JULIAN DATES OF THE 1ST OF THOTH (VAGUE) FROM 23 A.D. AND 240 A.D.
Oppolzer, then, being satisfied as to the justice of taking the year 139 A.D. as a time of coincidence of the fixed and vague years—the latter being determined alone by the heliacal rising of Sirius, and, be it remembered, not by the solstices—calculated with great fulness, using Leverrier's modern values, the years in which, in the various Egyptian latitudes, chiefly taking Memphis (lat. 30°) and Thebes (lat. 25°), the coincidence between the two Thoths occurred in the previous periods of Egyptian history. He finds these dates for latitude 30° as follow:—
| Julian year. | Historical year.[76] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | -4235 | -4236 | ||
| 1 | -2774 | -2775 | ||
| 2 | -1316 | -1317 | ||
| 3 | + 139 | + 139 | ||
| 4 | +1591 | +1591 | ||
| 5 | +3039 | +3039 |
Now, the date which Oppolzer gives for the coincidence which is nearest the date we had previously determined at 270 B.C. is 139 A.D. There is a difference of 409 years.
The question is, Can this fundamental difference be explained? I think it can.
In the first place, it is beyond doubt that, in the interval between the Ramessids and the Ptolemies, the calendar, even supposing the vague year to have been used and to have been retained, had been fundamentally altered, and the meanings of the hieroglyphics of the tetramenes had been changed—in other words, the designations of the three seasons had been changed.
On this point I quote Krall[77]:—
"It is well known that the interpretation of the seasons and the months given by Champollion was opposed by Brugsch, who propounded another, which is now universally adopted by experts. Something has happened here which is often repeated in the course of Egyptian history—the signs have changed their meaning. Under the circumstance that the vague year during 1461 years wanders through the seasons in a great cycle, it is natural that the signs for the tetramenes should have changed their significations in the course of millenniums.
"While Thoth was the first month of the inundation in the documents of the Thutmosids and Ramessids, we have in the time of the Ptolemies the month Pachons as the first month of the flood season. Whilst Brugsch's explanation is valid for the time of the Ramessids, it is not so for that of the Ptolemies, to which Champollion's view is applicable."