THE ROMAN CALENDAR It is thought that Romulus drew up the Roman
calendar (Brit '94, Cal'p422) or that it was introduced by him in "about
738BC" (World Book, p25) or was an old tribal system which he inherited. (Of
Time and the Calendar, p44)
The year only had 10 months and began in March which is named after
Mars, the god of war, followed by April which Varro thought meant
"opening" and was later connected with Aphrodite. "Plutarch focuses on
Venus." (O'Neil, p82) These two gods were associated with the sun and
moon. (Varro 6:33) These were followed by May, June, Quintilis,
Sextilus, September, October, November and December. The Childrens
Britannica, Calendar Vol 3 p21 says the "Roman 10 month calendar had
304 days," but 10 lunar months of 29 1/2 days would only be 295 days
approximately. David Duncan says this was changed to 355 days in 700BC.
According to Titus Livius (59BC-AD17) when Numa Pompilius became King
of Rome in 710BC, "his first act was to divide the year into 12 lunar
months, and because twelve lunar months came to a few days short of the
full solar year, he inserted intercalary months, so that every twenty
years the cycle should be completed, the days coming around again to correspond with the
position of the sun from which they started." (The Early History of Rome,
Book 1:19-20) King Numa (715-673BC) added the two extra winter months of
Januarius and Februarius at the end of the year. (Ovid, Fasti, Book 1, Loeb
p5) The World Book Encyclopaedia says "he hoped to collect more taxes during
the extra months." (p25) "This gave the year 354 days but as the total was
an even number, and to the Romans this was unlucky, an extra 355th day was
added at the end of the year." and to make the calendar agree with the
seasons, "he inserted an additional thirteenth month every two years,- of 22
or 23 days- calling it Mercedonius (from the Latin word for wages,-)" This
was added into the calendar after the 23rd of February and "when it was
finished, the remaining five or six days of February carried on." (Of Time-,
p46) Mercedonius was also called Intercalaris but its popular name was Mercedonius. O'Neil says Intercalaris may have been inserted "after 24 February"
(p81) and that it was Numa who brought the start of the year forward to
January, (p78) but the Romans persisted beginning the year using March.
(p81)
The fifth king of Rome called Tarquinius Priscus (616-579BC) wanted the
year to begin in January. (Ency' Brit 1994 p422) O'Neil says that the month Intercalaris had 27 days, (p78, 81) John Brady shows in his
book Clavis Calendaria, that the calendar went through a number of
changes. Bickerman shows the "biennial insertion of 22 (23) days must
have destroyed all agreement with the lunations." (Chronology of the
Ancient World, p44) According to O'Neil there is an account of an eclipse of the
Sun on the Nones of June in 400BC which he says shows that the calendar
had become non-lunar. (Time and the Calendar, p77) Bickerman says this
leap year was in the even years BC, and the 5 remaining days of February
were added at the end of the intercalary month (Intercalaris) so that this
month consisted of 27 or 28 days. (p43) This cycle had 1 day too many each
year. (Ency' Religion & Ethics, Cal') "The old Roman calendar year
began in March and had 4 months with 31 days, 7 with 29 days, and 1 with 28
days. To keep in step with the solar year an extra month was added every
other year with a length of 22 and 23 days alternately. This system gave an
average year of 366 1/4 days, which is about one day too long, and so the
seasons moved slowly through the calendar. However, this problem was not
beyond the astronomers of the time who put forward an 8 year cycle-" (Stars
and the Calendar p12) O'Neil suggests that the Republican calendar was
introduced by the decemviri in about 450BC. (p82) Others give a later
time for the introduction of the 355 day year. "About 300 B.C. a
lawyer-politician named Cneius Flavius persuaded the people that all the
months should have an odd number of days in order to make them lucky.
February was the only exception; being the last month of the year it was
unlucky, so it was shortened to 28 days." (Of Time,
p46)
According to Bickerman in his
Chronology (p43) and the book Of Time- (p47);
| Martius or
March 31 days |
September (7th) 29 days |
| Aprilis or April
29 days |
October (8th) 31 days |
| Maius or May 31
days |
November (9th) 29 days |
| Iunius or June 29
days |
December (10th) 29 days |
| Quintilis or
July 31 days |
Ianuarius
29 days |
| Sextilis or August 29
days |
Februarius 28
days |
| TOTAL |
355 days |
A cycle of 4 years was used of 355, 377, 355 and 378 days "the
second 377 was obtained by an intercalation of 22 days after 23 February,"
which was the Feast of Terminalia. "The Terminalia 'Festival of
Terminus' (God of Endings, Feb 23) because this day is set as the last day of
the year; for the twelfth month was February and when the extra month is
inserted the last five days are taken off the twelfth month." (Varro on the
Latin Language, 6, 3:14. LCL p186-7) "after about 200 B.C. - the calendar
was no longer systematic and was probably exploited for political ends."
(Stars and the Calendar, p12) "during the Hannibalic War intercalation was
neglected so that in 190BC the Roman calendar was ahead by 117 days;"
(Bickerman p46) In Book 44 of Livy the eclipse of the moon in 168BC is
said to be at least 70 days ahead of time by modern calculation.
The magistrates entered office in March. (Ovid, Fasti 3:150, Loeb p131)
Bickerman says that before 222BC there was no fixed date for taking
office, and that the length of the seasonal year was also variable.
(Chronology, p70)
In 153BC the beginning of the year was changed to
January 1 to co-incide with the date when "the first consuls entered office
after the kings had been expelled." (Plutarch's Moralia 4, LCL p33) "the
Roman year originally began on 1 March but this was changed to 1 January in
153BC. However 1 January was not universally adopted as New Year even when
the Julian and Gregorian calendars were used." (New Age Ency, Vol 5, p201)
so from this time forward the numbered months from the fifth month which was
called Quintilis, to the tenth month called December were now two months
later and became the 7th to 12th months. Several attempts were made to
rename them like July and August. Dio Cassius shows that Domitan changed
October to Domitianus. (Book 67, LCL p327)
January is named after Janus
the god of doors, gates, openings, and beginnings. Janus has two faces, one
old and the other young. He is portrayed as the sun-god who held the
keys to open the gates or doors of light in the morning. (New Larousse Ency'
of Mythology) and was worshipped in the beginning of each day, each month on
the new moon and each year after the winter solstice. (Ency' of Religion and
Ethics, Cal) Janus "was the god of doors and hinges," and also "the
Mediator", the term Cardinal is derived from "Cardo", a hinge. (Hislop,
p210) The name Janus is believed to have come from "Dianus, the initial Di
having been corrupted into J" who was Zeus in Greek (Loeb Appendix, Ovid
Fasti p386) In Homers Odyssey one of Zeus's daughters is Artemis who is
Diana in Roman mythology.
The second month Februtis or Februatus was
another name for Juno or Minerva the Moongodess (Arnobius, Against the
Heathen, Book 3 Ch 30-31) and is derived from Febris the Latin name for
malarial fever and the malarial chills. (Mythology of All Races, p296)
According to Homer Juno was the Queen of Heaven, sister and wife of
Zeus. Juno - The Queen Minerva (Livy Book 3, Pe' p202) Pliny the elder
(AD23-79) said "there is a great competition to give it (Venus) a name,
some having called it Juno, others Isis, others the Mother of the
Gods." (Natural History Book 2, Ch 6, LCL p193) February was the
month of purification before the new year. (Enc' Americana) Juno
presided over the purification of women" (Varro 6:34, Clavis Calendaria
Vol 1 p62) As Februarius she was honoured on the Lupercalia held on
February 15 (Livy, Fragments, LCL p227) "from the Latin verb februs, to
make libations. A period or state of coldness" (Dict' of Mythology
Folklore & Symbols p557) Februare (Lat') meaning to purify.
(Brit', Months)
Varro said "februm is the name which the Sabines give to purification,
and this word is not unknown in our sacrifices; for a goat hide, with a thong
of which the young women are flogged at the Lupercalia, the ancients called a
februs, and the Lupercalia was called also Februatio 'Festival of
Purification'" (Varro on the Latin Language 6, 3:13, LCL p185) "Februa"
(the name of the lash) "Februatio" (the name of the lashing) "Luperci" the
men who did the lashing in honour of Lupercus the pastoral god who watched
over herds and flocks, to insure the fertility of the livestock.
(Worldwatch, Feb 1999 p8) The Luperci were priests of Mars. (Varro, Note
p185) They dressed themselves in wolves (lupus) skins for the flogging
ceremony. After the time of Claudius Gothicus this fertility festival on
the 15th of February merged with the date of the death of a priest who died
on February 14 in AD270 which the "Christian" church called "St Valentines
Day" (NST Feb 10-1999) That is how the first month of the calendar was
named after the sun-god and the second month after the moongodess, just as
the first day of the week is called Sunday after the sun and the second day of the week is
named Monday after the moon. "This original sequence can easily be seen in
the Latin names for the days -Solis, Lunae, Martis, Mercurii, Jovis, Veneris,
and Saturni. In English their origin is not so obvious because we have
retained the old association with the heavenly bodies only for Sunday,
Monday, and Saturday, and we have changed the names of the other days to
those of northern gods- Tiw, Woden, Thor, and Frigg." (Stars and the
Calendar, p3) By about 50BC the vernal equinox that should have fallen
late in March, fell on the Ides of May. (Ency' Brit', Calendar)
THE JULIAN CALENDAR In about 46BC
Julius Caesar had Sosigenes a Greek astronomer and mathematician from
Alexandria in Egypt, devise a new calendar based on the Egyptian solar year
of 365 days. The old Egyptian solar calendar only had 365 days in each year,
which is about 1/4 of a day less than the tropical year and so it made a
complete revolution through the seasons in 1,460 Tropical years (4 x 365 =
1460) but this took 1,461 Egyptian years. This was called the Sothic
cycle, although the time between the same date for the helical rising (the
morning appearance) of the star Sirius or Sothis, (the goddess Sopde, the
divine queen) takes only "1,455.9 Sothic years or 1,456.9 Egyptian civil
years-" (O'Neil, p68) and the latitude of the observer can also alter the
time she is seen. Manetho said that the Egyptian year only had 360 days
and that Aseth, Saites or Apophis, one of the late Hyksos kings, added 5
days to the year. Some classical writers thought the Egyptians had a year
of 365 1/4 days but "-they never had an official calendar with such a year".
(Richards p156) "In about 380BC Eudoxos, the Greek astronomer, is said to
have reported that the Egyptians had found the year to be 365.25 days."
(O'Neil, p23) In 239BC Ptolemy III at Canopus had suggested a year of 365
1/4 days but it had been rejected, so the modified calendar of Julius Caesar
included this additional 1/4 day that had previously been suggested and so
this new Julian calendar was 365 1/4 days in length having the extra day added on each four years,
and this only adds 3 extra days too many every 400 years or 1 day every 128
years and so will take about 48,720 years to go through all the
seasons.
Somehow the year that began in March and then went to January now began
in April. Marcus Varro (116-27BC) says that "the year of Rome ended on
20th of April." (Bond, Handy Book of Rules-, XIII.) The Varronian era
begins from April 21 in 753BC but some vary from this by a year or two.
(Finegan p99) So in the Roman year of AUC708 which began from April 21,
the year we now call 46BC, beginning from the 1st of January, which
would usually have had 355 days, had 90 days added to it, (23 days of
an intercalated month plus an excess 67 days) which gave 46BC a total
of 445 days. (The two extra months that were added in between November
and December were called Undecember with 33 days, and Duodecember with
34 days.) They abandoned the lunar months but kept the old system based
on the phases of the moon of kalends, nones and ides which continued
until the eleventh century when consecutive counting of days from the
beginning of the month came into use. (J Weeks, in the Explanatory
Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac Ch 13, p603) The word calendar
comes from Kalends "a calling". (Of Time-, p44) The Kalends were
dedicated to Juno and the Ides to Jupiter. (O'Neil, p80)
The Ides or full moon were on the 15th of March, May, July and October and
the 13th in the other months. (Duncan p42, Parise p62) "There can be no
doubt about the origin of the word Nonae, namely ninth day,-" (O'Neil,
p80) In the old lunar calendar the Calends are the first of the month,
while the Nones are the 9th day BEFORE the Ides making the Nones the 5th of
the month, except in March, May, July and October where they are the 7th of
the month."Two Latin historians, Censorinus and Macrobius, explain the
operation thus: To the old calendar of 355 days Caesar added ten days in
order to make it a solar calendar. To January, March, May, Quintilis (July),
Sextilis (August), October and December he gave each 31 days; and to April,
June, September and November each 30 days. But February, the unlucky month
of Terminalia, was left unchanged, 'so that the religious rites of the gods
of the nether world might not be disturbed.' - We are historically quite
certain that the arrangement of the months was as we have it today." (Of
Time, p50)
| JAN 29+2 = 31 |
APR 29+1 =
30 |
QUIN 31 |
OCT 31 |
| FEB +1 28/29 |
MAY 31 |
SEXT 29+2 = 31 |
NOV 29+1
= 30 |
| MAR 31 |
JNE 29+1 = 30 |
SEPT 29+1 = 30 |
DEC 29+2 = 31 |
But Brown says, "Caesar ordained that January, March, May,
July, SEPTEMBER, and NOVEMBER should have 31 days and the other months
should have 30 days, except February which should have 29 days in normal
years and 30 days in leap years." (Brown, Stars and the Calendar, p13) This
may have originated with John of Holywood in the thirteenth century, (O'Neil,
p87) and was a "theoretical reconstruction" that was included in the 1830
edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica which "suggested that Julius Caesar
set up an improved arrangement of the months, with alternating months of 31
days and 30 days, and that this arrangement was altered by his successor,
Augustus, in order to give August as many days as July." This "was disproved
when Italian archaeologists uncovered monuments with inscriptions clearly
showing that Sextilis had 31 days before it was re-named August." (Of Time-,
p50) Also the leap year day was added as a repetition of the sixth day
before March 1 using inclusive counting, so if February had 29 days before
8BC before one day had been taken from it and added to August, then the
sixth day before the kalends of March (the bissextile day) would have
followed Feb 24 and would have been February 25 when using inclusive
counting as the Romans did and so would not have been the 24th, or
bissextile day in this new Julian calendar. Julius Africanus writing in
about AD230 mentions the bissextile day of 21BC. (Chronology 17:4)
According to the calculated calendar the first year of this new calendar
AUC709 (45BC) was a leap year of 366 days. The periodic leap month in
February was replaced by a leap day every fourth year. (Copt, p437) The leap
year day was added after the Feast of the Terminalia, the 23rd of February,
and was called the bissextile year, which means "twice six" because the "6th
day before the Kalends of March" was repeated. (Modern World Ency",
Bissextile) Gordon Moyer says that this was changed in 1582 with the
introduction of the Gregorian calendar when the extra day was added on after
February 28. (Scientific America 246, 144, 1982, p108)
When Julius
Caesar introduced his Julian calendar which is believed to have been on
Friday January 1 in 45BC, (which was Friday Dec 30 in 46BC N/S) which is said
to have been the date of the conjunction of the new moon, it is said that he
intended the March equinox to fall on March 25, but it is said to have fallen
on Thursday March 24 although the date of the equinox on the corrected Julian
calendar in 45BC is Wednesday March 23 (O/S). In Time and the Calendars by
O'Neil it says that Julius failed to get the equinox on March 25 and
using tables by Tuckerman, says
that the equinox occurred at 0.15am on March 23 in 45BC. (March 21 N/S)
The Oxford companion thinks that they intended to begin the year on the
shortest day, Dec 24, but it was delayed for seven days and the year
began on the day of the new moon, Jan 1, in the third year of the 183
Olympiad in the year we now call 45BC, the spring equinox falling on
March 25. In Time and the Calendar by William O'Neil, Ward Fowler says
the new moon occurred on January 1 in 45BC and the conjunction was a
little before midnight, so it was not visible until about Jan 3 (p86)
also the equinox was on March 23 not 25. Dominic Olivastro says it was
the full moon after the winter solstice. There are several astronomical
programmes for computers that can help here.
In 44BC the month Quintilis was renamed July in honour
of Julius Caesar. "In recognition of this outstanding reform a grateful
Senate honored Julius Caesar by re-naming his birth month Quintilis, July."
(Of Time-, p49) This calendar is named the Julian calendar after Julius
Caesar. (W.Ward Fowler, Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic)
The Pontifices who were the priests of Roman religion were given
control of this Julian calendar but they made the leap years every
third year instead of every fourth year. Macrobius said the error
lasted 36 years which means it was discovered in 10BC unless perhaps he
does not include the first 3 years before the mistake began which would
have made this 7BC. Some have thought that Augustus changed the
length of the months in 8BC. He is said to have taken one day from
February and added it to Sextilis and renamed it August after himself
so it would have 31 days the same as July, named after Julius Caesar
but this is doubtful as shown previously. Suetonius says "Inasmuch
as the calendar, which had been set in order by the Deified Julius, had
later been confused and disordered through negligence, he restored it
to its former system: and in making this arrangement he called the
month Sextilis by his own surname, rather than his birth-month
September, because in the former he had won his first consulship and
his most brilliant victories." (The Twelve Caesars, Augustus, Ch 31)
"He enlarged the pomerium and changed the name of the month called
Sextilis to August. The people generally wanted September to be so
named, because he had been born in that month; but he preferred the
other month in which he had first been elected consul and had won many
great battles." (Dio Cassius, Book 55) O'Neil says that this is a
myth and that it was the senate that did this. (Time, p86-7) Calculation shows that by AUC744 (10BC) or even until
7BC only three extra days would have been added due to the leap year error.
As 9BC was a leap year by both methods it probably went ahead as it would
not have added to the error of the three additional days which had
accumulated which were supposedly removed by the absence of leap years in
5BC, 1BC and AD4. Britannica agrees with this, but the Universal Ency'
says there were no leap years in 9BC, 5BC and 1BC. O'Neil says there
were 4 excess days and that the correction was from 5BC to AD8 to eliminate 4
excess leap days. (p87) Removing a 4th day would have caused the date of the
equinox to have moved forward a day. Parise says the calendar was correct
from AD4 and the Coptic Encyclopedia agrees that the Egyptian calendar is
compatible from AD5 forward. (Calendar Coptic, p443) From AD8 the Julian
calendar with every fourth year a leap year was used without alteration
until 1582. (New age Ency', Vol 5, p201) If Augustus altered the calendar
in 8BC then the date of the equinox could have been deliberately or
inadvertently moved by a day if one day was taken from February and added to
August.
1) If the change was made between January 1 to February 29, then
because there would be one day less in February the date of the equinox
would fall one day later in 8BC and every year thereafter.
2) If the
change was made between the last day of February and the last day of August,
the date of the equinox would remain unchanged because one day is added in
August 8BC but one is taken off in February 7BC so there is no change made
to the dates in March 7BC and thereafter.
3) If the change was made after
August 30 in 8BC to the end of December then the equinox would be one day
later in 7BC and thereafter due to February having one less day,
any other changes could have complicated this, so we can not be absolutely
sure if the date of the equinox was changed or not but the weight of evidence
is that Augustus faithfully restored the calendar.
Some say he reset the
equinox to March 25 but the tables show that this is incorrect, but
depending upon whether he moved any of the days ahead to behind or
vica-versa, there is the possibility that he may have altered the date of
the equinox or perhaps by taking off more than the 3 days which had been
wrongly added by the priests. If Augustus took 4 days off as O'Neil says and
is suggested by the belief that he reset the equinox to March 25, then
perhaps 9BC was not a leap year. Some even seem to think that the days were
taken off in the years 9BC, 5BC, 1BC, AD4 and also AD8, which would be 5
days and would have put the equinox on March 25 and changed all dates before
then by 2 days, but the calendar shows the equinox was returned to March 23
and it is unlikely it was accidently set earlier than later than its actual
date.
THE PROBABLE ERROR
AND CORRECTION OF THE JULIAN CALENDAR
| ROMAN YEAR |
GREGORIAN YEAR |
PONTIFFS |
ERROR |
CAL No |
|
AUC 709 |
45BC * |
* |
0 |
13 |
|
AUC 710 |
44BC |
|
0 |
1 |
|
AUC 711 |
43BC |
|
0 |
2 |
|
AUC 712 |
42BC |
* |
1 DAY |
10 |
|
AUC 713 |
41BC * |
|
0 |
5 |
|
AUC 714 |
40BC |
|
0 |
6 |
|
AUC 715 |
39BC |
* |
1 DAY |
14 |
|
AUC 716 |
38BC |
|
1 DAY |
2 |
|
AUC 717 |
37BC * |
|
0 |
3 |
|
AUC 718 |
36BC |
* |
1 DAY |
11 |
|
AUC 719 |
35BC |
|
1 DAY |
6 |
|
AUC 720 |
34BC |
|
1 DAY |
7 |
|
AUC 721 |
33BC * |
* |
1 DAY |
8 |
|
AUC 722 |
32BC |
|
1 DAY |
3 |
|
AUC 723 |
31BC |
|
1 DAY |
4 |
|
AUC 724 |
30BC |
* |
2 DAYS |
12 |
|
AUC 725 |
29BC * |
|
1 DAY |
7 |
|
AUC 726 |
28BC |
|
1 DAY |
1 |
|
AUC 727 |
27BC |
* |
2 DAYS |
9 |
|
AUC 728 |
26BC |
|
2 DAYS |
4 |
|
AUC 729 |
25BC * |
|
1 DAY |
5 |
|
AUC 730 |
24BC |
* |
2 DAYS |
13 |
|
AUC 731 |
23BC |
|
2 DAYS |
1 |
|
AUC 732 |
22BC |
|
2 DAYS |
2 |
|
AUC 733 |
21BC * |
* |
2 DAYS |
10 |
|
AUC 734 |
20BC |
|
2 DAYS |
5 |
|
AUC 735 |
19BC |
|
2 DAYS |
6 |
|
AUC 736 |
18BC |
* |
3 DAYS |
14 |
|
AUC 737 |
17BC * |
|
2 DAYS |
2 |
|
AUC 738 |
16BC |
|
2 DAYS |
3 |
|
AUC 739 |
15BC |
* |
3 DAYS |
11 |
|
AUC 740 |
14BC |
|
3 DAYS |
6 |
|
AUC 741 |
13BC * |
|
2 DAYS |
7 |
|
AUC 742 |
12BC |
* |
3 DAYS |
8 |
|
AUC 743 |
11BC |
|
3 DAYS |
3 |
|
AUC 744 |
10BC |
|
3 DAYS |
4 |
|
AUC 745 |
9BC * |
* |
3 DAYS |
12 |
|
AUC 746 |
8BC |
|
3 DAYS |
7 |
|
AUC 747 |
7BC |
|
3 DAYS |
1 |
|
AUC 748 |
6BC |
|
3 DAYS |
2 |
|
AUC 749 |
5BC * |
|
2 DAYS |
3 |
|
AUC 750 |
4BC |
|
2 DAYS |
4 |
|
AUC 751 |
3BC |
|
2 DAYS |
5 |
|
AUC 752 |
2BC |
|
2 DAYS |
6 |
|
AUC 753 |
1BC * |
|
1 DAY |
7 |
|
AUC 754 |
AD1 |
|
1 DAY |
1 |
|
AUC 755 |
AD2 |
|
1 DAY |
2 |
|
AUC 756 |
AD3 |
|
1 DAY |
3 |
|
AUC 757 |
AD4 * |
|
0 |
4 |
|
AUC 758 |
AD5 |
|
0 |
5 |
|
AUC 759 |
AD6 |
|
0 |
6 |
|
AUC 760 |
AD7 |
|
0 |
7 |
|
AUC
761 |
AD8 * |
* |
0 |
8 |
|
AUC 762 |
AD9 |
|
0 |
3 |
NOTE; There are slight variations as to the AUC year according to some of the
early writers but the equivalent years of Varro are used in the above list
and are the most commonly accepted. (Bickerman, Finegan, Martin, Van
Goudoever.) Having the date, determines the day of the week, or if the day, its date.
As we can see most of the dates in the Julian calendar for the first
40 years, from February 24 in 42BC became progressively out of step by up to
3 days due to the pontiffs error of making every 3rd year a leap year
instead of every 4th year. This was progressively corrected from February
in 5BC by the absence of leap years until AD4. For astronomical reckoning
and most other dating, the corrected Julian calendar is used for this
period, the months having the lengths that were given to them by Julius
Caesar and the dates of the days as they should have been if the priests had
not got them wrong. It is only writers after this period who claimed the
events of Jesus birth occurred on certain dates of the Julian calendar during
this period.
DECEMBER 25
"I have been
wondering if the date on Jesus Christ's birth certificate was 0-0-0, or
1-1-0, or was it 1-1-1?" (P. McNamara, Column 8, SMH April 10 1999) At the
time of the supposed birth of Jesus in 1BC, Saturday Dec 25 on the O/S
Julian calendar appeared as the 24th of December because of the Pontiffs
leap-year error, so Jesus would have been born on Sunday Dec 26 (O/S) and
the O/S date is 3 days earlier than the Gregorian (N/S) date in AD325, so if
you believe that Jesus was born on December 25, was it according to the 25th
on the corrected Julian calendar or according to a mistaken 25th of the
Pontiffs calendar?
The first to say that the birth of Jesus was on December 25 was
Hippolytus of Rome who is said to have thought the year was 3BC, later in the
Philocalian calendar of AD336-354 the Chronogapher says, "Year 1 after
Christ, in the consulate of Caesar and Paulus, the Lord Jesus Christ was
born on the 25th of December, a Friday and 15th day of the new moon."
(Christmas the Untold Story, p7) Bickermans list of
consuls shows Augustus Caesar and Paullus were consuls together in the year
AD1. (Chronology of the Ancient World, p153) The Julian calendar shows
that December 25 in AD1 was not a Friday but was a Sunday and if we were to
reckon Dec 25 according to the Pontiffs erroneous calendar which was being
used at the time it would be one day later being a Monday the 25th December AD1,
and to cap this off the lunar tables show that on the 25th of December in
AD1 the moon was well past its 15th day and was at its last quarter, and
even for 1BC it would have been Saturday Dec 25 (O/S) or Sunday on the
Pontiffs calendar with the moon just past first quarter, so the whole
content of these fanciful accounts are just another pack of lies. If you
do not know which year it was that Jesus was born in according to the Roman
calendar, then you cannot be sure of which day he was supposedly born on,
but people usually find some or any excuse to justify why they should
continue practicing pagan sun-worship on Dec 25, which is the celebration of
the birthday of the Sun-god Mithras, Sol Invictus, not Jesus! Don't
they? Chambers on Chronology p545 says that from the sixth century, Dec 25
was adopted by the British as the beginning of the year, but there was not
always uniformity on this for from the 14th century on, it began on March 25
(Ency' Britannica, Calendar p432) In about AD70 Pliny the Elder seems to
have observed the inaccuracy of this calendar when he said that the shadow
readings of the Obelisk in the Campus Martius in Rome "have for about thirty
years past failed to correspond to the calendar," (Pliny, Natural History
Book 36, Ch 14-15, LCL p57)
THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR The Julian
calendar was replaced in Catholic countries in AD1582 by the Gregorian
calendar when the 4th of October was followed by the 15th to supposedly
bring the spring equinox back to March 21 as they wrongly claimed it was
when adopted in AD325. The astronomical tables show that the equinox
actually fell on March 20. Also "the Gregorian reform set Jan 1 as the new
year which was different at least in Britain from the old Julian system
which had established Dec 25 as the new year." (Religious Holidays and
Calendars, p47-8 and World Book Encyclopedia on Calendars p25) When
Gregory 13 introduced the calendar he threatened to excommunicate anyone who
refused to accept it. (G Moyer, The Gregorian Calendar) The British
delayed introducing the Gregorian calendar saying they preferred to be wrong
with the sun than right with the pope. (The Sciences Sept/Oct 1991 p53) "The fools would rather disagree with the Sun than agree with
the pope!" (Voltaire S&T Nov' 1982
p419)
At the time of the introduction of the Gregorian calendar into Britain
in AD1752 people thought they had lost the days between Sept 2 and Sept
14 and cried "Give us back our eleven days" (World Book Ency' p25 and
C.B. Vol 3 p23) and so to conform to the error of the Catholic
church the British removed 11 days. The "image" of the Beast had now
replaced the calendar of the "Beast".
In AD325 it was falsely believed that the northern Spring equinox was
fixed on March 21 but at the time of its introduction, Joseph Scaliger argued
that the Gregorian calendar does not keep the equinox on March 21, it
usually occurs on March 20. (Gordon Moyes, Scientific America, 246, 144
1982) According to the Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac
by P K Seidelman p581, "The vernal equinox does not necessarily occur on
March 21." In an article on the vernal equinox in the American Journal of
Physics, September 1987 which is available at the Physical Sciences Library
at the University of N.S.W. the writers show the variations in the date of
the equinox graphically and says "the date of the equinox can occur as early
as March 19 or as late as March 21 and remains confined between these
dates". Checking this in the tables of solstices and equinoxes the
Gregorian dates for the equinox in AD323 and other nearby years was as late
as March 22. The Book of Religious Holidays and Calendars says on p47 that
the cause of the Julian error is that it is "based on a year of 365.25 days"
which is 11 minutes 14 seconds more than the true solar year and amounts to
an extra 3 days every 400 years. In the 1994 Ency' Britannica this additional
time on the Julian calendar each year is expressed as "3.12 days every 400
years" all they have done is to multiply 11m 14s by 400 to get 3.12 days but
it should be remembered that it has not always been 11m 14s and will continue
to get SHORTER as the earth continues to slow down in its orbit around the
sun.
The Academic American Encyclopedia Vol 4 says "the Julian leap-year
rule created 3 leap years too many in every period of 385 years", this is
only an approximation found by dividing 11m 14s (674s) into 3 days (259,200s)
which equals 384.56973 or approximately 385 years. The Julian calendar only
adds the extra 3 whole days each 400 years, the extra 0.12 days each 400
years does not show up for nearly 4,000 years. Silver says the
"astronomical deviation" in the Gregorian calendar is 1 day in 3323 years.
(Solinsky, p15)
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature says on p109
that it was Gregory 13 who "suggested" that 3 intercalery days be omitted
every 400 years to counteract the additional 3 days which accumulate every
400 years, and The Worldbook Ency' on Calendars on p25 says he declared that
February would not have an extra day in century years that could not be
divided by 400. Presently "The error in the Gregorian calendar is about 26
seconds in one year and will amount to one complete day in about 3300
years,-" (Brown p13) So the Gregorian calendar maintains its solar
accuracy by only making each century year that is divisible by four, (400), a
leap year, but the Julian calendar makes every century year a leap year and
does not remove the 3 extra days every 400 years and this has caused the
Julian calendar to gradually become more out of step with the solar cycle so
that December 25th in the 20th century has fallen 12 days later than it did
when it was officially adopted by the council of Nicea in AD325 when they
thought the spring equinox fell on March 21. Compared with the Gregorian
calendar the Julian calendar appears to be 13 days later, which is due to the
reformers removing 10 days in 1582 when only 9 days should have been taken
out, this makes the dates on the
Gregorian (N/S) calendar to be
one day later if compared with the Julian calendar when it was adopted, ie,
in AD325, Saturday Dec 25 (O/S) is Saturday Dec 26 (N/S). Between AD325
and the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in AD1582 is 1257 years which
when multiplied by approximately 11 minutes 14 seconds each year totals 9
days and about 19 hours, but the number of whole days that had accumulated on
the Julian calendar was only 9, so when the reformers removed 10 days there
was a difference made of one day compared to the fourth
century.
THE TEN DAYS CORRECTION There
sometimes seems to be a bit of confusion about the number of days difference
between some dates in AD325 and AD1582 as the equinox was said to have been
on March 21 in AD325 and on March 10 in AD1582 which is thought by some to
have been a difference of 11 days, but this is an error. The actual date of
the equinox in AD325 was on March 20 (O/S) and in AD1582 was on March 10
(O/S) just before midnight (Greenwich time) according to our modern
tables, but as the timezone of Rome is 2 hours earlier than Greenwich, and as
the date of the equinox can vary according to the timezone, the northern spring equinox which
was about 6 months before the 10 days were removed, was on March 11 (O/S) at
Rome, so the actual date of the equinox returned to the 20th at Greenwich but
at Rome it "returned" to the 21st as can be seen by comparing the Julian
dates.
The date of the equinox is measured by the Roman calendar which does
not add the extra 1/4 of a day each year until the fourth year when the
date of the equinox leaps again. This movement of 1/4 day each year
causes the date of the equinox to fall on different dates in some
years. As the Earth is in a different position when it returns each
year on its orbit around the sun, this alters the time of the equinox
at different places. Richards says "It is important to note that the
interval between successive true equinoxes varies by about 18 minutes
on account of nutation and interactions with the other planets."
(Mapping Time, p32) This combined variation was not understood by
those at the Council of Nicea who thought that the date of the Equinox
was fixed on March 21. It can be clearly shown that the actual time
added in days and hours due to the Julian year being about 11 minutes
and 4 seconds longer than the Tropical year about 2000 years ago and
which is now about 11 minutes 14 seconds today, due to the slowing of
the earth in its orbit around the sun by about 10 seconds since AD325
to AD1582, would amount to only about 9 days 19 hours approximately,
and not 10 days. "In the Gregorian calendar there is about 26
seconds difference to the solar year which will grow by 0.53 seconds
every hundred years because the solar year is getting SHORTER due to
the earth slowing down." (World Book Ency' 1992 edition, Calendar
p34) (not LONGER as could be presumed.) The actual number of
extra leap year days added to the Julian calendar from AD325 to AD1582
or 1,257 years can be shown by adding three days for every 400 years
between AD325 to AD1582 which adds up to only 9 whole days plus some
extra hours or by comparing the dates of the equinox in the Julian and
Gregorian calendars in AD325 in fact the whole 4th century would
coincide if what they said had been true, but in AD325 Jan 1 on the
Julian calendar fell on a Friday, while on the Gregorian it fell on a
Thursday. The extra days were added in the years; AD500, AD600, AD700, -
AD900, AD1000, AD1100, - AD1300, AD1400, AD1500 - and the next or tenth day
would not have been added until AD1700. This is why in AD1752 when the
British adopted the Gregorian calendar they then needed to remove 11 days to
conform to the Gregorian system. What this amounts to is that the
Gregorian calendar places the northern spring equinox on Saturday March 21
in AD325 (N/S) which is 1 day later than its date according to the Julian
calendar in AD325, which was Saturday March 20 (O/S), so what we now call
Dec 25 (N/S) should really be called Dec 26. So the bottom line is that
for over 400 years they have been celebrating Dec 25 on the identical solar date
but on the wrong day of the week. This means that all dates using the Gregorian calendar system
since AD1582 are one day earlier than the actual dates and also the dates
before the third century AD are also wrong, and were 3 days earlier in the
1st century BC and not the same as they were at the time of Jesus' birth
which was not on Dec 25 anyhow.
THE TROPICAL YEAR Hold onto your hat
Marea !
1) At the equator the Earth spins about 1000 mph (1,600
kph).
2) The Earth orbits around the sun at about 50,000 mph.
3) The
solar system goes around the Milky Way galaxy at about 500,000 mph.
4) Our
galaxy is moving towards the Virgo cluster of galaxies. (Once called the Great Attractor)
5) The
Great Attractor is accelerating away from the Big Bang. (Starstuff)
Somehow the faster we go the slower time passes. The time the Earth takes
to travel around the Sun between the northern vernal equinox each year is
called the Tropical year. Because the Earth is slowing down by about
0.00000614 days per century, "about 5.3 seconds per millennium" (O'Neil, p22)
the Tropical year is decreasing in length.
| In 3000BC it was |
365.24249965
days |
|
| In 1500BC it was |
365.24240755 |
|
| In 750BC it was |
365.2423635 |
|
| In 500BC it was |
365.24234615 |
|
| In 45BC it was |
365.24232 |
365d 5h 48m 56s |
| In AD1 it was |
365.24231545 |
|
| In AD462 it was |
365.24229 |
|
| In AD700 it was |
365.24227 |
|
| In AD900 it was |
365.24226 |
|
| In AD1500 it was |
365.24222335 |
|
| In AD1582 it was |
365.24222 |
|
| In AD1900 it was |
365.24219879 |
365d 5h 48m
46s |
| In AD2000 it was |
365.2421897 |
365d 5h 48m
45.2s |
| In AD2010 it was |
365.2421891 |
|
(Scientific America, McGraw Hill, O'Neil, p90,
Ency' of Time, Richards.)
Richards says "An error of 0.00001 corresponds
to about one second. The year, like the day, is not quite constant; it has
decreased by about 0.00014 days (12 seconds) since the time of Hipparchus of
Nicaea." (p33)
The Julian calendar in AD325 was about 11 minutes 4 seconds
longer than the Tropical year and in AD1900 was about 11 minutes 14 seconds
longer, this shortens the length of the year as the figures
show.
THE SIDEREAL YEAR The "Tropical" year
should not be confused with the "Sidereal" year which is the time the Earth
takes to return to its yearly position with the fixed stars and is a little
bit longer than the Tropical year. "Whereas the sidereal year is very
slowly increasing, (.00000012 days per century) the tropical year is slowly
decreasing." (O'Neil, p22)
| 3000 BC it was |
365.25636 days |
| AD1900 it was |
365.25636042 days |
"the sun lags about 4 minutes behind the stars in its daily course.
The true and uniform period of the earth's rotation with respect to the stars
is c 23 hours 56 minutes. The (mean) solar day is 24 hours." (Bickerman,
p53) "The Earth makes one revolution every 23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds
- not 24 hours as is popularly believed." (J. Sadil, The Moon and the Planets
p12)
The Astronomical Almanac for 2000 says it is 23h 56m 04s09053
(pB6)
1440 minutes in a day divided by
365.242198 =
3.9425894
minutes
"The Sidereal day is shorter by 1 part in 365 than the mean solar
day" (EA) But how can the Sidereal Day be shorter than the Tropical Day
while the Sidereal Year is longer than the Tropical Year? Because if the
Earth did not spin as it went around the sun each year there would be one
day and one night on Earth each year and so it takes one extra sidereal day
to equal 365 1/4, 24 hour days, so there are 366 1/4 sidereal days in each
sidereal year. "just as the stars rise and set four minutes earlier each
day because of the earth's orbital motion around the sun, so the times of
moonrise and moon-set are retarded each day-" The moon takes 27.3 days to
orbit the earth which is the sidereal month, but because the earth is moving
on, it takes 2.2 days to catch up (synodic = meeting) or 29.5 days.
(Principles of Astronomy, p119)
NOTES TO REMEMBER WHEN CONVERTING JULIAN AND GREGORIAN
DATES Every 4th year is a leap year except
the Gregorian century years that are not
divisible by 400. eg AD1700, AD1800, AD1900.
In such Centurial years the Julian calendar
does not advance ahead of the Gregorian
calendar until the absence of the Gregorian
date of February 29.
All Julian dates before Feb 24 in AD4
are the corrected Julian dates which vary
from the actual dates due to the pontiffs
leap year error. 5BC, 1BC and AD4 were not
actual leap years but are regarded as if they
were on both the corrected Julian calendar
and on the Gregorian
calendar.
The Julian calendar used the day
following Feb 23 to insert the extra day in
leap years but the corrected Julian calendar
adds Feb 29, so in leap years some
historical days of the week between Feb 24
to Feb 29 may differ in date by one day to
the actual date.
Before the 3rd century AD
Julian years begin in December of the
previous Gregorian year and after the 3rd
century AD, January 1of the Gregorian (N/S)
year begins in December of the previous
Julian (O/S) year. ie the Gregorian year of
AD1582 had 365 days and began on Friday Dec
22 (O/S) in AD1581.
The British continued using the Julian calendar from 1582 to 1752 and
began their year on March-25, so care needs to be used as to which
dating system different writers used. (For example: George Washington
was born on 11-Feb-1731 (Julian) which is 22-Feb-1732 on the Gregorian.)
The Pacific dateline was moved from Asia to the mid-Pacific at the
close of WWII. On the 29th of December 2011 Samoa and West Samoa harmonized their dating systems.
The hand made chart above gives the day of the week of the 1st of
January on both the G (Gregorian) and the J (Julian) calendars from
45BC to AD2000.
Those that are not underlined are non-leap years, the ones that are
underlined are leap years. Using this information you can find
which calender was used in any year from 45BC to AD2000 by going
to the two groups of calendars provided below. The first 7
are non-leap years and the second lot from 8 to 14 are the leap
year group.
In the third century and the thirteenth century the two calendars are
identical except in their last year when the Julian is a leap year
while the Gregorian is a non-leap year.
Calendars 8 to 14.
THE EQUINOX The word Equinox comes
from the Latin "aequus" meaning equal and "nox" or "noctis" meaning night. At
the equinoxes, the sun is directly above the Earths equator. (McGraw Hill
Ency' of Science and Technology, Equinox) It is the point of intersection of
the ecliptic and the equator; the time when the sun is at one of these two
points. It is thought to be the day on which both day and night are equal,
having 12 hours each, everywhere around the world. The Astronomical
Almanac says "At the equinoxes the sun crosses the equator when the length
of the day exceeds the length of the night due to refraction, semidiameter
and parallax of the Sun. At that time the lengths of the day and night are
approximately equal everywhere." (p477)
Although the length of day and
night are close to equal they are not really equal or the same at different
latitudes at the times of the equinoxes. Near the equator the day of the
equinox is always longer than the night because the light from the sun is
bent in the atmosphere and the sun appears a few minutes before it actually
rises and is still visible in the afternoon for several minutes after it is
below the horizon, also the edge of the sun rises ahead of the center of the
sun in the morning and remains briefly after the center has set in the
afternoon. The U.S. Naval Observatory says that on the dates of the
equinoxes, the day is about 7 minutes longer than the night at latitudes up
to about 25 degrees increasing to 10 minutes or more at latitude 50
degrees. At the latitude of 5 degrees N, the time of the equal day and
night is BEFORE the March equinox on about February 25, further north at 40
degrees equal day and night occurs about March 17. In the southern
hemisphere the time of equal day and night is AFTER the date of the March
equinox.
Although the date of equal day and night varies at different latitudes
at the time of the equinox and the equinox is not the day when night
and day are equal around the world, what does happen everywhere around
the world on the day of the equinox while the sun is crossing the
equator, is that the sun rises due east and sets due west. A vertical
sun stick on the equator would have no shadow at midday on the day of
the equinox. Claudius Ptolemaeus (AD100-178) was a Greek
astronomer who lived in Egypt which is about 30 degrees N of the
equator and said "when the sun is at the beginning of these signs he
makes the nights exactly equal to the days." (Tetrabiblos, book 1:11,
Loeb p67) so it seems unlikely that those who lived anciently were
really aware of which day and night were exactly equal, also cloudy
weather, height, latitude and longitude, could affect the observation and
the date, but they probably would have been able to observe the day on
which the sun rose exactly east and set exactly west which we call the
equinox and which was used in relation to calendars and celebrations.
The Sphinx in Egypt was carved out in the 4th dynasty around 2500BC and was
rededicated in the 18th dynasty to the sun-god Harmachis. (Note in Pliny,
Natural History, 36:17, LCL Vol 1, p61) It is said to be in alignment with
the sunset at the south edge of Chephrenes pyramid at the time of the
equinoxes. (Sunday Telegraph May 11-1997 p139) The Druids at
Stonehenge in England were probably able to determine the day of the equinox
with their stone markers in about 1700BC.
Philo says about the vernal
equinox of it being "the beginning of the cycle of the months" (Questions
and Answers on Exodus, Book 1:19) and mentions the solstices (2:75-6) and
the seasons. (2:112) "the new moon which follows the conjunction of the moon
with the sun." (Special Laws 2,11, LCL Vol 7, p333)
Pliny the Elder
(AD23-79) says that Augustus used an obelisk "-to mark the suns shadow and
thereby the length of days and nights." (Natural History, Book 36 Ch 15,
Loeb p57)
The Babylonian Talmud shows that the Autumn equinox in September
regulated the time for some of the Jewish religious practices. (Ta'anit
10a)
In Bedes church history written in about AD731 it is explained in
Ceolfrids Letter to Nechtan 5:21 (Penguin p314-5) "-the vernal equinox was
first determined by the rising of the sun on its emergence from the
mid-point of the east and later while the sun was setting at evening-".
The Julian calendar had added 3 days by AD700 and the equinox was
falling around March 17 when
Ceolfrids letter to Nechtan said "according to the view of all the eastern
nations, and in particular the Egyptians, who are especially skilled in such
calculation, the vernal equinox occurs on the twenty first of March, as we
can prove by horological observation." They thought the equinox was later
than it really was. This should show us that we should make allowance for
errors in dating the sign of Aries by a few days in ancient times.
Today the easiest way to find the date of the March equinox back to the year
AD1 is by looking up the tables produced from computer calculations by Jean
Meeus of Erps Kwerps in Belgium. These tables are available at the State
Library in Maquarie St Sydney, Cat No N528/4, and we know that the dates
given for the equinox according to the Julian calendar are scientifically
correct, so to determine what the dates are according to the Gregorian
calendar we can now compare the actual dates rather than the dates of their
mistaken beliefs with the Gregorian equivalents which can be a bit confusing
because the equivalent Gregorian date for the equinox of March 20 in AD325
(O/S) is March 21 (N/S) which is what they mistakenly thought it was on the
Julian (O/S)
calendar.
In AD 325 the mean equinox was on Sat March 20 O/S or 21 N/S
In AD1582 the mean equinox at Rome was on Sun March 11 O/S or 21
N/S
In AD1583 the mean equinox was on Mon March 11 O/S or 21 N/S
Looking at the O/S dates above it can be seen that the date of the
equinox moved 9 days from March 20 in AD325 to March 11 in 1582, while
according to the N/S calendar it gives the appearance of having been on
March 21 in AD325 and having remained on March 21 in AD1582. This shows
the O/S and N/S dates in AD325 differ by a day. The time of the March
equinox varies in the tables each year mostly because the time the
Earth takes to orbit the sun is 365 days plus an extra 1/4 of a day. (5
hours, 48 minutes 46.069 seconds) which is 11 minutes 14 seconds short
of 6 hours or just a little bit less than 1/4 of a day. The time of the
equinox does not vary by exactly 5h 48m 46s each year as the
introduction to the tables show that the times between the solstices
and equinoxes are not equal seasons and although the figures return
very closely to the same each 400 years after the Gregorian cycle, they
do have seasonal variations over the centuries. "-the seasons can
arrive up to two days before or after
their mean dates, due to the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit, and the
resulting variable orbital velocity of our planet." (S&T Nov' 1982,
p418)
The date of the equinox varies due to "the slightly irregular shape
of the Earth's orbit and the current phase of the leap-year cycle."
(Edwards, Biblical Calendar Basics p4) According to the Explanatory
Supplement, p477 there can be variations in the time of the equinox of up to
54 hours, the earliest as 2pm on March 19 in AD2096 and the latest as 7pm on
March 21 in AD1903. (Solinsky, p15) The use of the calendar is the major
reason for the time of the equinox changing each year and causes the date of
the equinox in March to fall sometime between the 19th to 22nd, eg, in 1796
the equinox fell on March 19 (N/S) while in AD323 it fell on March 22 (N/S)
which was March 21 (O/S). Not only does the time of the Equinox vary each
year because of the major changes of the orbiting bodies relationships to one
another but it also alters over a longer period due to the accumulated effect
of smaller variations. In the Introduction to the Tables by Meeus he says,
"After a lapse of time of four centuries the eccentricity and the longitude
of perihelion of the Earths orbit have sensibly changed, influencing the
duration of the seasons."
Charts plotting the progressive movement of the
dates of the equinox in "Sky and Telescope (Nov 1982, p417) show that
due to the slowing rotation of the earth, the equinox will again return to the 10th of March in about 11,000 years time according to the present Gregorian calendar.
The McGraw-Hill Encyclopaedia of Science and
Technology says "the equinoxes occur 20 minutes earlier each year" (Vol 6,
p465) This is the approximate difference between "the time it takes for
the sun to return to the same position in the sky relative to the stars
(sideral year) and "the time it takes for the sun to return to the vernal
equinox (tropical year). Because of the precession of the vernal equinox
these two years differ by approximately 20 minutes and so, in 72 years, they
differ by one complete day." (R.H.Brown, Stars and the Calendar p6)
The
Sideral year is about 365.25636 days, which due to precession is about 20
minutes longer than the Tropical year. The time of the equinox really only
varies by a few minutes each Tropical year but because we use the Gregorian
calendar with its leap year system and dates which is a rough measuring
system because it only measures whole days and does not include the 1/4 day
until the leap year, and accumulates time over its 400 year cycle, the
variation appears to be much larger. Edwards says "dates can vary by one day
based on the slightly irregular shape of the Earth's orbit and the current
phase of the leap-year cycle." (B.C.Basics, p4) The reason for the
variation of the equinox being a few minutes each year is because the Earth
is not perfectly round but has a bulge around the middle and is shaped a bit
like a pear which scientists call "an oblate spheroid" (M-H, p260) or having
an ellipsoidal shape. As the Earth and the Moon orbit the Sun together as
one unit, with a shared center of gravity called the Barrycenter, which is
located in the Earth, but not at its center they travel about a million miles
each day around the sun. The Barrycenter is about 3,000 miles from the
center of the earth and "makes a nearly perfect ellipse each year;" King,
p18. (Solinsky, p9) Gales Ency says it is 2880 miles but also varies with
the Earths movements. As the Moon changes speed and varies in its orbit
around the Earth, and as the Earth with the Moon do not go around the Sun in
a perfectly circular orbit each year but follow an elliptical path, a bit
like a football, on which they accelerate as they approach their closest
point to the Sun called Perihelion and slow down as they head toward their
furthest point from the Sun called aphelion, (the Earth is about 3,000,000
miles closer to the Sun at perihelion near the beginning of January than it
is at Aphelion in July, the anomalistic year is measured from one perihelion
to the next and the Universal Ency' says "due to precession is 25 minutes
longer than the tropical year",) and also because the Moon circles us, it
results in the Earth being in a different position relative to the
Barrycenter when it returns to the point of the equinox, so the time of the
equinox varies by a few minutes each year because of these changes. Planetary
perturbations are thought to contribute too, and these result in the times in
the tables jumping back and forth. There are two other motions of the
Earth to consider 1) Nutation, where the Earths actual Celestial pole
rotates around the Mean Pole each 18.6 years and, 2) Precession, which
Hipparchus (190-120BC) noticed in about
150BC.
PRECESSION The cause of this
"quasi-conical motion of the mean celestial pole around the pole of the
ecliptic is caused mainly by the gravitational pull of the moon on the bulge
of the Earth and is known as "Lunisolar precession". The effect of the sun
and a smaller pull by the planets and perhaps asteroids as well, are all
combined together to be called "general precession". "the Earth - bulges
very slightly at the equator. The gravitational forces of the sun and moon
pulling on this bulge try to twist the axis of the Earth upright, - The Earth
- remains tilted at 23 1/2 degrees but precesses round in a circle." (Stars
and the Calendar, p5) [The tilt of the earth varies between 22 to 24
degrees. (Solinsky, p11-12) and averages about 23.44 degrees, some use the
figure of 23 degrees 27 minutes.] For one complete revolution of this
Precession it takes about 25,780 years and is called the Platonic year.
(Michael Zeilik, Astronomy: Evolving p13) "if the earth did not move
around the sun at all (so that the straight line through the sun and the
earth kept a fixed direction relative to the distant stars), but still
rotated around its axis, and its axis had the same nearly conical motion,
instead of having four seasons in one year, there would be four seasons in
26,000 years!" (Solinsky, p16) The equinoxes and solstices all occur about
20 minutes earlier each year, which is 1 day every 72 years or 1 sign of 30
degrees about every 2,150 years or 1 whole year about every 25,780 years
which is approximately 26,000 years. The friction of the ocean tides is
slowing the Earths rotation and is causing the length of this precession
cycle to increase and is also shortening the length of the tropical year
(equinox to equinox) (Scientific America 246, 144 1982 p109, UNSW Library, PJ
500/S625)
The speed of precession is variable. (Solinsky, p17) The motions of the
Celestial Pole are accompanied by corresponding motions of the
Celestial Equator and of the Equinox (Explanatory Supplement, p12) It
is this precession that is causing the signs of the Zodiac to change to
the next position in the sky about every 2,150 years.
THE ZODIAC The Zodiac is
thought to have begun in Babylon sometime before 4000BC and has its history
in the Sumerian, Assyrian and Egyptian symbols, the star patterns that the
sun moves across each day are called the Zodiac and was probably completed
by the Greeks sometime after 1000BC with the solstices and equinoxes marking
the four divisions of the year. Hipparchus saw that at the time of the
equinox each year that the stars were in a different position in the sky
compared with the position of the sun than as they had been measured and
recorded 170 years earlier. He "concluded that the equinoctial points are
not fixed from year to year but move at least 1 degree per century in a
direction opposite to that of the sun's path along the ecliptic." (Brown,
Stars and the Calendar p5)
The Books of Job and Amos which are thought to
have been written before 700BC mention some of the constellations, "can you
bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? can you lead
forth Mazazaroth in their season? or can you guide the Bear with its
children?" (Job 38:31-2) "He who made the Pleiades and Orion." (Amos
5:8) An article in the Sydney Morning Herald referring to the book "The
Orion Mystery", said the pyramids were built 4,500 years ago with their
shafts used to view particular stars such as in Orion and Sirius when they
returned each year probably to determine the exact length of the sidereal
year, which is the time taken for the Earth to return to its same relative
position to a fixed star and is slightly longer than a solar year (tropical
year). "Sirius is the brightest star in the heavens and is in the
constellation of Canis Major just below Orion." (The Orion Mystery, p7,
932/BAU)
The Childrens Britannica under calendar Vol 3, p21 says that Sirius the
dog star of Orion rose just before sunrise about 4200BC. The Orion
Mystery points to the Great Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu at Giza having
been built around 2450BC to view the star Thuban. (p173)
Astronomical modelling shows this as 2467BC and "gives a date of 2478BC
for the alignment of Khufu's pyramid-" (Nature, Vol 408, 16 Nov' 2000,
p324) The pyramids were
probably built not knowing that the stars would slowly change their position
during the 26,000 year Platonic cycle of precession until they could no
longer be seen through the shafts. About 2000BC the equinox was in the sign
of Taurus the Bull, during the time of Hipparchus and Josephus it had moved
along to the sign of Aries the Ram, while today it is in Pisces the Fishes
and will be in the age of Aquarius, the water carrier in the next millennium
in AD2597. (Jean Meeus, Sky and Telescope, Sept 1974 p139) The Babylonians
are said to have been the first to divide the circle up into 360 degrees.
(Hertz, Pentatuch)
Pliny the Elder AD23-79 shows that the suns course had
been "divided into 360 parts." (Book 2, Ch 6, Loeb p191) and mentions the 12
signs of the Zodiac in Ch 18 (Loeb p227) and that there was altogether in his
time "72 signs" (Book 2, Ch41, Loeb p253)
Ptolemy the Astronomer
(AD100-178) mentions that the first interval or sign was 30 degrees.
(Tetrabiblos 1:11, Loeb p67) and that some had even divided each of these 12
divisions into 12 more divisions of 2 1/2 degrees each. (p109) This would
have calibrated the Zodiac into 144 divisions. Today there are 88
constellations which are only imaginary mythological figures formed using
the stars positions.
The sun appears to pass through 14 of these constellations on its 16-17
degree path north and south of the equator, 12 of these are called
the "houses" of the Zodiac, "each year the sun spends 18 days in
Ophiuchus, a group for which there is no corresponding sign," (S&T
Sept 1974, p139) The day of the vernal equinox was used as the date for
the beginning of the first of the 12 segments or signs of the Zodiac
which were 30 degrees each. In Vol 6 of the McGraw-Hill Ency' of Sci'
& Tech' under equinox (p465) it says "Since the vernal equinox was
in the constellation Aries when Hipparchus studied it 2,000 years ago,
it is known as the first point in Aries, it is however in Pisces." The
Childrens Britannica Vol 11, p277 under Signs of the Zodiac says the
ancient Babylonian astronomers named each sign after the constellation
which lay in it; thus in each case the sign and the constellation in it
had the same name, this is no longer so: each constellation now lies in
the sign next to the one that bears its name, the constellation Aries
lies in the sign Taurus:" Anatolius of Alexandria (AD230-280) said in
about AD270 that the equinox was in the the first segment of the
circuit of the planets. (Ch 2 and 3, A-N, Vol
6, p146-7) So the Babylonians started it, the Greeks completed it, the
Romans gave the Latin names for it, and the Gullible follow it.
JULIAN COMPARED WITH GREGORIAN The Julian
calendar repeats itself every 10,227 days or 28 years while the Gregorian
calendar repeats itself identically every 146,097 days or every 400 years,
being divisible by 7. (S&T Nov' 1982, p417)
In AD1923 the Orthodox
church was divided when the council of Orthodox churches at Constantinople
adopted the Gregorian calendar. (Chambers p174) Some maintained the use of
the Julian calendar which is the reason that some Orthodox observe Xmas 13
days later on Jan 7 (N/S) which is December 25 on the Julian calendar. This
is not to be confused with the Epiphany on Jan
6.
| Julian O/S |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
| Gregorian |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
You may wonder how long it will be
before the Orthodox who use this calendar begin to question whether
everything is alright with their tradition, but they are not worried that
the Julian calendar is progressively becoming more out of step because they
believe that Jesus will come back well before it has any serious impact and
so they do not need to do anything about it. In October AD1923 "a slightly
modified rule was adopted for leap years viz, centurial years are to be leap
years only when the century number divided by 9 leaves a remainder of 2 or
6. The first difference from the usual rule does not occur until 2800." (New
Age Ency', Vol 5, p201)
TODAY The Julian (O/S) calendar
is still used for dating events before October 15 (N/S) in AD1582. For dating after
this the Gregorian (N/S) is used, although some people use the Gregorian New
Style system to date events prior to its introduction on October 15, AD1582
(N/S) but from the time when the Julian calendar was introduced in 45BC until
its adoption at the Council of Nicea in AD325, the northern spring equinox
is said to have varied from March 25 to March 21, but this was probably from
March 23 to March 20, so any specific days would vary from what the Gregorian
date would show. In The Watchtower, (March 15, 1993) Jehovahs Witnesses
say that Jesus died on Friday April 1 in AD33. This is a N/S date they have used but they
have not marked it N/S. When using the Julian calendar the date should be
indicated as O/S (Old Style), some simply use J, and when using the Gregorian
(New Style) system for dates before Oct 15 AD1582 it should be indicated as
N/S or as G.
BC/AD DATING When
Jesus was born there was no BC or AD dating. In Peaks Commentary on the
Bible under Chronology it says "some now claim that this era was introduced
by Hippolytus (AD170-236) and adopted in the East and that later Dionysius
made it popular in the West." (p728) "In 325 AD the Council of Nicaea --
changed the era to the birth of Christ, 1 AD." (Parise, The Book of
Calendars, p294) John Brady says "Pandorus, an English Monk, had so early
as the year 395, dated some tracts from the incarnation" (Clavis Calendaria,
Vol 2, p332) In about AD530 Dionysius Exiguus introduced the present
custom of reckoning time by counting the years from the birth of Christ
which he miscalculated. (World Book Ency', Christian Era) "Dionysius
introduced the concept of numbering years consecutively through the
Christian era." (Ency' Brit', Calendars) Beginning with January 1, 754
AUC. (Blacks Bible Dict') the pre-Christian period consequently being called BC. Chambers, Chronology says
"The years are denominated as years current from the mid-night between
the 31st Dec and 1st Jan immediately subsequent to the birth of Christ
according to the event by Dionysius Exiguus." In about AD700 the
English church historian Bede popularised it in his writings, and
according to the Explanatory Supplement 1992, p579 it was Bede who
"began the practice of counting the years backward from 1 AD." In
AD879 the German Emperor Charles 3 adopted BC/AD dating. (Blacks Dict')
Dionysius believed that Jesus was born on Dec 25 in what we now
call 1BC. AD stands for the Latin "anno domini" which means "in the year
of the Lord" but somehow over time, the concept of the Dionysian
calendar beginning the era "in the year of our Lord", or AD1, changed
from being "in" his first year to "after" his first year, but according
to Chambers Ency', Dionysius considered the year of Jesus birth to have
begun from the time that he thought Jesus was conceived, which was the
25th of March in 1BC, so it is probably wrong to say that Dionysius
would have thought the year "0" began from December 25 in 1BC or
January 1 in AD1 and it is only because some have failed to understand
the original concept or the method he used, that they conclude the AD
year is "after" not "in" the year. This is reinforced because we are
accustomed to the leap year and the Olympic Games being held in even
numbered years, the end of the 19 hundreds and 99, followed by 2000
suggests the start of something new. As Jesus was not born on Dec 25 in
1BC perhaps we could say that AD stands for "According to Dionysius"
but even this is doubtful as Dionysius appears to have considered the
year to have begun with the 25th of March.
Instead of using AD most Jewish writers use
CE which stands for the "Common Era" and for "BC" they use BCE "Before the
Common Era"
For quick additions some people add the BC year to the CE year
but because there is no year "0", one year should be subtracted from the
total, but also care should be taken as to whether the first and last years
began at the beginning or end of the year, eg Dec 25 1BC to Jan 7 AD1 is only
13 days, not 2 years. Another eg is, 37BC plus AD70 is 107, minus one year
= 106 years, this is because counting begins during or from the end of 37BC
and/or because the 70th year AD is incomplete, not because we should
subtract the year "0".
THE YEAR "0" Logically
Jesus year of birth would be AD0, but Jesus was not born on Jan
1 in 0BC although some writers assume that there was a year "0",
"there is no year 0BC or AD0." (Chambers, Chronology) The
beginning of the Christian era is Jan 1 of the fourth year of the
194th Olympiad. (Chambers) The Olympiad year began around the
beginning of July.
| 10BC |
9BC |
8BC |
7BC |
6BC |
5BC |
4BC |
3BC |
2BC |
1BC |
AD1 |
AD2 |
AD3 |
AD4 |
AD5 |
AD6 |
AD7 |
AD8 |
AD9 |
AD10 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
<-194th Olympiad-> |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Because of the common misunderstanding and
use of AD years there are only 19 years between 10BC and AD10
because there is no year "0" to complete the BC decade so if we
count forward from 10BC we would only count 9 years until AD1,
but the absence of the year "0" does not show up when we count
backwards from 1BC because we wrongly include the last year of
the earlier decade, we begin in 1BC and end with 10BC as we
would in the AD period, where we begin with 1AD and end with
AD10. It only becomes apparent when we count consecutively from
10BC to AD10 or vica versa that there is no year
"0". Because there is no year "0", there is no point "0"
between the time BC and AD either, 1BC is immediately followed by
AD1, but "some chronologers however reckon from the 25th of
March following from our epoch." (Chambers Ency',
Chronology) Astronomers use a system of minus 1 numbers in the
BC period which includes a year "0", eg 3BC = -2. This avoids
breaking the continuity of counting decades of BC/AD
numbering.
| HISTORICAL |
ASTRONOMICAL |
| 3BC |
-2 |
| 2BC |
-1 |
| 1BC |
0 |
| AD1 |
+1 |
| AD2 |
+2 |
We could, but do not, count backwards in the BC
period and begin from Dec 31 and conclude with Jan 1 of the year
we have just counted, just as the first century AD ends at the
end of the year AD100 so the end of the first century BC would
end at the beginning of 100BC, which would be January
1. Because Dionysius Exiguus thought that Jesus was conceived
and born within the year of 1BC, and because we commonly fail to
understand the way Dionysius viewed this, Jesus would be only
one year and 6 days old at the start of AD2, and still be only
one year old, 8 days before January in AD3, but it was not
Dionysius who failed to begin with the year "0", it is because
we fail to recognise that these are years "of" or "in", not
"after". Even
until recently many legal documents stated words like, "IN the year of Our
Lord one thousand nine hundred and sixty five." meaning in 1965. In
conventional counting the 1st of January in AD2000 was really only the
completion of 1999 years and was the start of the 2000th year. Some
people thinking that Jesus was born on Dec 25 in 4BC intended to celebrate
his 2000th birthday in 1996 but they got the year wrong. You only need 10
fingers to prove which is the 10th year counting from 4BC -
-
1BC
AD5
2BC \ |
/ AD1
AD4 \ | / AD6
- - 3BC __\|/__AD2 AD3__\|/ __AD7 - -
-- so AD7 is the tenth year because there was no year "0" and so the
2000th year would have ended on Dec 25 in 1997, not in 1996. By
superimposing the 400 year Gregorian calendar over the period before it was
made, we can see that Thursday Dec 25, 1997 was also Thursday Dec 25 in
AD1597, AD1197, AD797, AD397, 4BC, 404BC, 804BC etc, according to this N/S.
(This method is what some
call "proleptic" dating but in "Calendrical Calculations" (p35) they say
"proleptic" relates to the future not the past.) The days of the week are
identical to those of the Julian calendar but the date is different, except
in the third century AD where the systems cross over and where both the day
and the date are identical.
COMPARISONS
| JULIAN CALENDAR |
|
GREGORIAN CALENDAR |
| 1BC Saturday Dec
25 |
was |
Saturday Dec 23 |
| (by error Sunday Dec
25) |
was |
Sunday Dec 24 |
| AD325 Saturday Dec 25 |
was |
Saturday Dec 26 |
| AD1582 Tuesday Dec 25 |
was |
Tuesday Jan 4* |
| AD2000 Sunday Dec 25 |
was |
Sunday Jan 7* |
(* These dates are in the following year of
the 400 year cycle)
As shown earlier because of the removal of 10 days
instead of only 9 days the Gregorian calendar is theoretically one day early,
(see AD325 below, this would make Dec 25 in AD325 (N/S) to have been a
Friday) and when the variation due to the different leap year methods between
the Julian and Gregorian calendars is compared for 1BC, the year when it is
supposed that Jesus was born, Sat Dec 25 (O/S) is Sat Dec 23, (N/S date), so
the 25th is 2 days later on the Gregorian calendar (25th N/S in 1BC was a
Monday)
| YEAR |
JULIAN O/S DEC 25 |
GREGORIAN N/S DEC 25 |
| Dec 25
1BC |
Saturday |
Monday |
| Dec 25
AD325 |
Saturday |
Friday |
which makes the
Gregorian calendar vary by a total of 3 days in 1BC to the Julian date in
AD325, but because of the pontiffs error, the O/S date Dec 25 in 1BC, a
Saturday, appeared to be a day later, on Sunday,-
| YEAR |
JULIAN
25TH |
PONTIFFS 25th |
GREGORIAN 25th |
| 1BC |
Saturday |
Sunday |
Monday |
-so the difference is 2 days
between the Julian and Gregorian calendars but only 1 day due to the Pontiffs
error, so the "true" date of December 25 on the Gregorian calendar today should
be 1 day earlier, on Dec 24. (N/S) Considering this I think it is fair to
say that the completion of 2000 years according to Dionysius who believed
that Jesus was born on the 25th of Dec in 1BC would be Dec 24 in AD2000
(N/S) but because Dionysius used the Julian calendar which presently follows
the Gregorian calendar dates by 13 days and makes Dec 25 to fall in the
following Gregorian year on the 7th of January and the O/S new year to begin
on Jan 14 (N/S) then perhaps making these calendar adjustments Dionysius
would celebrate Jesus' birthday two days earlier, on the 5th of January
(N/S), but I hope that after reading this he would agree that Jesus
was really born at the beginning of the Feast of Tabernacles and that the
2000th year was Wednesday evening October 15 1997. The Gregorian calendar
is thought by some to be an accurate calendar because it follows the solar
cycle, but far from being "accurate" it does not keep a consistent date for
the equinox it supposedly follows, and it is out of step with the dating from
the time it was introduced, as well as innacurately dating years both from
the time when it is supposed that Jesus was born and also from the time of
his actual birth, which obviously would show Jesus to have been born in 0BC
or AD0, but it seems that the powers that push the false belief that the
"virgin" Mary or Madonna (Ishtar) is the Mother of God and who claim she is
alive in heaven and has visited places such as Fatima in Portugal which
according to the Gregorian calendar was on the 13th of each month from May
1917 until the 13th of October in 1917 when they say that "the sun
fell down", although on the Julian calendar it would have been on the last
day of each of the previous months and thus supposedly shows the superiority
of the Gregorian calendar over the Julian, these deceivers want to delude
people into believing that the "virgin" Mary and God now use their Gregorian
calendar. The bible uses the Hebrew calendar and the idea that it is out
of date or has been replaced by the Gregorian system and is of no use is
false. The Roman calendar is not used anywhere in the bible. The bible uses
the Hebrew calendar and according to prophecy this system that was given in
Egypt will continue to be used in the future, just as it is used today and
was used in the past. Ezekiel 45:21, 46:1, Isaiah 66:23, Zech
14:16. (Hebrew Calendar)
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