------------------------------------------------------------------------ [19] Sayce and Bosanquet identify Dilgan with Capella, not with part of Aries, and consider that a date of about B.C. 2000 is indicated—(_Monthly Notices_ xxxix, 454). But in any case the method of calendar formation is the same. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ that is, let it be taken over again, as if it had not already been counted. Similar directions are given for some other asterisms and their corresponding months. But a second method, which was peculiar, so far as we know, to the Babylonians, was that of using the moon as a pointer to indicate the place of the sun. Whereas the sun’s place among the stars can only be inferred, the moon’s can be plainly seen, and her phase indicates her distance from the sun at any time. A tablet of unknown date, belonging to the last millenium before our era, or a little earlier, gives the following directions:— “When on the first day of the month of Nisan the asterism Mulmul (the Pleiades)[20] and the Moon are seen together, the year will be normal. When on the third day of Nisan the asterism Mulmul and the Moon are together, the year will be full” (that is, will contain 13 months). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [20] Sayce and Bosanquet understand Capella here also. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Each Babylonian month began when the new moon was first visible after sunset; if at this moment she was seen with the Pleiades, it is clear that the sun, which had just set, was not far west of the cluster; if however, it was not till the moon was three days old that she was seen with the Pleiades, she would then be some distance above the horizon at sunset: consequently the sun was some distance west of the Pleiades. In this case he would also be west of Dilgan, the Ram’s Head, so those stars would rise after him in the morning, and be hidden in his light: therefore, both the morning and the evening observation combined to show that his course was not completed, and that the year must be lengthened by the addition of an extra month. [Illustration: Fig. 7. First Year, normal. New Moon near the Pleiades after sunset on the 1st of Nisan. The position of the young moon (which always closely follows the sun) showed that the sun was not far west of the Pleiades; and about 1000 B.C. this proved that it was near the vernal equinox. The sun’s position is given for about half an hour after sunset, when the Pleiades would first be visible.] [Illustration: Fig. 8. Second Year, normal. New Moon not far from Pleiades on the 1st of Nisan.