
iii.
p. 739, cited in
Beck-
day P This, he asks, that he may set his watch. The peasant without a
watch generally asks, How many hours is it to sunset r this being obviously the principal question for the labourer. To the Turk also it is important ; as the afternoons prayer is three hours before sunset.
Leakes Travels in Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 254.
( 120 ) De Inst. Div. Lit. c. 29, cited by Beckmann, Hist, of Inv. vol. i.
p. 422, Engl. Transl. ed. 1817.
(
121 ) See
Beckmann,
ib. p.
423, 425.
R 2
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
244
FROM
monks
to resort to other
means
[chap. it.
It
was necessary
hour
at
night.
fectione
Monachorum.
He is not
work
De
Per-
is
he to inquire what
is
intent on his duty, and never relax his observation of the re-
Moreover,
let
for
Even
of clocks
monk charged
candles,
to cause the
monks
stars, or
The introduction of
clocks
till
the
wheels,
Dante
Non fabulis vaoet, non longa cum aliquo misceat; non deniqne
( 122 )
quid a secularibus agatur inquirat ; sed commisste aibi cura semper intentuB, semper providus, semperque solicitus, volubilis sphatra neeessitatem
quiescere nescientem, siderum transitum, ct elabentis temporis meditetur
semper excuraum. Porro psallendi sibi faciat consuetudinem, si discernendi horas quotidianam habere desiderat notionem ; ut quandocumque
stellarum varietas nubium densitate non cernitur, illic in
quantitate psalmodia: quam tenuerit, quoddam sibi velut horologium meby Beckmann, ib. p. 427.
solis claritas, sive
123 )
Ut
vel
etiam lunse, ut
ascribes the invention of clocks to the Saracens, on account of a horologium sent by the Sultan of Egypt in 1232 to the Emperor Frederic II.
This piece of mechanism, however, seems to have been an orrery rather
clock for the use of the courts of law is said
than a clock, ib. p. 433.
Digitized by
word
in the
which
it
known
245
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 9.]
modem
12s
;
till
Huyghens. ( 128)
It has
little
seems that,
it
at
pro-
Never-
this interval, a
The
early
inferior
They had a
times.
difficulty in
it
this
determina-
These two
by
to have been set up near 'Westminster Hall in 1228, and to have been defrayed out of a fine imposed on the Chief Justice of the Kings Bench.
See Barrington in Beckmann, ib. p. 443.
Indi, come orologio che ne chiami
Nell ora che la epos a di Dio surge
matlinar lo sposo perche lami,
Che luna parte e Ialtra tira ed urge.
Tin tin sonando con si dolce nota
Che 1 ben disposto spirto damor turge.
(135)
144.
them to matins, by
The expression
Mod.
vol.
The
224d. 16h.
(130)
p. 551.
(128)
periodic time of
Mercury
is
i*
3.
49'.
Somn.
alter, alter
ii.
Scip.
Hunc
Mercurii cursus.
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY FROM
246
SCIENTIFIC
Mundo,^ 31 ) by
De
Animfl.
[CHAP.
IV.
Mundi,(132) by
The
to
fix
earliest
The Pythagoreans
by Eudemus,
mined
is
variously reported
first
deter-
The Pythagorean
-were stated
Astronomy, to have
in his History of
but
it
probable
is
moon on
As
celestial
came
to be applied to the
the three superior and the two inferior planets was perceived,
so that
another
3.
the
in
Mars;
moon.
4.
order:
following
The sun;
Saturn;
1.
Venus;
5.
2.
Mercury;
6.
Jupiter;
7.
The
him
It
c. 6
( 132 ) 4, p. 96 E.
c. 1, p. 3.
( 134 ) c. 18, p. 81.
135 ) Ap. Simplic. ad Aristot. de Ccel. p. 497 a, Brandis.
Above, p. 131.
( 136 ) See Martin, Timee de Platon, tom. ii. p. 105.
( 131 )
(i33)
(
and
( 138 )
ib. p.
64.
Concerning Eudoxus
19, 2.
i.
139 ) roiv fiadi}fiaTiKuiv rives fiev i>s nAunav, rives 8e fieaov ndvrav rov
Plut. Plac. Phil. ii. 15 ; Galen, 0 13
Stob. Phys. 1 24. This pasis correctly explained by Martin, Timde, tom. ii. p. 103, 113, 128.
c. 15, states that some of the mathematicians placed the
planets in the following order 1. the Moon ; 2. the Sun 3. Mercury
4. Venus.
Some in this order: 1 the Moon; 2. the Sun; 3. Venus;
4. Mercury.
On these and other variations in the order of the planets,
see Ack. Tat. c. 16.
(
rj\iov,
sage
Compare Macrob.
i.
19.
In de Div.
ratio
ii.
43,
mnthe-
Digitized by
ul
lius,
247
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 9.]
and Pliny
treatises of
U2
;(
and
it
144
;(
in a metrical
tronomy of Hyginus.( lw )
Ptolemy,
who
the work of
It is established in
nimous in placing Venus and Mercury below the sun, but that
some of the
later
these planets, because they are never seen to pass over the suns
disk.
This reason
is
who
and Mercury to intervene between the sun and moon. (147) The
same middle
by the Egyptians. He
astronomical
skill,
moon but
;
five
on account of their
When the
scientific
( 141 )
i.
803
satellites of
6.
H. N.
( 142 )
devised, that
Venus
ii.
( 143 )
move
c. 1.
See also Achill. Tat. 16. Both orders of the planets are
( 144 ) i. 3.
attributed to Pythagoras ; see Martin, ib. p. 105 ; Theo Smyrn. c. 15,
attributes to the Pythagoreans the order last mentioned in the text.
(
c.
15
p. 372.
( 146 )
(
147 ) Synt.
ix. 1.
Digitized by
248
hypothesis appears in
[chap. IV.
all
FROM
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
is
who
fifth
It
by Ptolemy.
origin.
15S
)
No
who
lived about
mention of
it
is
the
made
was of late
It
his predecessors, if it
It
coincides
propounded at
Tycho Brahe.
is
immovable and
at the centre
it
five
planets revolve
round the sun, the orbits of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars alone
surrounding the earth, and those of Venus and Mercury lying
are effaced
stars
164
is
166
eclipse of the sun.( )
resided at Alexandria.
ix. 4.
( 151 )
viii.
854, 857.
generally
Compare Delambre,
known by
its
i.
p. 312.
(
152 )
c.
System des
(
33
p. 119.
Plat. p. 138.
( 154 )
( 155 )
ii.
14.
See above,
p. 226, n. 56.
Digitized by
Googl
;
;
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 10.]
Arabic
of Almagest,
title
is
scientific.
249
own symmetrical
edifice.
He
was a
skil-
all
the
With
mined.
cipally followed
Hipparchus
and lunar
theories,
he prin-
this
scientific
It will
and that
is
a sphere ; that
is
spherical,
and that
it
it is
;
it
revolves
He
upon
holds
its axis
that
it is
fixed
rotation. ( 168 )
he
from the
infers
fixed
stars,
and
work by saying
(158) See
i.
1.
Digitized
by
250
ASTRONOMY FROM
SCIENTIFIC
parts. ( 1M)
two equal
[CHAP. IV.
Ptolemy, therefore,
fixed stars.
But
his
is
starry sphere.
its
be so
displace-
he says, the
If,
must be
it
and
axis,
unequal dis-
at
He
The argu-
ments by which
upon
what
they
are,
if
the
earth
They
removed from
was further
shell in
which the
stars are
the line joining the supposed place of the earth and the centre
is
an appre-
is
if
the celestial sphere, but were nearer one pole than the other,
the horizon would cut the visible heaven into unequal parts in
every latitude where the sphere
60
is oblique, f )
His refutation of the hypothesis of the earth having a
motion of translation,
is
movement of the
earth
it is
confined
to the proof that the earth cannot be at any place other than
motion of translation.
059)
i.
5.
if
it
has a
160)
i.
4.
Digitized by
251
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 10.]
thesis,
He
movement of transla-
and
free
from objection,
if
west to
east,
celestial axis
from
if
they suppose both the heaven and the earth to revolve, but
ances^ 161 )
axis,
Ptolemy admits
this is the
and
projectiles,
the rotatory
of
movement of the
its velocity,
earth,
appear to be at
it,
and would
movements of
instead of having
rest,
their
own.( 163)
According to the
first
hypothesis, both the celestial sphere and the earth are supposed
to move, and their reciprocal
movements
are adjusted so as to
which
is
not explained.
(161) It
Halma, and
who
its
He
is
is
mistranslated
kivS>
by
is
an active verb.
(162)
i.
6.
495
a,
is
Brandis.
Digitized by
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
252
FROM
[chap. IV.
Mars next under the sphere of the fixed stars, then the sun above
Venus and Mercury, and lastly, the moon next to the earth.
He states, however, this order w ith doubt, because the planets
have no parallax, by which alone their true distance can be determined.^ 64)
11
arisen, even in
the
five
which
the moon,
all
the
This philosopher,
it
and
fire.
supposed the
is
expressly
Copemican system.
1.
That
it
turns upon
its
own
No
axis.
sun
is
about 260
mers,
b.c., in
among whom
is
at the centre,
in an orbit.
revolves round
it
parchus, by
whom
earth upon
its axis
it
was
h roiv atrrpwv,
(166) Ccel.
orbit
Compare Delambre,
(164) ix. 1.
(165)
rejected.
and in an
ii.
Coel.
ii.
ib. p.
308.
13, 1, 14, 1.
13, 4, 14, 1.
Digitized by
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMY.
SECT. 11.]
who
253
deliberately preferred
There
is
originally devised
ments
tricate.
Its complexity
was such
scheme. ( 167)
But
it
recommended a
complex
less
the senses, but even to the reason, until the united efforts of
scientific
bined with the invention of the telescope, and with the improve-
it
of time,
as a demonstrated truth.
16S
(
there
mens minds from the notion that the earth revolves round the
sun.
When we
we
(167) See Bayle, Diet. art. Caatille, note H. ; Delambre, Hist. Astr.
du Moyen Age, p. 248.
Mariana, DeReb. Hisp. xiv. 5, says of Alfonso X., Emanuel sane
patruus, suo et aliorum procerum nomine, Alphonsum publics sententia
in conventu pronunciata, regno privavit ; eii calamitate dignum quod
divinai providential opera, et humani corporis fabricam, insigni lingua)
procacitate ingeniique confidentia accusare ausus fuerit uti vulgo bominum
opinio est, ab antiquo ducta per manus. Vocis stoliditatem numen justissime
Id fore astra memorant portendisse ejus artis non ignaro si
vindicavit.
ars est, et non potius inane mortalium ludibrium, quod a prudentibus
semper accusabitur, et semper tamen patronos habebit.
It will be shown below, eh. v. 12, that the Church always condemned
astrology.
;
(168) It was not until the revival of letters that the annual motion of
the earth was admitted. Its apparent stability and repose were until
then universally maintained. An opinion so long and so deeply rooted
intelligible grounds.
These grounds,
undoubtedly, are to be found only in the general impression that, if the
globe moved, and especially if its motion had so enormous a velocity as
must be imputed to it, on the supposition that it moves annually round the
sun, we must in some way or other be sensible of such movement.
Lardners Handbook of Astronomy, by Dunkin (I860), 135.
Digitized by
254
SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMY
FROM
[CHAP. TV.
We
made
circuit
all
its
if
surface
the points
rence to the stars ; that assuming the poles of the earths axis to
be north and south, the west would become north, the south
would become w est, the east would become south, and the north
would become
until at the
stored.
itself,
same
east,
But
its orbit,
the
is
Copernicus, in
fact,
supposed
the axis of the earth to be always turned towards the sun.( 169 )
It
was reserved
to Kepler to
itself.
upon the
affairs
The
of mankind.
solar year
46
b.c.
calendar, under
Ptolemaic system.
11' 12" in
who
held the
the
modern astronomical
revolution.
169 )
i.
p. 96.
Digitized by
HIPPARCHUS TO PTOLEMT.
SECT. 11.]
known
have
255
If
Astronomy, as
it
But
it is
human
knowledge in a
An
it is
directed
field
which
made
by some astronomers to distinguish between the solar system
and sidereal astronomy; but the distinction rests on no solid
foundation. The periodic time of Uranus, the nature of Saturns
ring,
interests
Great Bear.
the
its
own
if
sake
and
result.
But
upon human
affairs,
and
it
it
had a
closer bearing
Digitized by
256
Chapter V.
EGYPTIANS.
1
rp HE G reeks,
J-
Greek astronomers
as
They did
priests.
not, indeed,
some of the
for
we have shown
in a previous chapter^
quent
facility of
observing the
By
stars. ( 5)
s
sage, Assyria is doubtless meant. ( )
The same
writer speaks
an
tians as having
been the
Macrobius
earliest
Egyp-
4
this priority to the clearness of their sky.( )
The
priests of Thebes, in
buted
(i) ch.
(
they attri-
ii.
1.
2 ) 9i p. 987.
vii.
63
Strab.
xvi. 1 ,
Somn.
Scip.
i.
21, 9.
Digitized
by
SECT. 1.]
()
257
he derives
it,
however, not from the clearness of their sky, but from the
According to
on account of
its
immense
height. ( 7 )
may be
It
remarked,
that,
many im-
He
or foreigners.
Clement of Alexandria,
a religious origin,
first
i. 50.
( 5 ) Diod.
Assyrii, at ab ultimis auctoritatem repetam, propter
( 6 ) Principio
planitiem magnitudinemque regionum, quas incolebant, cum ccolum ex
omni parte patena atque apertum intuerentur, trajectiones motusque stellarum observitaverunt, De Div. i. 1.
(7)
Orat. ad Grtec.
10 ) Strom,
i.
c. 1.
16, 74.
11 )
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
258
air,
[CHAP. V.
moon
the beings
by some
first
who measured
pillars,
to Belus. ( 16 )
as
having been
first cul-
king of Babylon.
Phoenix of Colophon,
mentions
it
who wrote
which im-
and that the Assyrians borrowed theoand religious worship from the Egyptians.
b.o.
N. H.
vii.
56.
( 15 )
Isag.
( 16)
i.
c.
40
i.
p. 73, ed.
Petav.
45.
Digitized
by
SECT. 1.]
259
among
was habitual
According to
Assyrians.
stars
on Mount
people.
his liver
was an emblem
bodies. ( 1S)
Egyptians
nomy
attributed the
A native
fable is related
Plato, according to
by Diogenes
Another
story, cited
(17)
edifijro.
Ap. Athen.
xii. p.
630 E.
( 18 )
Ad
was only
Div. i. 19, speaks of the Babylonians, Qui e Caucaao coeli signa servantes,
numeris et motus stellarum cursusque persequuntur. Why the Babylonians should observe from Caucasus, does not appear. See above, p. 73.
( 19 )
(
Diod.
20 ) Orig.
i.
69
iii.
24, 1.
Digitized by
260
ASTRONOMY OF THE
Osiris,
[CHAP. V.
The
for his
wisdom
made
geometry, and that he taught astronomical science and observation to the natives^ 24 )
this art
its literal
of the Phoenicians
given
it
assigned by Strabo,
25
is
similar
by
metic.^ 7 )
i.
15, 16.
He
Maneros
ad Eel.
measuring, Xen.
(27)
i.
Mem.
iv. 7,
above, p. 112.
81.
Digitized by
SECT. 1 .]
He
261
was
that, in times of
Their account
known world ;
Nep-
that the
priests,
all
labour, and that they, likewise after the model of the Egyptian
priests,
The author of
stars. (**)
rije AcrrpoAoyi'tjc),
written in the
On
nians^80)
this science
it
to
it
to the Babylo-
the
who was
31
)
( 28 )
Metaph.
frrqaav' e *cf 1
here means,
(
29 )
i.
yap
i.
tSto jrfpl
a<pri6r) tr)(o\a((iv
were consolidated.
28, 81.
Lucian, de Astrolog. c. 39. The Scholiast on this passage denounces it as contrary to the received opinion of Greece, which assigned
the invention of astronomy to the Chaldseans irapa t a namv avBpomtns
ioKoiivra ravra XaXSaiovt yap <{>aat nparovs aarpovopias ap(ai, vol. iy.
( 30 )
p. 346, ed.
Lehmann.
( 31 ) Ant. Jud. i. 8
2. Josephus quotes a passage from Berosus
(i. 7,
2), where Abraham (without being named) is designated as a Chaldsean well-versed in astronomy. See Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol. ii. p. 502. In
another place, Ant. Jud. i. 2, 3, Josephus states that the descendants of
Seth, son of Adam, invented Astronomy, and that they engraved their
discoveries upon a pillar of brick and a pillar of stone, in order to preserve
them from the general destruction which, according to the predictions of
Adam, was to arise once from fire and once from water. These pillars
remained in the historians time in the land of Siris.
,
igitized
by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
262
[chap. Y.
Egyptians. ( 3S)
tury,
Cedrenus, a Greek
monk
Chaldaeans astrology
and the
it
passed to the
Egyptians^ 38)
Egyptians
and
accounts
it
for the
apparent superiority
mical
knowledge in
later
times,
its
shall illustrate in
the Phoenicians.^ 5 )
ventor of agriculture. ( 38 )
(32)
In
Plat.
Tim.
p.
viii.
1.
For a
When
Digitized by
SECT. 2.]
263
defi-
nite character.
unknown an-
an
Simplicius,
Aristotelian
commentator
of
the
sixth
less
observation
having
authority of Porphyry,
scribed
years,
in-
he
his context
41
;
shows that
one of recognised remote antiquity, the title to priority was usually awarded
to some mythical hero. See likewise, p. 101.
( 37 ) Schol. ad Aristot. de CcbI. p. 475 b, ed. Brandis.
( 38 ) lb. p. 494 b.
Simplic. ib. p. 503 a.
(39 ) Ap.
In the sentence of this passage, Litteras semper arbitror Assyria
( 40 )
See Ideler, Chron. vol. i. p. 216.
fuisse, we ought to read Assyriis.
Concerning Epigenes and Critodemus, see Fragm. H. Gr. vol. ii. p. 510.
Epigenes is cited only by late writers, and is probably not anterior to
Polybius.
(
41 )
De
Div.
i.
19, cited
by Lactant. Div.
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
264
[CHAP. V.
This statement
dorus,
who
is
that the
says
that of Dio-
(*)
and
it
only
differs
by 2O,OO0
when we
ye'afir
which,
must be con-
We are informed
as
270,000 years.
observations for
satisfied
He
greater.
still
b.c.,
many
to Diodorus, were
more moderate
They
arts
and
4700 years,
had been
He
*)
states,
however,
47
made
Martianus Capella
by the Egyptians
it
( 42 )
DeDiv.
ii.
46.
pirns
rav
irl]pi]<Tav,
tirra
as
<f>t)<r'tv
(jxrjvtv
KoapOKparipaii
'TdpfiXixos,
ov\
43 )
firra
ii.
31.
crav
Schneider.
(
45 ) xix. 55.
47 )
i.
81.
46 )
48 )
i.
69.
viii.
812, ed.
Kopp.
Digitized by
SECT. 3.]
of the Egyptians,
years
48,863
elapsed from
265
the time
of
this
period there had been 873 eclipses of the sun and 832 eclipses
of the moon.( 49 )
as the rest
it
The statement
as to the eclipses
is
as fabulous
and of contemporary
3
registration.
the persons
who discharged
with the rest of the community, and were subject to the duties
life
in
distinct caste,
position
toil,
and had
registers, in
which
The account
of
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
266
4
with
Furthermore,
thirty days
[CHAP. V.
its
Egyptians.
make
affirmed
it is
five
A notice
in
2607 to 2324
b.c.( 6S )
dynasty
his reform
is
make
months and
days
five
67
; (
it
it
King Arminos
that
is,
365 days.
at
which was
in the year.(
68
filled
According
perforated
conjecture
is
filled
If
we
Newton
is
liba-
The
tomb
when
this religious
uncertain.
on
p. 233.
(57) c * 19,
( 58 ) Diod.
( 59 ) Diod.
'
97.
i.
22.
for tredecim.
Digitized by
8ECT. 4.]
267
by
interca-
The priests of Thebes declared that the tomb of King Osymandyas had once been decorated with a circle of gold, 365
cubits in circumference, and one cubit in thickness,
They
on which
stated it to have
it
If this
supposed
From
these statements
it is
The duration ascribed by the Greeks to the year of the Baand of other oriental nations which are likely to have
adopted the Babylonian reckoning, is also various. Thus the
bylonians,
Ctesias,
stadia,
according to
M
)
numbers were
his-
said to be derived
According to
Plutarch, the
860.(*)
remarks that
It
is
stated
it
was not
less
Cili-
( 6 i) Deducitur autem a sacerdote laid is in locum <jui nominatur adytos, et jurejurando adigitur ncque mensem neque diem intercalandum,
quern in festum diem immutarent, sed ecclxv. dies peracturos, sicut institutum est ab antiquis, Arat. vol. ii. p. 71, ed. Buhle.
6 a) Diod.
i.
49.
63 ) Letronne, Sur lObjet des represent. Zodiac, p. 76, treats the golden
Osymandyaa as an invention of the Egyptian priests, posterior to
Alexander.
(
circle of
( 64 )
Diod.
ii.
7.
6 g) Curt.
67 )
iii.
iii.
7.
i.
66 ) Artax. 27.
68 )
year, see
xvii. 77.
Digitized
by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
268
[chap. V.
for each
He
sion
nation of Pandae
is
year.
He
The astronomical
science,
priests,
them
to
disclosed
it
indeed
is
inti-
78
;(
hut
it is
many
made with
This derivation
by detailed accounts of
visits
is fortified
made
Thus Thales
is
( 71 )
Digitized by
SECT. 5.]
269
cydes of Syros
who were
is
included
among the
early
Greek philosophers
Phere-
is
astronomy.
With
hv Pythagoras from
applies,
which has
know more
early
many and
copious.
rites forbad
77
)
It is
This
is
lived in
vol.
ii.
Bekker.
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
270
[CHAP. V.
having invented some geometrical problems, and as having introduced others from Egypt into Greece. ( 7# )
Strabo informs
visited
had
Eudoxus
visited
They
first
Babylon, in
astronomy^ 93 )
Ammianus
instruction
obtain
order to
in
to
Maximus
is similar.
past
Persia,
The report of
He
stars,
then went
and their
respective
Phi-
Pythagoras
__
Some
late writers
in his visit to
leius,
the
writing. ( 87)
modes of
visited Egypt,
According to Apu-
(70)
Ap. Diod.
(80) xiv.
(8a)
i.
i.
x. II, ed.
16.
Bekker.
(81)
96, 98.
22.
The same
him to have
De
Fin. v. 29.
(83) xx. 4.
(86)
i.
2.
(87) Antiphon, ap. Diog. Laert. viii. 3 Diogenes on Thule, ap. Porph.
Pyth. 12. Concerning this Diogenes, see below, ch. viii. 6.
;
Digitized by
SECT. 5.]
271
became the
disciple
all
visits
of
visit as voluntary,
but says
after visiting
priests; that
he next passed
Egypt
and that he
fifty-six.
:(
this
was the
last
century before
disciple of
Nazaratus the
92
who were
By
Magi were
remark alludes
Greek philosophers.
Brachmanes
Pyth. 19.
(93)
i.
15, 70.
i. ;
Strab.
iv. 4, 4.
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
272
[chap. V.
According to Clemens
structor of Pythagoras.
was Sonchis,
it
recommendation to Amasis
95
;(
up
lisk set
Rome by
at
visit.
mention
his
name
posed
made of
is
is
king
this
No
9S
other
to be that of a king.
it
is
likewise
from Egypt. (
Empedocles
is
The
100
;(
he spoke of the
It
knowledge.
affirmed
is
visited
Egypt
for the
from the
writers. (
priests
101
:
this statement
10S
)
(94) Plut.
de
Is. et Osir.
10
i.
p. 131.
(96) Plin.
xxxvi. 14.
(98)
Above,
(99) Plin.
(100)
10.
vol.
ii.
p. 69, notes.
p. 132.
N. H. xxx.
Above,
i. ;
2.
i.
p. 137.
(101)
i.
N. H.
(97)
De
Quintilian,
i.
12,
Digitized by
SECT. 5.]
273
He
priests.
ment recurs
visit,
and
visit
105
Cyrene
the magi.(1M )
to
His
ferred to by Philostratus.
Babylonians.
This state-
Cyrene,
at
as having
The
residence of
is
uncertain
nor
is
it
w
)
suffi-
proIt
is
With
Greek philo-
we may remark,
native priests,
are concerned.
A faint knowledge
of Egypt
is
no inherent imcommunication
perceptible even
26
Solon
b.c.).
(103)
(
104 )
De Dogm.
iii.
is
Plat.
i.
p. 1040,
Valpy.
6 7.
,
i.
2.
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
274
to
there
polis,
and Sonchis of
alluded to
by Plato
[CHAP. v.
According to Plutarch, he
Sais.( 109)
The
visit
of Solon to Egypt
The
is
physical obstacles
We
if it
were
sufficiently attested
but there
Pythagoras, as
it
is
delivered to us,
is
doubtful. (
There
Egyptian
vention.
life
of
of Plato to
visit
Egypt
112
)
is
a scarcity of
is
The whole
priests,
is
is
Chonuphis;
in-
also a teacher of
is
(Enuphis; the
that of Plato
is
Sech-
nuphis.( 113 )
The
later
modern
(to8 )
He
N f i'Xou
Plut. ib.
( 109 )
Sonchis.
In the
made some
Kavwfiidos iyyvOcv
treatise,
de
stay
aiaijs.
Plut.
Sol. 26.
he likewise mentions
i.
2,
visited
Egypt, Strab.
30.
The
( 113 )
p. 550.
Digitized by
SECT. 5.]
by
The
serious obstacles.
ardour which
it
difficulty of the
275
accomplishment, the
science,
motives for
the
is
Thus
tendency.
this
political
We perceive,
He
likewise describes
whom
visitor,
ns
)
his religious
great national
Much
skill in that
,19
)
com-
The Egyptians
asserted their
der.Eg.
p. 41.
(117)
i.
is
made by
(118)
i.
69.
6.
iii.
i.
15,
14.
(120) See Herod, ii. 2; Plat. Tim. 5, p. 22 ; Apollon. Ithod. iv. 265
270; Joseph, cont. Apion. i. 2. Aristotlo speaks of the great antiquity
of the Egyptians ; ovtoi yap ap^aioraToi pev SoKovaiv aval, Pol. vii. 10.
T 2
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
276
[CHAP. V.
Egypt.
After
diffusion of
the
a further
Christianity,
powerful
Baby-
lonians.
Romans
who
visited the
learn their sacred rites, should not have visited the Jews for
This wonder was not shared by other writers,
this purpose. ( W1 )
who supposed
Thus Eusebius
Jewish fountain.
states that
Pythagoras visited
and magi
visits
much
123
;(
fifth
and
century,
It is declared
by
dislike of
Kuma
the
belief
( 121 )
(
was a
anthropomorphism attributed to
Div. Inst.
the connexion of
iv. 2.
Joseph, contr. Apion. i. 22, and Origenes contr. Cels. i. 13. See
( 123 )
Fra^m. Hist. Gr. vol. iii. p. 36, 41. Compare Porph. vit. Pyth. 11, with
Kiesslings note, vol. ii. p. 22.
(
125 ) Strom,
i.
ii.
The metaphor
is
bor-
15, 71.
Digitized
by
SECT. 6.]
277
and
The same
rant of David
128
;(
philosopher.^ 129 )
Numa
less fabulous
Hebrews
he even
127
;(
)
calls
Plato
the Hebrew-instructed
lived in
the age of the Antonines, said that Plato was nothing but
Moses
in
an Attic
dress. (
13
lsl
The same
name
that
Jew
of the
but he shows
is
in.
inconsistent
'
perhaps
been astronomical
ob-
by
likewise
(12 6) See the Authors Inquiry into the Cred. of the Early Bom. Hist,
L p. 449 ; Schwegler, ltom. Gesch. vol. i. p. 560.
vol.
(127) Protrept.
(128) Psed.
(129) 6
ii.
c. 6,
1,
70.
18.
'Efipaiuiv <pi\6(ro<f)o!,
Strom,
i.
1,
10.
Biogr.
(131) Prsep. Ev. xi. 8.
(132) Clem. Strom, i. 22, 150. Compare Valckenaor, Diatribe de
Aristobulo, reprinted in the 4th voL of Gaisfords edition of Eusebius
Prsep.
Evang.
viii.
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
278
instruments
[chap.' V.
fectly recorded
it
may be
We cannot,
134
)
consistently
methods
it
with geometrical
seems
merely to have
measuring.
scientific
invention.
may
It
be
sufficiently
trained in
or
abstract
reasoning to be able to follow the demonstrations of the properties of the conic sections invented
One
by Apollonius. (135 )
may,
at
and the
and Egyptian
by
heliacal
priests
its
true
(136)
Geminus,
c. 6, p.
Digitized by
SECT. 7.]
279
Herodotus informs us
Egyptian year
If,
He
137
)
says nothing of
Herodotus
therefore,
accurate in
is
was
less exact
who com-
Among
part.
Up
to this
period (Strabo remarks) the true length of the year was un-
known by
many
other truths
until
the writings
with
that
all
This statement
is
inconsistent
visit of
sumed
a year of 3651
No
tises
unknown
made elsewhere of
by Egyptian
to the native
visit
priests,
Egyptian
their comprehension.
scientific
astronomical trea-
treatises.
the
is
who
half,
mention
cycle, preceded
Hipparchus, moreover,
days.
( 137 )
ii.
4.
See above,
p. 266.
( 138 )
xvii.
i.
29.
Digitized by
280
ASTRONOMY OF THE
[chap. V.
partially successful
whereas,
to
astrono-
if this
it
interpret
them
into Greek.
as being
by an intercalary arrangement. It
mentioned by Diodorus, that they determined
particularly
their year
In the time of
year, as in the
were destitute of
all
scientific
who showed
own day
cicerones,
who accompanied
He
the
prefect
Egypt
iElius
he was prefect of
and twenty-five
b.c.
;(
fluctuating, ( 14S )
it is
and
its
duration are
(139) Diod.
(
40)
8m
i.
50; Strab.
T(Tpa(T7]pi&os
i.
yap
Ttcr-
5.
is
An
one day
xvii. 1, 46.
rrept(r(rr]v
fell
41
xvii. 1,
29.
(142) Anni certus modus apud solos semper .dSgyptios fuit, aliarum
gentium dispari numero pari errore nutabat, Saturn, i. 12, 2.
(143) See above, 4.
Digitized by
SECT. 8 .]
281
behind the true time every four years, and was therefore a
As soon
was known,
it
that the movable year of 365 days and the fixed year of 365
days could not, after starting from the same pointy again
coincide, until a cycle of 4 x 365, that is of
been completed.
1460
had
years,
by Geminus
144
;(
this
who
round the
fact.( 145 )
same
As
8
originally
begun
Egyptian
being the
this
Canicular or Sothiac
Dog-star,
period
and
Sothis
14
c. 6, p.
being the
month Thoth
the
*)
(144)
which
commencement of
period was, by late writers,
the ordinary
Censorious,
first
of
Thoth
19.
(145) TOVTO 3 K Tjjff tv XKtfcav&pt'iq SiaTplfitjs r\3t, n\f]v KCl& OCTOV (KflVOi
piv TpiaKov8r)ptpovs tov pljvas koyifovrat, eirttra iir\ navr'i ra tVe t ras TTtvTf
rjpepas tTrayovtrLV, 6 3tf 3 f] Kaitrap ts prjvas tirra Tavras rt Kal t as iTtpas Svo, &s
twos pjjv Off d<j>t~i\tv, tvr\ppo<rev. ttjv pfvrnt plav rnv (K Tan' TtTaprt]popt<ov avp7r \rjpovptvrjv 3 id irtvrt Kal avros (rav ftrriyayt v, uart prjSev tri ras upas avruv
n\r)P t\aj(ioTov rrapaWdrrtiv' tv yovv \l\tois Kal TtTpaKotriais Kal ti]KOvra Kal
erl (Tti [? Tttri P] pias dWr/s rjptpas tpSaXipov dtavrat, Dio Cass. xliii. 26.
As
this passage stands, Dio states that the period of 3651 days falls short of
the true year, and that it loses a day in 1461 years. In fact, however,
this period is slightly in excess of the true year; and it was this excess
w hicn necessitated the Gregorian reform of the calendar. The probability
is that Dio misunderstood some statement of the difference between the
Egyptian year of 365 days and the Julian year of 3651 days.
*
'
upon computation.
Chron.
iii.
vol.
i.
p. 43, 73,
Digitized by
282
ASTRONOMY OF THE
on the 25th of June
fell
and he
[CHAP. V.
infers that
this current
Thoth
fell
on the 20th
it
purpose
the
many
it
differed
varieties
five planets,
mention
and
is
made of
The
by 25, so as to reduce it to
entire cycle, which is attri-
by Syncellus,
val
made on
is
fifth
referred
by Boeckh to the
centuries
15
;
inter-
the statement
origin.^ 61 )
It
is
subdivisions, are in
life
is
late
nor
its
Sirius.
of the
( 147 )
Cen 8 orin.
c.
See Boeckh,
ib. p.
52
The passage
is
rightly
7.
Bonn,
p. 87, Harles.
( 152 )
Plin. x. 2
Solin. c. 33, 11
13
Horapoll.
ii.
57.
Digitized by
SECT. 8.]
283
who assigned
phoenix), made that
life
of the
sequent authors. ( ,M )
and
is
repeated by
many
when
all
the planets
met
in the sign of
when they
by a
all
met
sub-
great conflagration. (
it
would be
and
visited
an
Menophres
as
beginning
first
year of
the Canicular
(154) See Martin, Tim6e, tom. ii. p. 7880; and the authors cited by
Arago, Pop. Astr. b. 33, c. 43. Cicero, ap. Tac. de Caus. Corr. El.
;
Macrob. Comm.
16, assigns a duration of 12954 years to the great year.
Somn. Scip. ii. 11, 11, fixes it at 1500 years. Sextus Empiricus, adv.
Mathem. a. 105, p. 747, Bekker, at 9977 years. Achilles Tatius, c. 18,
p. 81, defines the long years of the superior planets as follows : that of
him
and
fanciful.
iii.
29.
Egyp-
Digitized by
2S4
ASTKONOMY OF TUB
period,
whose termination
[chap. V.
is
4-
its
of the Dog-star.
it
commenced
its
course,
and
is
It
is
or indeed
is
by any writer
anterior to the
It is
an imaginary
who
cycle,
of the year of 365 J days with the year of 365 days ; and has
no necessary connexion with the rising of the Dog-star. The
(157)
De Ee
Bust.
iii.
to
the
Sothiac cycle
6.
E. T.
Digitized by
GoogI
SECT. 9.]
by modern
writers,
285
is,
the retention of a
civil
its
sup-
What
this
of a day.
it
as
The num-
as
reported by
Syncellus,
is
not,
The
the Egyptian
would by
theory.
priests, to
among
on these discor-
sects
and he
160 ) Vol.
i.
p. 389, ed.
Bonn.
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
2S6
We.are
nations.
[chap. V.
(afterwards
and
called
came
to the
The
163
but
; (
we
now discover.
The story of the
cannot
31,000 years, sent from Babylon to Aristotle, would be a conclusive proof of the antiquity of the Chaldacan astronomy, if it
were
true.(' w )
has
it
all
the
works.
who
We
to
quotes
are re-
was
silent
this
or any
seems
to have noticed
unknown
them.
The
number
and
162 ) Diod.
163 )
( 165 )
Ad
ii.
29
Other
writers, indeed,
who
31
above, p. 176.
Arat. 762.
( 164 )
i.
Above,
p. 263.
p. 308.
Digitized
by
SECT. 9.]
287
in his statement.
priests,
made astronomical
the planets, before the Greeks had begun to observe the heavens
systematically, need not be doubted.
tinct testimony of Aristotle
It is
Egypt
his
1S7
;
whatever the
efforts of the
But
scientific
School of Alexandria,
who
must have had access to whatever existed, through the patronage of their Greek kings. Ptolemy never mentions an observation
made by a
Hipparchus
native Egyptian.
may have
The
five earliest
all eclipses
Babylonian observation
is fifty-five
The
B.c.
earliest recorded
years subsequent
earliest observa-
Ptolemy
states
Above,
p. 196.
Magn. Synt.
Compare iv.
iv. 5,
2, p.
8,
p.
5.
216.
Digitized by
ASTKONOMY OF THE
288
ascend to
did not
higher date.
[chap. V.
was complete or
accurate, he
it
How
up
is,
appears to be attributed by
recur,
daeans
it, is
17S
;(
Geminus
unknown.
first
to the
moon
Chal-
acquainted with
The
to be a nullity,
when
it
became the
The
sci-
entific
If any of the Chaldaean and Egyptian priests had really possessed the profound and exact knowledge of astronomy which
is
attributed to
name.
his
tion
brated
he would
and
mass.( 176 )
writers, however,
(171) eir
tt/v
TraXiuas
nnma'us
p. 202,
Halma.
Gem.
172 )
Synt.
( 173 )
Sur
lea
cele-
or Egyptian, in refe-
Compare
have
ii.
e.
i.
p.
98
Delambre, Hist.
p. 180.
15.
P6 nodes
des Lois
also
175 )
vol.
iii.
p. 390.
Digitized by
SECT. 9.]
priests, as
289
mention
flesh
of names
goras received
Assyrian. (
whom
instruction at
who lived
who wrote on
Much
and
dental region, and has been reduced within the bounds of intelligible
knowledge.
It is
p. 550.
(177) Besides Sonchis and Psenophis mentioned by Plutarch, Proclus
in Tim. p. 31 D), names Pateneit at Sais, Ochlaps at Heliopolis, and
iithemon at Sebennytus, referring to the histories of the Egyptians.
(180)
p.
xiii.
is
Digitized by
290
now
ASTRONOMY OF THE
[CHAP. V.
zodiacal
monuments of Egypt
afford
no proof of the
early cul-
name
own
He
Romans from
doubtless, been
named by
the Babylonians
name
mere
in Greece.
The
descriptive epithets,
designations, originally
bodies,
and particularly of
84 ; Brugsch, Hist.
(182) See Lepsius, Chron. der 2Eg. p. 65
dEgypte, part i. p. 40. The latter states that the zodiac is quite foreign
to Egypt, and that its twelve divisions were introduced there by the
Greeks in the Alexandrine age. The division of the zodiac is ascribed to
the Egyptians in the spurious treatise of Lucian, de Astrol. 6.
39, p. 94.
(183)
c.
(184)
Fragm.
p. 96.
See Ideler, Unters. iiber die Astr. Beob. der Alten, p. 373
Sternnamen, p. 174 Schaubach, Gesch. der Astr. p. 296 ; Letronne, Sur
lOrigine du Zodiaque grec, p. 20.
Simplic.ad
(186) Diod. ii. 30 (where the text ought not to be altered)
Hygin. Poet. Astr. iv. 18 Theo Smyrnccus,
Aristot. p. 499, ed. Brandis
On the origin of the names of the
c. 6, with Martins comment, p. 87.
planets, see Letronne, Orig. du Zod. grec, p. 30.
(183)
Digitized
by
SECT. 10.]
immovable
intellect of
an Oriental. (187)
So
291
mical observations of the Chahheans and Egyptians were preserved in an authentic form, and
Greeks, the
With
came
to the
knowledge of the
latter, doubtless,
own
observations, tbe
Greek
astro-
as
was conducted in
their reasoning
vation,
genius by which
scientific
converted into
symmetrical
system.
necessary to avoid
all
and
priests.
it
this
Roman
mind
When,
calendar.
therefore,
18S
)
we must bear
in
andria.
But
10
if
giW
the
astrology.
human
plants
fit
( 187 )
if it
Though
it
it
it
it
could
could pervert
Delambre, Hist. Astr. Ane. tom. ii. p. 119, considers the Chalas observers, and not as calculators.
d*an astronomers
U 2
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
292
The authors
to
whom we
all
Empire, or the
last
[chap. Y.
But our
stars, or astrology.
makes
their astrolo-
The copious account of the Chaldaeans given by Diodorus represents them as having from the beginning cbmbined the two
characters of diviners and astronomers.
They are described as
averting evil by rites of lustration, by sacrifices, and by incantations and as predicting the future by the flight of birds, by
the entrails of victims, and by the interpretation of dreams and
Belesys, described by Ctesias as a distinguished
prodigies.
Chaldsean priest who assisted Arbaces the Mede in overthrowing Sardanapalus, about 876 b.c., is represented by him to have
;
stars.
191
(
Book
of Daniel.
cists,
(101) Diod.
ii.
24, 25.
The account
of the Assyrian
Empire
is
bor-
p.
338
51.
Digitized by
SECT. 10.]
293
throughout an astrological
they distinguished the
five
cast.
Inter-
men and
na-
They
conceived that besides the planets there were thirty stars, which
and
invisible
Conformably with
Isaiah,
'
who
lived about
759
-7
'
Thou
star-
gazers, the
shall
come upon
thee.( 1,J3 )
193 ) Arrian, Anab. vii. 16, S 5. Diodorus, however, states that the
prediction which the Chaldiean deputation communicated to Alexander on
this occasion was derived from their astrological science, xvii. 112.
Compare xix. 55. Plutarch, Alex. 73, merely mentions the prediction, without
specifying its foundation. An Assyrian magician is mentioned by Theocrit.
ii.
Id.
162.
(
Beoiv Si Toirrcov [viz., the liovXiiLOL dfoi] Kvplovs tlvai <paa i SoiScku rov dpiGpbv,
tKuoTCp prji/a Kai tS>v SoiSfK a Xeyoptvap (toStaiv iv npo^vipavai.
Letronne
translates Ces trente-six dieux conseillers out pour maitres douze dieux
suphrieurs, a chacun desquels est departi un signe du zodiaque et tin
mois. The true meaning seems to be : Of these gods, twelve are supreme, to each of whom one month and one of the twelve zodiacal signs is
assigned.
S>v
( 195 )
xlvii.
13.
of Isaiah
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
294
Clitarchus, cited
by Diogenes Laertius,
[CHAP.
V.'
196
d seans occupied themselves about astronomy and prediction. ( )
whom
Chaldsea
is
regarded by
Ammianus
mean
astrology. (
198
)
in 546
b.c.,
The Tel-
The
city of
Telmessus
gift of teratoscopy.
202
(
dreams
stars. (
sw
)
(196) Frocem. 6.
xnemorant
(199)
(200)
(201) See Dindorf. Aristoph. Frag. p. 186. Cicero de Div. i. 41, speaks
of Telmessus as a city, * in qu& excellit haruspicum disciplina.'
i.
16,
74
c. 1.
Digitized by
SiECT. 10.]
The
earliest allusion in
Greek
295
literature to divination
204
from
Eudoxus became
and warned
his
faith in itj^ 05 )
and
Athens in
stitions prevalent at
aware of
existence
its
Chaldaeans. ( 207 )
of astrology
as
the super-
Eudoxus,
a foreign art
practised
by the
among
The
anecdote, reported by
is
prediction.
(
ii.
42.
See above,
p. 158.
( 206 )
(207) davpamatrarriv fie eival (pqcnv 6 Beotppaaros ev rols kut avrbv xpbvois
TT]V raw XaXSm'wf nepl ravra Oecoplav, rd re a\\a rrpoKeyovcrav Ka'i rods /3iovs
CKatTrwv Kill rovs davdrovs, sat ov rd Koivd povov, otov xetpeovas teat evbias, &orrep
Kai rdv dorepa rav Eppov \eipwvos pev ep(j>avrj yevopevov 4/l X Tl (rrjpatveiv, tcadpara fie Oepovs, els ttceivovs avanepnet' ravra 5 ovv avrovs sat ra tfita sat rd
soil'd npoyivdxrKeiv and ra>v ovpavlav ev rjj nepl Sr/pelav
(Jyrjtrlv eicetvos,
i.
p. 782, ed.
1.
iv. 1,
is
celestial globe.
On
758.
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
296
when
all
[CHAP. V.
The Greek
who
tragedians,
allude to astrology;
is
(*)
never
reported to have
held that the magi were the most illustrious and useful of
An
astrological treatise,
The Chaldaeans
are stated
315
fate of Antigonus, in
b,c.(212 )
nothing in
It
common
his nativity,
and
it
had
Chaldaeans.
island.
latter of
whom
time of birth.
21s
)
in Italy as a
Horos
is
i.
28.
The name
1.
21
Above,
p. 147, n.27.
(213) ix. 7.
Digitized by
SECT. 11.]
297
who began
not improbable
it
may have
He
moved
to Athens
attracted
is
him a statue
Of Antipater and
with a
gilt
Achinapolus nothing
is
215
)
is
stated by Vitru-
vius.
We
human
by
are informed
life
by Josephus
to have written in
is
apparently
him
latitude,
is
igneous ; that
its light is
is
not derived
it
its
moon
to the earth
moon likewise
takes place
and that an
eclipse
part
is
319
)
214 ) C. Muller, Frag. Hist. Gr. vol. ii. p. 495 Clinton, F. H. vol. iii.
Ideler, Chron. vol. ii. p. 599.
The lifetime of Berosus may be
;
340270 b.c. See Letronne, Orig. du Zod. greo,
;
ad ann. 279
conjecturally fixed at
p. 54.
( 215 ) vii. 87.
(
216 )
( 217 )
vii.
60.
Contr. Apion.
i.
19.
iii.
29.
Berosus, qui
Bolum
interpretatus est.
See
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
298
12 From
[chap. V.
modes of
second century
b.c.,
divination.
who
Pansetius,
lived in the
this
by Posido-
From Greece
221
)
down
it
Roman
Chaldajans from
Rome and
Italy.
The same functionary exRome, on the ground that they had
prohibition,
Cneius Octavius,
who was
slain in the
long remain
in force.
Plut.Plac. Phil, it 29; Galen, Phil. Hist. c. 15. This doctrine concerning
the eclipses or phases of the moon is called a Babylonian and Chaldsau
doctrine by Lucretius
Ut Babylonica
tendit.
v.
719727.
Apuleius, De Deo Socrat. ad init., says of the moon Sive ilia proprio
seu perpeti candore, ut Chaldmi arbitrantur, parte luminis compos, parte
:
Cic. de Div.
( 221 )
ii.
42.
v. 2.
p. 44.
it
This Hispallus
Digitized by
Googh
SECT.
12 .]
Ghaldaic
death
upon
prediction
224
;(
person
his
the
at
299
of his
time
Chaldaeans.( 225 )
was versed
astrology,
Home ;( 228
in
and
the
calculated
nativity
of
never accomplished^227)
Nigidius Figulus was distinguished as an astrologer in the
later part of the Republic
228
:
he
is
said to
The
when he was at
named Theogenes,
latter,
The
the national
name
name
Chaldsean lost
(224) Plutarch,
known
of Chaldaeans. ( 2!1 )
Mar.
its
to the
Romans by
came
to
42.
vol.
(227)
length of
De
life
him
two
Suet. ib.
Compare Juvenal,
vi.
6:
553
c. 8,
caligo futuri.
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
300
[CHAP. V.
indeed, appear to
They
the Empire.
illicit,
and
edicts banishing
S35
)
In
them from
culti-
Te
Hence
v.
145
7.
which
disqualifies
astrorum ignoro.
(235) Tacitus speaks of the astrologers as genus hominum potentibus
infidum, sperantibus fallax, quod in civitate nostra et vetabitur semper et
retinebftur. Hist. i. 22.
According to Juvenal, vi. 5604, the frequent
punishments of the astrologers, and the dangers which they incurred, increased the confidence of their dupes. Concerning the legal proscription
of the astrologers under the Empire, see Becker, Handbuch der Rom. Alt.
vol. iv. p. 100102.
Tiberius was the first emperor who expelled the
mathematici, Suet. Tib. 36. See the advice of Maicenas to Augustus, Dio
Cass. Iii. 36.
(236) Astrology w as condemned by the Christian fathers and by the
Church, Gothofred. ad Cod. Theodos. vol. iii. p. 146 Binghams Antiq.
of the Christ. Church, xvi. 5, 1. Astrologers are declared unworthy of
baptism in the Apostolic Constitutions, viii. 32 ; Bmgham, ib. ii. 5, 8. Corn;
Digitized by
SECT. 13.]
vated
its professors,
301
events.
When
13
but
it
it
There
is
indeed a
it
among the
This
Egyptians.
and from
racter,
He
There
is
is
no
Herodotus.
mode
a resemblance between
is
of divination described by
allusion
to
any con-
nor
is
it
(whom Lobeck
initiate their
countrymen
appropriated this
forgeries of
fishop
237
ii.
82.
The
is
singular
oi
wo*q act
ywo-
fttVOl.
(
238
Aglaopham.
p. 427.
that part of the population which spoke Greek. Yopiscus wrote between
290 and 300 a.d. Gibbon remarks that the people of Alexandria, a
various mixture of nations, united the vanity and inconstancy of the
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
302
[chap. V.
Roman
the
five
first
centuries of the
names
of Egyptian antiquity.
They
period.
human
life
by Pliny to have
are stated
at 124 years,
who were
likewise king,
He
logy.^11 )
Orpheus
W5
;(
classes
men and
them with
^Esculapius,
Abraham, and
of
Petosiris,
had be-
Petosiris
astrologer as
early as
(**)
poem
24S
(
cultiva-
character under
treatise of this
the
writings
being
tion of medico-astrology.
prose
some remote
is
a versification of
whose wisdom
he
extols.
the
(***)
Greets with the superstition and obstinacy of the Egyptians, Decl. and
Fall, c. 10.
(
240 )
( 242 )
vii.
( 241 )
50.
Prcef.
ad
lib. iv. p.
viii.
6 , p. 216.
84.
xiv. turn
245 ) See Manetho, Apotelesmatica, i. (v. ed. Koehly) 11, v. (vi.) 10.
The poem of Manetho has been lately twico edited by Koehly; once in
the volume of Poet Bucolici et Didactici, in Didots Collection of Greek
Authors (Paris. 1851), and again, separately, in the Teubner Collection,
Lips. 1858. Koehly enters into an elaborate investigation of the date of
the composition of the poem, in the preface to the former edition, and fixes
it to the reign of Alexander Severus, 222
235 a.d. (p. xvii.)
(
Digitized by
SECT. 13.]
303
Lydus, a writer of the sixth century, likewise speaks of Petoeminent among the ancient Egyptian sages in the
siris as
divination. ( U6 )
The
by Suidas.
stated
Books;
2.
Necepso
is
On
They
Astrology
are,
8.
included in the
list
1.
On
are
Sacred
of Manetho, and
by Ausonius
art of
him
titles
He
b.c.
magi in
is
is
stated to
mentioned
their mysterious
doctrine. ( 248 )
down
Roman
conquest of Egypt
is
adds,
is
the
to the
no mention of a
This
fact,
he
Egyptian astrologers must have been deposited in the Alexandrine library from the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and
Greek translations.^ 49 )
that there
is
It
astronomers of Alexandria
in
native Egyptians before the Christian era, and that the astrological treatises of
Egyptian
priests,
quite imaginary.
246 )
De
Ostentis,
c. 2, p.
Kat t6v
KvWaariv (pdtyyov
KvWamis was
from
Osiris.
( 248 )
( 249 )
xix.
Digitized
by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
304
[chap. V.
is
one
is
not
2B0
legion,
174
a.d.,
was by
divi-
nation.
254
;(
but these
Dio Cassius
that these
names were unknown to the ancient Greeks, but that the use
of them, though of recent introduction, was universal in his
especially among the Romans. ( 265 )
The use of these
names can be traced in the Roman authors from the early part
time,
Tacitus
( 250)
( 251
Lamprid.
252 ) lxxxi. 8
253 )
( 254 )
i.
81.
vit.
Heliogabal. 9
Clandian,
vi.
Eandem artem
ii.
39.
See Hare on the Names of the Days of the Week, in the PhiloMuseum, vol. i. p. 1. Compare Grimm, D. M. p. 87.
( 256 )
logical
( 257 )
i.
3, 18.
Compare
i.
p.
178,
ii.
p. 177.
Digitized by
Googl
SECT. 13.]
names
tary
days
the
of
of the
305
number. ( 268 )
J ustin Martyr
calls
the
first
used by
is
It is noted,
week, as an additional
nities
festival,
day of the
The
fanciful analogy
between
the seven days of the week and the seven planets was founded,
on numeThe prin-
which the
264
)
assigned to the
is
(259) Apol.
ii.
p. 98, 99.
Krjv
Compare Sozomen.
rfjs
i.
8, ti)v xvpta-
Sf tj\ia ava.Ti.6tam.
(261) See
quem Dominicum
rite dixere
2, 1.
viii.
8, 3, xi. 7, 13.
(263)
Bingham, xx. 3
c.
85, 12.
and the
but
this
faculties of the
(263) Plutarch, in the 7th chapter of the 4th book of his Symposiac Problems (not now extant), discussed the question why the names
of the planets, when transferred to the days of the week, were not taken
in their natural order
Si a ti rns npavipovs Tolt irXavqmv rjptpas, oi Kara rf/v
tKtivivv raiv, aXX ivrjKkayptvws api6povatv.
The five planets are placed in
scheme by which the succession of the days
this order
3, 1, 4, 2, 5.
of the week is explained on astrological principles, is given by Arago,
:
Pop. Astron.
b. 33, c. 4.
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
306
[chap. V.
it
is
logical origin.
14
individual,
The
five planets,
fate,
life.
prin-
of each
or shed a benign or
no part
The
star
(266)
815
G.
p.
vol. viii.
An
Eutrop.
i.
may be found
in
1.
his preface,
is
also
named by
Digitized by
SECT. 14.]
was
307
As the
ciiun.
tliema natali-
upon
a birth,
art, in allusion to
like-
also
the dtrortXto-
(268) ipoaKanos uev ovv etrriv onep ervj( ev dvi(T\etv Kad' ov \pbvov
Sextus Empiricus, adv. Math. v. 13, p. 730, Bekker.
rj
yeveais
<rvvfTc\tlTo,
Unde
Hino
Nee
Manilius
ii.
82630.
The same poet lays it down, as an astrological canon, that the influence
of a star depends upon its place in the heaven
:
V. 27, p. 733.
TJI
err't
is
tt]s
infnjXrjs
e(f>
by Sextus Empiricus,
ib.
UTtoreKOvorjs be
b
aKovaas Ka\ airbs napeenjpe 8' ijpepav be Tins ipoiTKoTTLOLS irpocr-
rrjs aKptopeias.
ipotrKorroiiv,
The
as a signal.
Beuektos
thus described
ibnmvirp pe\pts
iea\
a noise
is
(repos be Traprjbpeve
<tkott>v,
Et
XaA8aqr
forl
alluded to by Horace
me
Scorpios aspicit
Carm.
ii.
17.
of a birthday.
The connexion of astrology with births is alluded to by Juvenal, xiv.
248, Nota mathematicis genesis tua, and by Tacit. Ann. vi. 22 ; Spartian.
vit.
Sever. 2.
x 2
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
308
[CHAP. V.
Is
Cicero inquires
its futility.
how
who
the astrologers
K
( '
the same
particularly insists
on
were true
netliliac theory
271
:(
all
Home, from
The
when
nativity of the
computation
The proper
professors of the
genethliac art
by the
oppose the benign influence of Jupiter to the malign influence of Saturn^ 276 ) to which Propertius, in making a similar
contrast, adds the pernicious influence of
270 )
( 271 )
De
Div.
ii.
45.
Civ. Dei, v. 2
Bardesanes
In
5.
Troducis genio.
( 272 )
ap.
like
manner Persius
vi. 18.
vi. 10.
( 276 )
iv.
i.
ii.
17
Pers. v. 60.
83.
Digitized by
SECT. 15.]
309
of a child being born under a sinister planet, not under the sun
or the moon, under Jupiter, Venus, or Mercury, but under
Saturn or Mars
277
;(
1. Its
of the Greeks ;
men
lief in
1.
2.
into stars; 3.
a tutelary genius.
and
had recorded
stars.
if
ence
5.
4.
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
310
[chap, v;
The
The
iiritm/uairfai.
and Geminus^ 381) which are extant, the prognostics arc given
with their respective authorities.
that,
tenth
is
stormy
is
weather with lightning ; that from the fourth of Pisces, the north
wind blows
on the
modern almanac.
383
)
winter,
Thus he
it
down
moon produces
that the
a winter and a
summer
its light,
in
as the
sun produces winter and summer in the year ; (***) and he holds
gical influence
Quis
it
testates et hiemes,
glaciati in grandines
rigoris, ii. 39.
motu
alia
283 )
284 )
olov
rj\ios
sun.
ix.
6.
ed. Schneider.
yap
n yap
yiverai
wmup
aXkos
<n\t)vr) loweroc
[the moon], Aristot. Gen. An. iv. 10.
Theophrast. de Sign. Pluv. c. i. 5, vol. i. p. 783,
<<m,
Digitized by
SECT. 15 .]
311
that the temperature and the winds are governed by the perio-
com-
its
or
pestilential. ( 28 )
It should
They had
phenomena of weather
to recur.
at length,
state,
he remarks, an astronomer
prophecies are not
is
fulfilled
not to he blamed
whereas
if his
and
if his
It
weather
is
justly
is
is
star merely
is
he
it is
precision.
ave-
Hence,
prediction of an
censured ; for
its
A star,
the greatest.
as a beacon
is
he
its
cause. (289 )
scientific predictions
human
affairs
Hence Ennius,
by the Chaldaean
ap. Cic.
de Div.
i.
astrologers. ( 29)
moon.
(285) lb.
iv.
10.
(287) Columella,
xi. 1 ,
31
i.
57
Proxima
eat
Digitized by
ASTRONOMY OF THE
312
It
is
[CHAP. V.
lingers
among
The
us.
shown by the
is
belief in the
fact that
moons influence
Another
2.
article
essence
is
servoir,
and return to
it at
death
men
games in
tion of
his
honour by Augustus, a
brilliant
( 291
Dunkin,
Lardner's
Handbook of Astronomy, by
292 ) See Arat. 778 818 ; Virg. Georg, i. 424 37 ; Plin. xviii. 79.
See Aristoph. Pac. 832 3 ; Virg. Georg, iv. 219227. Varro
( 293 )
held ab summo circuitu coeli ad circulum lunse asthereas animas esse astra
ac stellas, eos ccelestes deos non modo intelligi esse, sed etiam videri inter
lunse vero gyrum et nimborum ac ventorum eaeumina aereas esse animas,
sed eas animo non oculis videri
et vocari heroas et lares et genios.
Augustin. Civ. Dei, vii. 6
Several of the ancient philosophers supposed
the soul to be of an igneous nature, Stob. Eel. Phys. i. 41.
( 294 ) Suet. Caes. 88 ; Plin. N. H. ii. 23 (where the words of Augustus
himself are cited) ; Ovid, Met. xv. 746, 845 51 Dio Cass. xlv. 7 Seneca
Nat. Qusest. vii. 17. Compare Virg. EcL ix. 47 : Ecce Dionsci processit
Ccesaris astrum.
(
Digitized by
Googl
SECT. 15.]
superhuman
313
stars. ( 295 )
virtues
So
welcome him
fixed stars
as a
new comer,
to be added to their
band.t298)
One
Manilius,
who
that
is
it is
from the
is
men,
Heraclitus
by
versified
illustrious
That the
Milky Way,
independent
stellar essence. (
is
volition.
298
)
a spark taken
299
)
astrology. ( so)
4.
belief:
in the existence
and whose
( 295 )
(
297 )
ix. 1
life
De
Tert. Cons.
human
9.
( 296 )
fortes anim dignataque nomina ccelo,
Corporibus resoluta suis, terr&que remissa,
Hue migrant ex orbe ; suumque habitantia ccelum
A2tkereos vivunt annos, mundoque fruuntur. i. 756
Above,
59.
p. 163.
299 ) Scintilla
301
174.
An
( 298 )
client. (
Honor. 162
stellaris essenti,
i.
Macrob.
in
Somn.
Muto Parnassus
Conticuit, pressitque
And
(
301 )
hiatu
deum.
140.
ayaBo r.
"EAAiji'cuj'
piv 0 iv
oi ao(j)o t
Xtytrwtiav Saipovas
elXi)-
Digitized by
314
[CHAP. V.
This genius was naturally placed in relation with the star which
presided over the child's birth. ( 30S )
Roman
fessors
It involved
more
reasoning, and
modem
for his
own
Greeks to give
a
scientific
it
method, which
it
simply handed
it
down
it
At
X*vcu
ttiv
Amm.
avBpvmlvgv
Mare.
est, vivit.
cum,
sire
302 )
Quodque
mean
ii.
2, 187.
Digitized by
315
Chapter VI.
TN
priests,
an appeal
is
made
It
ties.
ascertaining
how
edifice
to
begin with an
it will
inquiry into
its
authenticity.
and
its
its
b.c.,
grounds^ 1)
(i) Mr. Kenriek, in his work on ancient Egypt, makes the following
observations upon the history subsequent to the time of Psammetiehus
Herodotus, when he resumes the history of Egypt after the reign of
Sethos, remarks that from this time forward he shall relate that in which
the Egyptians and other nations agree. Previously to this time there was
no other testimony to control the accounts which the Egyptians and the
priests gave of their own history ; no Greek had advanced beyond Naucratis, and no record was left even of the imperfect knowledge of Egypt
which they might thus hare gained. The effect is immediately visible,
and we have henceforth a definite chronology, an authentic succession of
kings conformable to the monuments, and a history composed of credible
facts, vol. ii. p. 381.
Niebuhr, in like manner, remarks upon the Egyptian history of Herodotus, that the whole narrative of the period before
:
Digitized by
EARLY HISTORY AND CHRONOLOGY
316
[CHAP.
VI.
reigns,
The
succession
as follows, according to
is
Herodotus
616
670
Neco
Psammis
616600
Apries
595570
570526
600
Amasis
Psammenitus
The commencement
526
of this period
is
595
525(
birth of Herodotus.
B.C.
Psammetichus
the
six reigns is
Of
literature.
He
had
Greek
cities,
He was
Delphi. ( 3 )
factory of Naucratis
4
:( )
its
Psammetichus
is
excellent, Lect.
(2)
without value
on Anc. Hist.
vol.
is
historical
Manetho, p. 332.
(3) Herod, ii. 180, 182,
(4) lb.
ii.
178.
iii.
and
Boeckh,
47.
Apries,
Digitized by
Googl
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 1.]
Apries
known
less is
but he
is
317
stated to have
He
by Amasis.(6)
is
the
The
stated
is
by Herodotus to have
who boasted
Games. (8 )
This synchronism
is
of the Olympic
is
of Africa;
his successful
He
invasion of Syria.
is
and
in the
is
His ex-
The
lifetime of
The death of
who
is
Josiah, king
with Manetho
is
The coincidence
is
inconsider-
able.^ 1 )
(6)
(7)
Herod,
Jerem.
ii.
161171.
xliv. 30.
(10)
ii.
586 b.c.
160.
Jerem.
(9)
xlvi.
2; 2 Kings
xxiii.
29
35
to have been
27.
Megiddo in the Books of Kings and Chronicles evidently agrees with Magdolum in Herodotus but the Jewish town of Migdol near the lake of
Galilee, not the town of Lower Egypt near Pelusium, must be intended,
;
though Herodotus may have confounded the two. See Rawlinson's Herod,
vol. ii. p. 246 ; Dr. Smiths Diet, of Anc. Geogr. arts. Magdolum and
Jerusalem, vol. ii. p. 17. Josephus, Amt. x. 5, 1, makes Mendes in Egypt
the place of the battle, which town was, he states, in the dominions of
Josiah.
(1 1) The death of Josiah is placed by Clinton, Fast. Hell. vol. i. p. 328,
and Winer, Bibl. Real- Wort. art. Juda, at 609 b.c. The reign of Neco,
Digitized by
318
Psammetichus
first
[ciIAP. VI.
'
13
jf
and he
13
(
had
as
Palestine;
by Larcher
is fixed
reign of Cyaxares
forty years,)
kingdom. (u)
at 628 b.c.
The
date of this
b.c.
incident
event
epoch.
by Herodotus, that
them by
itself
is
likewise alluded to in
bom
Manetho,
soner to Egypt.
xxiii.
33
4;
2 Chron.
xxxvi. 4.
On
Concerning the Egyptian kings from Psammeti(13) ii. 154, cf. 147.
chus to Psammenitus, see Grote's Hist, of Gr. vol. iii. p. 429447
Eawlinson's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 381 390.
(14)
i.
105
i.
106.
vii.
p. 150.
224.
vol.
iii.
p. 393.
Digitized by
Googl
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 1.]
319
series of kings
latter.
from Psammetichus to
He
this king.
tichus
to strangers,
Psamme-
five years;
fifty-
Egypt by Cambyses.(
b.c.
19
)
Psammetichus
54
Nechao
Psammuthis
6
6
Vaphris
19
Amosis
44
Psammecherites
1294H
Elsewhere Diodorus mentions
(18) Neco is included in this interval.
as the son of Psammetichus, and as having begun the canal from the
him
Red
Nile to the
Sea,
i.
33.
8.
Herodotus states that Apries reigned twenty-five
(19) Diod. i. 67
ii. 161 ; and that Amasis reigned forty-four years, and died a short
time before Cambyses invaded Egypt, iii. 10. See Clinton, F. H. ad
ann. 616.
years,
26
42
Vaphris
Amosis
p.
331
351.
134
Digitized by
320
Reckoning
this period at
130 years,
it differs
[CHAr.
by only
Vt.
fifteen
2 Up to this point, we may consider the Egyptian chronology as determined, within moderate limits of error, upon
We have
trustworthy evidence.
rent
authorities
represent
next to inquire
how our
the
diffe-
period
106 years
b.c.,
after the
commencement of the
Olympiads.
Herodotus
visited
whom
ancient history and chronology of the country was, as he himself declares, derived,
1
)
is
whom Pan
was one.
These
deities
first
were succeeded by
order
he preceded
Herodotus
is
per-
received
The
first
king of Egypt
kings, whose
papyrus.
Men
was the
Memphis
With
Herodotus that
to
the exception of
Queen
Nitocris,
roll
of
who reigned
The communications of Herodotus with the Egyp( 21 ) See ii. 99, 142.
tian priests were doubtless carried on through a Greek interpreter.
On
the class of tpprjvtle in Egypt, see Lepsius, Chron. der Mg. p. 2479.
( 22 )
Herod,
ii.
43, 145.
Digitized by
Googl
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 2 .]
321
cessors, as
we
b.c.,
nearly
filled
Men
who
succeeded, and
These
who
priests
com-
twelve
400 years
B.C.
331
Mceris
1080
332
Sesostris
1046
333
Pheros
1013
334
Proteus
980
835
Rhampsinitus
946
336
Cheops
913
337
Chephren
880
338
Mycerinus
846
339
Asychis
813
840
Anysis
341
Sabacos
746
342
Sethon
713
680
780 ( 25 )
Digitized
by
322
Moeris, the
[CHAP. VI.
first
name ;
in this lake,
He
Red Sea
He
from shoals.
likewise
until
sailed along
He
erected
and he
He dug
at Colchi.
left be-
the canals
The
divi-
belief
is
and
for
and
his queen,
Sesostris
was succeeded by
Sesostris
with blindness for his impiety, and was restored to sight in con-
Pheros
The next king was Proteus, who reigned at the time of the
The priests informed Herodotus, partly on the
on
Trojan War.
Herod,
(26)
ii.
Herodotus
Egypt, 900 years had not elapsed since the death of Mceris, ii. 13.
Assuming that Herodotus visited Egypt about 450 B.C., we obtain about
visit to
the date of the death of Moeris, which does not accord with
the result of the calculation founded upon the succession of kings.
110.
The same story respecting the statue of Darius is
(27) ii. 102
told by Diodorus, i. 58, who calls Sesostris Sesoosis.
1350
b.c. for
111
( 28 )
ii.
( 29 )
MeA,
ii.
<fiafit voi
118.
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 2.]
their voyage
323
knew the
The
priests
partly from inquiries, and partly from the events having occurred
in their
sidering
own country; and Herodotus gives his reasons for conThe work of Proteus was the temeit to be historical.
immense.
which resembles in
which has for
its
its
is
at dice
The monuments
him were the gateway of a temple, and two
all
whom
reigned for
fifty,
and the
years.
they compelled
temples.
Egypt, which up to
this
32
)
He
left
Legendary
father.
He
relieved the
stories
the figure of a cow, in which the body of his daughter was en-
His
who
built the
most
richly- decorated of
30 ) Herod,
32 )
ii.
ii.
112120.
124-128.
( 31 )
ii.
121124.
33 )
ii.
129135.
Y 2
Digitized by
Coogli
324
brick, wliicli
[chap. VI.
His successor was Anysis, a blind king, who was driven from
his throne
fifty
years
Anysis lay
end of
at the
The
vision.
last
a priest of Vulcan,
who
who reigned
after
Men was
Sethon,
During
them
unserviceable.
mouse
made
in its
the
Herodotus
relies
During
respecting
which
this period,
districts,
and
Digitized by
Googl
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 2.]
rulers,
and subjecting
all
Egypt to
325
his dominion.
Under the
built,
37
(
shown
showed
to
Herodotus
all
of his predecessor.
88
(
down
(as
a series of 345
wooden
century.
we adopt
If
we
arrive
B.C.
first
order
not stated
Reign of Bacchus
17,570
..........
Men
15,570
11,400
After
him
1080
Mceris
After
him
The Dodecarchy
680
Psammetichus
670
(37)
ii.
147
S9
(
152.
The birth of Hecatseus fell about 550 b.c. His visit to Egypt
be supposed to have been about sixty years before that of Herodotus.
(38)
may
Digitized by
326
it
is
[CHAP. VI.
years. ( M)
The Epinomis
Egyp-
4
netho.
The next authority on Egyptian chronology is MaThe accounts of Manethos life are not very clear or
satisfactory
nytus, in
Egypt ;
first
Ptolemies (306
Manetho
that
it
two
having been
him ; and
41 ) Leg.
42 ) Tim. p. 23, A. E.
ii.
3, p. 656.
in
Somn.
Scip.
ii.
10,
u.
(
43 ) XP V0S
Boeckh, Manetho, p. 11
tr. ; Lepsius, Chron. der JEg. p. 405.
Bunsen, Egypt, vol. i. p. 97, Engl, tr.,
( 45 ) Vol. i. p. 29, ed. Bonn.
says that Manetho under the first Ptolemies opened up to the Greeks the
treasures of Egyptian antiquity, and that * none of the later native historians can be compared with him. It does not, however, appear that there
were any native historians of Egypt after Manetho. Concerning the date
of Berosus, see above, ch. v. 11.
(
ii.
p.
611
Digitized by
Googl
OF TEE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 4.]
327
This work
It
many
cases,
scheme
will
it
The
care,
have
different versions
and much
critical
acumen, by
Manetho begins
b.c.,
from
Prof. Boeckh,
it is
stated,
is lost,
which together occupy 24,925 years. 47) The first mortal king,
Menes, commences his reign in the year 5702 B.c. Menes and
ending
with 333
tion will
b.c.,
now be
confined to the
first
Our
atten-
b.c.
b.c.,
Of these 439
by
kings,
346 are unnamed ; of the remaining 93, the names are expressed. (*) For each dynasty, even where the names are not given,
it is
stated to
what
city of
Egypt
(as
(as
(46)
ib. p.
511
Phoeni-
To
the
2.
mul-
In
tliis
enumeration, no account
is
Digitized by
EARLY HISTORY AND CHRONOLOGY
328
[CHAP. VI.
names of twenty-seven kings, a short notice of an event connected with their reign
With
is
attached.
Manetho
number
of years
dynasty lasted, but in more than three cases out of four, not
even mentioning the kings name.
The following
this
list,
appreciated
first
5450
b.c.).
Memphis.
may be
He was
still
He
was
He
1.
skilled in medicine,
and
extant.
He
1.
In
built the
In
his time
Boethus,
first
5148
b.c.)
In his
time a great opening of the earth took place near Bubastus, and
many
persons perished.
Apis, in
at
Memphis, the
Mende,
In
ruled that
first
women might
In
his time it
was
2.
It is fabled that
in his time the waters of the Nile were for eleven days
mixed
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 4.]
329
This king was
five
Necherophes,
first
4934
b.c.).
In
his time the Libyans revolted against the Egyptians, but sur-
3.
me-
built
by Cheops.
He
king was
slain
by
rited
I was in Egypt. ( 61 )
This
b.c.).
his body-guards.
6.
spi-
fair
Africanus, acquired as a
I,
when
was
first
He
b.c.).
4651
decessors,
and oppressed
all
the Egyptians
at last
he was seized
Sesostris, third
dued
left
all
3245).
He
sub-
He
pillars the
Head pi\in
la
i)
pipas
(52)
Fragm.
after Osiris.
63
)
pvrjvai.
pvrjvai,
ib. p.
177.
iv. p.
is
539.
Digitized by
330
[CHAP. VI.
The
name
to the Saite
of
first
They
shepherd kings.
Home.
Saitcs,
and gave
(26072324
Amos,
b.c.)
first
1327
b.c.).
re-
He
king
is
Homer. ( 66 )
Petubates,
time the
'
first
Olympiad was
first
726
In
b.c.).
his
celebrated.
This king
is
called
720
b.c.).
In his time a
lamb spoke.
b.c.)
Sabacon,
.
He
first
680
to death/
The
II.
Nechao
tioned.
So
far as
Manetho
is
53 ) This nome was in or near the Delta : see Strab. xvii. 1 , 24.
54 ) See Boeckh, Manetho, p. 177, 195.
Phylo, one of the handmaidens of Helen,
had been given to her by Alcandra, the wife
of Polybus. The latter was a native of the Egyptian Thebes, where the
inhabitants are very wealthy.
(
(
Digitized
by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 5, 6 .]
331
entire history of
for
sent day.
After Manetho,
Evergetes, the third of the Ptolemies, and died about 196 b.c.
He may
succeeding Manetho. ( 50 )
Menes,
successive
a.m. 2900,
consists of a list
a.m.
it
1524
b.c.,( 57
whom we owe
Apollodorus, to
thenes derived
this list,
it
into
Greek
at the
at Diospolis,
command
of
and that he
Egypt
it
in 60 b.c.,( 69 )
who
visited
twenty
is
and composed
He
years afterwards.
Diodorus
With
respect
may be
56 ) Above,
of
He
p. 198.
Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol. ii. p. 540, 545, 549, 554, 558, 565, 612.
( 57 ) See
These extracts of Eratosthenes are preserved in Syncellus, and Syncellus
makes the year of the world 5500 coincide with the Christian era see
vol. ii. p. 279, ed. Bonn.
;
58 ) Syncellus, vol. i. p. 171, 279, ed. Bonn. The number y\ii in the
of these passages must be corrected from the second, as is remarked
by Lepsius, Chron. der Big. p. 511. The correction had been made in the
Latin translation.
(
first
XI1L,
tr.
Digitized by
332
[chap. Vt.
Isis
was reckoned by some at more than 10,000, by others at somewhat under 23,000 years. 60) The latter number is likewise
stated,
ander^ 61 )
computed
to
18,000 years
The number 18,000 appears to be the difference between 23,000 and 5000 we may
therefore assume that the more prevalent chronology for the
:
human
divine and
dynasties, received
by the informants of
Diodorus, was 18,000 years for the former, and 5000 years
for the latter
human
years.
number, of
whom
all
five
were queens.
He
priest to his
reign. ( M )
The
this series of
living.
He
amount
to
66) Diod.
63 )
i.
69.
is
and
is
first is
also
i.
The
475 sovereigns.
most remarkable in
23.
6 i)
years, being
ii.
26.
an average of about
( 62 )
i.
44.
( 64 )
i.
41.
Digitized
by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 6.]
333
last
fol-
bore
the same name as the original progenitor. They were the founders
of the great and wealthy city of Thebes. ( 65 )
After an interval
He
a bulk
was a good and just king, and gave his name to the
country. (87 )
He
Moeris.
existed,
elapses,
Sesostris of Herodotus,
and Sesodsis
is
probable accounts, and those which agree best with the extant
monuments
of this king.
martial exercises
68
:(
discipline,
and trained to
he
naturally refer to
I have therefore
series is assigned to him.
followed Lepsius in supposing that the seven unnamed kings intervene
between Busiris II. and Uchoreus.
tally,
fix
the place of
(68) Diodorus tells us that Sesoosis, and the youths who participated
in his discipline, were not allowed any food until they had run 180 stadia
= 22 i miles
(i.
53).
Digitized by
334
made
He
[CHAP. VI.
Having succeeded
divided
Egypt
into thirty-six
nomes,
At the
With
chariots.
this
Herodotus,
those in
similar
to
of
expedition and
his
on the monuments
is
respecting
memorials
the
the engraving
From
described as in Manetho.
this
and by
it,
system of Egypt. (
all
who
ever lived.
He
was consi-
69
)
by
Sesoosis,
who
He
admits, however,
according
that,
who were
liberty. ( 70)
to Ctesias, these
two
69 ) Diod.
i.
94.
c.
13.
Ital.
Digitized by
Googl
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 6.]
335
he built a wall
frontier,
and
gilding,
god
its
Thebes
at
its
which he consecrated to a
concerning
whom
which
related
are
is
Diodorus
tells
by Herodotus
Pheron,
of
son
the
of
Sesostris.( 72 )
At
is
The
king.
whom
he
whom
inflicts
noses, furnishes
their
is
certain robbers, to
and on
is
loss
of
the town
ltliinocolura.( 73 )
He
constructed
the Great Labyrinth, which served as the model for the Labyrinth of Crete, built by Daedalus
time of Diodorus.
after
74
)
An
71 ) Diod.
i.
it
anarchy, of
birth,
remained entire
five generations,
named
at the
ensues;
5358.
74 )
i.
61.
See above,
p. 275, n. 116.
Digitized by
336
throne.
is
[CHAP. VI.
king
called Proteus
Trojan War.( 75 )
king, Remphis, was a lover of wealth, and accu-
The next
useful to men.(
76
)
it
own name,
by various
7
)
successor of Nileus
fifty-six years,
river
previous appellation
its
he reigned
He was
years,
by
his
This exception
registers.
by
fifty
succeeded
who
reigned
left
it
Chemmis
he be-
unfinished.
with mildness^ 80 )
A long
interval elapses
An
(75)
ii.
112
after
which
sovereign, ascends
humane
for
it,
and
is
followed
by the
(76) Diod.
(79)
i.
64.
(82)
i.
65.
i.
62.
The
(77)
i.
63.
(78)
i.
(80)
i.
64.
(81)
i.
63.
66, 94.
by a
libation
from
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 6.]
337
fifteen years
Psamme-
account of Herodotus. ( 8S )
5000 years
b.c., lasted
human
Egypt had, in
reigns of
own
We
time.
may,
therefore, place
the
first
He
year of
priests, as
informs us fur-
the period
in
the sacred
registers.
scheme.
He
the fifty-two
unnamed
we
years,
84
)
The
chronological canon of
stated, reigned
is
not
kings.
(
83 ) Diod.
84 ) I include the
i.
66
five
Digitized by
338
1.
[CHAP. VI.
YEARS.
KINGS.
Menas
unnamed kings
53. Fifty-two
8$
1400
B.C.
5000
54. Busiris 1
61. Seven
...
unnamed kings
57f
8
62. Busiris II
70. Eight
unnamed kings
...
66
...
99
...
57 J
Uchoreus
71.
72. jEgyptus
84.
85. Moeris
92. Seven
unnamed kings
93. Sesoosis 1
8J
8^
94. Sesoosis II
Total
With
whom
3254
1746
it is
chronological scheme, on account of the long intervals of uncertain duration, between Sesoosis II. and Amasis, and between
7
cited
is
Ancient Chronicle/
number is
The
number
is
fifteen
dote, tom. vii. p. 73, ed. 1802), seems to me to proceed on wholly erroneous principles. According to Larcher, Diodorus places the first year of
Menas at 14,940 B.c. The general principle of his restoration is to assign
thirty years to each king (475 x BO
He entirely disregards
14,250).
the statements of Diodorus as to the total duration of the Egyptian
monarchy.
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
BECT, 8.]
339
is
to
Next
assigned.
These
fifteen
if
The
stated.
exist, as
mortal dynasties
The
be thus exhibited
may
TEAKS.
B.C.
34,201
Intermediate period
443
2665
1,881
2222
human
dynasties
36,525
The
Vignoles
87
:(
therefore
Superhuman reigns
Fifteen
total of
Letronne declared
it
2223
341
88
)
first
suspected by Des
to be the production of a
89
;(
lately investi-
aud Panodorus
Boeckh has
that
fifth
cen-
turies.
It
now remains
for us to
compare these
different ac-
( 87 )
Vol.
ii.
p. 659, 663.
Fragm.
Eng.
tr.
z 2
Digitized by
340
[chap. YT.
The
racter.
more
intelligent type,
and
at
its
cha-
an early
Greeks
it
lively
The Egyptians
The
by
(90) Some of the ancients made the Nile the boundary of Asia and
Others included the whole of Egypt
Africa, Strab. i. 2, 25, 30, i. 4, 7.
N. H. v. 9. According to Juba, ap. Plin. vi. 29, there was
in Asia, Plin.
an
affinity
the Ethiopic type but a long gradation separates them from the negro.
The evidence derived from the examination of the skulls of the mummies
approximates the Egyptians rather to the Asiatic than the African type,
In manners,
Ancient Egypt, vol. i. p. 98. Sir Gardner Wilkinson says
language, and many other respects, Egypt was certainly more Asiatic than
Brugsch, Histoire dEgypte,
African, Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 3.
Egyptians
were
of
the
thinks
that
the
Caucasian
race, and
part i. p. 1,
came originally from Asia. Eschylus, Supp. 719, 745, describes the crew
of the Egyptian ship which arrived at Argos, as being of black colour;
but he appears to refer to the ro vers, who probably were -Ethiopian slaves.
Manilius represents the Egyptians as less dark in colour than the Ethiopians
Jam proprio tellus gaudens Egyptia Nilo
Lenius irriguis infuscat corpora campis. iv. 726.
;
Herod, ii. 104, says that the Colchians resemble the Egyptians in having
black skins and woolly hair (peAcryypoef icdi ovXdrpi^fr). Aristotle classes
the Ethiopians and Egyptians together, and says that both are splayThese are both negro characfooted, and woolly- haired. Problem, xiv. 4.
Ammianus Marcelliuus assigns a dark colour to the Egyptians.
teristics.
Homines Egyptii plerique subfusculi sunt et strati, xxii. 16, 23.
(91)
(92)
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 8.]
historical records.
93
But
341
an authentic
The
we have no
Egyptian antiquity
is
Now
duced nothing
progress of
useful,
mankind
mind
which pro-
all
the
desti-
From them
fails.
the informa-
We learn
dotus himself, that the priests not only gave him an oral ac(93) Theophrast. ap.
Porph. de Abst.
ii.
5
ii.
The
Cic. de Kep. iii. 9.
82, has nothing to do w ith
Digitized by
342
[chap. VI.
visit
but also that they read to him the names of 330 kings from a
book^98), and
345 high
statements. (")
announced that
books. (10)
Manetho,
his
him the
statues of a series of
priests, in
we
as
tt)v (part v.
97 ) fXcyov be pot ol ipees iaropeovri ra nepi *E Xevyv, yevecrBai &be, ii. 113i
elpopevov be pev tovs Ipeas, el paratov Xoyov Xeyovcrt oi *E XArjves rd nept *lXiov
yevecrBai, rj ov' e<pacrav npos ravra rabe, icrroptijo-i <pdpevot elbevai nap axrrov
(
MeveXeo),
(
ii.
118.
98 ) KareXeyov
oi ipees
ex j3v/3Xov,
ii.
100.
ecQVT&u
.,
(101 )
p. 279.
ypapparav.
( 102 )
See above,
( 103 )
p. 322.
Kat rives rd>v rds A\yvinrla>v npdets <rvvraa-
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 8.]
Now,
been
if
in possession of complete
would be
343
it
and that
Egypt
for at least
less
reigns. (104 )
Men, the
first
than the
human
subsequent
unnamed
b.c.;
successors,
680
b.c.
In
to Sethon,
is
Manetho
the
first
dynasties, reign
this period
in 5702 b.c.
343.
is
till
680
The
b.c.
number
thirty-eight
of kings during
Egyptian kings of
2600 to 1524
total
439.
Eratosthenes enumerates
years,
from
b.c.
5000 years.
Until the
first
470
b.c.,
the total
number
of kings
is
475, or
to Psammitichus.
( 104 )
ii.
first
145,
Digitized by
344
human king
of
differ
[CHAP. VI.
Herodotus
Manetho
.......
......
b.c.
11,400
5702
Eratosthenes
2600
Diodorus
5000
When
the discordance
is
on so vast a
the dates of
scale,
Christ, or
to the reign
Years.
Herodotus
Manetho
Eratosthenes
38 4
.......
Diodorus
114
28
94
to
Fsammitichus, according to
Herodotus
843
Manetho
439
470
Diodorus
Hugues Capet
to Louis
that
is
to say, as
many
appears
we attempt
to compare the
is still
greater,
lists,
the
successors of
Menes
are not
Digitized by
Googl
345
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 8.]
except as to
lists
differ entirely,
The
his successor.
ten
first
names, with the years of each reign, stand thus in the two
lists
Manetho.
Eratosthenes.
Years of
Years of
Kings.
Kings.
reign.
reign.
1.
Menes
62
1.
Menes
2.
Athothis
57
2.
Athothes
I.
62
59
3.
Kenkenes
81
3.
Athothes
II.
4.
Uenephes
23
4.
Diabaes
19
5.
Usaphaedus
20
5.
Pemphos
18
Momcheiri
Miebidus
52
26
6.
7.
Semempses
18
7.
Stoechus
8.
Bieneches
26
8.
Gosormies
26
Mares
6.
9.
Boethus
10. Kaiechos
But
it is
38
9.
89
10.
Anoyphis
79
26
'
200
later
Homer and
most remarkable.
to agreement
lists
is
be-
Diodorus.
Herodotus.
1. Mceris
2.
Sesostris
8.
Pheros
1080
b.c.
1.
Moeris.
2.
An interval of 7 generations.
3.
Sesoosis
I.
4.
Sesoosis II.
5.
An
interval
of numerous
kings.
(105) Bunsen alters Aiaffnijs and IIf/i$<5r,in Eratosthenes, upon conjecture, into M[K/3ai)f and Sfpylras, in order to make them harmonize with
In like manner he metamorphoses
Mifj9i5of and 2epfp^i;r in Manetho.
into Eeo-op^tpijs, roaoppirjs into Setropraaris, and 'Avavtpis into *Av
2a>v(f>is.
Digitized by
346
Hehodotus.
[CHAP. Y*.
Diodobus.
6. Araasis.
4.
7.
Actisanes.
8.
Mendes.
9.
An anarchy of 5 generations.
Proteus
by the
Greeks.
Rhampsinitus
5.
.11. Remphis.
12.
An interval of 7 generations,
Chemmis.
is
king.
6.
Cheops
13.
14. Cephren.
Chephren
7.
8.
Mycerinus
9.
Asychis
10. Anysis
16. Bocchoris.
17.
15. Mycerinus.
long interval.
11. Sabacos
12. Sethon
19.
20. Psammitichus.
Dodecarchy
13.
Psammitichus
14.
With regard
that
is
18. Sabaco.
it is difficult
to institute
He
ing Psammitichus.
list
so complete,
is
any comparison.
The
following
immediately preced-
at a
much
earlier
10
1.
Smendes
2.
Psusennes.
3.
Nephercheres.
4.
Amenophthes.
5.
Osochor.
6.
Psinaches.
7.
Psusennes.
8.
Sesonchis.
9.
Osorthon.
12.
1048
b.c.
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 8.]
347
13. Takelothis.
14
16.
17. Petubates
.....
776
b.c.
18. Osorcho.
Psammus.
19.
20. Zet.
21. Bocchoris.
22. Sabacon.
23. Sebichos.
24. Tarcus.
25. Stephinates.
26. Nechepsos.
27.
Nechao
I.
28. Psammitichus.
In
this
list,
nates, Nechepsos,
by Herodotus
is
Psammitichus
named by Diodorus.
ceases.
1048
b.c.,
is
Sebichos cor-
wanting in Hero-
Now
it is
same authentic
source.
all
They
is
another. ( 107)
We
authorities
106 )
ii.
no
satisfactory
ground
for preferring
one to
priests, (
108
)
or that
152.
Digitized by
GoogI
348
[chap. VI.
Having
no
therefore
we
them
systems,
are compelled,
reject
alL
It
selecting
to
The
facts
reported by Herodotus
have in
origin of
for the
torical time.
Many
his-
variations,
character,
likewise the
Thus Menes
have been
vorous,
tom
in pieces
by a hippopotamus, which
Ma-
said to
is
is
a herbi-
waters of the Nile were for eleven days mixed with honey;
Sesochris was five cubits high; under Necherophes there was a
lamb spoke.
iElian,
tails.
109
(
The medical
science
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 8.]
349
in-
credible stories.
The
According to Herodotus,
credit.
1046
b.c.
The
3625
Aristotle lays
b.c.
it
to that of
down
Minos
much higher,
is
viz.,
without, any
Manetho,
more
precise
him
specification.
112
)
In the
War/
list
of
Rho-
is
stated
by the Scholiast to be
Sesostris,
Dicaearchus
of
Isis
who
and
Osiris,
He
is
so that
3712
b.c.
civilizer,
first
p. 332, n. 26.
rr^v
MiVm
fiaaiktiav
fj
Sftrwcrrpios,
vi. 29.
Digitized by
350
made
[CHAP. VI.
to ride on horseback.^ 14 )
The notion of a great Egyptian conqueror, who overran
mankind
all
is
the Jewish
as far as
ditions of authentic
Greek
history.
by Herodotus
The monuments
cited
Italian coast.
Palestine
one
Smyrna
Gr.
vol.
ii.
iv &(VT(pa
thus, after
235; Bunsen,
'EXAijvikoO 3lov
Bunsen and
In
Rhod
p.
Ka'i
17
iv.
vol.
p. 682.
i.
2f o-oyyaxrtSi
C. Miiller
8t
pe^fXijiee vai,
ought to be written
fiitp EXXa5os sat
AiKatap^os iv
According to Virgil, Georg, iii. 115 7, the Lapithse taught the art of
riding. Pliny states that Bellerophon invented the art of riding, that Pelethronius invented the bridle and the saddle, and that the Centaurs first
taught the art of fighting on horseback, vii. 56. Bellerophon is introduced in
this fabulous origin on account of his connexion with Pegasus ; see Pindar,
Olymp. xiii. 65. Compare Hygin. fab. 274. The art of riding was attributed to Sesostris as being a conqueror. The bellator eqmis was connected
with military pursuits see Virg. j35n. i. 444, iii. 539.
(115) Megasthenes stated that Sesostris invaded Europe, but denied
the truth of nis expedition to India, Strab. xv. 1, 6. His conquest of
the Geta: is mentioned by Val. Flac. Argonaut, v. 419. He subdued
most of the Greek States, according to Athenodorus, Fragm. Hist. Gr.
Eustathius ad Dionys. Perieg. p. 80, ed. Bernhardy, revol. 3, p. 487.
gards Sesostris rather in the light of a traveller than of a conqueror, and
says that he constructed geographical maps, which he gave, not only to
Egyptians,
but
even to the Scythians.
the
(116) Josephus, Bell. Jud. iv. 3, 10, represents Ananus, the high priest,
as declaring that the Jews had never been subjugated by the Egyptians.
(117) ii. 106 .
;
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 8.]
351
many
name
all
Asia
of this fabulous
known
to Strabo. ( 118)
The
affinity of the
11<J
)
120
;(
is,
like the
is
Hero-
both nations being dark skinned and woolly haired, and from
their having the
common
to have
to the East
(122)
ii.
vii.
i.
p. 329.
7.
104.
iv.
272
affinity of the
689,
Ammiau.
;
Digitized by
a;
352
[cHAP. VT.
it
They had
Nevertheless, the
tells us,
represents
him
126
:(
even Aristotle
civil
of Sesostris.
for
247
that Se-
b.c.), states
the spirit of the men, and of rendering them effeminate,^ 28 ) similar to those
by Cyrus
When
Germanicus
129
)
tion, as interpreted to
him
doubtless hieroglyphiccha-
The
at Thebes.
inscrip-
(134) Strabo says of the Egyptian temples : itXtjv yap roi ptyaXav ttrai
\apUv <>id( ypatpucbv, aXA
(cat TToWiov k al TTokv<jTi\av tow <rrv\av, oid(v
paratnTrovuw epcpalv ft paXkov, xvii. 1, 28.
(125) Concerning the military caste, see
Herod,
i.
164
8.
the same story, xxxiii. 3. Menander ProAgathias (about 690 a.d.), repeats the story, and
mentions the saying of one of the harnessed kings, who directed the attention of Sesostris to the revolution of the wheels of his chariot, Fragm.
Hist. Gr. vol. iv. p. 210.
(126)
i.
68.
Pliny
tells
(127) Pol.
vii.
10.
(128)
(129)
i.
vol.
ii.
p. 380.
135.
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 8.]
nations. (13 )
is
353
The Rhamses of
who
is
could indulge
This identification
is
The
king
respecting
reports
cordant.
Manetho
places
On
before Psammitichus.
Alexandria, m
(
Bocchoris
followed
who
series of kings
reigns
hand, Lysimachus of
the other
,35
)
that
states
it
was
This state-
much
earlier period.
Lysimachus himself
Bocchoris
;(
father,
who was
and he
is
by Diodorus
as a great
ii.
59, 60.
Rome
The
visit
Compare
vol. v. p. 78.
Manetho
See
described
Tac. Ann.
( 130 )
Merivales Hist, of
(
137
is
132 ) Ant.
(>35) Hist - v
(
Bockh, Manetho,
(
137 ) Diod.
i.
i.
iii.
p.
334.
8.
ii.
2.
The reduction of
this
number by
p. 325, is inadmissible.
A A
Digitized
by
354
for justice
him
[CHAP. VI.
iElian,
on
injustice. ( 14)
to
Moeris ex-
According to He-
Cheops
(or
dorus
either
Some
With regard to
among the native
authorities or the
is
no agreement
Greek
historians.
cerinus
mid
to other
names
as
My-
the
tomb of Rhodopis,
140 )
3.
difficulty.
( 144 )
i.
64.
Digitized by
OF TUE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 8.]
conflict of testimony,
355
by
builders of these
time.( us
)
whom
of Amasis.( 14< )
Manetho
assigns the
reigned in 4211
4200
b.c.
tosthenes in his
list
who
She
is
by Era-
likewise included
trix.(149)
it
of the pyramids.^ 50 )
builders
Herodotus attributes
161
Manetho
states that
con-
its
an origin
it
consisted
Lachares,
of the
twelfth dynasty, whose reign falls in 8272 b.c., built the Labyrinth, as a sepulchre for himself.
it
The
report of Pliny
is,
that
it
to be
Gr.
vol.
li.
p. 99.
(146) Herod,
( 147 )
ii.
134
5,
*vii- 1. 33.
(148) Herod, ii. 101. The severe taskwork imposed by Nitocris upon
her Egyptian subjects is alluded to in Dio Cass. lxii. 6.
(149) Frag. Hist. Gr. vol.
(150)
i.
(151)
ii.
ii.
p. 654.
61.
148.
He
is
i.
9,
who
call it
the
work of Psammitichus.
A A 2
Digitized by
35G
Mceris.( 152 )
list
[chap.
VL
of Egyptian kings
Roman war
with
Memphis supposed
in this passage
is
Much
of what
is called
servant
of
Thuoris
is
Odyssey.
is
only a
rationalized
Neptune,
stated in
167
)
mouth
of the Nile,
who
human
sacrifices,
Busiris,
and was
in
Apollo-
Eng.
tr.
i.
p. 698, vol.
ii.
p.
308, Eng.
tr.
7.
(155) See above, p. 344.
(156) See Od. iv. 385, 456, 468. Euripides, in his tragedy of Helena,
follows Herodotus in making Proteus king of Egypt, and represents him
as succeeded by a king named Theoclymenus.
iv. 9,
p. 298.
(158) Od. iv. 228, and Hellanicus, cited in the Scholia. King Thon, or
Thonus, was the eponymus of the town Thonis, Strab. xvii. i. 16; Diod.
Other passages from the AlyvnriaKa of Hellanicus, are collected in
i. 19.
Frag. Hist. Gr. vol. i. p. 66 ; but the citation in the Scholia to the Odyssey
xespccting Thonus is not mentioned.
Digitized by
357
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 8.]
generations earlier
161
The etymological
name Rhinocolura must have been of
Queen Nitocris is assigned by the Greek
Babylon as well as to Egypt. les )
The fable of
Horus having
Greek
likewise manifestly of
ileus, ( 185 )
and gEgyptus,
we
from the
origin. (1M )
for
This
is
Hero-
much
Menas
mere
bead-roll,
( 159 ) ii. 5,
(
more
11.
or string of names,
Compare Lepsius,
ib. p.
accompanied,
at
rare
271.
161 )
Bush.
p. 228.
162 ) Lepsius remarks that this name was modified by the Greeks from
barbarous form, and that the fable about the mutilation of noses
for its explanation, ib. 295.
its original
ii.
p. 278,
who treats
338.
( 165 ) The Nile is mentioned as a river by Hesiod, Theog.
ignorant of the name.
Homer
Digitized
by
358
intervals,
lists,
even
tration,
[CHAP. VI.
Such naked
if
historical
Assum-
purposes.
ing the names of the kings, and the lengths of their reigns, to
We
list
Olympic
of victors at the
mation.^
We
86
)
b.c.,
and reigned
should learn as
much from an
authentic
Some modern
is
But
if it is
Manethonian
lists,
The
They
are nothing
regal spectres.
list
founded
Manetho
to publish
history founded
it
nor would
to the world.
on contemporary
mere chronology.
The
lists
There
is
no example of
and
Digitized by
Googl
kings,
Manetho must,
own
and
invention
fiction.
aided, doubtless,
from
second infancy.
of
his predecessors.
its
list
curiosity
The
in like
;
stories received
The
359
OK THE EGYPTIAN'S.
SECT. 8.]
Alb^n
was renewed by
spirit of historical
was in
historical criticism
who migrated to
Caesar,
Britain,
twelfth century.
and
the Third
in the first
book of
attested
and that
lity to reject
( 167 )
it
whom
Fairy
he declares
2,
is
story.
He
says
them
F. Q. b.
his
his History of
altogether. ( lc3 )
canto 10.
now
'
Digitized by
360
[CHAP. VI.
modem
historian passes
them over
Fordun, likewise,
who composed
by Fordun with
associated
404
This
their reigns.
He
in the
traits
is
of early
as to the
7 00 years,
no event
list
I.
These
a.d.
II. in
Buchanan
their por-
Babylonian
Africanus
chronology
of
Berosus. ( 17)
he speaks of Manetho as
Syncellus
fabricated
chapter,
full
m
(
We
shall
he
states that
nearly contemporary.
follows
see,
whom
he was
in the following
Berosus. ( 17a)
( 172 )
Ch.
vii.
3, 7.
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 8.]
by
361
his contemporaries or
immediate successors
The
Egypt.
for
whom
earliest authors
he
is
never
travelled in
a historical writer
first
century after
Christ.
is
to
enormous numerical
antiquity.
cited, Herai'scus
173
:(
Leo, an Egyptian
priest, assigned a
The same
epistle stated
When
abandoned,
it is
a small one.
It is as easy to
put down
number of
Similar state-
They
8,892,911
(
years,
down
to
the year
less
than
writers.
era.
is
years as
viii. 5,
c.
27,
xii.
21.
is fully
illustrated
by Mr.
(176) Africanus, ap. Synoell. vol. i. p. 31, Bonn. The long periods of
Phoenician antiquity are alluded to in general terms by Joseph. Ant.
i.
3, 9.
Digitized by
362
two million
verses.
177
(
Hermes was
[CHAP. VI.
to
fabled
have com-
The accumulation of
imposing
large
mark
effect is the
by immense
piles, destitute
to
both of
It
may be com-
produce architectural
utility
feet.
In
remark-
is
of, the
accounts handed
made
Among
it
is
down
schemes
as
alteration.
modem
writers the
main purpose
i.
p. 86,
Harless.
As examples of
technic art, they are unrivalled among the works of men, but they rauk
among the lowest if judged by the (esthetic ruleB of architectural art. The
game character belongs to the tombs and buildings around them they are
low and solid, and possess neither beauty of form nor any architectural
feature at all wortliy of attention or admiration, but they have lasted
nearly uninjured from the remotest antiquity, and thus have attained the
object their builders had principally in view when they designed them,
(179)
Handbook
of Architecture, p. 223.
(180) ' I asked if they knew anything about the cave on the other side
of the hill on which the old Gossain [Hindoo hermit], with an air of
importance, said, that nobody had ever Been its end ; that 2000 years
ago a certain Baja had desired to explore it, and set out with 10,000 men,
100,000 torches, and 100,000 measures of oil, but that be could not succeed
and if I understood him rightly, neither he nor his army ever found their
way back again
These interminable caves are of frequent occurrence
among the common people of every country. But the centenary and millesimal way in which the Hindoos express themselves, puts all European
exaggeration to the blush. Judging from the appearance of the cave, and
Size of the hill which contains it, I have no doubt that a single candle, well
managed, would more than light a man to its end and back again, Hebers
Journey through India, vol. i. p. 267.
much
Digitized by
OP THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT, 9.]
363
more
special object of
making the
The
ancients was to
and
to
affix
some shorter
at
Two
The Egyptian
two months,
at one
month, and
the
year
period.
assume that the year of ancient Egypt was not the solar
year, hut
even
among
They report
than 300.
some of the
So great
later
gods not
owing to the
measured by a single
circuit of the
moon.
for a
man
life
was possible
188
)
The statement
vol.
2,-
p.
6389
above, p. 32.
Digitized by
364
who remarks
is
[cHAF. VI.
repeated
by
Egyp-
to a generation,
month. (183 )
Censorinus,
if his
that the original Egyptian year was of two months, but that
it
He
(-poo.n
Varro supposed the ancient Egyptian year to have been
one
circuit of the
1000 years
nature. ( 186 )
life
of 1000
and he explained by
This explanation
is
limits of
by
Pliny. ( 187 )
of his
own
time,
who reduced a
for
long
periods
of Egyptian chronology in
Plato. C189)
( 183 )
Num.
18.
i>pa>v for
eWvrai/.
186 ) Ap. Lactant. Div. Inst', ii. 12 (1000 months=83$ years). Ma(
crobius in Somn. Scip. ii. 11, 6 remarks that menais lun annus est.
,
vii. 48.
He refers in this passage to years of 6 months,
( 187 ) N. H.
to the Arcadian year of 3 months, and to the Egyptian year of 1 month.
See above, p. 32.
.
i.
p. 32, ed.
Bonn.
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 9.]
3G5
A similar
applied,
stated in the
Book of Genesis.
by the square of
six,
to have been
in-
formed
They held that the original year consisted of thirtyby ten, afterwards formed the solar
Hence the original year would be one-tenth
of the common year ; so that when it is stated in Genesis that
creation.
Adam
and that
Seth was 205 years old at the birth of his son Enos,(193 ) the
meaning
is,
He
his
own time.(193
it
down
that the
Egyptian chronology
for the
is,
moreover, repudiated by
Civ. Dei, xv. 12, 14, where the numbers differ from those in the
( 191 )
received text of Genesis.
(
Prorsus tantus etiam tuno dies fuit, quantum et nunc est, quern
( 193 )
viginti et quatuor hone diurno curriculo noctumoque determinant ; tantus
rnensis, quantus et nunc est, quern luna coepta et finite concludit; tantus
annus, quantus et nune est, quern duodecim menses lunares additis propter cursum solarem quinque diebus et quadrante, consummant, C. D.
xv. 14.
(
xii.
10.
Digitized by
3G6
Lactantius.( 195 )
[CHAP.
VI.
some astronomical
The
cycle. ( 19fl)
logies of Assyria
1286 a.m.(
and
mode
this
of numeration
w
)
human
The
Menes
fifteen
Amosis
to
numbers of
larger
them
Old Tes-
tament.
The modem
10
who have
critics
One method,
first
devised by Sir
some of the
to arrange
dynasties,
f T 95)
Div. Inst.
ii.
we have
Now
this
method
to do only with
naked
12.
An
196 )
jrtpi rrjr
t&v Aiyvnriav
i.
p. 60, ed.
Bonn.
p. 664.
Chron.
vol.
( 199 )
i.
p. 93.
p. 49.
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 11.]
chronology,
and
367
element
the historical
that
altogether
is
wanting.
should
and wars
We
From
Edward
is certain
it
I.,
Emperor
Charles V., and that Frederic the Great was contemporary with
Maria Theresa.
No
historian,
forth a
from each
Now
Rome, was to
handed down by ancient, and
early history of
writers
and to substitute
for
on an arbitrary hypothetical
generally received
it
new
on Bunsens Egypt,
i.
p. xl.
Engl,
tr.,
by
modem
narrative reconstructed
in
ffll
Everything
verses,
Thus
translated
by Mr. Lockhart
Great was what thou didst abolish ; but greater what thou hast erected
High on the ruins of fraud, shattered for aye by thy blow.
Digitized by
368
that
original
is
and in
tages,
its results, is
indeed unsound.
when employed
The
early
Roman
But
when
method,
possessed advan-
it
Roman
in the transmutation,of
it
[CHAP. VI.
historical
antiquity,
history, whatever
may be
its
authenticity,
As none of these
different classical
is
by means of specious
of
little
But the
Now
without straw.
modern
is,
for the
he
is
consists
merely
part,
most unattractive
this is a
and dazzling
Egypt
most
condemned
to
make
field
bricks
new
It
is
re-
transfers of capital
who undertakes
its
own. It recognises
is
almost
all
identity disappears
itself.
its
de-
Even the
unbounded.
Under
to
credulity
on ancient
everything
is
Successive dynasties
subject
become
one name
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 11.]
369
place.
remarks,
illustrate these
would
it
Such an
of Egyptian chronology.
tent with the
amples
main
analysis
name
would be inconsis-
method.
Even
of Egyptian antiquity.
by the
insignificance
side of this
mighty conqueror.
Neverthe-
Bunsen
distributes
him
stands in Manethos
3320
b.c.,
fying
and a notice
we have already
Sesostris, as
is
Sesostris of Herodotus.
stated,
list
identifies
it
Bunsen
first
takes
whose date
years
5119
is
b.c.,
Napoleon.
He
is finally
assigned to himself.
make up
New Empire,
the
is
1255
Sethos
b.c.
identifies it
a third por-
seems that
It
him with
Empire but
it is
added
Itamesses, or Ramses, of
Sesosis.(202 )
nian
list,
who
vol.
ii.
p.
8993, 292
304, 551 5
b.c., is
vol.
not
iii.
p.
170.
B B
Digitized by
370
Sesostris
down
brings him
him
[CHAP. YI.
and
identifies
him
first
subjugated
Lepsius, moreover,
holds that Ramses, the son of Sethos, was, like his father, a
great conqueror, but that the Greeks confounded both father
Sesostris.
Manetho, which
identifies
the
New
But here
what
is
their
is
regarded by Lepsius as
agreement
One
stops.
what
assigns
is
called
What
of 3793 years.
should
we
writers
logists,
were to
arise, in
think, if a
new
school of
critics
were
century, and
were to identify
or Cyrus, or
while another
I.
its
Manetho
205 ) lb.
p. 286.
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 11.]
371
poetess Sappho.
b.c.
The
feat is
the Egyptologists.
Now
reconcilement
facility
woman, with a
therefore Nitocris
same person^
207
rosy-
Whatever ingenuity
possess, it is
wanting in novelty
pated by Fluellens
by
complexion. ( 20e)
fair
cheeked
may
all
It
this
for
mode
it is
of argument
clearly antici-
Monmouth
Monmouth and
There
there
is
is
that
a river
salmons
in both.'
difficulty.
He
re-
b.c.
II.,
who
he
identifies
reigned between
Mencheres
first
By
who
Nitocris,
he explains how
pyramid^ 208)
(206) av6r/
It
tt)v
may be
xpolav,
vol.
ii.
p. 554.
(207) Bunsen, vol. ii. p. 211, who is much pleased at finding that in
The view of Zoega and
this discovery he had been anticipated by Zoega.
Bunsen is approved by Mr. Kenrick, Ancient Egypt, vol. ii. p. 152.
308
B B 2
Digitized by
372
Manetho
[CHAP. VI.
to be spurious
for
By
with
is
his
Csesar,
Such
identifications as that
modern
It
mode
history.
restorations
is
done to Bunsens
as they stand in
Manetho,
come out
made according
own
to Bunsens
if
and
reconstructed scheme.
first
Menes.( 210 )
The
interruptedly
Great, 332
till
b.c.,
This
b.c.
is
the
first
the
first
down un-
is
5370
years.
209 ) Bunsen identifies Athothis the Second, the third king in the list
of Eratosthenes, with Kenkenes the third king in the first dynasty of
Manetho, remarking that the difference in the names is no argument
against their agreement, vol. ii. p. 43, Eng. tr.
In the third dynasty of Manetho, the third king is Mesochris. Bunsen
says that Mesochris is the same as Sesochris, and that Sesochris is the
same as Sesorcheres. He then identifies this transmuted king with the
Mares of Eratosthenes, and thus forms a new king whom he calls Sesorchcres-Mares. He next identifies Sesorcheres- Mares with the lawgiver
Sasychis in Diod. i. 94 (who evidently is not a king, see above, p. 260)
and lastly, he identifies Sesorcheres-Mares-Asychis with the Sasychis of
Herodotus, who is placed near the end of his series. (Egypt, vol. ii. p. 76,
94 6 Eng. tr.)
( 210 ) Bunsen lays it down that the historical age of Egypt begins with
Menes, vol. ii. p. 63, Eng. tr. Niebuhr, on the other hand, considers
everything before the 18th dynasty (1655 b.c.) unhistorical. Lectures on
(
Ancient History,
vol.
i.
p.
423,
ed. Schmitz.
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 11.]
Upon
373
Syncellus, which appears to state that the period of 113 generations, described in the thirty dynasties of
Manetho, amounts
1815 years,
viz.,
is
due to the
which,
dif-
ferently applied,
result
fact
he
......
Middle
New
1076 years.
922 (21S )
1296
3294
New Empire
to begin at 1632,
begin at 3630
b.c.
stated
3895
b.c.,
b.c.
The method
of reduction employed by
Bunsen
affords a re-
rest.
down
to us by the
( 211 )
(
Vol.
i.
p.
978,
i.
p.
ed.
sum
is
incidentally mentioned as
Bonn.
to
vol.
ii.
p. 182.
Digitized by
374
The
era.
difference
of these two
is
no
[CHAP. VI.
than 1820
less
numbers
is
number of
the authentic
Manetho ?
Grammatici certant, et adliuo sub judice
lis est.
He
ing.
its
refer to
mean-
Manetho.
Lepsius concurs with Boeckh in considering the passage as corrupt, but he proposes a different emendation,
Manetho. ( 214 )
refer to
re-
There
is
is
dynasties
His imagi-
ages.
He
chronocrator.
lan-
likewise
unknown
He
past,
is
is
regarded as
rav yap tv to
Topots fuy ytvttov iv Svvaartlais A' avaytypapptvmv, airrav 6 xf>6vos ra
ytyvt. Boeckh reads avaytypapptvav avra, and for & %p6vos
words
Man. p. 137. Lepsius expunges the
avr&v 6
j(p6vos.
Mr. Palmer, Egyptian Chronicles, vol. i. p. 121, concurs in read(
Tpur't
travra avv^^rv
he proposes 6 'Avuxvos,
ing avr$, and for 6 xprfror corrects 6 xporaypu(por, understanding Eratosthenes to be meant. C. Muller, Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol. ii. p. 537, entirely
Bunsen respecting the 3555 years.
Digitized by
Googl
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 12.]
who occupy
375
attested history.
In the absence of
12
it
all
down by the
classical authors,
we
whom
Thus
it
cient events
arc
The two
by the Hierogrammateus
by the
Stolist,
These books
by Clemens
priests,
be regarded as
learn, cannot
the remaining
phori, or shrine-bearers. (
217
)
i.
fiction of
p. 9,
Eng.
the Neo-Platonic
tr.
Horapollo,
(216) See Leemans on Horapollo, p. 134.
in the hieroglyphic writing, the palm denoted a year.
i.
3, states
that
(217) Clem. Alex. Strom, vi. 4, 35. The Hermetic books mentioned
in this passage are considered as of recent fabrication, by Fabricius, Bibl.
Gr. vol. i. p. 48, ed. Harles. The Hierostolist, the Hierogrammateus, the
Prophet, and the Horologus, are mentioned as different orders of the
Egyptian priesthood, bv Porpkyr. de Abstin. iv. 8. He likewise speaks of
the Pastophori. The Horologus of Porphyry corresponds with the Horo-
scopus of Clemens.
Digitized by
376
He
philosophy.
[chap. VI.
the source of
all
wis-
He
was the offspring of the amalgamation of the Oriental and Hellenic philosophies
he moved.
Iamblichus
is visible
218
of mysti-
which
attributes to
spirit
upon the authority of Seleucus ; but adds, that Manetho assigned to him 36,525 books :( 219 ) as this last number coincides
with the total number of years of Egyptian chronology in the
it is
we
Hermes was
It
may be
number
mode
of computing the
number
perceive
of the books
of late date.
meant, and
critics.
Homius
pages of papyrus.
Hermes :(
221
bears his
name
vi'See)
an astrological
222
; (
cited in the
treatise
and the
on medicine,
Kyranian books
attributed to
still
(/3t/3Ao
extant,
Kvpa-
is
preserved. ( 22S )
(218)
Do Myst.
treatise
on Botany, some
viii. 1.
Manetho,
p. 17.
The
p. 85.
(222) See
Idelers
vol.
i.
Manetho,
p. 387, 430.
Hermes
Trismegistus,
p. 55.
Digitized
by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 13.]
377
a treatise ascribed to
some Egyp-
also
It appears,
astrolo-
who
Christ. (
Theophrastus, in his treatise on Stones, says that the registers respecting the
emeralds of immense
The
size
as a present
mentioned
is
by the
inconsis-
they
may
political events in
13
The
notice
Egypt.
to
is
the
theory
of
invoked by the
preserved
inscriptions were
( 224 )
Kuhn.
De
Simpl. Medicum.
libris,
Digitized by
378
[CHAP. VI.
The
first
is,
Now
it
which
A language
if
can-
it
intelligi-
For example,
dictionaries
lost,
no means would
if
if
exist
is
sometimes created
spoken languages,
them
ledge of
From
by a
to its successors.
in-
and
its
knowledge
oral teaching.
But
grammars and
modem
form.
(337) See
(328)
The
Nouv. Biogr.
in like
manner continued by
tradition of the Greek language was never completely interdes Hep. Ital. c. 41, tom. vi.
; see Sismondi, Hist,
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 13.]
379
cipher
known language by
The
proceed to apply to
it
If
if
which
is
falls
it
written, he can
is
is
almost
and
letters
This process,
infallible.
the
if
It is difficult
But
is
language to be understood
it
its
it
it
ordinary orthography.
No
off
pro-
known
alphabetical characters.
any
light
inscription, or interpret
In
like
manner,
detect the
The
meaning of the
first
several words.
is
altogether lost.
i.
p. 232.
Digitized by
380
The
[CHAP. VI.
earliest
which
hieroglyphical writing
descended
has
to
us,
is
by
Christ.
first
half of the
century after
first
is
attri-
We
Egyptians.
treatise
on hieroglyphics^233)
The
./Ethiopians have
no
letters,
mode
of this
The
origin
transmitted them to their children by means of allegorical representations and symbols of this kind, as Chaeremon,
and bending
his
man
destitution,
also
a vulture
king, by a bee
birth,
resurrection,
lions tail
a child
year,
by a
decay, by an old
by a
stag, or
man ;
by a frog
by a
the
beetle
lions
by a palm
force,
earth,
by an ox
head; necessity,
tree
by a bow
increase, by
and thousands
a.d.
ed.
Hermann,
p. 123.
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 13.]
There
is
381
lan-
In
are
described as having a symbolical value, but as being the metaphorical, not the simple representatives of ideas or objects.
Isis,
its
own
tail is
two
men
siege.
who
A similar account of
Ammianus
turies.
Marccllinus,
is
Concerning the
known.
who
and
Roman
circus,
noun
cen-
Greek trans-
Ammianus informs
use alphabetical
given by
fifth
pion.
is
letters,
In
illus-
signified a
king.^u
Formarum innumeras
notas, hieroglyphicas appellatas, quas ei
( 234 )
[on the obelisk] undique videmus incisas, initialis Bapienti vetus insignivit
auctoritas. Volucrum enim ferarumque, etiam alieni mundi, genera multa
seulpentes, ad vi quqque sequentis rotates at patratorum vulgatiua perveniret raemoria, promissa vel soluta regum vota monstrabant. Non enim,
at nunc litterarum numerus prrostitutus etfacilis exprimit quicquid humana
mens concipere potest, ita prisci quoque scriptitarunt .dEgyptii ; sed singul liter singulis nominibus serviebant et verbis, nonnunquam significabant integros sensus. Cujus rei scienti in his interim sit duobus
exemplum. Per vulturem natur vocabulum pandunt ; quia mares nullos
posse inter has alites inveniri rationes memorant physic perque speciem
apis mella conficientis indicant regem moderaton cum jucunditate aculeos
quoque innasci debere his signis ostendentes, et similia plurima, xvii. 4.
Tacitus says that the Egyptians first expressed ideas by the figures of
:
382
The
system as ideo-
[cHAP. VI.
it
is
is
in
from antiquity.
Bunsen.
thus treated by
is
priests,
The work
age, also clearly proves the existence and nature of this secret
character.
it
little
The explanations
and
historical
meaning being
character,
books.
chiefly
2S6
)
As the
work must
be, both
it
is
on the monuments at
scarcely
all,
the
animals, and that they laid claim to the invention of writing : ' Primi per
figuras animalium /figyptii sensus mentis effingebant (ea antiquissima
monimenta memori human impressa saxis cemuntur), et litterarum semet
inventores perhibent, Ann. xi. 14. This passage does not show whether
Tacitus understood the hieroglyphics to be ideographic or phonetic.
(235) Egypt, vol. i. p. 311, Engl. tr. In p. 654, however,
to reject Champollions hypothesis of a secret character.
he appears
Digitized by
Googl
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 13 .]
383
expressing sounds.
It proceeds
pretation of the
stone, of the
name
titles
of some of the
Roman
emperors.
The
names and
early publications
Precis
he did not
read.
at first
attempt to inter-
The second
edition of his
published in 1828, did not exceed the limits which have been
What
just described.
is
Cham-
can be read into words, and, for the most part, are not symbols
of ideas. ( 337 )
for-
of the whole.
238
)
head of a
scientific
vol. i. p. 320, Engl, tr., lays it down that Champollion s discovery of the old Egyptian language and character, is
the
greatest discovery of the century. In p. 325 he speaks of Champollion s
'
immortal letter to Dacier.' The language of Brugsch is similar Hoo
lapide [the Rosetta stone] detecto postquam omnium animi ad spem enu.
cleandi tandem illud monstruosum et perplcxum per tot siecula quasi involueris involutorum genus signorum arrecti sunt, unus vir Champollio FrancoGallus exstitit qui mira sagacitate incredibilique studio adjutus totam
liieroglyphorum rationem nulla fere parte relicta luce clarius explanavit
Concerning the phonetic system of
et esposuit, Iuscript. Rosettan. p. 2.
Champollion, see Schwartze, das alte iEgypten, vol. i. part 1, p. 199, 253,
( 237 )
Bunsen, Egypt,
1857), p. 201.
Digitized by
384
vanishing
[CHAP. VI.
oblivion,
by copying
He
at
facility
texts,
Champollion translated
He
Sheta.
monument
of
M.
life
to their
mute forms.
His
Sheshak.
tions,
illustrative
of
the
manners, and customs of the Egyptians as they were, and declare themselves. ( 24)
He
died in
in
1836
1841.
His
system
M. Champollion-
has
however
been
adopted, and his researches have been continued, with zeal and
diligence,
also in
his
own
country, but
latest
now
241 ) This Egyptian dictionary, which, thanks to Mr. Birchs erudihas been arranged in the usual alphabetical
order, and a reference given to the monument or text where each word
occurs. The hieroglyphical scholar, therefore, will now find in this work,
not only the most complete Egyptian grammar extant, but also the most
complete dictionary ; as well as the only existing collection of all the hieroglyphic signs, arranged in their natural and historical order, and explained
according to the monuments quoted or referred to, Egypt, voL i. p. 477.
(
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 13.]
of
385
4.
aa. 1. To
To be born
arm.
knit.
of.
The following
Place, abode.
9.
2.
8.
5.
A noble.
A nosegay (?)
Pure, to purify.
Ivory.
6.
3.
7.
inter-
specimens
2.
5.
butt.
will serve as
gazelle.
A horn.
rhinoceros.
7.
An
4.
To
8.
9. Thirst.
calf.
The Egyptian
alphabet, as exhibited
4.
by Bunsen,
Ideographics.
viz., 1.
consists of
Determinatives.
2.
Mixed.
The Ideographics
Some
of these are
signifies elephant,
a figure of the
ears.
In other
sign
thus a
to beseech, to beg
to terrify
The Determinatives
is
determinative
is
annexed to a
re-
of light, as
ht, to illumine.
The
it is
disk, so
same Egyptian
i.
roots.
Thus a
p. 535.
C C
Digitized by
386
figure of a
duck
generally
3. flying
a determinative
is
animals, a scarab
of, 1.
4. to doctor
of a sword
is
and
names of
to shut
and
birds
a figure
to enclose ; a figure of
is
2.
5. to sleep.
trees
seal is a determinative of
a club
[chap. VI.
waterfowl;
to create,
wicked.
The
class of
To
syllabic signs.
these
signs, constituting
under the
Roman
The Mixed
dominion.
class is
is
annexed to
and
flexible
is
homophones ; that
is
arbitrary.
It
to say, of a plu-
It likewise involves a
But
if
we concede
that Champollions
we
we can read
is
Even assuming
that
legible,
it
modem
news-
In p. 4-18 he lays it
down that chaque voix et chaque articulation pouvaient .
etro
.
representees par plusieurs signes pkonetiques JifKrens, mais etant dea
signes homophones. Compare Schvrartze, i. 1 p. 25461, and concerning
'150
the variations in the writing of proper names, p.
9.
See Champollion,
( 243 )
Prficis, ed.
2, p. 364.
is
recognised by
Digitized by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 13 .]
we
387
inscriptions of
Eugubine Tables.
modern
by an
South Italian
dialects,
and of the
must be regarded,
ther broken.
If the true
false
must be admitted
by
is
method, the
to be altoge-
to be restored,
indirect means.
it
It
is
contains a Greek
In
348
)
is
He w ent
T
so far as to lay
it
down
that
Schwartze, moreover,
who has
investigated the
who was
a com-
ii.
Account of Discoveries
p. xi.
c c 2
Digitized by
388
[chap.
vr.
He
affinity
languages
261
;(
On
it is
the Coptic language which have reached us do not ascend beyond the third century of the Christian era ; that they are ex-
an
clusively of
and that
Schwartze,
which surround
The circumstances
this hypothesis
languages.
The Coptic
first
make
upon
its relation
to other
Although the language can be dated back from the early centuries of our era, yet the chief part of the extant literature be-
longs to a
much
later period.
The Coptic
is
destitute of the
( 251 )
(
possible.
969972.
P. 979991, 9917, 1033.
( 249 ) lb. p.
252 ) P. 2019.
Numerous
We
250 ) P. 2036.
253 ) P. 2036.
Digitized by
389
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 13.]
in mind the
Egypt
and
of
scientific state
Egypt of numerous
new
fail
if all
these
to create an unfa-
upon the
Coptic.
265
)
More
less stress
language.
is
discovered
if
in-
much more
serious difficulty in
2015.
Schwartze also complains of the imperfect publication
( J 55)
of the remains of Coptic literature, p. 203940.
Digitized
by
390
[chap. VI.
The
could surmount.
Coptic, after
all,
aid,
his interpretations.
tive, still
remained
for
Coptic dictionaries.
meaning which
means of
suits
them
it is
in all instances
is
In
meaning more
unknown groups
easily discovered.
Mr. Goodwin,
in an article
are
more
restricted,
and their
256
)
are
The
same
result
of
Practically, the
meaning of a word
is first
approached by help
it
occurs
if
many
ance.
cases,
may
be confirmed or modified.
In
is
To whatever
(p.
it is
is
; and
by no
228.)
may be
applied in restoring
made by
Digitized
by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 13.]
391
that the Coptic word and the ancient Egyptian word have a
common
root.
is lost,
nity with a
but
its affi-
or presumed, the
mined by
known
its
guide to
meaning.
its
is
a certain
a close affinity
is
be taken
as a sure index to
of a word
ascertained,
is
tionary of Diez
cess
inverted,
is
in fact,
and
it is
the signification
of Buttmann, the
Romance Dic-
ample evidence of
will furnish
When
meaning.
it is
The Lexilogus
etymology.
this truth.
is
necessarily
person
who
has already
made up
his
mind
of interpretation. ( 57 )
Thus
in Italian the
word
troja signifies a
sow.
Diez refers
the origin of this word to the old Latin expression, porcus Trojanus, which
for the table
He
meant a
;
the
pig, stuffed
name being an
first
became porco
di troja,
and
!68
Assuming
this
if
unknown ?
( 2 57)
On
Schwartze,
ib. p.
p. 976.
Roman. Worterb.
p.
356
Sat.
ii. 9.
Digitized by
392
If the
[CHAP. VI.
lost
language
is
signification of a
This method
is
is
equally unsatisfactory.
and
and vvktoq
afjKjXyy, in
lost,
is
compound
ratio.
if
be
patient induction.
as to the
have received on
cited, to
It
his imagination
is
available as
is also
an instrument
apparent.
If,
how comes
by
it
that his
however,
much
Cham-
facility
and
his successors ?
is
Cham-
was not
it is difficult
Digitized
by
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
SECT. 13.]
it
393
was common to
it
But he
tells
all
re-
the
us that
cacy
consisting of ideographic,
syllabic, phonetic,
intri-
and deter-
minative symbols, with a large class of homophones, or alternative signs for the
same sound
as constituted in
If,
fictitious
and unreal.
Manethonian dynasties
rests
on a foundation
of sand.
The
late period to
their
reality.
If the
existed
upon Egyptian
is
it
buildings,
likely that,
his-
or in the
during their
\
259 ) Pr6 cis, p. 426.
260 ) Parmi lea monumens 6 gyptiens cornras jusqu a ce jour, ceux
(
qui remontent a I'dpoque la plus reeulte, ont 6 t 6 executes vers le 19' siecle
avant ldre vulgaire, sous la 18' dynaatie, et ils nous montrent deja 1 'Venture comme un art essentiellement distinct de la peinture etdo la sculpture,
avec lesquelles il reste confondu cliez les peuples a peine 6 chapp 6 s a letat
eauvage. Lecriture dgyptienne de ces temps 61oign6s dtant la mfime que
celle des derniers Egyptiens, il faut croire que ce systeme graphique riait
deja arrivd a un certain degr6 de perfection absolue, puisque, pendant un
espace de vingt-deux sifecles a partir de cette epoque, il ne paralt point avoir
(
i.
p. 554,
ib. p.
Eng.
329.
tr.
Digitized
by
394
[CHAP.
VI.
supremacy in Egypt, they should not have taken steps for procuring translations of them ?( 263 )
The traditions
of the language
The Greek
still alive.
its
and power of
The
Egypt.
priest
who
but
it is
clear
still
possessed by
from the
Egypt
visiting
in
202
a.d.,
different temples,
As
this measure was intended to prevent popular excitement,^85 ) and was similar in policy to the destruction of the
prophetic books at
it
may be
inferred
was
Ammianus
inscriptions
upon an
obelisk,
Roman
circus.
He
is
why
Engl.
(
tr.
During
Mem-
263 ) Concerning the prohibition of prophecies and magic by the Impegovernment, see Bingham, Ant. of the Church, xvi. 6
266 ) Suet. Oct. 31.
(
(
rial
Digitized
by
SECT. 13.]
cites
it
395
OF THE EGYPTIANS.
by a
Now
if
Egypt,
is
light?
We
Egyptian^ 268)
may be
sure that
Manetho and
been brought to
others,
who
inquired
astronomical observations
by the native
priests.
Whoever
unbroken
still
language and
perpetuated by an
modern
investigation of
after the
key to
left to
archaeologists,
this secret
had been
lost.
hieroglyphic inscriptions.
the kings.
Egypt, lays
( 267 )
xvii. 4.
down
had no
era, that
upon the
obelisks.
The inscription is restored by K. O. Muller, Arch, der
Kunst, 224. Compare Uhlemann, Handb. part i. p. 18.
ad Horapoll. p. xvii. has the following
( 268 ) Leemans, Prolegom.
remark upon the preservation of the knowledge of the hieroglyphic lanTemporibus serioribus, sacris Christianorum invalescentibus,
guage
cognitionem saltern aliquam hieroglyphicorum apud occultos veterum
rituum -dSgyptiacorum cultores servatam fuisse, probabile est precipue
apud eos, qui ad scholas et sectas Gnosticorum JSgyptiacas pertinerent.
:
Digitized
by
396
[cHAP. VI.
they denoted events only by the year of the kings reign, and
that this
logical
mode of reckoning affords no materials for a chronoThe meagreness of the historical informa-
system^269)
inscriptions,
reader.
mental nation
but
its
monuments
monu-
records^ 271 )
If the
if
they
may
tians.
may be
It
The
Greek
publication of an inedited
yield
more
fruit
i.
p.
241 .
(270) The utmost that Bunsen can bring himself to say is, that he
individually persists in believing that the Egyptian monuments contain
chronological notations
but he admits that we do not yet understand
them sufficiently to build any system upon representations of so problematical a character, Egypt, vof. ii. pref. p. xii. Eng. trans.
(27 1) We have no traces (says Niebuhr) of the Egyptians having ever
a history of their own.
They had indeed a chronology (?), but true
history they had not ; and this observation is confirmed by what has been
found in the newly explained insc rip tions since the discovery of the art of
deciphering the hieroglyphics.
might have expected to find in the
inscriptions on the obelisks records of the exploits of the kings
but we
nowhere meet with historical accounts. There are indeed historical representations j but they are not accompanied by historical inscriptions, and in
most cases the representations have nothing at all to do with history.
Lectures on Amcient History, translated by Dr. Schmitz, vol. i. p. 63
had
We
Digitized
by
897
Chapter VII.
TT now
J- rian antiquity,
the hypothesis of
how
at
who
is
is
brief
history.
He
affairs ;( ] )
an inten-
assigns a period of
520
and he
He
was the wife of Labynetus, whose son of the same name was
king when Cyrus took Babylon(4) (538 b.c) ; and that the
See Mures Hist, of Gr. Lit. vol. iv. p. 332. Larcber
(1) i. 106, 184.
doubts whether the Assyrian history of Herodotus was ever written,
H6rodote, tom. vii. p. 147. Dahlmann and Biibr are of the same opinion.
Jliiller, Hist, of Gr. Lit. vol. i. p. 354, thinks that it was composed and
published. Mr. Rawlinson holds the same opinion, Herod, vol. i. p. 29,
249.
(2)
rap
i.
95.
(3) TV S
iv tout!
6vo,
i.
'
184.
i.
188.
Digitized by
398
[CHAP. VII.
5
( )
so that her
former reigned
five
would
lifetime
lon,
688
fall
He makes
b.c.
with Assyria
name
of Belus. (
and
(?)
after the
name
King of Ninus,
napalus,
;(
The
is
place of Sardanapalus
unfixed.
presented to the
first
He
accumu-
King of
415
at the
Court
b.c.
first
six of
and
it
can be rea-
credulous and
He
Asia.
list
of
whom we owe
to Assyria.
history,
The
are
thus
tomb over
184.
(6)
i.
7.
(8)
iii.
story of the
(7)
155.
(10) Diod.
ii.
(9)
22.
Compare
Clinton, F.
H.
vol.
i.
ii.
ii.
178.
150.
p. 307.
(n)
cmb
Digitized by
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 2.]
399
enabled to ascertain the principal features of the Assyrian history of that writer.
preserved.
Asia
all
from the Tanais and the Nile in the West, to India and Bactria
in the
He
East.
likewise
after his
it
all
(or
satisfied
an army of 1,700,000
and nearly
In
this
woman
made her
his
own
wife,
officers,
named Semiramis. He
later times
other
opia. (
cities. (
husband
ls
)
1S
)
She
she
an army of 3,000,000
Semiramis
died at the age of 62, after a reign of 42 years, and was suc-
and mother; he
series
from
12 ) Pliny, vi. 3, states that Melita in Cappadocia was built by Semiramis ; repeated by Solin. c. 45, 4. Solinus, c. 54, 2, says, that she
built Arachosia.
Two cities of Petra, in Arabia, named Besamme and
Soractia are stated by Pliny, vi. 28, to have been founded by Semiramis.
mountain of Carmania bore the name of Semiramis, Arrian. Peripl.
(
Mar. Bub.
p. 20.
14 ) Diod.
ii.
20.
Digitized
by
400
[chap.
VII.
transcribe,
The only
event during their reigns which had been rescued from oblivion
his vassal,
King Priam,
The
last of
avoid defeat.
Mede and
these 30
who was
Belesys the
is
17
:(
to Asty-
so that, assuming
b.c.
Greece, and
who
of Antiochus Soter.( 18 )
(ig) Diod. ii. 21, 28, states that the Assyrian monarchy lasted for 30
generations, from Ninus to Sardanapalus ; and in c. 23, that Sardanapalus
was the 30th king from Ninus. Syncellus, however, quotes Diodorus as
saying that Sardanapalus was the 35th king from Ninus, and that the
monarchy lasted for 45 generations, vol. i. p. 312, 813, Bonn. Both these
Cephalion, cited by Syncell. vol. i.
latter numbers appear to be corrupt.
p. 316 (repeated in Euseb. p. 41), states that Ctesias enumerated only
23 of the rois faineants, who succeeded Ninyas see Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol.
iii. p. 626 ; but the number 30 in Diodorus was probably derived from
;
Ctesias.
(16) irepi flip ovp Mipvapot Toiavt tv
<j>a<np oi flapfinpoi, Diod. ii. 22.
raU
iii.
p. 505.
Digitized
by
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 3.]
401
declared hia_ book to be founded upon records carefully preserved in Babylon, which went back for a period somewhat
19
)
He
jafcribcfs
3600
60
and
by long
denoted a period of
years,
years.
reigned before the deluge, and the duration of their reigns was
stated
by him in
The
Sari.
series is as follows
Tears.
Sari.
1.
Alorus
2.
Alaparus
10,800
3.
Amelon
13
46,800
4.
Ammenon
12
43,200
10
86,000
Amegalarus 18
64,800
6.
Daonus
36,000
7.
Enedorachus 18
64,800
8.
Amempsinus 10
9.
Otiartes
5.
10. Xisuthrus
Total
10
36,000
28,800
18
64,800
432,000 ( 20 )
120
attributed
by Berosus
to this portentous
The number
histor, Syncellus
D D
Digitized by
402
mermen
of medieval fiction,
man and
who passed
[chap. vil.
a
the
fish, like
Red
came upon land during the daytime. ( 21 ) The prevailing name for these monsters was Annedotus ; hut some of them
Sea, but
From
of Assyria,
two
first
whom
or 2400 years
The
2700 years.
sossi, or
who
This dynasty lasted for eight reigns and 224 years, and
kings.
was succeeded by 11
not he stated, in consequence of a defect in the text of EuseAfter them came 49 Chaldsean kings,
bius.
years
who
and lastly
are Phul,
The
( 21 )
whom
According to
Milton describes as
And downward
fish,
(Par. Lost,
b.
i.)
Winer
in v.
Dereeto likewise was a fish-goddess, Diod. ii. 4 ; Ovid,
45; Plin. v. 32; Lucian, de Pea Syr. c. 14. Concerning the
sanctity of fishes in Syria, see Ovid, Fast. ii. 461472 ; Hygin. Poet.
Astron. ii. 30 ; Lucian, lb. c. 45, and the notes in Lehmanns edition, vol. is.
p. 393 ; Manil. iv. 680583.
22 ) This name is written Eu^x* os in Syncellus according to Pindorf's
(
text, and Evexius in the Armenian Eusebius, the Greek \ and the Latin x
being confounded.
Syncellus, vol. i. 147, states the period at 9 sari, 2 neri, and 8
( 23 )
34.080. In Eusebius the sum is stated as
sossi
32,400 + 1200 + 480
33,091, Fragm. Hist. Gr. ib. p. 503.
see
Met.
iv.
Digitized by
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 3.]
Syncellus,
the two
d leans
among
the 86 kings,
who
first,
403
Zoroaster
is
they
24
who
it
Tears of reigns.
34,080
Median kings
224
11 kings
(text imperfect)
458
49 Chaldaean kings
9 Arabian kings
Semiramis
245
....
not stated.
not stated.
526
45 kings
Phul
Senecharib
Asordanus
18
8
Sammughes
Nabopolassar
21 ( 28 )
Nabucodrossor
43
Amilmarudoch
Neriglissar
Laborosoarchod
9 months.
Nabodenus
Cyrus
( 24 )
21
21
Sardanapalus
....
Syncell. vol.
i.
p. 147.
17
9(*)
Clinton,
of Eusebius.
vol. ii. p. 505, supplies in the text of
( 25 ) C. Muller, Fragm. Hist. Gr.
Eusebius, et Nabopolassarus annis viginti. But in the following extract
of Josephus, Berosus is cited as giving 21 years to Nabopolassar hence
restore in Eusebius, et Nabupolassarus viginti annis et uno.
:
ii.
p.
D D
509
Clinton, F.
H. vol.
i.
p. 272.
Digitized by
404
[CHAP. VII.
may
In
extant evidence.
lows
this
canon the
S7
)
Years of
B.c.
reign.
Nabonassarus
....
Nadius
....
14
2
12
First interregnum
Bilibus
....
Aparanadius
Rhegebelus
Mardocempadus
.
Arceanus
Ilulaeus
Mesesimor dacus
Second interregnum
Asaridinus
13
Saosduchinus
20
Ciniladanus
22
Nabopollassarus
Nabocolassarus
Uloarudamus
21
43
Nericasolassarus
Nabonadius
Cyrus
5
follows.
17
9
26 Feb.
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
747
733
731
726
751
729
724
722
699
693
692
688
680
667
647
625
604
561
559
555
538
He
is as
thus
Nimrod, and he
dHist.
p. 98, 220.
Digitized by
SECT.
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
6.]
405
Years of reign.
Euechius
6^
Chomasbelus
2776 a.m.
Porus
35
Nechubes
43
Nabius
48
Oniballus
40
Zinzerus
46
Total
225
Mardocentes
44 years of
.... ...
Mardacus
...
...
Parannus
.... ...
Nabunnabus
...
Sisimordacus
Nabius
Total
reign,
40
28
37
40
25
214
kings,
and the
six
last
native
Belus,
Sardana-
(2724 to 825
The
b.c.)
m)
According to the
list
28 ) Sync. vol.
i.
his kings
list,
p. 169, 172.
(29) lb. p. 181, 193, 203, 232, 277, 285, 293, 301, 312.
Digitized by
406
With
lists agree,
nearly agree.
Several of the names are Greek,
Amyntas, Lamprides, Dercylus, Laosthenes. (*)
Ctesias
was the
and their
[CHAP. VII.
as Sphserus,
earliest
Semiramis,
for
its
by other
its
duration
belief of anti-
writers. ( 31 )
'
Digitized by
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 7 .]
407
to
it
The name
of Ninus
is
in the
same
32
:(
Medus
he
and stands
to Media,( 33 )
Maeon
to Maeonia,(
36
Romulus
Rome.
to
It is
is
silent
whom
on the
;
many
countries, the
Sesostris is
subject.
But
Semi-
b.c.) ; that he was overthrown by his satrap Arbatus the Mede, and
burnt himself on the pyre, and that the empire passed to the Medes, after
having remained with the Assyrians for 1164 years, i. 19, ii. 3. The period
of 1300 years, in i. 4, seems to be the interval between the foundation of the
Assy rian Empire and the foundation of Some according to the figures subsequently given by Orosiusthis interval would be 1164 + 64
1228 years.
Col. Mure remarks that the dates of Ctesias [for the Assyrian Empire]
have been preferred, with occasional slight variations, by almost all the
subsequent native Greek chronologers, Hist, of Lit. of Gr. vol. iv. p. 334.
(817
Medus w as
Ammian. Marcellin.
xxiii. 6, 22,
and of
(34) Herod, vii. 61, says that Perseus, son of Jupiter and Danae, married Andromeda, and that their son Perses gave his name to the Persian
eople.
Compare Apollod. ii. 4, S 5. Perseus, the son of Jupiter and
Eanae, was the reputed founder of Tarsus, Amm. Marc. xiv. 8, 3. Josephus,
B. J. iii. 9, 3, states that the marks of the chains by w hich Andromeda
was fastened to the rocks were still shown on the sea-shore near Joppa, in
Syria. Josephus, who did not receive the Greek mythology, observes that
these marks attest, not the truth, but the antiquity, of the legend.
iii.
ii.
245.
Con-
58.
Digitized by
408
ramis
is
is
reported to have
[chap. Vll.
revolted Bac-
not
is
To
we must suppose
Italy,
and Spain
modern nations,
Napoleon
as a great conqueror,
Italy,
find a pa-
who subdued
Germany, Russia,
or overran
silent
as to
by any aggressor,
at the
800
who
lived about
more con-
The
is
man;
She
the mother
is
ashamed of her amour with a mortal, and exposes her newborn infant in a lonely place ; the babe
doves ; and at the end of this time
is
is
by
Romulus and
manager of the
found, like
to the
Et
Cum
This custom
is
v.
1309
11.
in authentic history.
( 38 )
Paus.
i.
9, 7.
(39)
226
Digitized by
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 7 .]
Ctesias represented
dom
Ninus
as
409
to Semiramis.
who became
the wife
that on the
first
and
that,
prison, put
followed by
Some
by Macrobius
writers mentioned
story. ( 4S )
same
rami8, and her birth and exposure are supposed to take place near Ascalon,
in Syria. Justin, xxxvi. 2, however, says that Damascus was the birthplace of Semiramis, and the cradle of the Assyrian kings. Lucian, de Dea
Syria, c. 14, speaks of Derceto as the mother of Semiramis. He likewise
mentions the sanctity of the dove in Syria, and states that the Syrians
abstain from eating its flesh. Tibullus alludes to the same fact
:
Compare Hygin.
fab. 197.
by
c.
Perearum
statuit
Ne
Duxit
The
is
likewise alluded to
Ubi
by Ovid
is
included
26.
dicitur altam
among
Met.
iv. 57.
the Seven
Digitized by
410
[CHAP. VII.
Ste-
man
of the same
name
and that,
according to
ferred to
47
Moses of Chorene
at the
cites
end of the
re-
first
a certain Maribas
Quintus Curtius says that Babylon was founded by Semiramis, and not,
as is generally believed, by Belus, v. 1,
24. According to Ammian.
Marcellin. xxiii. 6, 23, the walls of Babylon were built by Semiramis,
and the citadel by Belus. The account of Abydenus was that the walls
of Babylon were built by Belus, and afterwards restored by Nabricodrossorus, Fragra. Hist. Gr. vol. iv. p. 283. Dorotheus, in the astrological
verses at the end of Kochlys Manetho, has apyairi BafSvXav T vplov B17X010
iroXiiTfia.
Orosius considers Babylon to have Deen founded by Nimrod
the giant, and to have been restored by Ninus or Semiramis, ii. 6. This
is an attempt to combine the Biblical and classical accounts.
(45) Diod.
xi. 14,
In xvi. 1, 2,
8, xiii. 2, 7, xii. 3, 37.
piipt&os, x<pis Tali' iv Ba/8i'Xa>i't ipyav, jroXXa Ka't <xk\a
ociKwrat,
Km
Tfi^ij Kill
X ipaKuv ical Siwpvyav iv irorapols ical \iuvais sal o5a>v sai yj)vpa>v. Herodotus
says that she made the dykes of the Euphrates near Babylon, i. 184.
ditch of Semiramis on the Euphrates, is mentioned by Isidorus Characenus, ap. Geogr. Gr. Min. vol. i. p. 247, ed. C. Muller.
it
Digitized by
411
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 7 .]
we know nothing
as to the authors
According to one
story,
She
is also
reported to
this
city.( 60 )
61
who
traced their
(48)
i.
186
188.
iii.
vol.
iii.
7, 5.
p. 627.
(50) Yal.
Max.
ix. 3, ext. 4.
i.
25.
(53) According to Nearchus, Alexander the Great believed that Semiratnis invaded India, and returned with only twenty men, Strab. xv. 1, 5,
Megasthenes, however, stated that Semiramis died before her
ib. 2, 6.
intended expedition, ib. 6. According to Solinus, c. 49, 3, Panda in
Sogdia was the furthest limit of the Indian expeditions of Bacchus, Hercules, Semiramis, and Cyrus.
Plutarch, de Is. et Os. i. 24, compares the
exploits of Semiramis with those of Sesostris.
324.
The supposed queen of the Medians here alluded to, appears to be Medea,
see Strab. xi. 13, 10 ; Diod. iv. 67. With respect to the Sabtean queens,
Claudian alludes not to the queen of Sheba who visited Solomon, 1 Kings x.
but to the queens of Meroe, also called Saba, who are said to have
borne the common name of Candace ; see Strab. xvii. i. 64 ; Dio Cass.
Digitized by
412
[chap. VII.
cities,
liv.
The poets dictum is, however, inconsistent with fact. The lawless habits
of the East, and the seclusion of women, have in general been incompatible
with the rule of queens.
(55) Diodorus mentions an equestrian statue of Semiramis spearing a
ii. 8.
iElian, Var. Hist. xii. 39, speaks of Semiramis as a huntress
of lions and leopards. According to Ctesias, Semiramis was the inventor
of the war-galley, Plin. vii. 58.
leopard,
(56) Ctesias stated that the mounds of Semiramis were the tombs of
lovers, whom she buried alive, Joann. Antiochen. ap. Fragm. Hist.
Gr. vo). iv. p. 539. According to Justin, i. 2, and Agathias, ii. 24, she
cherished an incestuous love for her son N inyas. Her promiscuous and
incestuous loves and the murders of her lovers are mentioned in Oros.
i. 4.
Ovid places Semiramis in juxtaposition with Lais, Am. i. 5, 11, and
Juvenal with Cleopatra, ii. 108. Gabinius is called a Semiramis by Cicero,
de Prov. Consul. 4, in reference to his libidinous conduct in his Syrian
rovince.
The unnatural love of Semiramis for a horse is mentioned by
Suba, ap. Plin. viii. 42 ; Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol. iii. p. 472. The * impuri
(57)
et meretricii
mores of Semiramis are noticed by Moses Choren. i. 16.
Dante places Semiramis among the lussuriose :
her
Fu
imperatnce di molte
favelle.
is
The
i.
V.
ver. 52
60.
339,
and Oros.
i.
4.
Digitized by
413
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 7 .]
58
;
and
to have initiated
chroniclers,
wKo
traced the
Other mythologists
made
Typhon. (* 2 )
Hellanicus transferred some of the attributes of Semiramis
to an ancient queen Atossa,
male
attire, as
habits,
and
as
whom
he described as assuming
subduing
many
nations. (**)
five
kings between
(58) Oros.
sons
among
i.
the
4.
Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol. i. p. 43. This custom of the Magi is carried
further by Catullus
Nam magus ex matre et nato gignatur oportet,
Carm. 90.
Si vera est Persarum impia relligio.
still
345,
(59) Ammian. Marcellin. xiv. 6, 17 ; Claudian, Eutrop. i. 339
attributes the invention to Semiramis, or to the Parthians.
Hellanicus,
fragm. 169, ed. C. Muller, assigned it to the Babylonians ; Clearchus to the
An
etymological
mythus
xii.
514
D.
in
Steph.
Medes, Athen.
Byz. in
p.
SiraSa gives it to the Persians. Xenophon ascribes the use of eunuchs as
a bodyguard of the Persian kings to the institution of Cyrus, Cyrop. vii.
5.
Josephus says that Nebuchadnezzar made some of the
5, 60
Jewish youths eunuchs, Ant. x. 10, 1.
(61) Hist. v. 2.
(63)
(64)
Digitized by
414
[chap. vii.
Baby lon.f 65 )
primitive king of
was likewise
a gate of
The
early
Babylon
as the pri-
Belus
is
the
in Syria as well
Thus iEschylus,
in his
According to Apollo-
The
Egypt.
an
affinity
though by
of Belus at Babylon,
him
to Asia
his
name from
name
first
ii.,
oi
nplv nor
66 ) Herod, i. 181, iii. 166, 158. Diodorus, ii. 8 9, states that Jupiter
called Belus by the Babylonians.
This statement recurs in Agath. ii.
24.
Some precious stones found in Assyria received the name of Belus,
from the great god of the country, Plin. xxxvii. 55, 58.
(
was
( 67 )
(
See above,
68 ) See Dr.
p. 258.
W.
Baal Winer,
in
Baal
and Bel.
Suppl. 31420. Pausanias mentions a monument of Algyptus,
( 69
the son of Belus, at Patr, where he took refuge, in order to avoid Danaus
at Argos, vii. 21, 13.
(
70
i.
72 )
iv.
4.
71 )
Fragm.
i.
p. 83,
fr.
40.
23, 10.
He
7, vii. 61,
73 )
74 ) Ain.
i.
150.
622, 729.
Digitized by
GoogI
SECT.
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
7.]
415
Homer was
The same
561
vanced as
far as
Egypt ; yet
mentioned him
his
name and
exploits were
unknown
and
;
he assigns to Nebuchadnezzar the fabulous exploit of having
is
b.c.
Iberia. ( 78 )
by Otfried
This event
is
referred
whom we
rative
( 75 )
is
reported to
ships,
and to have
p. 375.
76 ) xv. 3, 23.
( 77 ) xi. 6 2, 3.
( 78 ) Ap. Joseph. Ant. x. 11, 1; Contr. Apion. i. 20; Syncell. vol.
p. 419, ed. Bonn.
(
( 79 )
i.
p. 287.
Digitized by
416
[chap. VII.
taken refuge with king Belimus, in the 640th year after the
At a
War
whom
According to
Priam was a
Teutamus
for assist-
ance after the death of Hector ; Cephalion even gives the text
of the letter in which this request was made.
Memnon,
Teutamus granted
vol.
iii.
p. 626.
(81) Ibid.
(82) Ibid.
ii.
22
Troad.
Digitized by
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 7 .]
417
Greeks Tithonus, a
Priam
Memnon
it
was to
this
to assist
we may probably
Laws,
from Ctesiae
account of Ctesias
and to the
War, who,
on the
in his treatise of
assistance of the
The
story of
Memnon coming
to the aid of
by the
Greek mytholo-
license of
upon Roman
history.
last
critics derived
from the
and of the early epic poets were a nation which lived at the extremity of the
world, on the shores of the circumfluous ocean see Volckers Homerische
Geographic, p. 87. Hence the black races to the east and south of Egypt
;
called ./Ethiopians
Memnon was made a negro and his name was
introduced into the Greek mythology of Egypt see Welcker, ib. p. 211
Thirlwall, ib. p. 152. Aschylus, Prom. 807, speaks of a black tribe at the
extremity of the earth, near the river zEthiops.
were
i.
p. 293,
Bonn.
vol.
ii.
266270.
De
may bo compared
Leg.
iii.
6, p.
This
685.
(86) Niebuhr, indeed, holds that the account of the kingdom of Troy
being a fief of the Assyrian Empire of Nineveh, and of the king of Troy
being a vassal of the Assyrian king, is a correct historical idea, Lectures
on Ancient History, vol. i. p. 24, ed. Schmitz
but Welcker justly
;
denies
it
(87)
Museum,
vol.
ii.
E E
Digitized by
418
[chap. VII.
whom was
Sardanapalus, one of
named
of a warlike Sardana-
palus.
Ctesias,
lists
of
Egyptian
lists
They performed
Such
torical blank.
is
the apology
It
is,
made
his indolence
but they
may
may
prevent
of events.
is
weak and
his neighbours
weak sovereigns
are
itself is
in-
may
by no means uneventful.
ascribed to the contempt
spinning
among
women. (
the
89
)
Gr. vol.i.p. 67
unknown
We
10 ; Diod.
ii.
24.
Digitized by
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 7.]
419
Empire,
is
so great, that
it is
countries
They seem
to relate to different
They
mode
of
overthrow
its
differ in
In
this state of
much
it will
give effect to as
of the
pereat.
accounts as far as
is
practicable
and
They have,
have
as in other cases of
relation to time
is
is
compartment.
Des Vignoles,
in his
He
tion.
places
first
beginning with Belus and Ninus, and ending with Sardanapalus, whom he supposes to have reigned from 915 to 900
He
b.c.()
writers, that
throned Sardanapalus
vol.
ii.
Median
capital
p. 7, 210, 284.
E 2
Digitized by
420
[CHAP. VII.
line of virtually
who
attempt to supply
b.c.
indepen-
He makes no
in the
King Ninus.
Assyrian Empire,
03
Cicero
:(
of the second
is
who
chronographer,
probably
lived
about
the
time
of
is
writer.
The list of Assyrian NineDes Vignoles, after Ninus the Second, first presents a chasm of more than a century, and is then filled up with
the names of Assyrian kings, incidentally mentioned in the
He
been the
last of the
pire
680
B.c.,
Em-
Babylon in
680 to 538
b.c.(
is
verifier les
He
king of Babylon.
( 91 )
lb. p. 378.
( 93 )
KtiraXjjyafKu
94 ) lb.
b.c.
( 92 )
iir\
N Ivov
i.
Nim-
In
who had
and
p. 387,
f}a<riKficu/ irupa
5 apbava-
Bonn.
p. 323, 389.
Digitized by
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 7 .]
421
to his kingdom.
Belus
1993
when Empacmes
to 793 b.c.,
Sardanapalus,
is
lasts
from
is
and the
The
b.c.)( 95 )
hypothesis, there
there
is
is first
when
According to this
then
comes
625
extinct,
b.c., at
Every successive
critics.
critic exercises
is
may
treated
serve to
by modern
Thus Larcher
his own.
places
him
identifies
b.c.( m )
at 765
He
Semiramis his
wife. ( 97 )
rian chronology^
fifth. (
10
98
B.c.,
and makes
He
338
( 95 ) See Art de vdrifier les Dates (Paris, 1819, 8 vo), tom. iL p.
364.
Trad. dHdrodote, tom. vii. p. 148, 595. Larcher holds that the
( 96 )
era of Nabonassar marks the commencement of Babylonian independence,
ib. p. 158,
(
167.
i.
App.
i.
c. 4.
p. 432.
Digitized by
Googli
422
[CHAP. VII.
The
him
chro-
thus stated by
is
TEAKS.
B.C.
224
2233
69
2009
458
245
49 Chaldseans
9 Arabians
....
....
1940
1482
Ended
1237
Total duration
is
stated as follows
996
By
the Empire 5
Ninus
....
Capture of Nineveh
B.C.
2182
675
1912
526
1237
105
is
TEAKS.
Assyrian monarchy
Sardanapalus
kingdom
meant the
876
711
606
Total duration
1306
606
b.c.
He
identifies
the Babylonian)
630
7 69 b.c., to
parallel
column to the
him
places
at
b.c.O
( 102 )
lb. p. 278.
Digitized by
GoogI
423
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 8.]
;v
It is possible that
at certain
He
calls
of
all
He
making an expedition
them ; and
It is
made an expe-
in
city
Medes
Herodotus proceeds to
relate that
when
he was attacked by an
and
twenty-eight years.
Medes had
the
reco-
vered their empire, and reduced the nations over which they
had previously
Herodotus considers queen Nitocris, with her husband Labynetus, and her son of the same name,
after the destruction of
He
likewise appears to
five generations,
consider
or about
city, as
'
rijs Sf Aaavpl-qs itrr\ ra ptv Kov KaL 5AA a 7ro\icrpaTa piyaka iro AAa'
( 103 )
rb bi ovopaaroraTov Kai iar\vp6raTOV, Ka'i tvda <r$i, N Ivav dvacrrctTov yfvopiyTjs,
ta fiao-iXrpa KarurrrjKfc r/v Ba&v\<i>v, i. 178. The seat of the kings palace,
in an Oriental country, is the seat of government.
,
104 )
ii.
160.
(i<> 5 ) i-
102
106.
tomb
Digitized by
424
The account
of Ctesias
is,
He
conceives the
Medes
nuous
Eusebius
line of
and
at the death of
first
as a
king of the
subject pro-
to Sardanapalus
distinction
Nineveh,
Hero-
but, like
last king, is at
Sardanapalus
Nineveh to be the
dotus, he supposes
[CHAP. VII.
is
to be
The only
trace of a
found in Herodotus,
who
606
He
b.c.
its district,
in
its
538
when
B.c.,
it
His narrative,
however, excludes the idea that Nineveh and Babylon were ever
at the
Pliny
There
is
assuming
it
Nineveh,
if
rival cities,
statement
is,
111
)
The
and Ahasuerus,
Tobit.
w hich,
kings of Babylon,
This statement
26
28.
differs
during
the lifetime of
Diod.
ii.
(hi)
Cyaxares.
Babylon.
c.
vi.
Diodorus, indeed,
30.
Digitized
by
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 9.]
425
The
he
to
different
them
sieges.
Mr.
He compounds
captivity,
b.c.,( 118 )
Nebuchadnezzar, in 601
it
The
captive
Jews were
its
by Josephus,
and speaks of
treats
him throughout
as king of Babylon,
but that
This
is
is,
city
Volney lays
it
iii.
p.
386.
(113) See Dr. Smiths Diet, of the Bible, art. Captivity. Winer, art.
Exit, places the beginning of the general captivity at 588 b.c.
(114)
(1
(
15) Vol.
116 ) xvi.
i.
1,
p. 387,
vol.
Bonn.
ii.
p. 506.
For
r>v
3.
Digitized by
426
its
[chap. VII.
He
proceeds
many-
schemes of Assyrian
hypothetical
critics,
lies
chronology.
But what
if
the problem
Like other
its
discovery.
is
been
altogether lost ?
So
But the
is
we have a
earliest
Phul,
who
firm footing of
lived about
772
Beon the
b.c.
who
graphers
chiefly relied
upon
their authority.
inconsistent with
no
and
Ctesias, about
420
b.c.,
450
b.c.,
counts of the ancient Assyrian Empire, which Herodotus supposed to have lasted 520, U8 and Ctesias to have lasted 1300
(
years.
With
ceding Phul, to
whom
who
all,
that
is,
( 117 )
method
of
(Euvres, p. 409.
Appian, Hist. Bom. Brief. 9, states that the duration of the As( 118 )
syrian, Median, and Persian empires put together falls short of 900 years.
900 years, counted back from 331 b.c., the date of the battle of Arbela,
would give the year 1231 b.c. for the commencement of the Assyrian
Empire. Macrobius, in Somn. Scip. ii. 10, 11, places Ninus about 2000
years before his own time, which was the 5th century after Christ.
Digitized by
Coogle
427
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 9.]
grounds.
even his
scientific doctrines
From about
upon a fabulous
basis.
we have
the incidental
We
b.c.,
list
of the
to Cyrus, in the
astronomical canon.
The
following
is
it
As
it
cannot be
B.C.
Phul
772
Tiglath Pileser
741
Shalmaneser
722
vol.
i.
See above,
p. 297, n. 218.
Digitized by
428
[CHAP. VII.
B.C.
Sargon
714
Sennacherib
Hezekiah, 725
696
b.c.
.700
561
605
Nebuchadnezzar
Evil Merodach, son of Nebuchadnezzar
.561
538
certainly
known
records of his predecessors, in order that the reigns of the Chalhis time.( 121 )
it
modem
This expla-
critics as
fabu-
w as recognised
earliest eclipses
if
fifth
first
observed at
and second
year of Nabopolas-
and
names of
vol.
i.
p. 390.
122 )
Des Vignoles,
vol.
ii.
p.
368.
is
340, Halma).
dvaytypawrai.
5,
Digitized by
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 10.]
Of the
Ion.
five
In this
modem
429
critics
known name,
state of things,
that the kings of the Canon were kings merely of Babylon, and
of putting them
This expedient
in a parallel
is
for
when a
is,
is
It
is,
canon.
list
not be
is
so close, that
fortuitous.
Bebosus.
in
differ.
it
can-
likewise correspond
8.
Years.
Astb. Canos'.
Years.
1.
Asordanus
1.
Asaridinus
13
2.
Sammughes
21
2.
Saosduchinus
20
3.
Sardanapalus
21
3.
Ciniladanus
4.
Nabopolassar
21
4.
Nabopollassar
21
5.
Nabucodrossor
43
5.
Nabocolassar
43
Amilmarudoch
6.
Uloarudamus
7.
Nericasolassar
6.
7. Neriglissar
22
17
[Laborosoarchod, 9 months]
8.
Nabodenus
9.
Cyrus
....
17
8.
Nabonadius
9.
Cyrus
....
dynasty.
Cyrus in
Digitized by
430
of the Canon.
[CHAP. VII.
Canon cannot be
b.c.,
be fixed at
to
Sennacherib at
693
him
at
770
With
b.c.,
The
is,
is
described
down
to us
With regard to
we have some authentic
538
b.c.,
lists
of kings, disso-
critics to
p. 498.
Digitized by
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 10.]
431
go
for little.
It is
historical.
Clinton), the times and the transactions are better guides than
the names
for these,
the
(as
changes which they undergo in passing through the Greek language, and the substitution of a
title
many
appears under
In general,
name and
all
that
is
is
It is easy to identify
his
him
and
if
that the father admitted the son to a share of his power during
life,
and that
nants go for
manner be
little,
and vowels
is
for nothing.
go
for little,
It
is
It
may
in like
by the restorers of
all
may be
all
equally unsupported
by
positive
given.
B.c.(
139
)
b.c.,
(Euvres, p. 489.
Digitized by
432
places
him
Numerous
[cHAP. VII.
critics identify
Sardana-
b.c.( 132 )
Des
Sardanapalus; Esarhaddon
is
by
rejected
Labynetus
identifies
I.
of Herodotus by Larcher
Labynetus
I.
the
Nabopolassar
with the
is identified
135
;(
with the Nabonadius of Berosus and the Canon, and the Belshazzar of Daniel. ( 136 )
Some
who
lists
Thus we
find
of names which
are
informed
by
and that the statue was removed by Opias, the envoy of Deleboris,
the chief of
Polyliistor
whom
Alexander
it
who had
remained
Deleboris,
Assyrian chronology.
It
( 134 )
(
Vol.
vii. p.
183.
( 131
(
Des Vign.
133 ) Vol.
( 135 )
ii.
vol.
ii.
p. 322.
p. 322, 388.
lb.
( 138 )
named
Digitized by
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 11.]
have
carried
433
safety for
a cen-
tury ; ( 139) and we have no reason to suppose that any contemporary chronicles or registers, of a historical nature, had been com-
respect
dotus,^ 40 )
is
it
is
and
exist,
The
materials of knowledge
all
it is
important to
fix
the boun-
memory
has perished.
exists,
They
dis-
or elevating, can
historical
reality,
is
tory,
If
of Greek and
Roman
his-
even
difficult to
fix
Homer
(139)
higli
a date.
(140) Vol.
ii.
b.c.
It is
They
The poems of
describe a state
i.
p. 68.
p. 175, 182.
145, thinks that the uncertainties of Assyrian chronology will not be removed, until some ouvrage prdcieux is
discovered. There is, however, no reason for supposing that the writers
of the later periods of antiquity were in possession of any information
respecting Assyrian chronology which has not descended to our time.
(141) Larcher, ib. vol.
vii. p.
V B
Digitized by
434
[CHAP. VII.
and
intelligence
civilization
blit
they
fix
no trustworthy dates
as to previous time.
as to the duration of
is
mankind which
If
we suppose
is
a strong
the production of
a large population
on ;
we
if
are
regularly carried
no
class
slaves
we have
all
community
is
are his
and that
it
warlike purposes.
Now
its
command
over
its
subjects for
the banks of the Euphrates and the Tigris, and the kingdom of
civilization has
never suc-
ment, law,
literature,
arts it has
there
is
made
and
building.
Many
considerable progress.
none in which
it
has so
much
Among
these arts,
The ancient
its
no account of Nineveh
Digitized by
GoogI
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 11.]
were
and
still
standing
when the
city
was
435
visited
by Herodotus;
The
;(
143
)
has disappeared.
all
trace of
them
great buildings of
by Herodotus.
The Egyptians do not seem
by the natural
(as
we have
144
;(
and they
intelligent inhabitants
Hence,
after the
Ancient Egypt
may be
Whatever part of
He
i.
He
fulfilling
( 145 )
iii.
p. 392, 401.
F F %
Digitized by
436
[chap. VII.
permanently or temporarily, from agriculture and other necessary labours, could be devoted to works of construction.
To
work
We may
by an Oriental king,
in
command
of labour enjoyed
The
fleet,
600
his fleet at
large
is
comparatively imperfect.
ships.
at 700,000
Notwithstanding his
The
men, and
command
of this
made
across the
Danube not
far
from
and a similar
its
mouth.
thon,
is
at 2,317,000
men, and
the Hellespont
With
his fleet at
its
4207
ships,
his
when he
army
crossed
men.( 147)
remarks. Hist, of Gr. vol. v. p. 30, that the men who
( 146 ) Mr. Grote
excavated the canal at Mount Athos worked under the lash and these, be
it borne in mind, were not bought slaves, but freemen, except in so far as
they were tributaries of the Persian monarch.
shall find (he adds)
other examples as we proceed of this indiscriminate use of the whip, and
full conviction of its indispensable necessity, on the part of the Persians,
even to drive the troops of their subject-contingents on to the charge in
No Persian subject was properly a freeman ; they were all slaves
battle.
of the great king.
In the representation of building work in progress, from a temple at
Thebes, among the drawings of the Prussian expedition, in Brugsch, Hist.
dEgypte, vol. i. p. 106, an overseer with a stick is represented as sitting
down while the men are at work.
See Mr. Grotes comments upon these numbers, Hist, of Gr. vol.
( 147 )
He arrives at the conclusion that the numbers of Xerxes
v. p. it 51.
were greater than were ever assembled in ancient times, or perhaps at any
known epoch of history,' p. 49. The army of Xerxes consumed 7 entire days
and nights in marching across the Hellespont, Herod, vii. 56. zEschylus,
We
Digitized by
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 11.]
437
he constructed
and to be renewed
after
had been once broken by the wind, merely to save the trans-
it
sails
or oars
he
like-
his fleet
U9
:(
from the
still
visible.
even
for a
The consciousness of
Oriental prince.
his power,
combined
wanton
rise
of
it,
We may easily
conceive that the same power which enabled Darius and Xerxes
to collect their vast hosts on the Bosporus, would have enabled
them
to congregate
spot,
building.
of
We may
mind which
same
state
Babylon
U9
;(
pyramids, labyrinths, and palaces, for the enjoyment and glorification of the kings themselves.
who was a grown-up man at the time of Thermopylse and Platsea, describes the Persian army, on its return, as principally destroyed by hunger,
its excessive numbers, Pers. 482
91, 794.
on account of
Xerxes
Digitized by
438
We can
[CHAP. VII.
trace the
in operation in
king of Lydia, a
mound
work
passing
enormous
size
was the
The
after
161
)
for the
This temple,
city
was besieged by
Titus. ( 152 )
The
is
and
it
Two hundred
thousand
men
work.( 153 )
is
is
edifice.
Its
and
The remains of this barrow are still extant see Raw( 150 ) i. 93.
Herodotus, vol. i. p. 232. Mr. Hamilton estimates the circumference at nearly half a mile.
The story of the diversion of the Halys
appears to be fabulous, Herod, i. 75.
;
linson's
number.
( 152 ) See Joseph. Bell. Jud. v. 5.
( 1 53 ) Concerning the great wall of China, see Andersons Narrative of
Embassy to China in 1772, 3, and 4, ed. 2, 8 vo, p. 196.
154 ) See Sleeman's Recollections of an Indian Official, vol. ii.
27 37 ; Tavernier, Voyages des Indes, liv. i. c. 7.
the British
(
p.
Digitized by
OF THE ASSYBIANS.
SECT, 11.]
439
being 242^ feet bigh, and only forty-eight feet two inches in
diameter at the base, stands near Delhi.
It
We are
the lapse of a long period of time to account for the great constructive works of Assyria
The
and Egypt.
architectural
much
attention
but we
may
Herodotus, so far as
it
Cheops,
b.c.(157 )
He fixes
the construction
his series,
670
b.c.(168 )
system cannot be assigned. Those who attributed the construction of one of the pyramids to Rhodopis, a contemporary of
Sappho, supposed a
still
later date.^ 59 )
On
priests,
from
whom Herodotus
16
derived his
The canal
commenced and left
to the
Red
is
likewise of
no great
men
( 156 )
(
are said to
antiquity, as
Neco
p. 321.
Digitized by
440
[CHAP. VII.
b.c.,
its
its
hundred
gates,
battle. ( 162 )
The
which the
size
may he conjectured
had a hundred
Odyssey;
Egypt
is
alluded to
Menelaus describes
at
length
Homer
is
river iEgyptus
;(
is
He
in the country.
difficult^ 166 )
all
we may come
is
no
sufficient
167
)
similar
i.
162 ) Iliad
ix.
381 4
Od.
iv.
127.
him
speaks of
of Egypt
npos ras Toiavras p*Ta(ioKas. He comments on the silence of Homer respecting Memphis, and remarks that, being lower down the Nile than
Thebes, it was probably of later origin.
( 163 )
( 165 )
Od.
iv.
Od.
xi.
263.
164 )
i.
179.
Egypt is
called niKpfj, in
( 167 ) The
Digitized by
centre
441
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 1].]
bylon.
Babylon
it
was demolished by
The
visited
tant^ 68)
Xerxes
in the
it
on
its
Homeric
times,
was
government on a large
scale
but
it is
and good sense that they did not attempt, with the means
at
their
from the
is
by the
Cypselidae) were
on a
different scale
had any
The
real existence. ( 17 )
great
tomb of Porsenna
at
171
seems to
(168)
i.
all
affinity
181.
(169) Anab. vii. 17. In the book of Genesis the foundation of Babel
attributed to Nimrod, and the foundation of Nineveh to Asshur, in the
second generation after the Noachian deluge, x. 10, 11. The building of
the lofty tower, and the confusion of tongues, are the subject of another narrative, and are not connected with Nimrod, xi. 1 10. Dante
follows the common view in connecting Nimrod with the Tower of
Babel
Vedea Nembrotto appie del gran lavoro
Quasi smarrito, e riguardar le genti,
Che n Sennaar con lui insieme foro.
is
Purgatorio,
xii.
34.
builders.
Digitized by
442
[ciIAP. VII.
and their
There
is
to buildings
when
Ruins
fifth
emblems of
to be Christian edifices,
by Irish
The ancient
pean, of which
and
Italy,
many remains
less, it is
all this
region.
Neverthe-
The
Mr.
arces.
likewise said to have built the walls and gate of Mycenae, Paus. ii. 16, 4. Strabo states that the building Cyclopes were seven
in number, and came from Lycia : he adds that they were called yatrrepoX* l P c *< because they lived by their craft, viii. 6, 11.
Resides the single eye (to which the name was held to allude), the only
They were
Digitized by
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 11.]
443
periods,
historical character.
has
It
Roman
Minor
origin
174
;(
War;(17S ) while
The occurrence of
Homer. ( 178 )
Greece
The
is
is
in like
manner quite
in-
determinate. ( 178)
As an
no
mere
style of
masonry
many
affords
we may men-
subsequent to the
fifth
century, closely
The
attribute common to all three ideas is that of gigantic size and strength. The
attribute of skill in workmanship is common to the last two compare the
verse of Hesiod, Ur\vs r fj&e fitr) xal fuj^ava'i rjaav cit tpyois, Theog. 146.
:
Museum,
vol.
the excellent
ii.
(176) Iliad
ii.
557.
ii.
vol.
ii.
p. 275.
p. 227.
Digitized by
444
[CHAP. VII.
early
is
If
superior to that of the brute animals, ( 181 ) they would have left
no
titled
celts,
The rude
flint
any
weapons, en-
and caves
extinct
This
tant.
know
fact,
when
still
ex-
we
countries at a time
guished by
man
him that
in its character, as
any
(Edinburgh, 1860)
( 182 ) See Owens Paleontology, p. 401
Life on the Earth, p. 49.
Phillips,
Digitized by
OF THE ASSYRIANS.
SECT. 11.]
become
445
Western
Asia.
elk,
must have
The
alces
The
also
been
alive
at
commonly
no very
still
his
time.( 184 )
The
abandoned. (
18S
)
Many
of
is
assigned to the
the
in
course of the present treatise, and have been shown to be destitute of foundation. ( l86 )
(183) See
Owen,
ib. p.
372.
p.
209
sq.
Eng.
tr.
Nam
Digitized by
446
Chapter TUT.
TTTE
nomy and
'
Phoenicians.
it
this
manufacturing
For
had
had penetrated
Western Ocean,
at a
time
(i)
Above,
p. 262.
iii.
1, p. 14,
149.
(4) The skill of the Sidonian women in embroidery is mentioned, II. vi.
290. The metallic work of the Sidonians and the navigation of the
Phoenicians are mentioned, ib. xxiii. 743 4. The decorative skill of the
Phoenicians, and their seafaring habits, are alluded to in several passages
of the Odyssey see particularly Od. xv. 415 484. Compare Pindar,
Pyth. ii. 126 ; Soph, fragm. 756, Dindorf.
Digitized by
SECT. 1.]
447
The
by a northern
constellation
The Greeks
have taught
gation
his
6
,-(
even
same
Thales
indication.
supposed to
is
Little
Bear in navi-
The connexion between navigation and astronomy was considered as intimate;^ 0) Virgil supposes that sailors were the
first to give names to the stars. ( n )
A treatise on Nautical
Astronomy was attributed to Thales ; and the works of Eudoxus
and Aratus on the stars are stated to have been intended for
485
Od.
v. 272.
(6)
jeal,
and
that
it is
Pole.
Magna minorque
ferte,
quarum
Majoremque
helice
iii.
107.
Compare Hygin.
name
of
(9)
Poet. Astr.
ii.
2,
who states
i.
304
8.
Qotviia).
Above,
p. 83, n. 59.
(10) Pliny informs us that the inhabitants of Taprobane did not steer
stars, but that, in order to sail to India, they let out birds, and
followed their course, vi. 24.
by the
(11)
Ple'iadas,
i.
137
8.
Digitized by
448
It becomes, therefore, a
tain
[CHAP.
in-
inquiry, to ascer-
for
VIII.
matter of
among
The circum-
about 610
Ileeren,
b.c.,
is
credited
as an historical fact.
and
to
to Corn-
Gadesthe modern
as an ancient foundation of the Phoenicians of Tyre. u
peculiar position an
or peninsula, easy of defence,
Cadiz,
Its
island,
fish
marked
it
it
out as an
Velleius states
i.
10
;(
while the
p. 285.
(13) Link, Die Urwelt und das Alterthum, vol. ii. p. 305 (Berlin,
1821 2) thinks that the Phoenician ships penetrated to the coast of
and carried on a trade in amber. Heeren, Ideen, ii. 1, p. 178,
advances the same opinion. Compare i. 2, p. 85.
Prussia,
See Pauly, art. Geographia, vol. iii. p. 737 art. Navigatio, vol. v.
445. Niebuhr, Hist, of Rome, vol. i. p. 281, Eng. tr., connects the
primitive astronomy of Europe with that of America, and therefore must
suppose the latter country to have been discovered.
(14)
p.
( 16 )
i.
2.
Digitized by
SECT. 2.]
449
cites
Gades
before they founded the cities of Utica and Carthage, which lay
on
Gades
is
way
The foundation of
to Gades.
but
to their Empire.
ambiguous
18
)
Its fidelity to
for there
was a party in
it
Romans during
the
Second Punic
War.( 19)
Strabo says that the Phoenicians occupied the productive
district of
down
to the time
Romans.^)
when
Homer
it
Anas
b.c.,
Scylax,
mentions
many
( 17 )
21 ) See
( 22 )
(
23 )
( 18 )
C. 134.
20 )
Movers, Phonizier,
vol.
ii.
p.
Mela,
iii.
iii.
But whatever
6 ; Justin,
xliv. 5.
2, 14.
615647.
lb. p. 639.
djro
Hpa/cAeiW (mjXoiv
TTcXdyri, c. 1.
0 G
Digitized by
450
may have
[chap. VIII.
Tyre or Carthage,
must
From Gades
and
to
The metal
icaaairepoc occurs
several
is
Beckmaun( 24)
Odyssey.
was
and
and lead
and
that,
on ac-
It
is,
by kaaolTtpog in the
Iliad is tin
and
it is
so under-
stood by Pliny. ( 28 )
The question
arises,
whence the
tin used
by the Greeks of
is,
it
to
be produced
its
He
it
is
weight.
abounds
and that
it
was
not found on the surface, but was mined and melted like silver
and
(
gold.
28
(
iv. p. 20.
vi. p. 120.
( 26 ) N. H. xxxiv. 47.
N. H. xxxiv. 47. Concerning the tin trade, see Kenrieks Phoenicia
(Lond. 1855), p. 209225.
Iliad, vcd.
( 25 )
(
27 )
( 28 )
v. 38.
Digitized by
SECT. 3.]
Other reports
451
with Iberia.
Posidonius
beyond
Lusitania.
islands,
29
(
Avienus, there
is
is
30
(
meant,
Cassius
is
Bay of Tartessus
among
these
Mount
is
my thus,
be
still
it is
But
it
which the
procured.
till
chiefly
was unable
and
(**)
it
was not
on the
tin trade
carried
On
( 29 )
(
Fragm.
48.
Scymnus,
it
and the
30 )
v.
v.
162
661
;
Roman
4.
Stepb. Byz. in
TapTrjtraros.
( 32 )
v. 259.
33 )
iii.
116.
G G 2
Digitized by
452
[chap.
VIII.
The
Homans, however,
many
after
tin
surface,
it
is
Gaul from 58
nor
is it
easy to
fix
to in this passage
who was
By
to 55 b.c.( 35 )
This story
is
Romans
likely to
attempt
voyages beyond
of Carthage in 146
B.c.,
Second Punic
must be the
Caesars lieutenant in
War
the
which we
Caesars
Gaul.
life,
The
that, before
and during
known
They
are stated
3fi
Sicily, triangular,
(34) hi- 5.
See Ctcsar,
(35)
p. 116.
B. G.
ii.
64
vol. iv.
Digitized by
SECT. 3.]
mainland was
called
Cantium (Kent)
named Orca
The
(a
453
inhabitants
who produce
they
astragali,
tin,
called Ictis.
is left
dry at low
tides,
it
travels
on horseback,
it
buy
It
to Gaul, over
which
it
mouths of the
Rhone. ( 87 )
Timams mentioned an
tin,
Wight The
whence he
carried on
and
to the
Roman
colony of Narbo^ 40 )
Posidonius, the contemporary of Cicero, likewise states that
tin
route.
was
b.c.,
This must
mean
tin
more
brought over
( 37 ) v. 21 22
For insulam Mictim
( 38 ) Ap. Plin. vi, 16 (fragm. 32, ed. C. Muller).
in Pliny, Mr. Kenrick reads insulam Ictim, which is not an improbable
conjecture.
,
39 ) Geogr.
( 42 )
ii.
3,
3.
40 )
( 41 )
v. 38.
A use.
50.
Fragm.
48.
Bochart interprets
this
Digitized by
454
NAVIGATION OF
T1IE PHCENICIANS.
[chap. VIII.
speak of Butch
toys,
as
we
made
in the interior of
Tuscany.
Pliny describes the Cassiterides as a group of several islands,
lying opposite Celtiberia, to which the Greeks gave this
tin.
He
Happy
43
(or Artabri)
name
;(
The ten
west
Scymnus, in
Britain.
90
b.c.,
his geographical
We
Arabia, and
He
left
same time
of
adds,
to
Hanno
extant:
is
his
voyage was partly for the foundation of colonies, and partly for
discovery
Sierra
he
Leone
is
;
470
b.c.('
The
discoveries of
He
de-
43 ) N. H.
iv.
36.
161
v.
v. 392.
44 )
46 )
4.
i.
Prol. p. xxii.
below, 8
Digitized by
SECT. 3 .]
455
duced
tin
and
lead,
sail
He
from
proceeds
at least four
wind
and
state,
it
was surrounded by
is
correctly
it
of discovery
one
public expense.
Gades
The
at the
(i.e.
would
not be very
On
Latin writers lead to the inference that the tin supplied in early
times to the nations in the east of the Mediterranean came by
the overhand route across Gaul, and that the Phoenician ships
brought
it
as Britain.
Some
Iberian tin
may
sailing as far
from Gades.
49 )
v.
80 111
b.c.)
might
It mentions
tin,
Digitized by
456
among
[chap. VIII.
Tyre from
to
Tarshish.
1
all
in thy fairs/
(xxvii.
shish
and
they traded
lead,
2.)
Biblical critics
is,
that Tar-
is
is
here
50
But the meaning of Tarshish in the Old Testanot free from doubt ; and even if Tarshish, in its
signified.
ment
is
strict
in this passage
would be
its
meaning
satisfied
and
it
east,
the west.
various metals
namely,
much
tin.(
61
gold and
It
is
not a
silver,
stated
little
by Stephanus of
and
its
who
author,
lived at
our
names of
places.
53
(
Whether
it
among
others
enumerated
many
knew
of
mined
though the
(50) See
Tartessus.
(51)
(53)
ii.
Winer,
latter supposition
in Tharscliisch
36.
(52)
In
v. Kacnrlripa.
p. 607, 515.
Digitized
by
NAVIGATION OF
SECT. 4.]
457
TIIE PIKENICIANS.
Sea,
which
article of
import
namely.
54
)
one,
mouth
of the Nerbudda,
Bombay
north of
is
The author of
at the
end of the
first
century
after Christ. ( 57 )
He
Greek KaaohipoQ
Aramaic
Greek
drawn in
its favour
kaslir
as well as the
this word,
kasdir,
58
)
is
amber.
electron
had a double
signification;
it
de-
noted amber, and also a metallic compound formed by the mixture of gold and silver in certain proportions.
these significations was the original one,
it is
Whichever of
transfer from the one to the other was ow ing to the tawny colour
and the
lustre
(54) c. 7.
c.
28.
(56)
to the
c.
iii.
1, p.
p. 498.
(59) Virgil says of a river, clearer than amber,'
Digitized by
458
Homer and
electron in
[chap. TUI.
Hesiod, where
it
determine
on the
its
Buttmann, however, in
meaning.
has
subject,
made
it
probable that
signifies
it
in the plural
number
for the
amber
i\icm, in
word
his dissertation
ornaments of a necklace in
ments fastened
to a couch.
62
where
Thales
is
it
Upon
63
(
is electron.
we
it
would say
Georg,
iii.
it
is
now almost
The metaphor
522.
exclusively ob-
is
Pnrior electro
campum
petit amnis,
imitated by Milton:
iii.
288.
63 ) Diog. Laert.
It
amber imported
and
tained^ 68)
amber
ii.
p. 337.
24.
The
62 ) Eq. 532.
and Hip-
By Hippias, the
Aristotle refers only to the magnet, De An. i. 2.
sophist seems to be meant. Plato, Tim. 60, p. 80, mentions the attractive
properties of fftacTpov.
pias.
ii.
p. 129.
amber
Digitized
by
SECT. 4.]
459
rians,
considers
manifestly of Greek
origin,
the
tin,
6000
tance of a days
Germany
sail,
67
The account of
)
as recited to us by
Metonomon, reaching
b.c.),
The account
that
it
is
Europe
believes, however,
tones, a nation of
being
He
is,
as
that
side.
Pliny,
Herodotus re-
name Eridanus
it
to their
Tirmeus
place
is,
69
;(
The testimony of
he there
was
sail
spring.
was by Timseus
called Basilia.
is
source,
is
He
exclusively upon the coast of Ducal Prussia in the Baltic.
says that it is cast up by the sea, and that the collection of it is farmed out
by the Elector of Brandenburgh for an annual rent of 18,000 or 20,000,
and sometimes as much as 22.000 dollars. Sir John Hill, however,
(Translation of Theophrastus on Stones, ed. 2, p. 132), affirms that amber
was found
is
it is
sometimes found in
England.
(67)
iii.
115.
(68) xxxvii. 2.
p. 269.
Digitized
by
4 CO
70
site
up by the sea on
and that
and that
this island,
;(
[CHAP. VIII.
amber
that
is
cast
it
it is
it is
who
the
shoal
rious about
its
nature, and
luxury gave
it
value
unmanufactured
in an
call
gletum.
receive for
they
they
now
state,
made no
use of
until
it,
and send
collect it
it
sub-
Roman
onwards,
it.
among the
it
to be a
it
gum, which
distils
One
Northern Ocean
Roman
(glam)
is
is
carried
by
named by the
producing gleesum, or amber
soldiers Glessaria,
from
its
it
73
travia, or Actania,
by the
island of Burcana,
natives.
Pliny places
it
near the
Europe
as
more
precise
and
satis-
factory character.
vince passed
coast where
Roman
( 70 )
on to the Veneti,
it
who conveyed
it
it
is
By
made
known
it
in Italy.
The
who was
knight,
at the
Galatia, Diodorus
means
Celtics, that
is,
central
and western
Europe.
( 71
(
74
dition
v. 23.
Strab.
is
( 72 )
vii.
12 b.c.
1 , 3.
c.
45.
( 73 )
See Merivales
iv. 13,
31.
Roman Empire,
xxxvii. 3.
The date of
this
expe-
Digitized by
;
;
SECT. 4.]
4G1
it
in large quantities.
from Carnuntum
to the
it
amber
district
with amber
at the knots
in the
bier,
and
all
the
apparatus for one day were decorated with the same material.
He
difficulty
The
Adriatic.
Baltic
is
Carnuntum
distance from
out that in the Middle Ages there was a commercial route from
the Upper Vistula to Southern Germany, which, passing through
river
A Roman
to the Danube. ( 77 )
The
serious difficulty.
him
to have brought to
large piece of
Rome
is
is
stated in M'Cullochs
Commercial
69
Vitellius, in
still
It appears
now
pre-
from Tacitus
He was murdered in
79
(
(75) xxxvii. 3.
i.
p.
344.
78 ) Hist.
iii.
57, 76.
( 79 )
lb. p. 76.
Digitized by
4G2
[chap. VIII.
He makes
remark
This opinion
is
land-traffic could
to
the
all
who came
as those
80
; f
be carried on
mentioned by Livy
it
to be agreeable to analogy
small bulk
riage.^ 83 )
is
miles.( 81 )
a valuable merchandize of
It likewise applies,
Briickner,
in
though with
Historia
his
Iteipublicse
Massiliensium, ( 8S )
however,
much more
of
80 )
iv.
It seems,
by
this channel.
The Phoeni-
24, vi. 2.
82 )
c. 40.
83 )
p. 60.
Digitized
by
SECT. 4.]
463
way
it
it
found
He
its
con-
85
it.(
The
poplars on the hanks of the river Eridanus, and their tears for the
though posterior
originally, as
By
degrees, however,
though
it
identification
its
Hesiod places
it
was
at first unfixed.
The Theogony of
87
it
Europe.
iEschylus regarded
it
it
is
89
; (
and
At an
is
clearly ex-
i.
p.
280
is
early
This identifiit
184) See
Compare
Herodotus
conceived
v. 2.
285.
this fable.
(87) v. 338.
num
esse dixit,
appellari Rhodanum.
In Heliad. fragm. 63,
appears to place the fall of Phaethon on the shores
eundemque
Dindorf. however, he
of the Adriatic.
(89)
Fragm. 33
c.
ed. C. Muller.
Digitized
by
464
He
poem.
[chap. VI II.
the Eridanus, in their voyage from the Ister to the Rhone, and
as there hearing the
amber
He
tears.
lament of the
Ileliades,
and seeing
their
which he
attributes to the Celts, that the tears were those of Apollo, shed
for his
Hyperboreans. ( 91 )
how
in its original
form of
ornaments
Roman
for the
ladies
Inde flaunt
De
The
story of the
amber
93
;(
treated as
is
it
in
boatmen
if
amber.
fable.
The Col-
300
b.c.,
describes
amber
as a
gum
But the
Po was not
amber
identification of the
accidental.
tears of the
Adriatic,
Northern
( 90 )
(
91 )
92 )
( 94 )
Italy,
which
falls
into this
part of the
Hipp. 735741.
iv. 595
626.
Compare Seymnue, v. 395 401.
Met. ii. 363 6.
{ 93 ) Polyb. ii. 16, 17 ; Strab.
Mir. Ausc. c. 81.
De Electro.
( 95 )
Adriatic.
v. 1, 9.
Digitized
by
SECT. 4.]
Amber was
465
women
in his time.
on
Northern
An
derivation from
its
Italy.
some
the north of
in
real river
remarked with
Eridanus
in popular legend
is
a fabulous stream,
is
gained by explaining
it
to
mean the
The
story of
river, as
in the
Even the
insula Glessaria,
fact.
the east of the Helder, off the coast of Holland and Friesland,
appears to have received
its
accidental con-
nexion with amber ; as the islands on this coast are not known
to have yielded that substance.
cated.
It
extremity of the
at the
by
may
exist
group of
tin islands.
96 )
De
98 ) Ideen,
ii.
1, p.
Comm. Acad.
Petrop.
179.
Steph. Byz. in
v.
Mela,
ii.
4.
Apollonius
iv. 505.
Rhodius places the sacred Electrid island near the river Eridanus,
Scymnus, v. 374, places the Electrid islands in the Adriatic Sea.
u u
Digitized
by
466
to the
to the
in the
b.c.,( 100)
Mediterranean through
later.
extended
it
[chap. VIII.
question ;
articles in
likewise to ivory.
known
two
various hands, from India, and the remote parts of Africa. ( 101 )
The
early Greeks
knew nothing
The word
longed.
elephas,
be-
it
it
first
10S
:
Babylon. ( 103 )
It
till
first
known
silk, like
Virgil describes
The
to Aristotle
it
105
; (
linen and
as the deli-
leaves
of trees, ( 106 ) and the naturalist, Pliny, gives a similar account. ( 107 )
articles of
(100) 1
Kings
(101) PauB.
i.
x. 22.
12, 4, v. 12, 3.
104 )
art. Ivory.
( 102 ) iv.
191.
vi. 17.
( 108 )
Digitized
by
SECT. 5.]
467
the
Pillars of Hercules,
and
discovered, he, in
common
postor,
that the
Pillars of Hercules
Isles,
knowledge are
trustworthy.^ 11 -)
109 )
ii.
One
4.1.
(ui)xvi.
(no)iii. 38.
112 ) iv. 5,5.
(
29.
H H 2
Digitized
by
468
[chap. viir.
Pytheas,
it
state at the
if
mouth of the
The
its place.
fable
article
which he
He
of Vulcan.
a boiling state.
navigator
who
was not
own
his
and
states, that
mendacity
was in
quoted he regards
account of
its
Strabo
it
is
a mere fiction;
existence as
its
remoteness
he proposes to apply to
known on
by con-
it,
known
to
The tendency
and
it
is
satirized
where he says of
Historia
is
115
;(
his Vera
which
this
The
To
4 2
(114)
i.
(1 16)
Compare
iii.
(1 15)
i.
p.
58
6 D. Strabo
Digitized
by
SECT. 5.]
The account
island six days
Sea ;
in
4G9
was an
it
nor water in a
air,
that
it
served as a bond of
foot nor in ships
all
things,
having, as
it
man, nor
sufficient fluidity to
admit of navigation.
He had
seen the substance like the pulmo marinus, but related the rest
on hearsay
year were
report. ( U7)
light,
He
and that
six
months of the
From
this account
it
distinc-
would appear
called
The
ir\tv[i<ov
OaXamo c,
or pulmo marinus
a mollusca which
is
is,
that the
Roman fleet
first
and that
circumit
disco-
it
was ordered
was
said not to
Digitized by
470
[chap. VIII.
tinged with
is
The
more
as sufficient evidence.
dis-
real
by
ships, either
from their shoals, or from the obstacles to navigation produced by the semi-fluid and muddy properties of the water,
among
frequently recurs
vented by
sailors, as a
Eastern seas
the
shoals. ( 122 )
by
why
reason
had
been arrested.
Sesostris into
by
-was,
vessels,
attri-
Himilco
the absence of wind, the thickness of the sea-weed, the shallowness of the water, and the monsters with which
fested^ 124 )
Hercules
it
was
also
in-
Germany
as
sluggish,
beyond the
The waters
from mud,
them
(
(
362.
122 ) Herod,
ii.
is
is
102; below,
(>
(
ii. i.
sea.( 127)
those on
p.
25 ) I( 127 ) Meteor,
perioeci,
because
Even
14.
499.
v.
126 )
123 ) Tim. 6
ac prope
(
v.
192, 21
immotum, Germ.
128 )
i-
45.
2.
Digitized
by
SECT. 5 .]
by
471
Eastern Ocean.
the summer
d ay, (iso)
sail
solstice it
at
that Thule
is
that at the
is five. days
summer
solstice it
no
and
has
that
it
upon
fruits
dried
in
abounds with
fruit;
common.
that
its
Beyond
this island
the sea
is
women
are
motionless and
frozen. ( 131 )
without adding
is
first
existence.
its
Thule
Caesars, speaks of
Greek and Latin poets. He states that the night3 are short
and semi-obscure in summer ; and that at the summer solstice,
the sun never sets, and there is no night. (132)
According to
Dionysius Periegetes, Thule
is
is
1S3
)
Stephanus of Byzan-
is
m
(
(129) Stat immotum mare, et quasi deficient in suo fine natur pigra
motes, novse ae terribiles figur, magna etiam oceano portenta, qua: profunda ista vastitas nutrit, eonfusa lux alta ealigine, et interceptus tenebria
dies, ipsum vero grave et devium mare, et aut nulla aut ignota sidera,
Seneca, Suas. i. p. 3 , ed. Bipont. Lower down, p. 4 , fceda belluarum
magnitudo, et immobile profundum, are mentioned. Curtius, is. 4 speaks
of caliginem ac tenebras ac perpetuam noctem profundo incubantem
,
N. H.
(132)
iii.
iv.
30
6.
(131)
c.
(133) v.
22
680
.
(134) In v. QovKt).
Digitized
by
472
[chap. VIII.
in Cancer
month. (
it
136
never
is
circle
and there
sets,
cites
the tes-
where
Achilles Tatius
speaks
Thule. ( 137 )
Cancer. ( 1S8 )
According to Martianus
in
is
its
name
By
sius.
it is
poem
of Diony-
any positive
Thus
reality.
by
attributes
savouring
of
island,
geographical
Augustus
him
as
Thule
at the
of Tethys.( 140 )
The
(135)
De Met.
(136)
Elem. Astr.
(137)
c.
i.
Roman
Bake.
13, Petav.
(139)
vi.
(141)
Med.
Kopp.
(140) Georg,
i.
29.
Digitized
by
SECT. 5.]
who
473
The imaginary
xnrip
ouArjv airurra,
The
is
full
of
class
Voyages Imaginaires.
it
as travelling
made
time, and
first
of the sun
At
with
whom
he
falls in
love
woman named
Photius, contained
little
Dercyllis,
first
23 books, says
In the 24th
book was an account of the visit of Dinias, with two companions, named Carmanes and Meniscus, to the regions north of
Thule, where they find plenty of marvels, and at
reaching the moon.
last
succeed in
from
fictions imitated
it.
by Alexander the
Great. ( U5 )
143 ) Sylv.
iii.
See above,
i.
90, v. 2, 54.
p. 270, n. 87.
Digitized
by
474
[CHAP. VIII.
age of Alexander.
name
It
it
Augustan
for
the
till
age.
identify
it
with Britain.
Thus
Silius
describes the
Thule
According to Ser-
is
who wrote
terminate acceptation.
infinite distance
vol.
i.
p. 8.
He
still
uses
it
Orosius, however,
by an
work
is
told
Ccerulus
Agmina
haud
aliter,
(148)
(149)
Ad
Ad
quum
Georg,
i.
30, vol.
Georg,
i.
30.
ii.
Digitized
by
SECT. 5.]
475
known even
to
Germany and
was
by
first
islands.
who
navigated by Drusus,
Six-
down the
sail
up
who
is
speaks of this
viously
all
of.(
by Velleius,
No
the mouths of the Caspian Sea ; the Romans have not penetrated beyond the Elbe
land.'( 153 )
It will
The
from Scythia,
round the north of Germany and Gaul, to Iberia and the Pillars
of Hercules and that in this northern ocean there were many
;
large islands.
size,
lying off
( 150 )
de
i.
On the supposed
2.
la Gfeogr.
ii.
Humboldt, Examen
p. 214.
15 a)
(>53)
Tac.
ii.
106
vii. 2, 4.
Digitized by
(
(
476
[CHAP. VIII.
time.
is
an island of enormous
Scythia was
or southern
The
Romans
to the
The peninsame
at the
One
was
known
(Elbe), full
period,
Baltia.^ 55 )
called
size,
the Cattegat,
According to
Scandia, or Scandinavia.
called
Ocean
Pliny,
Sinus
its
size
was unknown.
The portion of
it
which was
beyond Britain.^ 60 )
as a
it
161
)
river Vistula.
mouths of the
therefore, discovery
It
viz.
Jornandes,
( 154 )
Nam
et a
Germania immensaa
cognitum habeo, N. H.
( 155 )
(
ii.
vii. 2,
( 156 )
it
the ap-
112.
158 ) Strab.
insulas
iii.
Plin. iv. 27
3.
;
157 )
Compare Zeuss,
iii.
die
Deulschen,
p. 144.
159 ) lb.
( 160) iv. 30.
162 ) ii. 11 , 33, 34. Compare viii. 6 ,
( 163 ) De lteb. Get. c. 3.
(
(
161 )
Be
Georg,
ii.
4.
4.
Digitized by
SECT. 5.]
pellation of Thule.
War/
He
Procopius, in his
477
first
crossed the
mained/ 184)
In
it
He
try.
name
Thule/ he says,
is
an island of great
north.
Germany, ap-
is
lies at
summer
all
it,
to the
governed by kings.
solstice the
a distance from
size,
it
does not
other.
For
set,
rise.
and
The
spirits,
Although
(adds Procopius) I
these
accomplish
my
desire.
sets,
they reckon the days by the motion of the sun round the
horizon.
The
last five
rises,
they
These
islanders are perpetually haunted with a fear that the sun should
on some occasion
fail
same phenomenon
164 )
On
the course of this migration, see Buat, Hist. Anc. des Peuples
ix. p. 388 ; Zeuss, ib. p. 481.
de lEurope, tom.
Digitized
by
478
The
state,
[chap. VIII.
Scrithifini,
They never
They
but
live
on the animals
Their infants
both
marrow of wild
They worship a
particularly in springs
victims, killing
tion
is
called
and
them with
whom
the Gauti, to
The
differ
Scrithifini
Skridefinni
rivers,
and they
frightful tortures.
and
and
sea,
sacrifice
The
human
largest na-
mentioned in
by other
more correctly
They were sometimes
writers.
The Gauti
way^ 166 )
region,
whose name
with
the Gauti of Procopius, and this coincidence affords an additional proof that Thule
Scandia. ( 168 )
is
Scrithifini,
who
are expressly
Thule.
Dicuil, an Irish
tise
De Mensurd
clerks,
who had
visited it
Letronne
is
sol-
ii. 15.
(166) Zeuss, ib. p. 684.
sup.
(168) Zeuss, ib. p. 158, 511.
Trigesimus nunc annus est a quo nuntiaverunt milii clerici, qui, a
kalendis Februarii usque kalendas Augusti, in ill& insula manserunt, quod,
(167)
(169)
Ubi
Digitized
by
SECT. 5.]
479
fictitious,
first
at the
is to say,
lie desired to
make
it
for
it,
the most part, in a general and almost abstract sense, for a re-
mote unknown
Diogenes gave
island in the
it
made
it
as
Silius
copius identifies
it
Probus makes
fleet,
it
pheno-
as the
Scotland,
some
mena
it
They
The Roman
designation of Iceland.
seas.
it
it
But
significa-
first
Gadeira and
between
the
Tanais;( 171 )
that
is
from Cadiz
non solum
( 171 )
Strab.
ii.
p.
133
147.
4. 1.
Digitized
by
480
[CHAP. VIH.
it
Of this
narrow
The erroneous
strait.
founded on the
is
far to
shores to the
its
gulf,
connected with
it
by a
was a
ander^ 172 )
will dis-
pian.^
73
)
by
a long
belief. ( 17 *)
Caspian
is
Dionysius Periegetes,
makes
belief,
it
fol-
Ocean, opposite the Persian Gulf, and one of the four great
gulfs of the external sea.( 176 )
Germany with
when proconsul
Metellus Celer,
India, that Q.
who were
from India
some Indians,
German
tribe
( 172 )
Plut. Alex. 44
( 173 )
v. 26.
Strab.
Compare
vii.
ix.
6,
Forbiger
1.
16.
( 174 )
xi.
6,
I.
177 ) Plin.
ii.
67
Mela,
iii.
Cic.
ad Div.
v. 1 , 2.
Digitized by
SECT. 6.]
481
for Indians
on
ac-
be observed
It should
that the war-elephants of the Greeks came from India, ( 179) and
Hence
of an elephant-driver, f180)
left
Ocean, and thus gains the Eastern Sea, where the Golden Island
adjoins the rising of the sun;
it
there
makes a
By
Malacca
turn,
the
and
Golden
meant.
is
them
by the
Straits of
would doubtless
On
silia,
island.
if
would be
Italy, it
many
Now
it
by barbarian merchants.
the ancient authors are unanimous
was brought
for
miles
in declaring that
unknown
It
until the
lost portion
(who died in
29
b.c.)
respecting Britain.
18S
)
With regard
(178)
(179)
(180)
(181)
(182)
to Massilia
and Narbo,
is
vol.
ii.
p.
on
See Polyb.
93
v. 587
Ap. Strab.
i.
40
4G,
iii.
xi. 1 .
iv.
2, 1
I
Digitized by
482
through Massilia;
mouth
[CHAP. VIII.
if
the
It
knew
scarcely anything
who did not go beyond the coast which lay opposite to their
own country.^ 83) It may be inferred from this passage that
the Gauls, who carried on the cross-channel trade between
Gaul and Britain, were the inhabitants of the northern
It is
coast.
Britain was
unknown
to the
an island or not
mere
probability,
was
first
cola^ 185 )
184
)
The
on
(as
we
locality,
Livy
was
it
fleet
186
(
of Agri-
declared that
felt
viously
unknown, even by
report. (
187
)
He
sail
the
Rome
by Csesar
It
is
(186)
De Reb.
Get.
c. 2.
c.
23.
(189)
c.
11.
Digitized by
SECT. 6.]
483
who
known
affirmed that he
The boundaries
known
of the
Columns of Hercules
to the West.
193
(
Pindar
is inaccessible.
but
to the Greeks
Veil, ii.46
Compare Drumann,
Flor.
Gesehiehte
(190)
;
18,
Roms, vol. iii. p. 293. Servius, in his Commentary on the verse in Virgils
First Eclogue, Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos (v. 67), states that
Britain is an island lying at a distance in the Northern Ocean, and that it
is called by the poets, another world.
16.
in.
whole
(192) vi. 1104. Dr. Lappenberg, in his History of England under the
Anglo-Saxon Kings (Thorpe s transl. vol. i. p. 3) commits a serious mistake
when he states that * British timber was employed by Archimedes for the
mast of the largest ship of war which he had caused to be built at Syracuse.
He has been misled by the name Bpcrravias, in Athen. v. p. 208 E, where
Camden in his Britannia, has restored Bpemavijs, and Casaubon Bpcrrias.
It is not very likely that Hiero should have sent to the remote and almost
unknown
confusion of Bruttia and Britain likewise occurs in Diod. xxi. 21, cd.
Bekker, where the movements of Hannibal are described. Compare
Diefenbachs Celtics, voL iii. p. 68.
(193)
p. 109.
Herod,
viii.
Hence Juvenal
Omnibus
Auroram,
says
Nem.
iii.
3,
112; Isthm.
iv.
95.
Com-
36, iv.
Gangem.
1 1
Gadibus usque
x. 1.
Digitized
by
484
[chap. VIII.
He
is
situated
its size
the
Britain,
Mona
by which he
that
Ierne,
is
that
portion to
grass
women
rest
and in
These
civilized nations.
do not
by
by savages,
width.
those of Britain
Britain, occupied
cold.( 197 )
to the north
lies
its
beyond
latter accounts,
however, he adds,
its
climate
is
lies
beyond Britain
abundant
in grass, not only of rapid growth, but also of sweet taste, that
cattle eat to satiety in a small part of the day,
and
if
they are
not driven from the pasture, burst from the excess of food.
inhabitants are uncivilized
and remarkably
free
Its
from humanity. (
20
01
Silures. (*
1. 13. 5, 8.
(*97)
(199) v. 32.
(196) v. 13.
(198)
iv. 5,
4.
The words pone par spatio, sed utriusque squab tractu litoram
ohlonga are corrupt. The meaning seems to be similar to that expressed
(200)
is
Digitized by
SECT. 6.]
485
of the Mediterranean
in size.
He
says that, in
its
soil
and
known by
from Britain.
it
Its harbours
one
historian mentions
auxiliaries.
Ostorius,
the propraetor P.
50
in
b.c.,
Arma quidem
speaks of Ire-
a.d.,
:
ultra
modo
captas
14
Orcadas, ac minima contentos nocte Britannos-X* )
The
Roman
the
fleet
middle
specified
number
large
to the
of towns,
by name.( 206)
Of the
the nearest to
it
is
in size.
The manners
of
its
inhabitants are
202 )
c.
24.
203 )
xii.
birds.
victo-
32.
Digitized
by
486
They know no
of the enemy.
wrong.
its first
When
woman
offered up,
it
mouth of the
is
if
a pebble or
thrown into a
is
may occupy,
at sea.
it.
from Hibernia,
The
sea
is
between
few days.
earth, brought
some
hilts of their
and
Prayers are
infant.
men
distinction
introduces
in war.
bees
[chap. VIII.
they both drink and smear their faces with the blood
rious,
The boats
are
Strait is estimated at
who
the injunction^
208
)
This
coast),
lest
she should be
poem may be
pilot,
obeys
There
is
no men-
Apollonius Rhodius.
to have lived at
the end of the fourth century) describes the Sacred Island in-
The
by some
11701190.
207 ) c. 22.
( 208 ) v.
der Grieeliischen Litteratur, vol.
( 209 ) See Bemkardy, Grundriss
p. 267
272; Hermann, Orph. p. 798.
112.
( 210 ) v. 94
(
ii.
Digitized
by
SECT. 6 .]
487
its
position in
but
less civi-
Isle,
is
perceptible.
One
ascertained.
is
mention of
this island,
(we/bi
remains to be noticed.
Treatise
Aristotelic
concerning
the
He
first
traces
its
gulfs,
it
says) it
continuous
in the other,
Palus Maeotis.
Celtica,
it
Further on
Then
it
stretching
beyond the
In
this part of
the ocean there are two great islands, larger than any
in
Celts.
Equal in
size
named Phebol,
lying
Many
(an)
c. 3,
p. 393, ed.
Bekker.
Digitized
by
488
[chap. VIII.
is
an
enigma.
appears.
It has
dation.
by
signified
is
the
however,
name of a
as corrupt,
it
This lake
Abyssinia, which
is
stated to contain
Meroe
in
The
eleven islands.
Red
mentions the
district of 'p0u>, in
No
common
if
Strabo
Theophrastus ( 217 )
;
here
are
corruptions
so
name
the
218
(
is
is 'frtfiwa,
in
duced
now be
( 21 a)
The ten
largest
Ptolemy
he places Taprobane
ascertained.
xvii. 2,
Steph. Byz. in v.
iii. 41.
The Psebaean mountains in this region are also mentioned
( 216 )
by Agatharehides, de Mari Rubro, c. 84 Ap. Geogr. Gr. Min. vol. i.
;
De
i.
Digitized
by
489
SECT. 7 .]
last
is
it
century
b.c.(
219
)
The mention of
men
buffeted
By
an easy transition
becomes an Elysian
the ground produces
human mind.
field
it is
its fruits
its
hallowed precinct
its
inhabi-
who form
He
de-
the Blest, near the ocean, free from care, and enjoying three
harvests in the year.( 220)
Islands of the Blest as the abodes of the just and virtuous after
death. (
men
Happy
lot.(
On
221
Islands,
will
be their permanent
222
)
Cadiz
225
;(
far
Fortunata
(224)
vi.
37
(220)
(222)
art.
Insults.
iii.
10
(225)
iii.
2 , 13
Digitized
by
490
The
[CHAP. VI IL
to
But
and as
knowledge extended,
unknown by name
which the
after Ctesar
had
When,
and marvellous
The
first
field for
supernatural
stories.
who wrote
By
Ilecataeus
i.
2, p. 3-15.
ii. c.
ii.
4.
p. 286,
Digitized
by
SECT. 7 .]
De
491
Ogygia
from each
other.
Saturn
related to be
is
In one of these
neighbouring sea
is
islands,
he proceeds to say,
called
The
5000 stadia
it
it
is difficult to navigate,
whence
(or
on account of
its
muddy
On
properties
opposite to the
They
sur-
it is
is
reinforced
him
after
When
Taurus
by
lot,
is
in the sign of
Hence they
to Hercules.
a coincidence
thirtieth year
band
hospitality,
and
is
the
soil
230 )
c.
Qyvyia, or
sary.
26.
Z>v
iv
In
is
mild and
toil.
They
this passage,
rjj irparti,
Digitized
by
492
[CHAP. VIII.
To some
himself
is
confined in a deep
them
and, addressing
from the
cavern,
as
Saturn
island.
sleeping
on a gold-
fills
genii, the
gods,
who
fly
him ; these
men and
endued with
In the
treatise,
Em-
heroes.
it
When
he
When
many
an event which
was
is
is
confined
that sleep
is his
Other
is
the
c. 18.
Digitized
by
SECT. 7.]
An
island in the
mentioned by Avienus, in
his
493
is
likewise
Saturn
is
the king of the Golden Age, and Pindar connects him with the
Islands of the Blest. ( 235 )
Northern Seas.
Happy
six islands,
called the
(** 6
promon-
Dionysius places
near the Sacred Promontory, which was the extremity of Europe. (M7) This Sacred
Promontory,
Strabo. ( 2S8 )
by
tin,
mentioned
coast
wooded
Western Ocean. (
239
)
was an
b.c.,
there
An
to those celebrated in
mouth of the
Mela
describes an island,
named Sena,
were nine
priestesses
its
virgins,
human
art
and of predicting
( 234 )
v. 165.
KpAvov
235 ) irapa
236 )
iv. 36.
238 )
ii.
242 )
v.
5, 14,
570.
rupaiv,
Olymp.
ii.
70.
237 )
v. 661.
239 )
v.
(
iii.
1, 2.
iv. 4,
( 241 )
(
243 )
lb.
iii.
6.
Digitized
by
494
;;
Ptolemy
[CHAP.
VIII.
Procopius, in his
War/( M6
describes
at a dis-
With
dinavia.
with Scan-
it
it
as lying
the Continent by an
whereas Brittia
lies
interval of
is
as
it
an island ;
is
for although
it
who
it is
it
lie
unwilling
stances described.
heard
it
place,
who
to be a
phenomenon of dreams.
They
(244)
(
246 )
iv. 20.
ii.
6 p. 85
this island.
exempt from
(245)
ii-
( 247 )
ii-
15.
tribute, in
6.
Digitized
by
SECT. 7 .]
to be
it is
homes
on duty
visit
to their work.
and a voice
at their door,
Without a moments
Here they
find
empty boats,
sleep,
calling
from
by an irresistible
to their
of the superintendent.
them
come hack
at the
awaiting the
is
Those whose
turn
495
This service
different
ready for their reception, which they enter, and proceed to row.
is
sage to Brittia
own barks,
it
and
yet,
no one, how-
the island, and discharged their cargo, they return with boats so
lightened that the keel alone sinks in the water.
one
it,
They
see
no
of Gaul
by Ulysses on the
half,
coast
Digitized
by
496
[CHAP. VIII.
Simulacra coloni
Hinc dea
prosiluit,
Et Senonum
murmur,
in the
poem
Megaera
against Rufinus.
mancy was
conceived by
the
ancients
as
Necro-
connected
with
Hades ;(262 ) and the place where Ulysses evoked the souls of the
dead was a natural outlet for a Stygian deity, as the mephitic
cavern of Amsanctus in Italy was, for a different reason, a proper channel for Alecto to return to hell in the iEneid.( 253 )
mancy
hell,
localities at
it
was
to
at
Ulysses
is
251 ) In Ruf.
related
i.
123.
4,
rites.
Serv. ASn.
vi.
106.
p. 187.
Digitized by
497
SECT. 8 .]
Grimm
story in Procopius
some
local legend
is
and the connexion of necromantic evocation with the subterranean passages to Hades.
8 The views of those who maintain the probability of
voyages by the Phoenicians to distant lands who suppose them
receive
gation of Africa.
some confirmation
The
began with the reign of Psammitichus, ( 20) and the reign of his
Neco
successor
616
600
b.c.
is fixed,
at
began to dig a canal connecting the Nile with the Red Sea
in its formation,
when he desisted
He
vessels of
war both
in the
(257)
(
259 )
iii.
c.
4, 4.
22.
oracle.
he built
in the Mediterranean
after the
abandonment of
258 ) Germ. 3.
260 ) See above,
p.
318.
i.
261 )
33.
ii.
158
9.
Aristotle,
.1
K.
Digitized by
;
:
;
4P8
same object by
different
by Phoenicians, to circumnavigate
commence
by the
[chap.
vessels, navigated
ordering
Africa,
them
voyage could be
to
their voyage
Pillars
VIII.
it
effected, a ship
would
sail
If this
Sea and the Mediterranean ;( 262 ) to connect which was the object
of the canal.
when autumn
and having gathered the corn, they then continued their voyage
that having thus
consumed two
they think
fit,
believe,
sailing
but which to
me
The
is
incredible, is that
at a later
465
b.c.)
navigate Africa.
ship and sailors in
Egypt
tells
still
far
many months,
he
sailed
when he
by
little
landed,
left
some sheep
that
and that
Digitized
by
SECT. 8.J
the reason
stuck
why he
fast,
had not
with a large
fulfilled
499
but suppress
it
whom
it
of this Samian
(says Herodotus),
It will
be
life,
The next
This
Herodotus (which
is
repre-
478
he
by
who
but
lived
Eudoxus of Cyzicus
up the Nile
117
b.c.),
accompanied
who said that they had found him alone and half dead in a ship.
By the kings command, the Indian was taught Greek ; whereupon he offered to steer a ship to India the voyage was made
:
under the guidance of this Indian, and Eudoxus went out and
returned with the ship
Cleopatra (117
89
b.c.)
all
the precious
iv.
42, 43,
K K 2
Digitized
by
500
ried
of Africa.
Having landed
[chap. VIII.
at different places,
coast
he communicated
He
On
it
west, he brought
it
away.
who
was a part
81
b.c.),
consequence of an
Eudoxus showed the prow which
accusation of embezzlement.
which had
it as
identified
as having
formed part of a
beyond
Eudoxus hence per-
all his
and other
ports,
on
money, and
way
his
to Gadeira
at all
which places he
by these
means he procured a large ship and two boats, and having taken
on board some singing boys, physicians, and other professional
persons, he steered his course through the Straits for India.
men who
tribes
cast,
which he
as those which
Eudoxus, having
when he had
arrived
known
The
final results
to Posidonius. ( 264).
264 ) Strab.
ii.
here
3, 4.
Digitized by
SECT. 8.]
mentioned
is
501
or he
is
an
The
Red
Sea,
who lived about 120 b.c., also declared that he had seen a man
who had made the voyage from Spain to .Ethiopia for commerpurposes^ 267 )
cial
detail, it is
necessary
geography of Africa.
Strabo says, that although the world
is
unequal
for that
in size to Asia
Europe.
is
the base being the distance from Egypt to the Pillars of Hercules
^Ethiopia.
265 ) The Latin writers call him Bogud : Dio Cassius writes his name
Boyouas. Pliny says that the two divisions of Mauretauia, eastern and
western, were respectively named after their kings Bocchus and Bogud.
(
Compare
( 266 )
Strab. xvii. 3, 7.
Mela,
iii.
Plin.
ii.
67
Digitized
by
502
[chap.
vm.
is parallel
Mela has a
that
its
north to south
it
adjoins the
As
He
and that
its
is
says
greatest width
at the part
is
where
Nile.^0)
Pillars of Hercules
thus
suppressing the
Ocean extended in a
so they
direct line
from
Egypt ;
tribes
on the western
them
into connexion
According to the
who
inhabited Egypt
its
western
Red Sea
2?1
)
explains
upon
is
spherical,
who not
only
(269)
ii.
is,
that India
is
The true
6, 33.
(370)
Compare Gemmas,
explanation,
c.
13.
i-
Plm.
4
vi.
34
Digitized by
SECT. 8.]
a sphere^ 272)
is
if it
were not
503
So Eratos-
size of the Atlantic (or external) Sea, a ship might sail along
the same
parallel
On
was not
this distance
winds
great,
made
be
in a short
time.(f 74 )
The
the extreme west explains some of the mythological stories respecting the population of Africa
275
)
These opinions as to the shape of Africa, though predominant, were not universal
it
be unas-
was
settled
it*
how
is,
far their
The
who, together
Gades and
its
Their
neighbourhood as startingefforts
vit,
Nat. Qutest.
1, Prtef.
11.
(276)
ii.
38.
..
(277)
iii.
9.
Digitized
by
504
tural
[CHAP. VIII.
Tingis, the
to
the south on the same coast, are expressly mentioned as Carthaginian foundations
we
also hear of
neighbouring barbarians.
as
a means of ex-
An
tempts
The extant
narrative
(like
is
is
probably
the bilingual
The expedition was partly for coloThe most distant settlement was
not far from the Straits; the extent of the exploring voyage
cannot be fixed with certainty.
Cape
Nun
Gossellin takes
it
to a point
to
be exaggerated
its
to
master
all
but
Some
only as far as
it
of the
it
circum-
stances related in the exploring part of the voyage are manifestly fabulous
but there
no reason
is
We
mand
when
and
fleet for
the purpose.
ii.
(378) xvii. 3 , 3 .
(
p.
521
554.
his-
fur-
(379) v.
(283)
the furthest
i.
Seo above,
p. 454.
Digitized
by
SECT. 8 .]
505
This voyage
is
referred to
who
identifies
by
Pliny's ac-
analysed by Gossellin,
is
the
Nun.( 28s )
Gossellin
had
is
discovered the Canary Islands, certainly before the time of Sertorius, about 82 b.c.,
On
and probably
at a
much
earlier period.
286
)
Red
485
B.c.)
made
considerable
Herodotus indeed
They
sea.
and
east, until
sea.
They then sailed by sea to the west, and
month reached the point from which Neco had
circumnavigate Africa.
After this
sea. ( 28S)
cited
(283) Plin. v. 1.
(284)
iii.
but
59.
i.
p. 106.
(286) Pint. Scrt. 8; Diod. v. 19, 20; Aristot. Mir. Ausc. 84; Dr.
art.
Fortunate
Insulae.
(287) Alexander the Great, finding that there were crocodiles in the
Indus, and that a bean grew on the banks of the Acesines, which fell into
the Indus, similar to the Egyptian bean, concluded that the Indus and
the Nile were the same river and wrote word to his mother Olympias,
that he had discovered the sources of the Nile ; Arrian, Auab. vi. 1.
;
Compare
iii.
101.
Digitized
by
506
is
discredited
by Dr. Vincent,
attentive consideration,
by C. Muller,
[CHAP. VIII.
and which
it is
Red
Sea.
They were
coridis Insula;
first
attri-
century of our
era, describes the southern coast of that gulf as far as the north-
From
is
this
carried,
by
N. ; but according
who
followed
is
guebar, in
the ocean
is
unexplored
Beyond
;
but
it is
known
the western
on the opposite
side, to
unite with
sea.( S91 )
limits
circumnavigation of this continent in the single cases above adverted to are worthy of belief.
In the
first
clides Ponticus
is
Magus
reported by Hera-
safely rejected
neither
These
(290) vol.
ii.
p.
178
180.
Muller ; Vincent,
ib. p.
186.
Digitized
by
SECT. 8.]
not
rest
laus,
507*
and Libya
The account
donius
who
but
it is
subjects
it
The
by Strabo,
story of the
vessel, is
an
inconsi-
is
Sea (during
his
command
wreck was
It
Nepos, Eudoxus
Red Sea
to
Gades
which
In
tive of Posidonius.
sailed
is
like
from the
manner Pliny
states that
Hanno
He
393 ) Strab.
393 )
ii.
3,
(394)
ii.
67.
Compare Od.
i.
2, 31.
iv. 84.
(395) lb*
Digitized by
508
potami.( 296)
It is
is
[chap. VIII.
a fabulous account,
founded upon the belief that the shape of Africa was similar to
that conceived by Strabo.
much
attention,
modem
writers, (
particularly
lastly,
by Mr. Grote.(300)
Before
we
Prof.
yield to
must
first
Many
we
from
of these
The
objections to
it are,
work already
In the
tween the
cited. ( 30S )
first place, it
last
interval be-
birth of Hero-
dotus was 117 years; and therefore that at least a century and
(296) See
ib. vol.
p. 199.
ii.
385.
same view.
story ot the circumnavigation of Africa in the time of Neco is likewise discredited by Col. Leake, On Some Disputed Questions of Ancient Geography (Lond. 1857), p. 1 8, chiefly oh the ground that the time was not
sufficient for so long a voyage.
He says that 'Ptolemy, whose work
comprehends everything that was known of Africa in the Greek and
imperial times of Egypt, denied the junction of the Atlantic and Indian
seas, and must therefore have believed that Africa was not a peninsula,'
p. 8.
Digitized
by
SECT. 8 .]
The reign
history.
Periander, and
Neco
of
509
is
it
is
is
is
faint
on
Herodotus in an accurate
shape.
No
manded
ships concerned
who comdifficulties
Na-
its
and provisions
by
An
charts.
its
it is
the shore
another
stopped at night,
when the
difficulty of steering
was
The mean
by Rennell at about
It
coast,
and
at every interval of
and
its
vol.
when
303 ) Plin.
p. 253
The
first
if
its
it
had
of these cases
Mediterranean;
ii.
47
Veget. de
Be
Mil. v. 9.
Compare
Ideler,
Chron.
i.
304 )
lb. p. 3C0.
Digitized
by
510
made
The second
in long
case
[cuap.
exemplified by the
VIII.
coasts
made
its
vessels
mouth
head of the Persian Gulf, whose relations with the natives are
described throughout as hostile and suspicious, and
who
of Ilanno,
fleet
306
;(
who
chiefly
in the expedition
with a
is
and in the
expressly stated
the
beyond
increase
arithmetical
proportion/
inquires,
What
308
formance
for example,
ship, starting
inde-
its per-
it is
and
and
it
had completed
as great a distance as
would be necessary
the
We
sufficient force to
(
(
( 308)
lb. p.
compel submission
at
c. 20, sqq.
classe, Plin. v. 1.
354
Digitized
by
SECT. 8 .]
511
upon
own
their
resources.
Sea to the
It
Straits of Gibraltar.
The
probability
that the
is,
fail
to be regarded as
an enemy.
The mere
Hanno mentions
him
tives.^)
The
Peri-
interpreters
at
which his
He
turning back.
The length
insufficient, if
we
Herodotus
months in
It
may
be added
over
and
from
itself, it
is difficult
to understand
how
the
mode
of pro-
sowing would not have fallen in autumn in the southern hemisphere, as Gossellin has remarked.
(39 )
It
may
be considered as
!*
Digitized by
512
[CHAP.
Till.
Gibraltar,
with
it
by Hero-
dotus himself, that they had the sun on their right hand
the
Upon
which
is
the main
title
is
how-
In the
Herodotus himself
first place,
this statement,
3U
;(
re-
as-
and Elephantine
Now
if
Herodotus
the
solstice, it is
is
at
that a sufficient progress southward would bring the navigaa region where the shadows at noon inclined
tor to
north to south.
from
of
from the mouth of the Indus to the Persian Gulf, stated that
a part of his course the shadows were either vertical or fell
the south. su)
Now, when we
is
to
north of the
s
and of the latitude of Elephantine (24 N.), we can
in
Neco a
may
physical
easily
have imagined
phenomenon
to
313
)
Onesieritus,
(310)
Compare Vincent,
(31 1)
ii.
vol.
ii.
p.
565.
(312) Arrian, Ind.
29.
i.
c.
25.
p. 222, 304.
Digitized by
Googlq
SECT. 8 .]
of India
ledge
he
specified
where
513
were no shadows.
He
Mount Maleus,
the shadows
winter
fall
summer, and
to the south in
to the north in
fall
Era-
fell
to the
south for forty- five days before and for the same period after
solstice. ( 316 )
the
who came
to
Rome
Emperor Claudius,
are
shadows
sun
fell
rose to the
left,
317
;(
although, as Dr.
818
)
was
tropics.
It
may be
districts
which lay
to the
Thus
phenomenon
He
had
for thirty
on inquiry he w as
unable to confirm this statement but he ascertained by means
of water-clocks that the nights in Britain were shorter than on
solstice.
adds, that
ii. 75, vii. 2. Places under the equator were called dp</>i<riuot,
( 314 ) Plin.
because they threw their shadows both south and north, Cleomed. i. 7
The latter also mentions the So-kwi.
Achill. Tat. c. 31.
<3 I<S)
24
(318 )
766,
vol.
ii.
p.
vi.
34.
492.
L L
Digitized
by
514
One
was that
had
it
six
months of
[chap. VIII.
may be remarked
that the
Romans under
by land
to have
Roman
officers as
thus, P.
is
stated
Ptolemy
like-
having, by marches
and
It
is
may
Red
in navigating the
the tropic.
Ptolemy
cannot
visit
it is
that
Meroe
is
lies
that the
states
the country
region
Macrobius
Meroe
inaccessible
is
in
this
consequence of the
and
325
it
all
yap
(324) Cleomed.
(325) In
Somn.
i.
2, p. 20.
Scip.
ii.
8, 3.
Digitized
by
SECT. 8 .]
515
Several
That the
torrid zone
We
the Cape of
and when we
even
at a period
more apparent.
On
the whole,
Vincent, that
age, without
collateral or
we may
Dr.
contemporary testimony,
is
we may
Neco
is
itself,
(326)
(
c. 13, p.
31.
327 ) Cleomed.
328 ) Fragm. 6
i.
6 , p. 42
Gemin.
c. 13, p.
31.
L L 2
Digitized by
In Herod,
3, n. 5.
A.
Page
Bekker
iv. 36,
i.
p. 30,
who compares
Plat. Phileb.
p. 64,
6, n. 16,
add,
et auro
seven planets
is
Page 74, n. 11, /or iElian. Hist. An. ii. 18, read ASlian. Nat. An. ii. 18.
Page 85, n. 71, add, Herod, i. 103, says of Cyaxares, ovror 6 tolol Avboiai
(am paxrdfi(vos, ore di ijfiepr; fyeVerd a(fn pn^OfieVoitri.
Page 78, 1. 15, for partly visible, read partly obscured.
Page 87, n. 82, Theophanes, Chronograph, vol. i. p. 732, ed. Bonn.,
states that, in consequence of the outrage committed by Irene in depriving
her son Constantine of his eyes, the sun was obscured for seventeen days,
and the darkness was such that ships wandered from their course
i
r)
(789 a.d.). This instance of fabulous exaggeration occurs in a contemporary writer. See Gibbon, c. 48.
Page 101, n. 157. The later Greek writers use KpvtrrdXXo r v&aros for
ice,
in order to distinguish
it
from
crystal.
p. 92, C.
Page 104,
n. 173,
lib.
ii.
p. 79, ed.
Gaisford.
Digitized
by
517
104, n. 175, read Simplicius ad Aristot. de Coal. p. 491, a.; 505, a.;
ed. Brandis.
Page
108, n. 106.
dorus in 431
Page
is
placed by Dio-
b.c.
113, n. 1 10.
by the Greeks.
Page 132, n. 277.
tised
ap.
Gramm.
bis supercini
moris
est,
i.
p.
qu
arte
gramm.
nuntur, npuvpvia, si autem post antistrophon collocentur, ptdvpvia nuncupabuntur. Hoc genus in sacris cantilena ferunt quidam instituisse The-
seum, qui occiso Minotauro cum apud Delum solveret vota, imitatus intortum et flexuosum iter labyrinthi, cum pueris virginibusque cum
queis evaserat cantus edebat, primo in circuitu, dehine in recursu, id est,
Alii tradunt hunc sacrorum concentum mundi
<rrpo<f>Tj et antistropho.
cantum cursumque ab hominibus imitari. Namque in hoc quinque a tell
quas crraticas vocant, sed et sol et luna, ut doctiores tradunt philosophorum, jucundissimos edunt sonos, per orbes suos nitentes. Igitur concentum mundi cursumque imitans chorus canebat dextrorsumque primo
tripudiando ibat (quia ccelum dextrorsum ab ortu ad occasum volvitur)
dehine sinistrorsum redibant, quandoquidem sol lunaque, et cetera erratica
sidera, quae Grci nXavtiras vocant, sinistrorsum ab occasu ad ortum
:
feruntur.
volvitur) immobilis
Primum
medio
stat
mundo.
De qua
quam
ccelum
vocum modi,
Idem et
vestigia.
Vidit et eetherio
Et septem
Nitentes
mundum
torquerier axe,
aliis alios,
quae
maxima
divis
The
voces.
from the Chorographia or Cosmographia of P. Terentius Varro Atacinus, who was contemporary with the more celebrated
latter
fragment
is
The paBsago
is
Burmann:
It
see Wernsdorfs Poet. Lat. Min. vol. v. part iii. p. 1402.
alluded to by Licentius, Carm. ad Augustin. 7, vol. iv. p. 518, ed.
Wernsdorf. The author of the former passage appears to be L. Varius
is
liufus,
Aristotle,
Digitized
by
518
Pago 169, n. 98, after Plutarch, insert, the same statement is made by
Olympiodorus ad Aristot. Meteorol. vol. i. p. 198, ed. Ideler.
Page 192, n. 169. Iloberval, a French mathematician of the seventeenth century, published a work under the name of Aristarchus, in which
the heliocentric system was adopted. The following is its title Aristarchi
:
Paris.
Astr.
Mod.
vol.
ii.
p. 517.
Pago 196, n. 194. This use of the word servare, is doubtless borrowed
from that of the word njpt'tv.
Page 222, n. 42. An alarming eclipse of the sun, visible at Thebes, is
alluded to in an extant fragment of Pindar, Hyporchem. fr. 74, ed.
Bergk. It is conjectured by Ideler to be the eclipse of April 30, 465 b.c.
The calamities which it portends (viz., war, sedition, failure of crops, excessive snow, inundation, and drought) are enumerated.
Page 241, n. 110. Concerning the Syromacedonian notation of months
used by Josephus, see Noris, Ann. et Epoch. Syromaced. p. 44, ed. Lips.
1696.
Page
252.
Petron. Sat.
c.
The
iii.
is
ovum
immovably
corrotundata.
at the centre of
by Lactant. Div.
Page 265, n. 50, Isocrat. Busir. 24, p. 226, states that the younger
portion of the Egyptian priests apply their minds to astronomy and geometry.
Page 275, n. 114. Isocrat. Busir. 18, p. 225, says that the Lacedajmonians borrowed several important institutions from Egypt.
Page 286, n. 163. Julian, Orat. 4, says that the Chaldftans and Egyptians invented astronomical tables, and that Hipparchus and Ptolemy perfected them.
Page 305,
over
tears,
i.
n. 264.
5, 14.
Mercury over
Digitized
by
519
Egyptians were polygamists, aad that the rule of monogamy applied only
to the priests,
Page 350,
80.
i.
n. 115.
Josephus, Apion.
ii.
king.
Page
351, n. 118.
army
as far as the
Mossylian pro-
montory, on the northern coast of .Ethiopia, east of the mouth of the Ked
Sea, Plin. vi. 34 compare Ptol. Geogr. iv. 7, 10. Sesostris employed
a Greek artist, named Bryaxis, to make a statue of Sarapis, according
to Athenodorus ap. Clem. Alex. Protrept. iv. 48, Fragm. Hist. Gr.
vol. iii. p. 487. Athenodorus w as a preceptor of Augustus Csesar.
Page 352, n. 124. Dicantur obiter et pyramides in eadem /Egypto,
regum pecunias otiosa et stulta ostentatio, quippe cum faciendi eas causa
a plerisque tradatur, ne pecuniam successoribus aut aemulis prseberent, aut
ne plebs esset otiosa. Plin. xxxvi. 12. The last reason is borrowed from
;
Page
The numbers in Augustine are taken from the Sopsee Rosenmiiller, Schol. ad Vet. Test. vol. i. p. 146. The
do not admit of the explanation reported by
they would make Adam only thirteen years old at the birth
365, n. 191.
tuagint version
numbers
Augustine
of his son Seth, and Seth only ten and a half years old
son Enos.
;
bom
in
42
b.c.,
Egypt.
Page 380,
p. 209.
n. 232.
ii.
p. 265.
Page
409, n. 43.
v. p. 1382.
Page 413, n. 59. The practice of making female eunuchs was invented
by the Lydians, Xanthus, fr. 19, ap. Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol. i. p. 39.
The author may be permitted to express a hope that the useful and
well-edited series of the Greek Classics, now in course of publication at the
press of Didot in Paris, will comprehend a volume of Scriptores Astronomici. The only modern edition of the great work of Ptolemy is the
expensive publication of the Abbd Halma it may be added that the
:
for study
and
Digitized
by
;;
; ;
INDEX.
A
Actis, of Rhodes, taught astronomy to the Egyptians, 72
Ethiopians, the inventors of astronomy, 261 were identified with the
Africa,
its
form, as
Eudoxus, 148
Arbaces, 400
from west to
writings, 158
Mundo,
east,
;
and
Assyrians, the originators of astronomy, 256 their astronomical observations, 263, 286
scientific pursuits of their priests, 265 : their year,
;
267
their chronology,
327
known
to the Greeks,
71j
its
Chaldsean
origin,
Digitized by
;:
;;
521
INDEX.
292
its
condemned
by the Roman emperors, 300 and by the church, ib. j its introduction
into Egypt, 3Q1 ; founded upon births, 308 causes of its diffusion in
;
Greeoe, 309
Astro-meteorology of the Greeks, 309
Astronomical canon, its list of kings, 404, 4218
Asychis, 323
Atlas, 22
Atossa, 413
Atreus, story
of, rationalized,
69
B
Babylon, its founder, 409, 413 ; its empire, 423 its buildings, 435
Babylonians, see Assyrians
Bear, Great, is mentioned by Homer and later poets, as never setting, 6,
68j origin of the name, 64 the Greeks steered by the Great, the
Phoenicians by the Little Bear, 83* 447
Belus, 398, 413
Berosus, 296. 360 his account of Assyrian history, 400
Bissextile year, 238
his lamb,
348
353
356
Gesab,
C
Roman
calendar, 236
Calendars of the Greek states, founded on their respective religious celebrations, 22, 234 Roman Calendar, its confusion, 236 ; reformed by
Julius Catsar, 237
Callippus, his cycle, 122
163
451
Chseremon, 280 on hieroglyphics, 380
Chaldeeans, the authors of astrology, 292 they gave their name to the
craft, 299See Assyrians
Champollion, his system of interpreting the hieroglyphic writing, 383
Cheops, 323, 336
Chephren, 323. 336
Cassiterides,
Child-bearing, period
of,
fixed
Chiron, 73, 24
Chonuphis, 146
Cleomedes, 215
Digitized by
522
INDEX.
CleoBtratus, lift
Coma
Berenices, 197
Conon of Samos,
1915
Cyclopean buildings,
406
4,42
D
Dances
Day,
of the stars, 61
its divisions in
Greece,
US
at
Rome, 1B1
E
Eabth,
of,
its
248
of
of the Olympiads, 26
Rome,
of the Trojan
War, 27
of the foundation
ib.
Digitized by
523
INDEX.
Eratosthenes, his astronomical works, 198
chronology, 331; its source, 342
his treatment of
Egyptian
Euthymenes, 507
F
Febbdaby, the
last
year,
G
Gadeiba, or Gades, 448
Galen, on the notation of time of year by the stars, 24
Geminus, on the ancient conception of the earth, 4 his account of the
ancient Greek calendar, 18j his astronomical treatise, 216 his account
;
H
Hades
as a solid vault, 3
and as the
Heraiscus, 361
Hermapion, 381
Hermes
his astrological
writings, 326
Herodotus, ridicules the circularity of the earth, 3 ; his notation of past
time, 25j on the eclipse of Thales, 86j his Egyptian chronology,
320; its source, 342 his Assyrian history and chronology, 322
Hesiod, denotes the time of year by the rising and setting of stars, 6Q
Hesperus, 62, 144
Hicetas, 122 ; he holds the rotation of the earth on its axis, 170
Hieroglyphical writing of Egypt, 377
Himilco, his voyage along the western shores of Europe, 455
Hipparchus, his astronomical works and discoveries, 207
Hippocrates of Chios, 168
Homer, his year is the tropical year, 12j he mentions the solstices, 15
Digitized
by
524
INDEX.
242
heavenly bodies, 73
Intercalation of Numa, 38
trieteric,
J ulius,
the month, 23
L
Labyrinth of Egypt,
Leo, 361
M
Maius, the month, 37
Manetho, his work on Egyptian chronology, 326 his historical character,
360
source of his Egyptian chronology, 342 ; his treatise irep't
SuJc&jc, 284
Martius, the month, 86
Memnon, 416
Menes, 320, 328332. 354
Menophres, era of, 283
Merkel, on the Boman decimestrial year, 51
Meton, his reform of the calendar, 113 he sets up a sundial at Athens,
;
178
Mceris, 322, 333
Mommsen, on
the
Boman
decimestrial year, 51
222
Moon, the, was conceived as driving a chariot, 63
on the weather, 312
Musseus, 74, 77
Mycerinus, 323, 336
festivals,
N
Nabonassar, era
of, 26,
404. 428
Digitized
by
;;
525
INDEX.
Numa,
O
Ocean,
the,
5, 475,
502
Octaeteric cycle, 38
P
Paiamedes, 23
Palladius, his division of hours, 180
his date, 99_i his astronomical opinions, ib.
Parmenides,
Phaeinus, 114
Phaethon, fablo
of, 7,
463
his cycle,
448
135
their distant voyages,
Numa, 39
Posidonius, 214
Digitized
by
526
INDEX.
Q
Quintilib, named Julias, 23
R
Rhamsbb, 352
Rhampsinitus, 323
Rhodopis, 371
Rome,
its
astrology,
its
calendar, 23fi
its
reception of
228
S
Sabacos, 324
Sardanapalus, 400, 418
Scandia, 476
369
Sethon, 324
Sextilis,
Sirius.
named Augustus, 23
See Dog-star
Solarium, 183
Solinus,
Roman
calendar, 42
Sun, the, was supposed to rise from, and set in, the ocean, 6j was conceived as driving a chariot, 7, 63; as a universal witness, 7; was
fabled to return from west to east in a golden goblet, 8j its place
among the
planets,
240
ib.
its
attributed to Anaxi-
construction, 179
improvements
242
T
Tabshish, 456
Telmessians, they practised divination, 294
Teutamus, 416
Thales, the founder of physical philosophy, 78 ; predicts an eelipse of the
sun, 79, 85 ; his visit to Egypt, 80, 268; his astronomical doctrines, 81
Theophrastus, on the cosmical system of Plato, 142 his history of astro-
nomy, 174
Thucydides, his notation of current years, 15j his notation of past time,
25
Thule, 462
Digitized
by
527
INDEX.
Timseus, passage in the, respecting the rotation of the earth round the
cosmical axis, 142
u
Ulyssbs
in Gaul, 485
Ulysippo, 449
Uranus, the earliest astronomer, 73
V
Varnish, origin of the word, 197
W
Week.
Whewell, Dr.,
210
on Hipparchus,
X
Xenophanes,
Xenophon,
26
Y
Year, the
of
its
32
solar,
use,
266. 279
Z
Zodiac, its origin, 68j of Tentyra, 289
Zone, torrid, how far known to the ancients, 514
THE END.
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