Note 99 — Chapter I · (continued 2)

Lenormant, Manuel, vol. ii. pp. 175, 178, 180. G. Smith, Assyrian Discoveries (London, 1876, 8vo), pp. 451, 452. Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, vol. i. pp. 100, 101, fourth edition. We know that the Astronomical Canon of Ptolemy begins with the accession of a king of Babylon named Nabonassar, in 747 B.C. M. Fr. Lenormant thinks that the date in question was chosen by the Alexandrian philosopher because it coincided with the substitution, by that prince, of the solar for the lunar year. Astronomical observations would thus have become much easier to use, while those registered under the ancient system could only be employed after long and difficult calculations. A reason is thus given for Ptolemy's contentment with so comparatively modern a date. (Essai sur les Fragments cosmogoniques de Bérose, pp. 192-197.)