Calendars with Olympiad display and eclipse prediction on the Antikythera Mechanism
Previous research on the Antikythera Mechanism established a highly complex ancient Greek geared mechanism with front and back output dials. The upper back dial is a 19-year calendar, based on the Metonic cycle, arranged as a five-turn spiral. The lower back dial is a Saros eclipse-prediction dial, arranged as a four-turn spiral of 223 lunar months, with glyphs indicating eclipse predictions. Here we add surprising findings concerning these back dials. Though no month names on the Metonic calendar were previously known, we have now identified all 12 months, which are unexpectedly of Corinthian origin. The Corinthian colonies of northwestern Greece or Syracuse in Sicily are leading contenders—the latter suggesting a heritage going back to Archimedes. Calendars with excluded days to regulate month lengths, described in a first century bc source, have hitherto been dismissed as implausible. We demonstrate their existence in the Antikythera calendar, and in the process establish why the Metonic dial has five turns. The upper subsidiary dial is not a 76-year Callippic dial as previously thought, but follows the four-year cycle of the Olympiad and its associated Panhellenic Games. Newly identified index letters in each glyph on the Saros dial show that a previous reconstruction needs modification. We explore models for generating the unusual glyph distribution, and show how the eclipse times appear to be contradictory. We explain the four turns of the Saros dial in terms of the full moon cycle and the Exeligmos dial as indicating a necessary correction to the predicted eclipse times. The new results on the Metonic calendar, Olympiad dial and eclipse prediction link the cycles of human institutions with the celestial cycles embedded in the Mechanism’s gearwork.
Pilgrims And Pilgrimage In Ancient Greece
Preface Introduction 1. Official Pilgrimage Invitations and Sacred Truces 2. The Sanctity of Greek Pilgrims 3. Pilgrimage Destinations I: Mystery Cults, Healing Sanctuaries and Oracles 4. Pilgrimage Destinations II: Contests at Panhellenic Festivals 5. Pilgrimages by Ethnic Groups 6. Cult Regulations at Sanctuaries 7. The Female Pilgrim 8. Organizational Requirements at Pilgrimage Sites Footnotes Abbreviations Bibliography Index
A Classification of the Babylonian Astronomical Tablets of the Seleucid Period
I. Summary While hunting through the published astronomical cuneifcrm texts of the Seleucid period for Sirius data, it occurred to me that there is need for a brief sketch cf the types and contents of these scattered documents. Chiefly by exploiting the discovery made by Kugler, between 1907 (SSB I) and 1924 (SSB II, Part 2), of the correct interpretation of remarks like FAF NU IGI and ki FAP NU IGI, I have reached some general conclusions as tc the types cf items which are predicted elements in contrast to those which reflect cbservations. A somewhat startling result is that all classes of Seleucid astronomical texts contain at least some predictions.1 This investigation is strictly limited to texts of the Seleucid period. The few available texts of the New-Eabylcnian and Persian periods present problems of their own. Though relations between some categories of astronomical texts from the three periods are undeniable, the paucity of the pre-Seleucid material makes it advisable to exclude it for the time being.