DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5009#0373
THE PALjEOGUAPIIY OF DIFFERENT NATIONS, 347
in office at the time it was erected. 2. Dates derived from some
era adopted in each state of Greece, and expressed according to the
calendar peculiar to each of these states. Dates of this kind are only
round in Greek inscriptions of a later period ; on the more ancient
on those of Greece anterior to the invasion of the Romans—the
names of kings or magistrates generally mark the period. The
length of the time of office of the latter, prescribed by law, and the
order of their succession inscribed in the public archives, left, in
those times, no uncertainty with regard to the expression of these
dates. Modern critical scholars, combining the authority of inscrip-
tions with the statements of historians, have succeeded in establish-
ing lists of the succession of Greek magistrates in chronological
order, and in connecting them with the years before the Christian
era, and in thus forming useful tables for the establishing of epochs
of ancient history, and the determination of the precise date of a
monument. A Greek inscription bearing the name of an archon
(Eponymus) is undoubtedly of the self-same year in which that
archon was in office, and the same may be said with regard to the
inscriptions of other towns or countries of which lists of kings or
magistrates have been established. With regard to dates, properly
SO called, in years, months, or days, we must remark that the
ancients never employed a general era. When a period was estab-
lished by a citj- or state, its origin was derived from some important
event peculiar to it, such as the Olympiads, hence arise a diversity
of modes in the notation of epochs, whence spring a great number
of difficulties. Chronologists have endeavoured to explain the
nature of these numerous and variable eras, and to discover a means
of niakino- them harmonise, and of connecting them with the years
before the Christian era. Chronological tables will therefore supply
the interpretation of these dates. The principal towns of Greece
adopted their own dates, but in every state where royal authority
■was established, the dates were taken from the year of the reign of
the king who then occupied the throne, and the succession of their
kings is sufficiently well known, as well as the period of their reigns,
for one to arrive at every certainty on that subject. Chronological
tables will give the necessary information with regard to the date of
their reigns.
The forms of the letters of a Greek inscription are also an approxi-
mate indication of its date. It is evident that it is impossible to
find in an inscription of a certain date the use of a letter which was
not as yet in the Greek alphabet at that same period. The Greek
alphabet, like that of all the ancient nations of Europe, was at first
composed only of sixteen letters, ABFAEIK A M N O 11 P 2 T Y,
in office at the time it was erected. 2. Dates derived from some
era adopted in each state of Greece, and expressed according to the
calendar peculiar to each of these states. Dates of this kind are only
round in Greek inscriptions of a later period ; on the more ancient
on those of Greece anterior to the invasion of the Romans—the
names of kings or magistrates generally mark the period. The
length of the time of office of the latter, prescribed by law, and the
order of their succession inscribed in the public archives, left, in
those times, no uncertainty with regard to the expression of these
dates. Modern critical scholars, combining the authority of inscrip-
tions with the statements of historians, have succeeded in establish-
ing lists of the succession of Greek magistrates in chronological
order, and in connecting them with the years before the Christian
era, and in thus forming useful tables for the establishing of epochs
of ancient history, and the determination of the precise date of a
monument. A Greek inscription bearing the name of an archon
(Eponymus) is undoubtedly of the self-same year in which that
archon was in office, and the same may be said with regard to the
inscriptions of other towns or countries of which lists of kings or
magistrates have been established. With regard to dates, properly
SO called, in years, months, or days, we must remark that the
ancients never employed a general era. When a period was estab-
lished by a citj- or state, its origin was derived from some important
event peculiar to it, such as the Olympiads, hence arise a diversity
of modes in the notation of epochs, whence spring a great number
of difficulties. Chronologists have endeavoured to explain the
nature of these numerous and variable eras, and to discover a means
of niakino- them harmonise, and of connecting them with the years
before the Christian era. Chronological tables will therefore supply
the interpretation of these dates. The principal towns of Greece
adopted their own dates, but in every state where royal authority
■was established, the dates were taken from the year of the reign of
the king who then occupied the throne, and the succession of their
kings is sufficiently well known, as well as the period of their reigns,
for one to arrive at every certainty on that subject. Chronological
tables will give the necessary information with regard to the date of
their reigns.
The forms of the letters of a Greek inscription are also an approxi-
mate indication of its date. It is evident that it is impossible to
find in an inscription of a certain date the use of a letter which was
not as yet in the Greek alphabet at that same period. The Greek
alphabet, like that of all the ancient nations of Europe, was at first
composed only of sixteen letters, ABFAEIK A M N O 11 P 2 T Y,