[98] Ibid. p. 37.
[99] 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.)
[100] See the paper by M. T. H. Martin, of Rennes, Sur les Observations astronomiques envoyées, dit on, de Babylone en Grèce par Callisthène, Paris, 1863.
[101] The texts to this effect will be found collected in the essay of M. Martin. We shall be content here with quoting a phrase from Cicero which expresses the general opinion: "Chaldæi cognitione siderum sollertiaque ingeniorum antecellunt." De Divinatione, i. 91.
[102] Pliny, Natural History, vii. 57, 3. The manuscripts give 720, but the whole context proves that figure to be far too low, neither does it accord with the writer's thought, or with the other statements which he brings together with the aim of showing that the invention of letters may be traced to a very remote epoch. The copyists have certainly omitted an M after the DCCXX. Sillig, following Perizonius has introduced this correction into his text.
[103] Lenormant, Manuel, &c. vol. ii. p. 175.
[104] G. Smith, Assyrian Discoveries, p. 407.
[105] Lenormant, Manuel, &c. vol. ii. p. 181.
[106] Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 124. These storms hardly last an hour.
[107] Some Assyriologists believe this to represent Merodach.