Difference between 270 and 239 = 31 years. 3 months = 90 days × 4 = 360 " 5 epacts × 4 = 20 " ─── 411 " The difference of two years is equal only to half a day! It seems, then, pretty clear from this that the suggestion I have ventured to make on astronomical grounds may be worth consideration on the part of Egyptologists. If our inquiries have really led us to the true beginnings of the Sothic periods, it is obvious that those who informed Censorinus that the year 139 A.D. was the end of a cycle _omitted to tell him what we now can learn from the decree of Tanis_. CHAPTER XXVIII. THE FIXED YEAR AND FESTIVAL CALENDARS. The reformation of the Egyptian calendar, to be gathered, as I suggested in the last chapter, from the decree of Tanis, is not, however, the point to which reference is generally made in connection with the decree. The attempt recorded by it to get rid of the vague year is generally dwelt on. Although the system of reckoning which was based on the vague year had advantages with which it has not been sufficiently credited, undoubtedly it had its drawbacks. The tetramenes, with their special symbolism of flood-, seed-, and harvest-time, had apparently all meant each in turn; however the meanings of the signs were changed, the "winter season" occurred in this way in the height of summer, the "sowing-time" when the whole land was inundated and there was no land to plant, and so on. Each festival, too, swept through the year. Still, it is quite certain that information was given by the priests each year in advance, so that agriculture did not suffer; for if this had not been done, the system, instead of dying hard, as it did, would have been abolished thousands of years before. Before I proceed to state shortly what happened with regard to the fixing of the year, it will be convenient here to state a suggestion that has occurred to me, on astronomical grounds, with regard to the initial change of sign. It is to be noted that in the old tables of the months, instead of Sirius leading the year, we have Teχi with the two feathers of Amen. In later times this is changed to Sirius. I believe it is generally acknowledged that the month-table at the Ramesseum is the oldest one we have; there is a variant at Edfû. They both run as follows, and no doubt they had their origin when a 1st Thoth coincided with an heliacal rising and Nile flood.