The second circle shows the names of the months, beginning with March, which was officially reckoned the first month of the year in the Republic of Venice until as late as 1797[8]; it also tells the day, hour, and minute when the sun enters each of the twelve signs of the zodiac. The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth circles enable one to calculate the phases of the moon. In the third circle the first nineteen letters of the alphabet represent in order the years of the Metonic lunisolar cycle. These years were usually designated by the golden numbers, but before the Gregorian reform letters were frequently employed in place of the numbers. Leardo explains that _C_ stands for 1453, _D_ for 1454, and so on until _T_ is reached, after which we begin over again at _A_.[9] A letter is placed opposite the figures (in the fourth, fifth, and sixth circles) showing respectively the day of the month, the hour of the day, and the “point of the hour” at which the “conjunction of the moon” (i. e. new moon) will take place in the years to which the letter refers. For example, there will be a new moon on April 8, 1453, at 16 hours, 200 points.[10] Leardo adds that there are 1080 points in an hour.[11] The seventh circle gives the dominical, or “Sunday,” letters; these are indicated opposite the days of the month (fourth circle) on which Sunday falls in the years designated by the seven first letters of the alphabet. If we know the dominical letter for any particular year, we may thus determine the days of the week.[12] Leardo, however, does not specify the years to which the dominical letters in his calendar refer. The eighth and ninth circles give the lengths of the days in hours and minutes.[13] From this we see that the vernal equinox fell on March 11, inasmuch as the calendar was constructed before the Gregorian reform. Finally, in the tenth circle saints’ days and other religious festivals are shown.[14] The four figures in the spaces between the calendar and the outer edge of the parchment represent the four evangelists: the lion for St. Mark, the bull for St. Luke, the angel for St. Matthew, and the eagle (of which only the head shows) for St. John.[15] The Map Disk It should be noted first that east is at the top of the map and Jerusalem at the center; hence the long axis of the Mediterranean runs vertically up the southern half of the disk.