Draft letter concerning ancient calendars, and notes on Jewish chronology Isaac Newton c. 3,432 words The Newton Project Falmer 2009 Newton Project, University of Sussex

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 1699 and later, c. 3,454 words. Yahuda Ms. 24Two drafts of a letter on calendar reform, with extraneous material concerning chronology and the Temple of Zerubbabel [Yahuda Ms. 24f] Yahuda Ms. 24g, National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel IsraelJerusalemNational Library of Israel Yahuda Mss Yahuda Ms. 24g SL222

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 1699 and later England English Latin Greek Holograph Thomas Pellet ReligionChronology Catalogue information compiled by Rob Iliffe, Peter Spargo & John Young Tagged transcription by John Young Proofed by Robert Iliffe Catalogue exported to teiHeader by Michael Hawkins
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I have perused the Paper which his LordpLordship the BpBishop of Worcester sent to Dr Prideaux & find it full of excellent propotions of antiquity remarks observations concerning the ancient year: but do not perceive that they amount to any thing more then a proof that the Kalendar of the ancient Lunisolar year was consisted of twelve lunar months & each month Kalendar month of 30 days. That they followed their Kalendar without correcting it from time to time by the courses of yethe Sun & Moon is the that proved thing to be proved.

The first nations before they used an artificial cycles kept a recconing of time by the courses of the Sun & Moon Gen 1.14. & the Lunar month consisting of 30 days in yethe nearest round number & the solar year of 12 Lunar months in the nearest round numbers, these round num it was obvious for those nations to keep reccon time by such months & years & compose Kalendars thereof for knowing what days of each month were to be celebrated as festivals & to what God. And hence came the year of 36 division of the Ecliptick into 360 degrees, upon a supposition that the sun But yet for knowing what days of every month in the year they were to celebrate as festivals & to what God it was requisite to have a Kalendar & in this Kalendar it was obvious to reccon set down 30 days to a Lunar month & 12 Lunar months to a Solar year, these being the nearest round numbers answering to the courses of the Sun & Moon. And hence it came to pass that the Ancients recconed the Luni-solar years to consist of 360 days & accordingly divided the Zodiac into 360 equal parts the Ancients supposing Ecliptic into 360 equal parts, supposing that the Sun moved round the heavens in 360 equal days. But I do not find that in civil affairs they adhered to their Kalendar where they found it differ from the courses of the Sun & Moon but rather corrected it from time to time where they as often as the to make it agree constandtly wthwith the heaven taking a day or two from the month as often as they found the month too long for the course of the Moon & adding a month to the year as often as they found twelve lunar months too short for the return of the seasons of the years & fruits of the earth. And thus to correct the Lunisolar year was the business of the Priests. And by reforming this primitive Calendar to make it agree better & better with the courses of the Sun & Moon came all the of years & cycles of years wchwhich have been ever since

And For after they found that three twelve lunar months were to be added in eight years too short for the return of the seasons they added a month every other year excepting once in & thereby formed the Dieteris & when they found this too long they omitted an intercalary month once in eight years: wchwhich made the old primitive first Octaetheris of the ancients the half of wchwhich was their Tetraeteris. And at length finding that the Octaeteres in length of time differed manifestly from yethe heavens they found out the Then the Greeks or their mended the form of the Octaeteris. ✝ Afterwards the GeeksGreeks altered the form of yethe octaeteris intercaling a month in yethe third sixt & eighth years, or in the 3d 5t & eighth years or in yethe 2d 5th & 8th months years to make these years agree better with the course of the Sun. And when they found the Octaeteris too short for the seasons & course of the Sun, they invented the Cyclus decemnovalis in wchwhich 7 months were added in nineteen years. But the Ægyptians for the sake of navigation measuring the length of the Calenda Solar year more exactly, added five days to the Luni-solar Kalendar year of 360 days, & to this year being received by the Chaldeans & Persians & by the Greeks in their Rhafi recconing the Philippian year from the death of Alexander the Romans added in to it a day once in four years. And the Arabians at length omitted the intercalary month & made their year to consist of only twelve Lunar months. And Pope Gregory XIII made a new correction of the Roman Calendar year. And the Arabians & Mahometans by neglecting all the intercalary months made their year to consist of only twelve Lunar Months. And these are All these corrections were made for bringing the Calendar nearer & nearer to yethe course of the Sun. And some of the ancients used Months alternately of 30 & 29 days for bringing the Calendar months nearer to yethe course of the Moon. And the Arabians & Mahometans neglecting all the intercalary months retain to this day the year of 12 Lunary months & 360 days correcting their months perpetually by the course of the Moon. And these are all the all the principal forms of years hitherto known.

1B Now when Moses reccons the duration of the flood by months of 30 days, I understand him of the Calendar months of the Luni-solar year not corrected by the course of the Moon the rainy cloudy weather not suffering her to appear.

2 When Herodotus reccons by years of 360 days he understands Lunisolar calendar years without correcting them by the courses of the Sun & Moon

3 When he reccons by years of 12 & 13 months alternately he understands the ancient Dieteris without correcting the Calendar lunar months by the course of the Moon. For he saith that the leap months were added to make the year agree wthwith the seasons.

When Manetho tells us that the ancient Egyptian year consisted of 360 days, he means the ancient L Calendar Luni-solar year not corrected by the courses of the Sun & Moon & to the end of wchwhich the Egyptians at length added five days. For the year wchwhich the Israelites brought out of Egypt was Luni-solar. And Diodorus tells us that in the o Vranus king of Egypt & Libya measured yethe year by the course of the Sun & the months by the course of the Moon.

6 When Cleobulus Lindices one of the seven wise men enigmatically describes the year to consist of twelve months & every month of 30 days he describes the calendar year of the Greeks who in those ages & long after used the lunisolar year. And in the same Hippocrates understands the same calendar years when he saith that seven years are exactly 360 weeks. And so did Aristotle when he equals the fift part of a year to 72 days the sixt part to 60 days & a month to 30 days. And so so did the Athenians when they erected 360 statues to Demetrius according to yethe number of days in their year; & when they had at Athens 4 φυλὰς imitating the 4 seasons of yethe year & 12 φατρίας καὶ τριττυς according to the months & every φατρια had 30 γένη as yethe days are 360. They seem When they speak of a certain number of days in their month or year they mean their Calendar Month & calendar year, but in keeping an account of time the Priests constantly corrected their calendar by the courses of the sunn & Moon to make the four quarters of the Athenian year keep constantly to the same seasons. They recconed 4 seasons in their year & therefore corrected their Kalendar year of 360 days to make it keep constantly to the same four seasons. Solon recconed 30 days to yethe Athenian month but called the 30th day ενην και νεαν making it every other month the first day of the next month as well as the last day of the month past And in the same sense Plutarch is to be understood where he saith that their old Roman year was of 360 days. And so when Cyrus cut the River Gendus into 360 channels he might have relation to yethe old Kalend number of days in the old Kalendar year of yethe Medes or Assyrians.

7 So where the Babylonians, as Diodorus tells us, say that there are XII chief Gods & to every one of these assigne a Month & a signe in the Zodiac & say that through these 12 signes the Sun makes his course every year & the Moon every month: they speak not of the year of Nabonassar but of a solar year divided into 12 equal lunar months & measured by the revolution of the Sun, that is of the calendar luni-solar year of 360 days & make this year to be solar & the months Lunar supposing (with the ancients) that the sun in so many days passes through the 360 degrees of the Ecliptick, & that yethe Moon doth the same in a month. This year the Iews during their stay at Babylon made use of in their contracts & civil affairs & in their journey from Babylon to Ierusalem, retaininged the names of the Babylonian months & ever after callinged their own Luni-arsolar months by their names of the Babylonian Months if they months had not been the same wchwhich they would not have done if their own Lunar months had not been the same with the Babylonian. And Athenæus (lib. 12) tells us out of Berosus that upon the 16th day of the month Lous the Babylonians annually celebrated the feast Sacæa. Which is all one as to tell us that the sixteenth d feast Sacæa was kept by yethe Babylonians upon the 16th day of the Moon & by consequence that the Babylonian months were lunar. For the Month Lous was a lunar month of the Macedonian year.

While They had at Athens 4 φυλὰς imitating the four seasons of yethe year & 12 φατρίας καὶ τριττυς according to yethe months & every φατρία had 30 γένη according to yethe days, it signifies that every Athenian year had consisted of 4 seasons & was from time to time corrected by the luminaries so as to make it keep to the seasons. And when the B in like manner when the Babylonians, as Diodorus tells us, sayid that there were 12 chief Gods

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45 When David appointed 12 courses of Guards, one for every month of the year (1 Chron 27) he had respect to yethe Iewish ordinary year of 12 Lunar months without considering the intercalary months. For when a month was added to yethe end of the year, the cours wchwhich was to wait in yethe first month of the next year might wait in yethe intercalary month & the next course might wait in the first month of yethe next year, & so on: & therefore there was no need of appointing a proper course for the intercalary month.

1A When we read of the Annus magnus of Minos or Cadmus we are to understand the composed of eight yeares or of the Trietrica of Bacchus or any other cycle of years used in the ancient sacr religions or solemnities or of any years with intercalary months, or of any years corrected by the courses of the Sun & Moon we are always to understand it of the Luni-solar year.

In allusion to yethe number of days in yethe Calendar year of the Medes or Assyrian eastern nations Cyrus seems to have cut yethe River Gindus into 360 channels.

When therefore Cleobulus one of the seven wise men, & or Hippocrates, & or Herodotus & or Aristotel &or Plutarch or Manetho describe the Ancient year of the Greeks Romans or Egyptians as consisting of 12 Equal months or 360 days, or Cyrus in allusion to the days in the year cut the river Gindus into 360 channels or or the Athenians in allusion to the days in this year erected 360 statues to Demetrius, or had 4 φ they are to be understood of the Calendar year not of the ancients not yet corrected by the courses of the sun & Moon. And when they had in Athens 4 φυλας imitating the 4 seasons of the year . . . . . the days: it signifies that the Athenian year of 360 days was corrected by the heavens so as to make it keep to the four seasons And when Herodotus intercales a month of 30 days every other year he is to be understood of the Dieteris of the Ancients continued for 70 years together wthwithout correcting it by the Luminaries Moon. And when Moses reccons the duration of the flood by months of 30 days he is to be understood of Calendar months not corrected by the course of the Moon by reason of the cloudy rainy weather wchwhich did not suffer her to appear. And when David appointed 12 courses of Guards one for every month of the year (1 ChonChron 27) he had respect only to the Calendar months of yethe Iewish year leaving the intercalary months unprovided because they were uncertain, & might be supplied by the 12 courses, the course wchwhich should serve upon the first month of yethe next year serving upon the intercalary month & the next course serving upon the first month of the next year. And when the Babylonians, as Diodorus tells us, say that there are XII chief Gods & to every one of these assigne a Month & a signe in the Zodiac & say that through these 12 signes the sun makes his course every year & the Moon every month: they spe describe the Chaldaic year to be solar & to consist of 12 equal mo lunar months whose days are represented by the degrees in yethe zodiac & are to be understoo & mean the months & days in the Calendar year not yet corrected by the courses of the Sun & Moon; & by the relation & correspondence wchwhich these months have to yethe 12 signes, they fix them to the seasons of the year by such corrections as are to be made for that purpose. This year the Iews during their stay at Babylon made use of in their contracts & civil affairs & in their journey from Babylon to Ierusalem brought it home with them calling their own months ever after by the names of the Babylonian, wchwhich they would not have done if their own Lunar months had not been the same with those of Babylonian.

So then the Lunisolar Calendar was very ancient & universal, being propa used by Noah & propagated down from him to his posterity & giving occasion to yethe division of the Zodiac into 12 signes & of circles into 360d, & continuing to be used in Egypt till their institution of the year of 365 days, in Chaldea till & the nations adjacent till the expedition of Cyrus over Gindus & till the Babylonian captivity & in Greece till the days of the seven wise men & long after & giving occasion to the division of the Zodiac into 12 signes & of a great circle into 360 degrees & to the Dieteris & other ancient cycles for avoyding the trouble of correcting it every month by the Moon & every year by the Sun. And where we meet wthwith any number of years are mentioned in any ancient author sacred or prophane we if the years be civil & practical we are to understand so many Lunisolar years corrected by the heavens, the revolutions of summer & winter, but if they be theorical & of a certain length, such as have not been nor are to be corrected by the heavens we are to understand Calendar years of 360 days that

And where we meet wthwith a week of years or a month of years or a year of years we are to understand seven years or 30 years or 360 years. And these years are to be taken for so many summers & winters unles But if his LordpLordship the BpBishop of Worcester it appear that the author used either the solar year of 365 days or the Lunar Year of the Mahometans. For I meet wthwith no other years among the ancients then such as were either Luni-solar or solar or Lunar or the Calendars of these years. A year o practical year of 360 days would have run round the seasons in 70 years & such a notable revolution would have been mentioned in History.

The remaining text on this page is written upside down.

Reverendissimo Viro D. P. Allix S.T.D Is. Newton S.P.

Vir dignissime

Quamvis linguæ Latinæ multo minus assuetus sim quam vernaculæ tamen ut Responsum tibi magis gratum sit, rescribam in hæc Lingua licet minus orna stylo rudiore.

Anno 19 Nebuchadnezzaris perijsse Hierosolymam sub Sedia agnosco sed id contigisse A. 162 subdubito Æræ Nabonass. subdubito. Evilmerodach successit patri suo anno 37 Captivitatis Iehojachin, (2 Reg. 25.27) anno Nabonass 186 completo et anno 187 currente juxta Canonem. Aufer annos 37 & captivitas Iehojachin incidet in annūum Nabonass 150. Adde regnum Zedekiæ annorum 11 et interitus Hierosolymorum incidet in an. Nabonass 161. Annus autem quartus Darij primi incidit in An. Nabonass. 230 juxta Canonem. Et hic annus est septuagesimus ab interitu HierolymorumHierosolymorum inclusive.

Nebuchadnezzar reigned regnavit annos 43 a morte patris juxta Canonem annos vero 45 a victa Iudæa juxta sacras liter a quarto Iehojakim & victa Palestina inclusive juxta sacras literas: annos scilicet octo ad captivitatem Iehojakin & inde annos 37 ad initium regni filij sui Evilmerodach 2 Reg. 24.12 & 25.27. Anni autem a morte Nebuchadnezzaris ad quartum annum Darij Hystaspis inclusive sunt 44 jux anni 44 juxta Canonem Ptolomæi. Ab summa annorum summa 89 ab aufer annos 198 & menses quatuor usqꝫque ad interitum urbis excurr & conflagrationem Templi excurrentes, & manebunt ab hoc interitu ad mensem nonum quartuim annuim Darij septuaginta Histaspis manebunt anni septuaginta et menses aliquot quatuo quatuor. Et in fine hujus temporis Propheta dicere potuit Quum jejunaretisris & plangetisxistis quinto [ob interitum Vrbis ac Templi] et septimo mense [sc sc. ob interitum urbis et cæ interitum Vrbis & cædem Gedaliæ,] ut illis septuaginta annis, an ullo pacto mihi, mihi inquam jejunastis? Zech. 7.5

Obsessa fuit Vrbs mense IvasaInvasa fuit Iudæa a Chaldæis anno nono Zedeciæ & obsessa urbs Hierosolymorum anno nono Zedeciæ mense decimo, et inde ad an ejusdem anni 2 KReg 25.1. Et inde ad mensem undecimum anni secundi Darij anni sunt anni septuaginta. I Et propterea in fine illius temporis Propheta dicere potuit: O Iehova exercituum quousqꝫque tu miseraturus es Hierosolymorum & civitatum Iudææ in quas indignatus es jam septuaginta annis. Zech. 1.12.

The conquest of Iudæa by Nebuchadnezzar in yethe f first year of his reign & f over Iudæa the Iews & fourth of Iehojakims reign, was sixteen years & some months before the siege of Ierusalem & so long was the first year of Cyrus over Persia before the sixt middle of the second ye eleventh month of the second year of Darius Hystaspis: & therefore from the conquest of Iudea by Nebuchadnezzar in yethe 4th year of Iehojakim to yethe return of the Iews from captivity in yethe first year of Cyrus was were 70 years, as in the prophesies of Ieremiah.

Sub reditu captivitatis Babylonicæ anno primo Cyri, potuit Iddo esse senex annorum septuaginta aut amplius & ejus filius Barchiah esse vir annorum plu quadam plus minus quadraginta quinqꝫque vel quinquaginta & Ejus Nepos Zechariah Propheta esse juvenis annorum plus minus viginti vel viginti et quinqꝫque. Et post annos sexdecim, anno scilicet secundo Darij Hystaspis, Zechariah potuit esse vir annorum 36 vel 40 ubi fuit propheta ubi cœpit prophetare esse Propheta.

Sed Zerubbabelem rexisse Iudæos ad usqꝫque annum secundum Darij Nothi et Ieshulm t id est annis 160 114 et Ieshuam toto illo tempore sacerdotium summum gessisse non est admodum verisimile. Et multo minus verisimile est senes tunc in vivis fuisse qui templum primum viderant, ante annos 1645 igne consumptum. Haggai 2.3. Vel quod Ezra cujus pater Serajah filius Azariæ occisus fuit anno excidij Templi (2 King. 25.18) in vivis esset anno 20 vel 28 Artaxerxis Memonis (Nehem 12.36) senex annoru annos plusquam ducentos natus.

§ III 4

XVIII

Considerations about the Iulian Calendar

No. 3

Considerations about the Iulian Calendar