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The researches of the archaeologist are, in short, tending to reconstruct the primitive classical history; and here, as in the Orient, it is evident that historians of the earlier day were constantly blinded by a misconception as to the antiquity of civilization. Such a fruitage as that of Greek culture of the age of Pericles does not come to maturity without a long period of preparation. Here, as elsewhere, the laws of evolution hold, permitting no sudden stupendous leaps. But it required the arduous labours of the archaeologist to prove a proposition that, once proven, seems self-evident. (H. S. WI.)
Eras and Periods.
In the article Calendar (q.v.), that part of chronology is treated which relates to the measurement of time, and the principal methods are explained that have been employed, or are still in use, for adjusting the lunar months of the solar year, as well as the intercalations necessary for regulating the civil year according to the celestial motions. But it is necessary to notice here the different Eras and Periods that have been employed by historians, and by the different nations of the world, in recording the succession of time and events, to fix the epochs at which the eras respectively commenced, to ascertain the form and the initial day of the year made use of, and to establish their correspondence with the years of the Christian era. These elements will enable us to convert, by a simple arithmetical operation, any historical date, of which the chronological characters are given according to any era whatever, into the corresponding date in the Christian era.
Julian Period.—Although the Julian period (the invention of Joseph Scaliger, in 1582) is not, properly speaking, a chronological era, yet, on account of its affording considerable facilities in the comparison of different eras with one another, and in marking without ambiguity the years before Christ, it is very generally employed by chronologers. It consists of 7980 Julian years; and the first year of the Christian era corresponded with the year 4714 of the Julian period.
Olympiads.—The Olympic games, so famous in Greek history, were celebrated once every four years, between the new and full moon first following the summer solstice, on the small plain named Olympia in Elis, which was bounded on one side by the river Alpheus, on another by the small tributary stream the Cladeus, and on the other two sides by mountains. The games lasted five days. Their origin, lost in the dimness of remote antiquity, was invested by priestly legends with a sacred character. They were said to have been instituted by the Idaean Heracles, to commemorate his victory over his four brothers in a foot-race. According to a tradition, possibly more authentic, they were re-established by Iphitus, king of Elis, in concert with the Spartan Lycurgus and Cleosthenes of Pisa. The practice was long afterwards adopted of designating the Olympiad, or period of four years, by the name of the victor in the contests of the stadium, and of inscribing his name in the gymnasium of Olympia. The first who received this honour was Coroebus. The games in which Coroebus was victor, and which form the principal epoch of Greek history, were celebrated about the time of the summer solstice 776 years before the common era of the Incarnation, in the 3938th year of the Julian period, and twenty-three years, according to the account of Varro, before the foundation of Rome.
Before the introduction of the Metonic cycle, the Olympic year began sometimes with the full moon which followed, at other times with that which preceded the summer solstice, because the year sometimes contained 384 days instead of 354. But subsequently to its adoption, the year always commenced with the eleventh day of the moon which followed the solstice. In order to avoid troublesome computations, which it would be necessary to recommence for every year, and of which the results differ only by a few days, chronologers generally regard the 1st of July as the commencement of the Olympic year. Some authors, however, among whom are Eusebius, Jerome and the historian Socrates, place its commencement at the 1st of September; these, however, appear to have confounded the Olympic year with the civil year of the Greeks, or the era of the Seleucidae.
It is material to observe, that as the Olympic years and periods begin with the 1st of July, the first six months of a year of our era correspond to one Olympic year, and the last six months to another. Thus, when it is said that the first year of the Incarnation corresponds to the first of the 195th Olympiad, we are to understand that it is only with respect to the last six months of that year that the correspondence takes place. The first six months belonged to the fourth year of the 194th Olympiad. In referring dates expressed by Olympiads to our era, or the contrary, we must therefore distinguish two cases.
1st. When the event in question happened between the 1st of January and the 1st of the following July, the sum of the Olympic year and of the year before Christ is always equal to 776. The year of the era, therefore, will be found by subtracting the number of the Olympic year from 776. For example, Varro refers the foundation of Rome to the 21st of April of the third year of the sixth Olympiad, and it is required to find the year before our era. Since five Olympic periods have elapsed, the third year of the sixth Olympiad is 5 X 4 + 3 = 23; therefore, subtracting 23 from 776, we have 753, which is the year before Christ to which the foundation of Rome is referred by Varro.
2nd. When the event took place between the summer solstice and the 1st of January following, the sum of the Olympic year and of the year before Christ is equal to 777. The difference, therefore, between 777 and the year in one of the dates will give the year in the other date. Thus, the moon was eclipsed on the 27th of August, a little before midnight, in the year 413 before our era; and it is required to find the corresponding year in the Olympic era. Subtract 413 from 777, the remainder is 364; and 364 divided by four gives 91 without a remainder; consequently the eclipse happened in the fourth year of the ninety-first Olympiad, which is the date to which it is referred by Thucydides.
If the year is after Christ, and the event took place in one of the first six months of the Olympic year, that is to say, between July and January, we must subtract 776 from the number of the Olympic year to find the corresponding year of our era; but if it took place in one of the last six months of the Olympic year, or between January and July, we must deduct 777. The computation by Olympiads seldom occurs in historical records after the middle of the 5th century of our era.
The names of the months were different in the different Grecian states. The Attic months, of which we possess the most certain knowledge, were named as follows:—
Hecatombaeon. Gamelion. Metageitnion. Anthesterion. Boedromion. Elaphebolion. Pyanepsion. Munychion. Maemacterion. Thargelion. Poseideon. Scirophorion.
Era of the Foundation of Rome.—After the Olympiads, the era most frequently met with in ancient history is that of the foundation of Rome, which is the chronological epoch adopted by all the Roman historians. There are various opinions respecting the year of the foundation of Rome. (1) Fabius Pictor places it in the latter half of the first year of the eighth Olympiad, which corresponds with the 3967th of the Julian period, and with the year 747 B.C. (2) Polybius places it in the second year of the seventh Olympiad, corresponding with 3964 of the Julian period, and 750 B.C. (3) M. Porcius Cato places it in the first year of the seventh Olympiad, that is, in 3963 of the Julian period, and 751 B.C. (4) Verrius Flaccus places it in the fourth year of the sixth Olympiad, that is, in the year 3962 of the Julian period, and 752 B.C. (5) Terentius Varro places it in the third year of the sixth Olympiad, that is, in the year 3961 of the Julian period, and 753 B.C. A knowledge of these different computations is necessary, in order to reconcile the Roman historians with one another, and even any one writer with himself. Livy in general adheres to the epoch of Cato, though he sometimes follows that of Fabius Pictor. Cicero follows the account of Varro, which is also in general adopted by Pliny. Dionysius of Halicarnassus follows Cato. Modern chronologers for the most part adopt the account of Varro, which is supported by a passage in Censorinus, where it is stated that the 991st year of Rome commenced with the festival of the Palilia, in the consulship of Ulpius and Pontianus. Now this consulship corresponded with the 238th year of our era; therefore, deducting 238 from 991, we have 753 to denote the year before Christ. The Palilia commenced on the 21st of April; and all the accounts agree in regarding that day as the epoch of the foundation of Rome.
The Romans employed two sorts of years, the civil year, which was used in the transaction of public and private affairs, and the consular year, according to which the annals of their history have been composed. The civil year commenced with the calends of January, but this did not hold a fixed place in the solar year till the time of Julius Caesar (see CALENDAR). The installation of the consuls regulated the commencement of the consular year. The initial day of the consulate was never fixed, at least before the 7th century of Rome, but varied with the different accidents which in times of political commotion so frequently occurred to accelerate or retard the elections. Hence it happens that a consular year, generally speaking, comprehends a part not only of two Julian years, but also of two civil years. The consulate is the date employed by the Latin historians generally, and by many of the Greeks, down to the 6th century of our era.
In the era of Rome the commencement of the year is placed at the 21st of April; an event therefore which happened in the months of January, February, March, or during the first twenty days of April, in the year (for example) 500 of Rome, belongs to the civil year 501. Before the time of the Decemvirs, however, February was the last month of the year. Many authors confound the year of Rome with the civil year, supposing them both to begin on the 1st of January. Others again confound both the year of Rome and the civil year with the Julian year, which in fact became the civil year after the regulation of the calendar by Julius Caesar. Through a like want of attention, many writers also, particularly among the moderns, have confounded the Julian and Olympic years, by making an entire Julian year correspond to an entire Olympic year, as if both had commenced at the same epoch. Much attention to these particulars is required in the comparison of ancient dates.
The Christian Era.—The Christian or vulgar era, called also the era of the Incarnation, is now almost universally employed in Christian countries, and is even used by some Eastern nations. Its epoch or beginning is the 1st of January in the fourth year of the 194th Olympiad, the 753rd from the foundation of Rome, and the 4714th of the Julian period. This epoch was introduced in Italy in the 6th century, by Dionysius the Little, a Roman abbot, and began to be used in Gaul in the 8th, though it was not generally followed in that country till a century later. From extant charters it is known to have been in use in England before the close of the 8th century. Before its adoption the usual practice in Latin countries was to distinguish the years by their number in the cycle of Indiction.
In the Christian era the years are simply distinguished by the cardinal numbers; those before Christ being marked B.C. (Before Christ), or A.C. (Ante Christum), and those after Christ A.D. (Anno Domini). This method of reckoning time is more convenient than those which employ cycles or periods of any length whatever; but it still fails to satisfy in the simplest manner possible all the conditions that are necessary for registering the succession of events. For, since the commencement of the era is placed at an intermediate period of history, we are compelled to resort to a double manner of reckoning, backward as well as forward. Some ambiguity is also occasioned by the want of uniformity in the method of numbering the preceding years. Astronomers denote the year which preceded the first of our era by 0, and the year previous to that by 1 B.C.; but chronologers, in conformity with common notions, call the year preceding the era 1 B.C., the previous year 2 B.C., and so on. By reckoning in this manner, there is an interruption in the regular succession of the numbers; and in the years preceding the era, the leap years, instead of falling on the fourth, eighth, twelfth, &c., fall, or ought to fall, on the first, fifth, ninth, &c.
In the chronicles of the middle ages much uncertainty frequently arises respecting dates on account of the different epochs assumed for the beginning of the Christian year. Dionysius, the author of the era, adopted the day of the Annunciation, or the 25th of March, which preceded the birth of Christ by nine months, as the commencement of the first year of the era. This epoch therefore precedes that of the vulgar era by nine months and seven days. This manner of dating was followed in some of the Italian states, and continued to be used at Pisa even down to the year 1745. It was also adopted in some of the Papal bulls; and there are proofs of its having been employed in France about the middle of the 11th century. Some chroniclers, who adhere to the day of the Annunciation as the commencement of the year, reckon from the 25th of March following our epoch, as the Florentines in the 10th century. Gregory of Tours, and some writers of the 6th and 7th centuries, make the year begin sometimes with the 1st of March, and sometimes with the 1st of January. In France, under the third race of kings, it was usual to begin the year with Easter; and this practice continued at least till the middle of the 16th century, for an edict was issued by Charles IX. in the month of January 1663, ordaining that the beginning of the year should thenceforth be considered as taking place on the 1st of January. An instance is given, in L'Art de verifier les dates, of a date in which the year is reckoned from the 18th of March; but it is probable that this refers to the astronomical year, and that the 18th of March was taken for the day of the vernal equinox. In Germany, about the 11th century, it was usual to begin the year at Christmas; and this practice also prevailed at Milan, Rome and other Italian cities, in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.
In England, the practice of placing the beginning of the year at Christmas was introduced in the 7th century, and traces of it are found even in the 13th. Gervase of Canterbury, who lived in the 13th century, mentions that almost all writers of his country agreed in regarding Christmas day as the first of the year, because it forms, as it were, the term at which the sun finishes and recommences his annual course. In the 12th century, however, the custom of beginning the civil year with the day of the Annunciation, or the 25th of March, began to prevail, and continued to be generally followed from that time till the reformation of the calendar in 1752. The historical year has always been reckoned by English authors to begin with the 1st of January. The liturgic year of the Church of England commences with the first Sunday of Advent.
A knowledge of the different epochs which have been chosen for the commencement of the year in different countries is indispensably necessary to the right interpretation of ancient chronicles, charters and other documents in which the dates often appear contradictory. We may cite an example or two. It is well known that Charles the Great was crowned emperor at Rome on Christmas day in the year 800, and that he died in the year 814, according to our present manner of reckoning. But in the annals of Metz and Moissac, the coronation is stated to have taken place in the year 801, and his death in 813. In the first case the annalist supposes the year to begin with Christmas, and accordingly reckons the 25th of December and all the following days of that month to belong to 801, whereas in the common reckoning they would be referred to the year 800. In the second case the year has been supposed to begin with the 25th of March, or perhaps with Easter; consequently the first three months of the year 814, reckoning from the 1st of January, would be referred to the end of the year 813. The English Revolution is popularly called the Revolution of 1688. Had the year then begun, as it now does, with the 1st of January, it would have been the revolution of 1689, William and Mary being received as king and queen in February in the year 1689; but at that time the year was considered in England as beginning on the 25th of March. Another circumstance to which it is often necessary to pay attention in the comparison of dates, is the alteration of style which took place on the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar (see CALENDAR).
Era of the Creation of the World.—As the Greek and Roman methods of computing time were connected with certain pagan rites and observances which the Christians held in abhorrence, the latter began at an early period to imitate the Jews in reckoning their years from the supposed period of the creation of the world. Various computations were made at different times, from Biblical sources, as to the age of the world; and Des Vignoles, in the preface to his Chronology of Sacred History, asserts that he collected upwards of two hundred different calculations, the shortest of which reckons only 3483 years between the creation of the world and the commencement of the vulgar era and the longest 6984. The so-called era of the creation of the world is therefore a purely conventional and arbitrary epoch; practically, it means the year 4004 B.C.,—this being the date which, under the sanction of Archbishop Usher's opinion, won its way, among its hundreds of competitors, into general acceptance.
Jewish Year and Eras.—Before the departure of the Israelites from Egypt their year commenced at the autumnal equinox; but in order to solemnize the memory of their deliverance, the month of Nisan or Abib, in which that event took place, and which falls about the time of the vernal equinox, was afterwards regarded as the beginning of the ecclesiastical or legal year. In civil affairs, and in the regulation of the jubilees and sabbatical years, the Jews still adhere to the ancient year, which begins with the month Tisri, about the time of the autumnal equinox.
After their dispersion the Jews were constrained to have recourse to the astronomical rules and cycles of the more enlightened heathen, in order that their religious festivals might be observed on the same days in all the countries through which they were scattered. For this purpose they adopted a cycle of eighty-four years, which is mentioned by several of the ancient fathers of the church, and which the early Christians borrowed from them for the regulation of Easter. This cycle seems to be neither more nor less than the Calippic period of seventy-six years, with the addition of a Greek octaeteris, or period of eight years, in order to disguise its true source, and give it an appearance of originality. In fact, the period of Calippus containing 27,759 days, and the octaeteris 2922 days, the sum, which is 30,681, is exactly the number of days in eighty-four Julian years. But the addition was very far from being an improvement on the work of Calippus; for instead of a difference of only five hours and fifty-three minutes between the places of the sun and moon, which was the whole error of the Calippic period, this difference, in the period of eighty-four years, amounted to one day, six hours and forty-one minutes. Buccherius places the beginning of this cycle in the year 162 B.C.; Prideaux in the year 291 B.C. According to the account of Prideaux, the fifth cycle must have begun in the year 46 of our era; and it was in this year, according to St Prosperus, that the Christians began to employ the Jewish cycle of eighty-four years, which they followed, though not uniformly, for the regulation of Easter, till the time of the Council of Nice.
Soon after the Nicene council, the Jews, in imitation of the Christians, abandoned the cycle of eighty-four years, and adopted that of Meton, by which their lunisolar year is regulated at the present day. This improvement was first proposed by Rabbi Samuel, rector of the Jewish school of Sora in Mesopotamia, and was finally accomplished in the year 360 of our era by Rabbi Hillel, who introduced that form of the year which the Jews at present follow, and which, they say, is to endure till the coming of the Messiah.
Till the 15th century the Jews usually followed the era of the Seleucidae or of Contracts. Since that time they have generally employed a mundane era, and dated from the creation of the world, which, according to their computation, took place 3760 years and about three months before the beginning of our era. No rule can be given for determining with certainty the day on which any given Jewish year begins without entering into the minutiae of their irregular and complicated calendar.
Era of Constantinople.—This era, which is still used in the Greek Church, and was followed by the Russians till the time of Peter the Great, dates from the creation of the world. The Incarnation falls in the year 5509, and corresponds, as in our era, with the fourth year of the 194th Olympiad. The civil year commences with the 1st of September; the ecclesiastical year sometimes with the 21st of March, sometimes with the 1st of April. It is not certain whether the year was considered at Constantinople as beginning with September before the separation of the Eastern and Western empires.
At the commencement of our era there had elapsed 5508 years and four months of the era of Constantinople. Hence the first eight months of the Christian year 1 coincide with the Constantinopolitan year 5509, while the last four months belong to the year 5510. In order, therefore, to find the year of Christ corresponding to any given year in the era of Constantinople, we have the following rule: If the event took place between the 1st of January and the end of August subtract 5508 from the given year; but if it happened between the 1st of September and the end of the year, subtract 5509.
Era of Alexandria.—The chronological computation of Julius Africanus was adopted by the Christians of Alexandria, who accordingly reckoned 5500 years from the creation of Adam to the birth of Christ. But in reducing Alexandrian dates to the common era it must be observed that Julius Africanus placed the epoch of the Incarnation three years earlier than it is placed in the usual reckoning, so that the initial day of the Christian era fell in the year 5503 of the Alexandrian era. This correspondence, however, continued only from the introduction of the era till the accession of Diocletian, when an alteration was made by dropping ten years in the Alexandrian account. Diocletian ascended the imperial throne in the year of Christ 284. According to the Alexandrian computation, this was the year 5787 of the world, and 287 of the Incarnation; but on this occasion ten years were omitted, and that year was thenceforth called the year 5777 of the world, and 277 of the Incarnation. There are, consequently, two distinct eras of Alexandria, the one being used before and the other after the accession of Diocletian. It is not known for what reason the alteration was made; but it is conjectured that it was for the purpose of causing a new revolution of the cycle of nineteen years (which was introduced into the ecclesiastical computation about this time by Anatolius, bishop of Hierapolis) to begin with the first year of the reign of Diocletian. In fact, 5777 being divided by 19 leaves 1 for the year of the cycle. The Alexandrian era continued to be followed by the Copts in the 15th century, and is said to be still used in Abyssinia.
Dates expressed according to this era are reduced to the common era by subtracting 5502, up to the Alexandrian year 5786 inclusive, and after that year by subtracting 5492; but if the date belongs to one of the four last months of the Christian year, we must subtract 5503 till the year 5786, and 5493 after that year.
Mundane Era of Antioch.—The chronological reckoning of Julius Africanus formed also the basis of the era of Antioch, which was adopted by the Christians of Syria, at the instance of Panodorus, an Egyptian monk, who flourished about the beginning of the 4th century. Panodorus struck off ten years from the account of Julius Africanus with regard to the years of the world, and he placed the Incarnation three years later, referring it to the fourth year of the 194th Olympiad, as in the common era. Hence the era of Antioch differed from the original era of Alexandria by ten years; but after the alteration of the latter at the accession of Diocletian, the two eras coincided. In reckoning from the Incarnation, however, there is a difference of seven years, that epoch being placed, in the reformed era of Alexandria, seven years later than in the mundane era of Antioch or in the Christian era.
As the Syrian year began in autumn, the year of Christ corresponding to any year in the mundane era of Antioch is found by subtracting 5492 or 5493 according as the event falls between January and September or from September to January.
Era of Nabonassar.—This era is famous in astronomy, having been generally followed by Hipparchus and Ptolemy. It is believed to have been in use from the very time of its origin; for the observations of eclipses which were collected in Chaldaea by Callisthenes, the general of Alexander, and transmitted by him to Aristotle, were for the greater part referred to the beginning of the reign of Nabonassar, founder of the kingdom of the Babylonians. It is the basis of the famous Canon of kings, also called Mathematical Canon, preserved to us in the works of Ptolemy, which, before the astonishing discoveries at Nineveh, was the sole authentic monument of Assyrian and Babylonian history known to us. The epoch from which it is reckoned is precisely determined by numerous celestial phenomena recorded by Ptolemy, and corresponds to Wednesday at mid-day, the 26th of February of the year 747 before Christ. The year was in all respects the same as the ancient Egyptian year. On account of the difference in the length of the Julian and Babylonian years, the conversion of dates according to the era of Nabonassar into years before Christ is attended with considerable trouble. The surest way is to follow a comparative table. Frequently the year cannot be fixed with certainty, unless we know also the month and the day.
The Greeks of Alexandria formerly employed the era of Nabonassar, with a year of 365 days; but soon after the reformation of the calendar of Julius Caesar, they adopted, like other Roman provincials, the Julian intercalation. At this time the first of Thoth had receded to the 29th of August. In the year 136 of our era, the first of Thoth in the ancient Egyptian year corresponded with the 20th of July, between which and the 29th of August there are forty days. The adoption of the Julian year must therefore have taken place about 160 years before the year 136 of our era (the difference between the Egyptian and Julian years being one day in four years), that is to say, about the year 25 B.C. In fact, the first of Thoth corresponded with the 29th of August in the Julian calendar, in the years 25, 24, 23 and 22 B.C.
Era of the Seleucidae, or Macedonian Era.—The era of the Seleucidae dates from the time of the occupation of Babylon by Seleucus Nicator, 311 years before Christ, in the year of Rome 442, and twelve years after the death of Alexander the Great. It was adopted not only in the monarchy of the Seleucidae but in general in all the Greek countries bordering on the Levant, was followed by the Jews till the 15th century, and is said to be used by some Arabians even at the present day. By the Jews it was called the Era of Contracts, because the Syrian governors compelled them to make use of it in civil contracts; the writers of the books of Maccabees call it the Era of Kings. But notwithstanding its general prevalence in the East for many centuries, authors using it differ much with regard to their manner of expressing dates, in consequence of the different epochs adopted for the beginning of the year. Among the Syrian Greeks the year began with the month Elul, which corresponds to our September. The Nestorians and Jacobites at the present day suppose it to begin with the following month, or October. The author of the first book of Maccabees makes the era commence with the month Nisan, or April; and the author of the second book with the first Tishrin, or October. Albategni, a celebrated Arabian astronomer, dates from the 1st of October. Some of the Arabian writers, as Alfergani, date from the 1st of September. At Tyre the year was counted from the 19th of our October, at Gaza from the 28th of the same month, and at Damascus from the vernal equinox. These discrepancies render it extremely difficult to determine the exact correspondence of Macedonian dates with those of other eras; and the difficulty is rendered still greater by the want of uniformity in respect of the length of the year. Some authors who follow the Macedonian era, use the Egyptian or vague year of 365 days; Albategni adopts the Julian year of 3651/4 days.
According to the computation most generally followed, the year 312 of the era of the Seleucidae began on the 1st of September in the Julian year preceding the first of our era. Hence, to reduce a Macedonian date to the common era, subtract 311 years and four months.
The names of the Syrian and Macedonian months, and their correspondence with the Roman months, are as follows:—
Syrian. Macedonian. English. Elul. Gorpiaeus. September. Tishrin I. Hyperberetaeus. October. Tishrin II. Dius. November. Canun I. Apellaeus. December. Canun II. Audynaeus. January. Sabat. Peritius. February. Adar. Dystrus. March. Nisan. Xanthicus. April. Ayar. Artemisius. May. Haziran. Daesius. June. Tamus. Panemus. July. Ab. Loues. August.
Era of Alexander.—Some of the Greek historians have assumed as a chronological epoch the death of Alexander the Great, in the year 325 B.C. The form of the year is the same as in the preceding era. This era has not been much followed; but it requires to be noticed in order that it may not be confounded with the era of the Seleucidae.
Era of Tyre.—The era of Tyre is reckoned from the 19th of October, or the beginning of the Macedonian month Hyperberetaeus, in the year 126 B.C. In order, therefore, to reduce it to the common era, subtract 125; and when the date is B.C., subtract it from 126. Dates expressed according to this era occur only on a few medals, and in the acts of certain councils.
Caesarean Era of Antioch.—This era was established to commemorate the victory obtained by Julius Caesar on the plains of Pharsalia, on the 9th of August in the year 48 B.C., and the 706th of Rome. The Syrians computed it from their month Tishrin I.; but the Greeks threw it back to the month Gorpiaeus of the preceding year. Hence there is a difference of eleven months between the epochs assumed by the Syrians and the Greeks. According to the computation of the Greeks, the 49th year of the Caesarean era began in the autumn of the year preceding the commencement of the Christian era; and, according to the Syrians, the 49th year began in the autumn of the first year of the Incarnation. It is followed by Evagrius in his Ecclesiastical History.
Julian Era.—The Julian era begins with the 1st of January, forty-five years B.C. It was designed to commemorate the reformation of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar.
Era of Spain, or of the Caesars.—The conquest of Spain by Augustus, which was completed in the thirty-ninth year B.C., gave rise to this era, which began with the first day of the following year, and was long used in Spain and Portugal, and generally in all the Roman provinces subdued by the Visigoths, both in Africa and the South of France. Several of the councils of Carthage, and also that of Arles, are dated according to this era. After the 9th century it became usual to join with it in public acts the year of the Incarnation. It was followed in Catalonia till the year 1180, in the kingdom of Aragon till 1350, in Valencia till 1358, and in Castile till 1382. In Portugal it is said to have been in use so late as the year 1415, or 1422, though it would seem that after the establishment of the Portuguese monarchy, no other era was used in the public acts of that country than that of the Incarnation. As the era of Spain began with the 1st of January, and the months and days of the year are those of the Julian calendar, any date is reduced to the common era by subtracting thirty-eight from the number of the year.
Era of Actium, and Era of Augustus.—This era was established to commemorate the battle of Actium, which was fought on the 3rd of September, in the year 31 B.C., and in the 15th of the Julian era. By the Romans the era of Actium was considered as beginning on the 1st of January of the 16th of the Julian era, which is the 30th B.C. The Egyptians, who used this era till the time of Diocletian, dated its commencement from the beginning of their month Thoth, or the 29th of August; and the Eastern Greeks from the 2nd of September. By the latter it was also called the era of Antioch, and it continued to be used till the 9th century. It must not be confounded with the Caesarean era of Antioch, which began seventeen years earlier. Many of the medals struck by the city of Antioch in honour of Augustus are dated according to this era.
Besides the era of Actium, there was also an Augustan era, which began four years later, or 27 B.C., the year in which Augustus prevailed on the senate and people of Rome to decree him the title of Augustus, and to confirm him in the supreme power of the empire.
Era of Diocletian, or Era of Martyrs.—It has been already stated that the Alexandrians, at the accession of the emperor Diocletian, made an alteration in their mundane era, by striking off ten years from their reckoning. At the same time they established a new era, which is still followed by the Abyssinians and Copts. It begins with the 29th of August (the first day of the Egyptian year) of the year 284 of our era, which was the first of the reign of Diocletian. The denomination of Era of Martyrs, subsequently given to it in commemoration of the persecution of the Christians, would seem to imply that its commencement ought to be referred to the year 303 of our era, for it was in that year that Diocletian issued his famous edict; but the practice of dating from the accession of Diocletian has prevailed. The ancient Egyptian year consisted of 365 days; but after the introduction of the Julian calendar, the astronomers of Alexandria adopted an intercalary year, and added six additional days instead of five to the end of the last month of every fourth year. The year thus became exactly similar to the Julian year. The Egyptian intercalary year, however, does not correspond to the Julian leap year, but is the year immediately preceding; and the intercalation takes place at the end of the year, or on the 29th of August. Hence the first three years of the Egyptian intercalary period begin on the 29th of our August, and the fourth begins on the 30th of that month. Before the end of that year the Julian intercalation takes place, and the beginning of the following Egyptian year is restored to the 29th of August. Hence to reduce a date according to this era to our own reckoning, it is necessary, for common years, to add 283 years and 240 days; but if the date belongs to the first three months of the year following the intercalation, or, which is the same thing, if in the third year of the Julian cycle it falls between the 30th of August and the end of the year, we must add 283 years and 241 days. The Ethiopians do not reckon the years from the beginning of the era in a consecutive series, but employ a period of 532 years, after the expiration of which they again begin with 1. This is the Dionysian or Great Paschal Period, and is formed by the multiplication of the numbers 28 and 19, that is, of the solar and lunar cycles, into each other.
The following are the names of the Ethiopian or Abyssinian months, with the days on which they begin in the Julian calendar, or old style:—
Mascaram 29th August. Magabit 25th February. Tikmith 28th September. Miazia 27th March. Hadar 28th October. Gimbot 26th April. Tacsam 27th November. Sene 26th May. Tir 27th December. Hamle 25th June. Yacatit 26th January. Nahasse 25th July.
The additional or epagomenal days begin on the 24th of August. In intercalary years the first seven months commence one day later. The Egyptian months, followed by the modern Copts, agree with the above in every respect excepting the names.
Indiction.—The cycle of Indiction was very generally followed in the Roman empire for some centuries before the adoption of the Christian era. Three Indictions may be distinguished; but they differ only in regard to the commencement of the year.
1. The Constantinopolitan Indiction, like the Greek year, commenced with the month of September. This was followed in the Eastern empire, and in some instances also in France.
2. The Imperial or Constantinian Indiction is so called because its establishment is attributed to Constantine. This was also called the Caesarean Indiction. It begins on the 24th of September. It is not infrequently met with in the ancient chronicles of France and England.
3. The Roman or Pontifical Indiction began on the 25th of December or 1st of January, according as the Christian year was held to begin on the one or other of these days. It is often employed in papal bulls, especially after the time of Gregory VII., and traces of its use are found in early French authors.
Era of the Armenians.—The epoch of the Armenian era is that of the council of Tiben, in which the Armenians consummated their schism from the Greek Church by condemning the acts of the council of Chalcedon; and it corresponds to Tuesday, the 9th of July of the year 552 of the Incarnation. In their civil affairs the Armenians follow the ancient vague year of the Egyptians; but their ecclesiastical year, which begins on the 11th of August, is regulated in the same manner as the Julian year, every fourth year consisting of 366 days, so that Easter and the other festivals are retained at the same place in the seasons as well as in the civil year. The Armenians also make use of the mundane era of Constantinople, and sometimes conjoin both methods of computation in the same documents. In their correspondence and transactions with Europeans, they generally follow the era of the Incarnation, and adopt the Julian year.
To reduce the civil dates of the Armenians to the Christian era, proceed as follows. Since the epoch is the 9th of July, there were 176 days from the beginning of the Armenian era to the end of the year 552 of our era; and since 552 was a leap year, the year 553 began a Julian intercalary period. Multiply, therefore, the number of Armenian years elapsed by 365; add the number of days from the commencement of the current year to the given date; subtract 176 from the sum, and the remainder will be the number of days from the 1st of January 553 to the given date. This number of days being reduced to Julian years, add the result to 552, and the sum gives the day in the Julian year, or old style.
In the ecclesiastical reckoning the year begins on the 11th of August. To reduce a date expressed in this reckoning to the Julian date, add 551 years, and the days elapsed from the 1st of January to the 10th of August, both inclusive, of the year 552—that is to say (since 552 is a leap year), 223 days. In leap years one day must be subtracted if the date falls between the 1st of March and 10th of August.
The following are the Armenian ecclesiastical months with their correspondence with those of the Julian calendar:—
1. Navazardi begins 11th August. 2. Hori 10th September. 3. Sahmi 10th October. 4. Dre Thari 9th November. 5. Kagoths 9th December. 6. Aracz 8th January. 7. Maleg 7th February. 8. Arcki 9th March. 9. Angi 8th April. 10. Mariri 8th May. 11. Marcacz 7th June. 12. Herodiez 7th July.
To complete the year five complementary days are added in common years, and six in leap years.
The Mahommedan Era, or Era of the Hegira.—The era in use among the Turks, Arabs and other Mahommedan nations is that of the Hegira or Hejra, the flight of the prophet from Mecca to Medina, 622 A.D. Its commencement, however, does not, as is sometimes stated, coincide with the very day of the flight, but precedes it by sixty-eight days. The prophet, after leaving Mecca, to escape the pursuit of his enemies, the Koreishites, hid himself with his friend Abubekr in a cave near Mecca, and there lay for three days. The departure from the cave and setting out on the way to Medina is assigned to the ninth day of the third month, Rabia I.—corresponding to the 22nd of September of the year 622 A.D. The era begins from the first day of the month of Muharram preceding the flight, or first day of that Arabian year which coincides with Friday, July 16, 622 A.D. It is necessary to remember that by astronomers and by some historians the era is assigned to the preceding day, July 15. It is stated by D'Herbelot that the era of the Hegira was instituted by Omar, the second caliph, in imitation of the Christian era of the martyrs.
Era of Yazdegerd, or Persian or Jelalaean Era.—This era begins with the elevation of Yazdegerd III. to the throne of Persia, on the 16th of June in the year of our era 632. Till the year 1079 the Persian year resembled that of the ancient Egyptians, consisting of 365 days without intercalation; but at that time the Persian calendar was reformed by Jelāl ud-Dīn Malik Shah, sultan of Khorasan, and a method of intercalation adopted which, though less convenient, is considerably more accurate than the Julian. The intercalary period is 33 years,—one day being added to the common year seven times successively at the end of four years, and the eighth intercalation being deferred till the end of the fifth year. This era was at one period universally adopted in Persia, and it still continues to be followed by the Parsees of India. The months consist of thirty days each, and each day is distinguished by a different name. According to Alfergani, the names of the Persian months are as follows:—
Afrudin-meh. Merded-meh. Adar-meh. Ardisascht-meh. Schaharir-meh. Di-meh. Cardi-meh. Mahar-meh. Behen-meh. Tir-meh. Aben-meh. Affirer-meh.
The five additional days (in intercalary years six) are named Musteraca.
As it does not appear that the above-mentioned rule of intercalation was ever regularly followed, it is impossible to assign exactly the days on which the different years begin. In some provinces of India the Parsees begin the year with September, in others they begin it with October. We have stated that the era began with the 16th June 632. But the vague year, which was followed till 1079, anticipated the Julian year by one day every four years. In 447 years the anticipation would amount to about 112 days, and the beginning of the year would in consequence be thrown back to near the beginning of the Julian year 632. To the year of the Persian era, therefore, add 631, and the sum will be the year of our era in which the Persian year begins.
Chinese Chronology.—From the time of the emperor Yao, upwards of 2000 years B.C., the Chinese had two different years,—a civil year, which was regulated by the moon, and an astronomical year, which was solar. The civil year consisted in general of twelve months or lunations, but occasionally a thirteenth was added in order to preserve its correspondence with the solar year. Even at that early period the solar or astronomical year consisted of 3651/4 days, like our Julian year; and it was arranged in the same manner, a day being intercalated every fourth year.
According to the missionary Gaubil, the Chinese divided the day into 100 ke, each ke into 100 minutes, and each minute into 100 seconds. This practice continued to prevail till the 17th century, when, at the instance of the Jesuit Schall, president of the tribunal of mathematics, they adopted the European method of dividing the day into twenty-four hours, each hour into sixty minutes, and each minute into sixty seconds. The civil day begins at midnight and ends at the midnight following.
Since the accession of the emperors of the Han dynasty, 206 B.C., the civil year of the Chinese has begun with the first day of that moon in the course of which the sun enters into the sign of the zodiac which corresponds with our sign Pisces. From the same period also they have employed, in the adjustment of their solar and lunar years, a period of nineteen years, twelve of which are common, containing twelve lunations each, and the remaining seven intercalary, containing thirteen lunations. It is not, however, precisely known how they distributed their months of thirty and twenty-nine days, or, as they termed them, great and small moons. This, with other matters appertaining to the calendar, was probably left to be regulated from time to time by the mathematical tribunal.
The Chinese divide the time of a complete revolution of the sun with regard to the solstitial points into twelve equal portions, each corresponding to thirty days, ten hours, thirty minutes. Each of these periods, which is denominated a tseĕ, is subdivided into two equal portions called chung-ki and tsie-ki, the chung-ki denoting the first half of the tseĕ, and the tsie-ki the latter half. Though the tseĕ, are thus strictly portions of solar time, yet what is remarkable, though not peculiar to China, they give their name to the lunar months, each month or lunation having the name of the chung-ki or sign at which the sun arrives during that month. As the tseĕ is longer than a synodic revolution of the moon, the sun cannot arrive twice at a chung-ki during the same lunation; and as there are only twelve tseĕ, the year can contain only twelve months having different names. It must happen sometimes that in the course of a lunation the sun enters into no new sign; in this case the month is intercalary, and is called by the same name as the preceding month.
For chronological purposes, the Chinese, in common with some other nations of the east of Asia, employ cycles of sixty, by means of which they reckon their days, moons and years. The days are distributed in the calendar into cycles of sixty, in the same manner as ours are distributed into weeks, or cycles of seven. Each day of the cycle has a particular name, and as it is a usual practice, in mentioning dates, to give the name of the day along with that of the moon and the year, this arrangement affords great facilities in verifying the epochs of Chinese chronology. The order of the days in the cycle is never interrupted by any intercalation that may be necessary for adjusting the months or years. The moons of the civil year are also distinguished by their place in the cycle of sixty; and as the intercalary moons are not reckoned, for the reason before stated, namely, that during one of these lunations the sun enters into no new sign, there are only twelve regular moons in a year, so that the cycle is renewed every five years. Thus the first moon of the year 1873 being the first of a new cycle, the first moon of every sixth year, reckoned backwards or forwards from that date, as 1868, 1863, &c., or 1877, 1882, &c., also begins a new lunar cycle of sixty moons. In regard to the years, the arrangement is exactly the same. Each has a distinct number or name which marks its place in the cycle, and as this is generally given in referring to dates, along with the other chronological characters of the year, the ambiguity which arises from following a fluctuating or uncertain epoch is entirely obviated.
The cycle of sixty is formed of two subordinate cycles or series of characters, one of ten and the other of twelve, which are joined together so as to afford sixty different combinations. The names of the characters in the cycle of ten, which are called celestial signs, are—
1. Keă; 2. Yĭh; 3. Ping; 4. Ting; 5. Woo; 6. Ke; 7. Kăng; 8. Sin; 9. Jin; 10. Kwei;
and in the series of 12, denominated terrestrial signs,
1. Tsze; 2. Chow; 3. Yin; 4. Maou; 5. Shin; 6. Sze; 7. Woo; 8. We; 9. Shin; 10. Yew; 11. Seŭh; 12. Hae.
The name of the first year, or of the first day, in the sexagenary cycle is formed by combining the first words in each of the above series; the second is formed by combining the second of each series, and so on to the tenth. For the next year the first word of the first series is combined with the eleventh of the second, then the second of the first series with the twelfth of the second, after this the third of the first series with the first of the second, and so on till the sixtieth combination, when the last of the first series concurs with the last of the second. Thus Keă-tsze is the name of the first year, Yĭh-Chow that of the second, Keă-seŭh that of the eleventh, Yĭh-hae that of the twelfth, Ping-tsze that of the thirteenth, and so on. The order of proceeding is obvious.
In the Chinese history translated into the Tatar dialect by order of the emperor K'ang-hi, who died in 1721, the characters of the cycle begin to appear at the year 2357 B.C. From this it has been inferred that the Chinese empire was established previous to that epoch; but it is obviously so easy to extend the cycles backwards indefinitely, that the inference can have very little weight. The characters given to that year 2357 B.C. are Keă-shin, which denote the 41st of the cycle. We must, therefore, suppose the cycle to have begun 2397 B.C., or forty years before the reign of Yao. This is the epoch assumed by the authors of L'Art de verifier les dates. The mathematical tribunal has, however, from time immemorial counted the first year of the first cycle from the eighty-first of Yao, that is to say, from the year 2277 B.C.
Since the year 163 B.C. the Chinese writers have adopted the practice of dating the year from the accession of the reigning emperor. An emperor, on succeeding to the throne, gives a name to the years of his reign. He ordains, for example, that they shall be called Ta-te. In consequence of this edict, the following year is called the first of Ta-te, and the succeeding years the second, third, fourth, &c, of Ta-te, and so on, till it pleases the same emperor or his successor to ordain that the years shall be called by some other appellation. The periods thus formed are called by the Chinese Nien-hao. According to this method of dating the years a new era commences with every reign; and the year corresponding to a Chinese date can only be found when we have before us a catalogue of the Nien-hao, with their relation to the years of our era.
For Hindu Chronology, see the article under that heading.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.—In addition to the early Greek writings already named, there are the forty books (some fifteen only extant in their entirety) of universal history compiled (about 8 B.C.) by Diodorus Siculus, and arranged in the form of annals; the Pentabiblos of Julius Africanus (about 220-230 A.D.); the treatise of Censorinus entitled De die natali, written 238 A.D.; the Chronicon, in two books, of Eusebius Pamphili, bishop of Caesarea (about 325 A.D.), distinguished as the first book of a purely chronological character which has come down to us; and three important works forming parts of the Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae, namely, the Chronographia of Georgius Syncellus (800 A.D.), the Chronographia of Johannes Malalas (9th century), and the Chronicon Paschale.
Among works on Chronology, the following, which are arranged in the order of their publication, have an historical interest, as leading up to the epoch of modern research:—
1583. De Emendatione Temporum, by Joseph Scaliger, in which were laid the foundations of chronological science.
1603. Opus Chronologicum, by Sethus Calvisius.
1627. De Doctrina Temporum, by Petavius (Denis Petau), with its continuation published in 1630, and an abridgment entitled Rationarium Temporum, in 1633-1634.
1650. Annales Veteris et Novi Testamenti, by Archbishop Ussher, whose dates have by some means gained a place in the authorized version of the Bible.
1651. Regia Epitome Historiae Sacrae et Profanae, by Philippe Labbe, of which a French version was also published.
1669. Institutionum Chronologicarum libri duo, by Bishop Beveridge.
1672. Chronicus Canon Aegyptiacus, Ebraicus, et Graecus, by Sir John Marsham.
1687. L'Antiquite des temps retablie et defendue, by Paul Pezron, with its Defense, 1691.
1701. De Veteribus Graecorum Romanorumque Cyclis, by Henry Dodwell.
1728. The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms amended, by Sir Isaac Newton, remarkable as an attempt to construct a system on new bases, independent of the Greek chronologers.
1738. Chronologie de l'histoire sainte, by Alphonse des Vignolles.
1744. Tablettes chronologiques de l'histoire universelle, by N. Lenglet-Dufresnoy.
1750. The first edition in one vol. 4to of L'Art de verifier les dates, which in its third edition (1818-1831) appeared in 38 vols. 8vo, a colossal monument of the learning and labours of various members of the Benedictine Congregation of Saint-Maur.
1752. Chronological Antiquities, by John Jackson.
1754. Chronology and History of the World, by John Blair; new edition, much enlarged (1857).
1784. A System of Chronology, by Playfair.
1799. Handbuch der Geschichte der Staaten des Alterthums, by A.H.L. Heeren.
1803. Handbuch der alten Geschichte, Geographie, und Chronologie, by G.G. Bredow, with his Historische Tabellen.
1809-1814. New Analysis of Chronology, by William Hales.
1819. Annales Veterum Regnorum, by C.G. Zumpt.
1821. Tableaux historiques, chronologiques, et geographiques, by Buret de Longchamps.
1824-1834. Fasti Hellenici, and 1845-1850, Fasti Romani, by H. Fynes Clinton. Epitomes of these elaborate works were published, 1851-1853.
1825-1826. Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie, by Christian Ludwig Ideler; and his Lehrbuch der Chronologie, (1831).
1833. The Chronology of History, by Sir Harris Nicolas.
1852. Fasti Temporis Catholici, by Edward Greswell; and by the same author (1854), Origines Kalendariae Italicae; and 1862, Origines Kalendariae Hellenicae.
More modern works are the Encyclopaedia of Chronology, by B.B. Woodward and W.L.R. Cates (1872); and J.C. Macdonald's Chronologies and Calendars (1897). But see the separate historical articles in this work. (W. L. R. C.)
CHRUDIM, a town of Bohemia, Austria, 74 m. E.S.E. of Prague by rail. Pop. (1900) 13,017, mostly Czech. It has an important horse market, besides manufactures of sugar, spirits, beer, soda-water and agricultural machinery. There are also steam corn-mills and saw-mills. Chrudim is mentioned as the castle of a gaugraf as early as 993. The new town was founded by Ottokar II., who settled many Germans in it and gave it many privileges. After 1421 Chrudim was held by the Hussites, and though Ferdinand I. confiscated most of the town property, it prospered greatly till the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War. In 1625 the greater part of its Hussite inhabitants left the town, which suffered much later on from the Swedes. Chrudim was the birthplace of Joseph Ressel (1793-1857), honoured in Austria as the inventor of the screw propeller.
CHRYSANTHEMUM[1] (Chrysanthemum sinense; nat. ord. Compositae), one of the most popular of autumn flowers. It is a native of China, whence it was introduced to Europe. The first chrysanthemum in England was grown at Kew in 1790, whither it had been sent by Mr Cels, a French gardener. It was not, however, till 1825 that the first chrysanthemum exhibition took place in England. The small-flowered pompons, and the grotesque-flowered Japanese sorts, are of comparatively recent date, the former having originated from the Chusan daisy, a variety introduced by Mr Fortune in 1846, and the latter having also been introduced by the same traveller about 1862. The Japanese kinds are unquestionably the most popular for decorative purposes as well as for exhibition. They afford a wide choice in colour, form, habit and times of flowering. The incurved Chinese kinds are severely neat-looking flowers in many shades of colour. The anemone-flowered kinds have long outer or ray petals, the interior or disk petals being short and tubular. These are to be had in many pleasing colours. The pompon kinds are small flowered, the petals being short. The plants are mostly dwarf in habit. In the single varieties the outer or ray florets alone are large and attractively coloured.
Plants for the Border.—As a border plant out of doors the chrysanthemum is of the easiest culture. It is an exceptionally good town plant. By a judicious selection of varieties, flowers may be produced in abundance and in considerable variety from August to the end of November, and in favourable seasons well on towards Christmas. Since 1890 when the English market was flooded with French raised varieties of exceptional merit, the border chrysanthemum has taken first place among hardy autumn flowering plants. Most of the varieties then introduced have been superseded by many excellent kinds raised in Britain.
Propagation.—The old English method of dividing the plants in March or early April may be followed where better means of propagation are not practicable. Many of the best border varieties are shy in producing new growths (suckers) from the rootstock, and are in consequence not amenable to this method. It is better to raise the plants from cuttings. This may be begun in January for the early flowering sorts, the late kinds being propagated during February and March. They will root quite well in a cold frame, if protected during frosty weather by litter or other similar material. If the frame can be heated at will so as to maintain a fairly even temperature of from 4O deg. to 50 deg. Fah., roots will be made more quickly and with more certainty. A still better method is to improvise a frame near the glass in a greenhouse, where the temperature is not raised above 50 deg. by artificial heat. This has the advantage of being accessible in all weathers. The bottom of the frame is covered with sifted coal ashes or coco-nut fibre, on which the shallow boxes or pots used in propagating are placed. These are well drained with broken crocks, the bottoms of the boxes being drilled to allow water to pass out quickly. The soil should consist of about equal parts of fibrous loam and leaf-mould, half a part of coarse silver-sand, and about a quart of vegetable ash from the garden refuse heap to each bushel of the compost. The whole should be passed through a quarter inch sieve and thoroughly mixed. The coarse leaf-mould, &c., from the sieve should be spread thinly over the drainage, and the boxes or pots filled almost to the rims with the compost, and covered, if possible, with a thin layer of silver-sand. It should be pressed firmly, watered with a fine rose, and allowed to drain for an hour. The cuttings should then be dibbled into the boxes in rows, just clear, the soil being gently pressed around each. Short stout shoots which arise directly from the rootstock make the best cuttings. In their absence cuttings from the stems are used. The ideal length for a cutting is about 21/2 in. Cut the stem squarely with a sharp knife just below a joint, and remove the lower leaves. Insert as soon as possible and water with a fine rose to settle the soil around them. The soil is not allowed to become dry. The cuttings should be looked over daily, decayed leaves removed, and surplus moisture, condensed on the glass, wiped away. Ventilate gradually as rooting takes place, and, when well rooted, transfer singly into pots about 3 in. in diameter, using as compost a mixture of two parts loam, one part leaf-mould, half a part coarse silver-sand, and a gallon of vegetable ash to every bushel of the compost. Return to the frames and keep close for a few days to allow the little plants to recover from the check occasioned by the potting. Ventilation should be gradually increased until the plants are able to bear full exposure during favourable weather, without showing signs of distress by flagging. They should be carefully protected at all times from cold cutting winds. In April, should the weather be favourable, the plants may be transferred to the borders, especially should the positions happen to be sheltered. If this is not practicable, another shift will be necessary, this time into pots about 5 in. in diameter. The soil should be similar to that advised for the previous potting, enriched with half a part of horse manure that has been thoroughly sweetened by exposure. Plant out during May. All borders intended for chrysanthemums should be well dug and manured. The strong growing kinds should be planted about 3 ft. apart, the smaller kinds being allowed a little less room.
In the summer, water in dry weather, syringe in the evenings whenever practicable, and keep the borders free from weeds by surface hoeings; stake and tie the plants as required, and pinch out the tips of the shoots until they have become sufficiently bushy by frequent branching. Pinching should not be practised later than the end of June.
Pot Plants for Decoration.—A list of a few of the thousands of varieties suitable for this purpose would be out of place here; new varieties are being constantly introduced, for these the reader is referred to trade catalogues.
The most important considerations for the beginner are (a) the choice of colours; (b) the types of flowers; (c) the height and habits of the varieties. Generally speaking, very tall varieties and those of weak growth and delicate constitutions should be avoided. The majority of the varieties listed for exhibition purposes are also suitable for decoration, especially the Japanese kinds. Propagation and early culture are substantially as for border plants.
As soon as the 5-in. pots are filled with roots, no time should be lost in giving them the final shift. Eight-in. pots are large enough for the general stock, but very strong growers may be given a larger size. The soil, prepared a fortnight in advance, should consist of four parts fibrous loam, one part leaf-mould, one part horse manure prepared as advised above, half a part coarse silver-sand, half a part of vegetable ash, and a quart of bone-meal or a sprinkling of basic slag to every bushel of the mixture. Mix thoroughly and turn over at intervals of three or four days. Pot firmly, working the soil well around the roots with a lath. The main stake for the support of the plant should now be given; other and smaller stakes may later be necessary when the plants are grown in a bushy form, but their number should not be overdone. The stakes should be as few as possible consistent with the safety of the shoots, which should be looped up loosely and neatly. The plants should be placed in their summer quarters directly after potting. Stand them in rows in a sunny situation, the pots clear of one another, sufficient room being allowed between the rows for the cultivator to move freely among them. The main stakes are tied to rough trellis made by straining wire in two rows about 2 ft. apart between upright poles driven into the ground. Coarse coal ashes or coke breeze are the best materials to stand the pots on, there being little risk of worms working through into the pots. The plants, which are required to produce as many flowers as possible, should have their tips pinched out at frequent intervals, from the end of March or beginning of April to the last week in June, for the main season kinds; and about the middle of July for the later kinds.
Towards the end of July the plants will need feeding at the roots with weak liquid manure, varied occasionally by a very slight dusting of soluble chemical manure such as guano. The soil should be moderately moist when manure is given. In order that the flowers may be of good form, all lateral flower buds should be removed as soon as they are large enough to handle, leaving only the bud terminating each shoot. Towards the end of September—earlier should the weather prove wet and cold—remove the plants to well-ventilated greenhouses where they are intended to flower. Feeding should be continued until the flowers are nearly half open, when it may be gradually reduced. The large mop-headed blooms seen at exhibitions in November are grown in the way described, but only one or two shoots are allowed to develop on a plant, each shoot eventually having only one bloom.
The chrysanthemum is subject to the attack of black aphis and green-fly. These pests may be destroyed, out of doors, by syringing with quassia and soft soap solutions, by dusting the affected parts with tobacco-powder, and indoors also by fumigating. Mildew generally appears after the plants are housed. It may be destroyed by dusting the leaves attacked with sublimed sulphur. Rust is a fungoid disease of recent years. It is best checked by syringing the plants with liver of sulphur (1 oz. to 3 gallons of water) occasionally, a few weeks before taking the plants into the greenhouse. Earwigs and slugs must be trapped and destroyed.
Flowers for Exhibition.—Flowers of exhibition standard must be as broad and as deep as the various varieties are capable of producing; they must be irreproachable in colour. They must also exhibit the form peculiar to the variety when at its best, very few kinds being precisely alike in this respect. New varieties are introduced in large numbers annually, some of which supplant the older kinds. The cultivator must therefore study the peculiarities of several new kinds each year if he would be a successful exhibitor.
For lists of varieties, &c. see the catalogues of chrysanthemum growers, the gardening Press, and the excellent cultural pamphlets which are published from time to time.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] The Gr. [Greek: chrusanthemon] ([Greek: chrusos], gold, and [Greek: anthemon], flower) was the herbalists' name for C. segetum, the "corn marigold," with its yellow bloom, and was transferred by Linnaeus to the genus, being commonly restricted now to the species C. sinense.
CHRYSANTHIUS, a Greek philosopher of the 4th century A.D., of the school of Iamblichus. He was one of the favourite pupils of Aedesius, and devoted himself mainly to the mystical side of Neoplatonism (q.v.). The emperor Julian (q.v.) went to him by the advice of Aedesius, and subsequently invited him to come to court, and assist in the projected resuscitation of Hellenism. But Chrysanthius declined on the strength of unfavourable omens, as he said, but probably because he realized that the scheme was unlikely to bear fruit. For the same reason he abstained from drastic religious reforms in his capacity as high-priest of Lydia. As a result of his moderation, he remained high-priest till his death, venerated alike by Christians and pagans. His wife Melite, who was associated with him in the priestly office, was a kinswoman of Eunapius the biographer.
CHRYSELEPHANTINE (Gr. [Greek: chrysos], gold, and [Greek: elephas], ivory), the architectural term given to statues which were built up on a wooden core, with ivory representing the flesh and gold the drapery. The two most celebrated examples are those by Pheidias of the statue of Athena in the Parthenon and of Zeus in the temple at Olympia.
CHRYSENE C18H12, a hydrocarbon occurring in the high boiling fraction of the coal tar distillate. It is produced in small quantity in the distillation of amber, on passing the vapour of phenyl-naphthyl-methane through a red-hot tube, on heating indene, or by passing the mixed vapours of coumarone and naphthalene through a red-hot tube. It crystallizes in plates or octahedra (from benzene), which exhibit a violet fluorescence, and melt at 250 deg.C. Chromic acid in glacial acetic acid solution oxidizes it to chrysoquinone C18H10O2, which when distilled with lead oxide gives chrysoketone C17H10O. When chrysene is fused with alkalis, chrysenic acid, C17H12O3, is produced, which on heating gives [beta]-phenyl-naphthalene. On heating chrysene with hydriodic acid and red phosphorus to 260 deg.C, the hydro-derivatives C18H28 and C18H30 are produced. It gives characteristic addition products with picric acid and dinitroanthraquinone. Impure chrysene is of a yellow colour; hence its name ([Greek: chryseos], golden yellow).
CHRYSIPPUS (c. 280-206 B.C.), Greek philosopher, the third great leader of the Stoics. A native of Soli in Cilicia (Diog. Laert. vii. 179), he was robbed of his property and came to Athens, where he studied possibly under Zeno, certainly under Cleanthes. It is said also that he became a pupil of Arcesilaus and Lacydes, heads of the Middle Academy. This impartiality in his early studies is the key of his philosophic work, the dominant characteristic of which is comprehensiveness rather than originality. He took the doctrines of Zeno and Cleanthes and crystallized them into a definite system; he further defended them against the attacks of the Academy. His polemic skill earned for him the title of the "Column of the Portico." Diogenes Laertius says, "If the gods use dialectic, they can use none other than that of Chrysippus"; [Greek: ei me gar en Chrysippos, ouk an en Stoa] ("Without Chrysippus, there had been no Porch"). He excelled in logic, the theory of knowledge, ethics and physics. His relations with Cleanthes, contemporaneously criticized by Antipater, are considered under STOICS. He is said to have composed seven hundred and fifty treatises, fragments alone of which survive. Their style, we are told, was unpolished and arid in the extreme, while the argument was lucid and impartial.
See G.H. Hagedorn, Moralia Chrysippea (1685), Ethica Chrysippi (1715); J.F. Richter, De Chrysippo Stoico fastuoso (1738); F. Baguet, De Chrysippi vita doctrina et reliquiis (1822); C. Petersen, Philosophiae Chrysippeae fundamenta (1827); A. Gercke, "Chrysippea" in Jahrbuecher fuer Philologie, suppl. vol. xiv. (1885); R. Nicolai, De logicis Chrysippi libris (1859); Christos Aronis, [Greek: Chrysippos grammatikos] (1885); R. Hirzel, Untersuchungen zu Ciceros philosophischen Schriften, ii. (1882); L. Stein, Die Psychologie der Stoa (1886); A.B. Krische, Forschungen auf dem Gebiete der alten Philosophie (1840); J.E. Sandys, Hist. Class. Schol. i. 149.
CHRYSOBERYL, a yellow or green gem-stone, remarkable for its hardness, being exceeded in this respect only by the diamond and corundum. The name suggests that it was formerly regarded as a golden variety of beryl; and it is notable that though differing widely from beryl it yet bears some relationship to it inasmuch as it contains the element beryllium. In chrysoberyl, however, the beryllium exists as an aluminate, having the formula BeAl2O4, or BeO.Al2O3. The analysis of a specimen of Brazilian chrysoberyl gave alumina 78.10, beryllia 17.94, and ferric oxide 4.88%. The typical yellow colour of the stone inclines in many cases to pale green, occasionally passing into shades of dark green and brown. The iron usually present in the mineral seems responsible for the green colour. Chrysoberyl is often mistaken by its colour for chrysolite (q.v.), and has indeed been termed Oriental chrysolite. In its crystalline forms it bears some relationship to chrysolite, both crystallizing in the orthorhombic system, but it is a much harder and a denser mineral. As the two stones are apt to be confounded, it may be convenient to contrast their chief characters:—
Chrysoberyl. Chrysolite. Hardness 8.5 6.5 to 7 Specific Gravity 3.65 to 3.75 3.34 to 3.37 Chemical Composition BeAl2O4. Mg2SiO4.
Chrysoberyl is not infrequently cloudy, opalescent and chatoyant, and is then known as "cymophane" (Gr. [Greek: kyma], a "cloud"). The cloudiness is referable to the presence of multitudes of microscopic cavities. Some of the cymophane, when cut with a convex surface, forms the most valuable kind of cat's-eye (see CAT'S-EYE). A remarkable dichroic variety of chrysoberyl is known as alexandrite (q.v.).
Most chrysoberyl comes from Brazil, chiefly from the district of Minas Novas in the state of Minas Geraes, where it occurs as small water-worn pebbles. The cymophane is mostly from the gem-gravels of Ceylon. Chrysoberyl is known as a constituent of certain kinds of granite, pegmatite and gneiss. In the United States it occurs at Haddam, Conn.; Greenfield Centre, near Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; and in Manhattan island. It is known also in the province of Quebec, Canada, and has been found near Gwelo in Rhodesia. (F. W. R.*)
CHRYSOCOLLA, a hydrous copper silicate occurring as a decomposition product of copper ores. It is never found as crystals, but always as encrusting and botryoidal masses with a microcrystalline structure. It is green or bluish-green in colour, and often has the appearance of opal or enamel, being translucent and having a conchoidal fracture with vitreous lustre; sometimes it is earthy in texture. Not being a definite crystallized substance, it varies widely in chemical composition, the copper oxide (CuO), for example, varying in different analyses from 17 to 67%; the formula is usually given as CuSiO3 + 2H2O. The hardness (2-4) and specific gravity (2.0-2.8) are also variable. It has recently been suggested that the material may really be a mixture of more than one hydrous copper silicate, since differences in the microcrystalline structure of the different concentric layers of which the masses are built up may be detected. Various impurities (silica, &c.) are also commonly present, and several varieties have been distinguished by special names: thus dillenburgite, from Dillenburg in Nassau, contains copper carbonate; demidoffite and cyanochalcite contain copper phosphate; and pilarite contains alumina (perhaps as allophane). The mineral occurs in the upper parts of veins of copper ores, and has resulted from their alteration by the action of waters containing silica in solution. Pseudomorphs of chrysocolla after various copper minerals (e.g. cuprite) are not uncommon. It is found in most copper mines.
The name chrysocolla (from [Greek: chrysos], gold, and [Greek: kolla], glue) was applied by Theophrastus and other ancient writers to materials used in soldering gold, one of which, from the island of Cyprus, may have been identical with the mineral now known by this name. Borax, which is used for this purpose, has also been called chrysocolla.
A mineral known as pitchy copper-ore (Ger. Kupferpecherz), and of some importance as an ore of copper, is usually classed as a variety of chrysocolla containing much admixed limonite. It is dark brown to black in colour, with a dull to glassy or resinous lustre, and resembles pitch in appearance. In thin sections it is translucent and optically isotropic, and recent examinations seem to prove that it is a homogeneous mineral and not a mechanical mixture of chrysocolla and limonite. (L. J. S.)
CHRYSOLITE, a transparent variety of olivine, used as a gem-stone and often called peridot. The name chrysolite, meaning "golden stone" ([Greek: chrysos] and [Greek: lithos]), has been applied to various yellowish gems, notably to topaz, to some kinds of beryl and to chrysoberyl. The true chrysolite of the modern mineralogist is a magnesium silicate, referable to the species olivine. It is appropriate to call the lighter coloured stones inclining to yellow chrysolite, and the darker green stones peridot. Certain kinds of topaz, from the Schneckenstein in Saxony, are known as Saxon chrysolite; while moldavite, a substance much like a green obsidian, is sometimes called water chrysolite or pseudo-chrysolite.
See CHRYSOBERYL; OLIVINE; PERIDOT.
CHRYSOLORAS, MANUEL [or EMMANUEL] (c. 1355-1415), one of the pioneers in spreading Greek literature in the West, was born at Constantinople of a distinguished family, which had removed with Constantine the Great to Byzantium. He was a pupil of Gemistus (q.v.). In 1393 he was sent to Italy by the emperor Manuel Palaeologus to implore the aid of the Christian princes against the Turks. He returned to Constantinople, but at the invitation of the magistrates of Florence he became about 1395 professor of the Greek language in that city, where he taught three years. He became famous as a translator of Homer and Plato. Having visited Milan and Pavia, and resided for several years at Venice, he went to Rome upon the invitation of Bruni Leonardo, who had been his pupil, and was then secretary to Gregory XII. In 1408 he was sent to Paris on an important mission from the emperor Manuel Palaeologus. In 1413 he went to Germany on an embassy to the emperor Sigismund, the object of which was to fix a place for the assembling of a general council. It was decided that the meeting should take place at Constance; and Chrysoloras was on his way thither, having been chosen to represent the Greek Church, when he died suddenly on the 15th of April 1415. Only two of his works have been printed, his Erotemata (published at Venice in 1484), which was the first Greek grammar in use in the West, and Epistolae III. de comparatione veteris et novae Romae.
JOHN CHRYSOLORAS, a relative of the above (variously described as his nephew, brother or son), who, like him, had studied and taught at Constantinople, and had then gone to Italy, shared Manuel's reputation as one of those who spread the influence of Greek letters in the West. His daughter married Filelfo (q.v.).
CHRYSOPRASE (Gr. [Greek: chrysos], gold, and [Greek: prason], leek), a name applied by modern mineralogists to an apple-green variety of chalcedony or hornstone, used as an ornamental stone. The colour is due to the presence of nickel, probably in the form of a hydrous silicate. By exposure to a moderate heat, or to strong light, the chrysoprase becomes paler, or even colourless, but it may regain its colour by absorption of moisture. Chrysoprase is a mineral of rather limited distribution. Most of it comes from the neighbourhood of Frankenstein in Silesia, where it occurs in association with altered serpentine. It is found to a limited extent at Revdinsk, near Ekaterinburg, in the Urals; and it occurs also in India. It is known, too, at several localities in North America, notably at Nickel Mount, Douglas county, Oregon, where it occurs in nickeliferous serpentine.
The chrysoprase of the moderns is certainly not the chrysoprasius of Pliny, or the [Greek: chrysoprasos] of Greek writers. The ancient stone was not improbably our chrysoberyl, and it is doubtful whether the modern chrysoprase was known until a comparatively late period. The chrysoprase of Kosemuetz, near Frankenstein in Silesia, was discovered in 1740, and used by Frederick the Great in the decoration of the palace of Sans Souci at Potsdam. But at a much earlier date the Silesian chrysoprase was used for mural decoration at the Wenzel chapel at Prague. Chrysoprase was a favourite stone in England at the beginning of the 19th century, being set round with small brilliants and used for brooches and rings. At the present time it is said to be regarded by some as a "lucky stone." Much commercial chrysoprase is chalcedony artificially stained by impregnation with a green salt of nickel. (F. W. R.*)
CHRYSOSTOM. St John Chrysostom ([Greek: Chrysostomos], golden-mouthed), the most famous of the Greek Fathers, was born of a noble family at Antioch, the capital of Syria, about A.D. 345 or 347. At the school of Libanius the sophist he gave early indications of his mental powers, and would have been the successor of his heathen master, had he not been stolen away, to use the expression of his teacher, to a life of piety (like Augustine, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Theodoret) by the influence of his pious mother Anthusa. After his baptism (about 370) by Meletius, the bishop of Antioch, he gave up all his forensic prospects, and buried himself in an adjacent desert, where for nearly ten years he spent a life of ascetic self-denial and theological study, to which he was introduced by Diodorus, bishop of Tarsus, a famous scholar of the Antiochene type. Illness, however, compelled him to return to the world; and the authority of Meletius gained his services to the church. He was ordained deacon in his thirty-fifth year (381), and afterwards presbyter (386) at Antioch. On the death of Nectarius he was appointed archbishop of Constantinople by Eutropius, the favourite minister of the emperor Arcadius. He had, ten years before this, only escaped promotion to the episcopate by a very questionable stratagem—which, however, he defends in his instructive and eloquent treatise De Sacerdotio. As a presbyter, he won high reputation by his preaching at Antioch, more especially by his homilies on The Statues, a course of sermons delivered when the citizens were justly alarmed at the prospect of severe measures being taken against them by the emperor Theodosius, whose statues had been demolished in a riot.
On the archiepiscopal throne Chrysostom still persevered in the practice of monastic simplicity. The ample revenues which his predecessors had consumed in pomp and luxury he diligently applied to the establishment of hospitals; and the multitudes who were supported by his charity preferred the eloquent discourses of their benefactor to the amusements of the theatre or of the circus. His homilies, which are still preserved, furnish ample apology for the partiality of the people, exhibiting the free command of a pure and copious vocabulary, an inexhaustible fund of metaphors and similitudes, giving variety and grace to the most familiar topics, with an almost dramatic exposure of the folly and turpitude of vice, and a deep moral earnestness. His zeal as a bishop and eloquence as a preacher, however, gained him enemies both in the church and at the court. The ecclesiastics who were parted at his command from the lay-sisters (whom they kept ostensibly as servants), the thirteen bishops whom he deposed for simony and licentiousness at a single visitation, the idle monks who thronged the avenues to the court and found themselves the public object of his scorn—all conspired against the powerful author of their wrongs. Their resentment was inflamed by a powerful party, embracing the magistrates, the ministers, the favourite eunuchs, the ladies of the court, and Eudoxia the empress herself, against whom the preacher thundered daily from the pulpit of St Sophia. A favourable pretext for gratifying their revenge was discovered in the shelter which Chrysostom had given to four Nitrian monks, known as the tall brothers, who had come to Constantinople on being excommunicated by their bishop, Theophilus of Alexandria, a man who had long circulated in the East the charge of Origenism against Chrysostom. By Theophilus's instrumentality a synod was called to try or rather to condemn the archbishop; but fearing the violence of the mob in the metropolis, who idolized him for the fearlessness with which he exposed the vices of their superiors, it held its sessions at the imperial estate named "The Oak" (Synodus ad quercum), near Chalcedon, where Rufinus had erected a stately church and monastery. A bishop and a deacon were sent to accuse the archbishop, and presented to him a list of charges, in which pride, inhospitality and Origenism were brought forward to procure the votes of those who hated him for his austerity, or were prejudiced against him as a suspected heretic. Four successive summonses were signified to Chrysostom, but he indignantly refused to appear until four of his notorious enemies were removed from the council. Without entering into any examination of the charges brought before them, the synod condemned him on the ground of contumacy, and, hinting that his audacity merited the punishment of treason, called on the emperor to ratify and enforce their decision. He was immediately arrested and hurried to Nicaea in Bithynia.
As soon as the news of his banishment spread through the city, the astonishment of the people was quickly exchanged for a spirit of irresistible fury, which was increased by the occurrence of an earthquake. In crowds they besieged the palace, and had already begun to take vengeance on the foreign monks and sailors who had come from Chalcedon to the metropolis, when, at the entreaty of Eudoxia, the emperor consented to his recall. His return was graced with all the pomp of a triumphal entry, but in two months after he was again in exile. His fiery zeal could not blind him to the vices of the court, and heedless of personal danger he thundered against the profane honours that were addressed almost within the precincts of St Sophia to the statue of the empress. The haughty spirit of Eudoxia was inflamed by the report of a discourse commencing with the words—"Herodias is again furious; Herodias again dances; she once more demands the head of John"; and though the report was false, it sealed the doom of the archbishop. A new council was summoned, more numerous and more subservient to the wishes of Theophilus; and troops of barbarians were quartered in the city to overawe the people. Without examining it, the council confirmed the former sentence, and, in accordance with canon 12 of the Synod of Antioch (341), pronounced his deposition for having resumed his functions without their permission.
He was hurried away to the desolate town of Cucusus (Cocysus), among the ridges of Mount Taurus, with a secret hope, perhaps, that he might be a victim to the Isaurians on the march, or to the more implacable fury of the monks. He arrived at his destination in safety; and the sympathies of the people, which had roused them to fire the cathedral and senate-house on the day of his exile, followed him to his obscure retreat. His influence also became more powerfully felt in the metropolis than before. In his solitude he had ample leisure for forming schemes of missionary enterprise among Persians and Goths, and by his correspondence with the different churches he at once baffled his enemies and gave greater energy to his friends. This roused the emperor to visit him with a severer punishment, though Innocent I. of Rome and the emperor Honorius recognized his orthodoxy and besought his return. An order was despatched for his removal to the extreme desert of Pityus; and his guards so faithfully obeyed their instructions that, before he reached the sea-coast of the Euxine, he expired at Comana in Pontus, in the year 407. His exile gave rise to a schism in the church, and the Johannists (as they were called) did not return to communion with the archbishop of Constantinople till the relics of the saint were, 30 years after, brought back to the Eastern metropolis with great pomp and the emperor publicly implored forgiveness from Heaven for the guilt of his ancestors. The festival of St Chrysostom is kept in the Greek Church on the 13th of November, and in the Latin Church on the 27th of January.
In his general teaching Chrysostom elevates the ascetic element in religion, and in his homilies he inculcates the need of personal acquaintance with the Scriptures, and denounces ignorance of them as the source of all heresy. If on one or two points, as, for instance, the invocation of saints, some germs of subsequent Roman teaching may be discovered, there is a want of anything like the doctrine of indulgences or of compulsory private confession. Moreover, in writing to Innocent, bishop of Rome, he addresses him as a brother metropolitan, and sends the same letter to Venerius, bishop of Milan, and Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia. His correspondence breathes a most Christian spirit, especially in its tone of charity towards his persecutors. In exegesis he is a pure Antiochene, basing his expositions upon thorough grammatical study, and proceeding from a knowledge of the original circumstances of composition to a forceful and practical application to the needs of his day and of all time. With his exegetical skill (he was inferior in pure dogma to Theodore of Mopsuestia) he united a wide sympathy and a marvellous power of oratory.
The voluminous works of Chrysostom fall into three groups. To the days of his early desert life is probably to be assigned the treatise On Priesthood, a book full of wise counsel. To the years of his presbyterate and episcopate belong the great mass of homilies and commentaries, among which those On the Statues, and on Matthew, Romans and Corinthians, stand out pre-eminently. His letters belong to the last years, the time of exile, and with his other works are valuable sources for the history of his time.
The manuscripts are very numerous, and many of them are of great antiquity, as are the Syriac and other translations. The best edition is that of Bernard de Montfaucon in 13 vols. fol. (1718-1738), reproduced with some improvements by Migne (Patrol. Graec. xlvii.-lxiv.); but this edition is greatly indebted to the one issued more than a century earlier (1612) by Sir Henry Savile, provost of Eton College, from a press established at Eton by himself, which Hallam (Lit. of Europe, iii. 10, 11) calls "the first work of learning, on a great scale, published in England." F. Field admirably edited S. Matthew (Cambridge, 1839) and Epistles of S. Paul (Oxford, 1849-1855). J.A. Bengel's edition of De Sacerdotio (1725) has been often reprinted (e.g. Leipzig, 1887).
As authorities for the life, the most valuable are the ecclesiastical histories of Socrates, Sozomen and Theodoret; and amongst the moderns, Erasmus, Cave, Lardner and Tillemont, with the church history of Neander, and his monograph on the Life and Times of Chrysostom, translated by J.C. Stapleton. More recent are the lives by W.R.W. Stephens (London, 1871), R.W. Bush (London, 1885) and A. Peuch (Paris, 1891). F.W. Farrar's romance Gathering Clouds gives a good picture of the man and his times. For monographs on special points such as Chrysostom's theological position and his preaching, see the very full bibliography in E. Preuschen's article in Herzog-Hauck's Realencyk. iv.; also A. Harnack, Hist. of Dogma, iii. and iv. Some of the commentaries and homilies are translated in the Oxford Library of the Fathers.
CHUB (Leuciscus cephalus), a fish of the Cyprinid family, belonging to the same genus as the roach and dace. It is one of the largest of its family, attaining a length of 2 ft. and a weight of 5 to 7 lb. It does not avoid running waters, and is fond of insects, taking the fly readily, but its flesh, like that of the other Leucisci, is tasteless and full of bones. It is common in Great Britain and the continent of Europe. In America the name of "chub" is given to some other members of the family, and commonly to the horned dace (Semnotilus atromaculatus); well-known varieties are the river chub (Hybopsis kentuckiensis) and Columbia river chub (Mylochilus caurinus).
CHUBB, CHARLES (d. 1845), English locksmith, started a hardware business at Winchester, subsequently removing to Portsea. Here he improved on the "detector" lock (q.v.), originally patented in 1818 by his brother, Jeremiah Chubb. He soon moved to London and then to Wolverhampton, where he employed two hundred hands. In 1835 he patented a process intended to render safes (q.v.) burglar-proof and fireproof, and subsequently established a large safe-factory in London. He died on the 16th of May 1845, and was succeeded in the business by his son, John Chubb (1816-1872), who patented various improvements in the products of the firm and largely increased its output. The factories were combined under one roof in a model plant, and the business grew to enormous proportions. After John Chubb's death the business was converted into a limited company under the management of his three sons.
CHUBB, THOMAS (1670-1746), English deist, the son of a maltster, was born at East Harnham, near Salisbury, on the 29th of September 1679. The death of his father (1688) cut short his education, and in 1694 he was apprenticed to a glove-maker in Salisbury, but subsequently entered the employment of a tallow-chandler. He picked up a fair knowledge of mathematics and geography, but theology was his favourite study. His habit of committing his thoughts to writing gave him a clear and fluent style. He made his first appearance as an author in the Arian controversy. A dispute having arisen about Whiston's argument in favour of the supremacy of the one God and Father, he wrote an essay, The Supremacy of the Father Asserted, which Whiston pronounced worthy of publication, and it was printed in 1715. A number of tracts followed, which were collected in 1730. For several years Chubb lived in the house of Sir Joseph Jekyll, master of the rolls, in what capacity it is not known; there are stories of his having waited at table as a servant out of livery. His love of independence drew him back to Salisbury, where by the kindness of friends he was enabled to devote the rest of his days to his studies. He died on the 8th of February 1746. Chubb is interesting mainly as showing that the rationalism of the intellectual classes had taken considerable hold upon the popular mind. Though he acquired little renown in England he was regarded by Voltaire and others as among the most logical of the deist school (see DEISM). His principal works are A Discourse Concerning Reason (1731), The True Gospel of Jesus Christ (1739), and Posthumous Works, 2 vols. (1748), the last containing "The Author's Farewell to his Readers."
CHUBUT, a territory of the southern Argentine Republic, part of what was formerly called Patagonia, bounded N. by Rio Negro, S. by Santa Cruz, E. by the Atlantic and W. by Chile. Pop. (1895) 3748; (1904, estimate) 9060; area, 93,427 sq. m. Except for the valleys in the Andean foothills, which are fertile and well forested, and the land along the banks of the Chubut river, which flows entirely across the territory from the Andes to the Atlantic, the country is a barren waste, covered with pebbles and scanty clumps of dwarfed vegetation, with occasional shallow saline lakes. The larger rivers are the Chubut and the Senguerr, the latter flowing into Lake Colhuapi. There are a number of large lakes among the Andean foothills, the best known of which are Fontana, La Plata and General Paz, and, in the interior, Colhuapi or Colhue and Musters, the latter named after the English naval officer who traversed Patagonia in 1870. Petroleum was found at Comodoro Rivadavia, in the S. part of the territory, toward the close of 1907, at a depth of 1768 ft. Chubut is known chiefly by the Welsh colony near the mouth of the Chubut river. The chief town of the Welsh, Rawson, is the capital of the territory, and Port Madryn on Bahia Nueva is its best port. Other colonies have been founded in the fertile valleys of the Andean foothills, but their growth is greatly impeded by lack of transportation facilities. (See further PATAGONIA.) |
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