ugust; 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
follo