Daily account in medieval Rus'. Correct chronology in Rus'

The old Roman calendar of Romulus was shorter in both days and months. It was 10 months old. Numa made twelve.

Under the militant Romulus, the first month was dedicated to the god of war Mars - this is our March. The peace-loving Numa was not attracted by military exploits, above all he valued order, strove for justice, and more than Mars revered Janus - the god, according to legend, who changed the wild way of life of people. It was believed that the two-faced Janus looked to the past with one side of his face, and to the future with the other, and it was fitting for him to just start the new year. The second month was February, dedicated to the god of death - Februarius; in this month sacrifices were offered to the dead. And then came the militant March.

In those distant times, the pontiffs were in charge of the calendar - that was what the Romans called High priest. The pontiffs inserted mercedony, they ordered the beginning of a new month, a new week, a new day to be called out in the square. Kaleo in Latin it means to call out. Calenda- the name of the first day of the month. On this first day of the month, cash settlements with debtors took place; these calculations were recorded in special debt books - calendarium. That's where the name comes from - calendar.

The secrets of reckoning were in the hands of the pontiffs, and they often used this dishonestly. They could either shorten or lengthen every month, for which they received bribes. Debtors wanted to delay the day of payment, and those to whom they owed, on the contrary, wanted to bring this day closer.

The priests promised to arrange everything in the best way for both of them, but as a result, they fulfilled the wishes of those who paid more.

Pontiffs could either lengthen or shorten the length of the year. In the first month, in January, the election of rulers took place in Rome. If the pontiffs wanted the Roman, who occupies an elective office, to sit longer in his place, they increased the year, and if, on the contrary, they needed to remove someone as soon as possible, the new year would suddenly come! So, despite the amendments of King Numa, the calendar was completely confused. People lost count of days and months, no one knew when the mercedonium would be inserted, and this confusion eventually hindered everyone. I had to put things in order on the calendar.

This is what the famous Roman commander undertook and statesman Gaius Julius Caesar. He was advised to introduce the Egyptian solar calendar in Rome, but only with the amendment of the pharaoh Ptolemy Euergetes. Julius Caesar did just that. New calendar was introduced on January 1, 45 BC. e. and to this day it is called Julian.

There were twelve months left in the Julian calendar, and they went in the same order as under King Numa. You already know the origin of the names of the first three months - January, February and March. April comes from the word "aperire", which means to open in translation; it was the month of spring, when everything in nature comes to life, buds open, shoots turn green, young shoots appear; may - majores - means the elder, but, according to other sources, this name is given in honor of the goddess Maya; June, which means the youngest, in honor of the goddess of fertility Junius; and then the months went simply in order: quintilis - the fifth, sextilis - the sixth, September - the seventh, October - the eighth, November - the ninth, December - the tenth. Do you recognize our September, October, November and December in these names? Once upon a time, even before Numa, in the old Roman calendar, the quintilis was indeed the fifth, and the december was the tenth. But then two more months were inserted at the beginning of the year, and everything shifted, and december, although it means tenth in Latin, became the twelfth. But this has long since been forgotten.

The number of days in the months of the Julian calendar alternated: in one there were thirty-one days, in the other - thirty, and February did not even reach thirty: in ordinary years it counted 29 days and only in leap years - 30. Then this changed, as well how the names of two months - the fifth and sixth - have changed. The fifth - quintilis - began to be called July in honor of Julius Caesar, and the sixth - sextilis, named after the Roman emperor Octavian Augustus, is our August. But in the quintilis - July - there were thirty-one days, and in the sextilis - only thirty. And Octavian Augustus wished that both months were equal in the score. That is why two consecutive months have thirty-one days. At the same time, one day added to August was taken away from the shortest month of the year - from February.

This is the Julian calendar. This is how we know it today, with only minor changes, which will be discussed later. And now remember: why is a long year called a leap year?

The Romans had a strange custom: they didn’t say, like we do now, what day it is, well, for example, February 23, but they counted how many days are left until the next month, as you schoolchildren do when you count the time until the holidays, until holidays. Instead of February 23, the Romans announced: the sixth day before the beginning of March, otherwise - until the March calendars.

Between February 23 and 24, an extra day was inserted into the leap year, and they called out on the square: the sixth day before the March calends, and the sixth - in Latin Sextus. The next day they repeated: once again the sixth - bissextus.

Bissextus the Romans said. Wissextus the Greeks used to say. The Julian calendar spread throughout Europe and came to us, to Russia, along with Christianity from Greek Byzantium. We have remade the Greek "vissextus" in our own way - into "leapkos".

How was time kept in Rus'?

In ancient Rus', once, as in other countries of the distant past, time was counted according to the lunar phases. And since lunar year was shorter than the sun, then it was necessary, as in due time in Ancient Rome, insert an extra month. Because otherwise the calendar diverged from the seasons, and it was inconvenient.

By the very names of the months, one can judge how the calendar of Ancient Rus' was connected with the seasons. The names expressed the main thing that happened during these months in nature, in peasant life. Here, for example, January was called “prosinets”, because after the gloomy days of late autumn the sky began to clear up, turn blue. April has several names: "berezol" - the time when the juices in the birch begin to move, or "play the ravines" - the time of snowmelt, when the hollow water was merrily seething in the ravines. May was called "pollen", and "grass", and "summer" - it is tight and so clear that this month the earth is covered with fresh herbs, wild flowers. September is the month of "golden autumn", yellow color reigns in it, it was called "ruen" - yellow! And October is “falling leaves”, you can’t name it more precisely.

The very names of the months have become different with us, the same as they were in the Julian calendar, only in Ukraine and Belarus to this day they use the old Slavic names of the months. But the days of the week remained the same as they were in Rus' in the old days. Only "Sunday", the day of rest, was earlier called "week", "day of the week", hence this name spread to the entire seven-day period of time - a week. And the name Saturday came to us from the countries of the Ancient East. Other days of the week remained the same as in the old days: Monday is the day after the week, Tuesday is the second day of the week, Wednesday is the middle of the week, Thursday is the fourth day of the week, Friday is the fifth.

We lived by the Julian calendar for a long time. But now, as in the whole world, we have adopted a new style - the Gregorian. And why this happened - you will find out further.

Is it possible to imagine a world without numbers? Remember what we do every day: without numbers you can’t make a purchase, you won’t know the time, you won’t dial a phone number. And spaceships, lasers and all other achievements! They would simply be impossible if it were not for the science of numbers. When answering the question "how much?", we almost always name one or another number. Number is one of the basic concepts of mathematics that allows you to express the results of counting or measuring.

In the past, there were many ways to count. The art of counting has evolved with the development of mankind. In those days, when a person only gathered fruits in the forest and hunted, his hand was enough for counting. Fingers are always with us.

The human hand is the first "calculating machine". The boy drove out the herd, bent his fingers, and when he drove the goats, he again counted on his fingers and compared whether he had bent all his fingers. Fingers were the first conventional signs for designating numbers. So the idea was born to use fingers to indicate numbers. When the fingers on one hand ended, they switched to the other, and if there were not enough on both hands, they switched to the legs. Therefore, if in those days someone boasted that he had "two arms and one leg of chickens", this meant that he had fifteen chickens, and if it was called "the whole man", that is, two arms and two legs, this meant twenty.

When many animals participated in the recount, the fingers ended, and the question arose of how to designate tens. Then they turned to notches, pebbles.

In ancient times, when a man wanted to show how many animals he owned, he put as many pebbles in a big bag as he had animals. The more animals, the more stones. This is where the word “calculator” came from, “calculus” in Latin means “stone”!

With the development of man, trade was born, merchants appeared. In order to count how many goods he purchased, it became necessary to perform actions with numbers. For example, count the number of bags of cereals and flour. To do this, they began to use two grooves in the sand and a bag of pebbles. The right column represents units and the left column represents tens. Place five pebbles in the right groove. Each of them means one bag of cereal. And put four pebbles in the left groove. Each will represent a dozen bags. The pebbles in both grooves will show that you have 4 tens and 5 more bags - a total of 45. You indicated the number of cereals bought by the merchant in the market. To add 43 sacks of flour, add three pebbles to the right groove and four to the tens groove. Counting the pebbles in the grooves, you get the answer - the merchant bought 88 bags in total.

Counting the goats, the shepherd girl, having counted all the fingers on her hands, put one pebble aside, after that she continued to count hands. With every ten, she laid a pebble, when the herd left the pen, then 4 pebbles lay on the ground and eight fingers turned out to be bent. Thus, she drove 48 goats out to pasture.

When Robinson Crusoe in the book of the writer Defoe remained on a desert island, he kept a kind of calendar. To do this, he made a short notch every day on a pillar dug into the ground, and every 30 days he made a notch longer. So Robinson counted the days and months spent on the island.

In Russia, the expression has been preserved: "Kill it on your nose." It says that in order to remember something important, a notch should be made. The word "nose" in this case is derived from the word "wear". In the old days, many people carried small sticks with them for notches. They called them "nose", and in order to remember the right number, they made on the "nose" the corresponding number of notches - marks.

Serifs on sticks were used in commercial transactions. After the end of the calculations, the sticks were broken in half, one half was taken by the creditor, and the other by the debtor. The half played the role of a "receipt".

The Peruvian Incas kept track of animals and crops by tying knots on straps or laces of various lengths and colors. These knots were called quipu. Some rich people accumulated several meters of this rope "account book", try it, remember in a year what 4 knots on a cord mean! Therefore, the one who tied the knots was called the rememberer

Rope abacus with knots were in use in Russia, as well as in many European countries. Until now, they sometimes tie knots on handkerchiefs as a keepsake

Figures of ancient civilizations

Numbering of ancient Sumerians

The ancient Sumerians were the first to come up with the notation of numbers. They used only two numbers. A vertical dash denoted one unit, and an angle of two recumbent dashes denoted ten. These lines were obtained in the form of wedges, because they wrote with a sharp stick on damp clay tablets, which were then dried and fired.

What was the number system in the Mayan tribe?

The ancient Mayan people, instead of the numbers themselves, drew scary heads, like those of aliens, and it was very difficult to distinguish one head - a figure from another.

At the beginning of our era, the Maya Indians, who lived on the Yucatan Peninsula in Central America, used a different number system - vigesimal. They denoted 1 point, and 5 - a horizontal line, for example, the entry == meant 14. The Mayan number system also had a sign for zero. In its shape, it resembled a half-closed eye.

It's interesting that different nations, who lived in countries distant from each other and at different times, invented their own numbers to write numbers, but still somewhat similar to other ways of writing numbers.

What were the Egyptian numbers?

The Egyptians wrote in hieroglyphs, that is, they used drawings to display an idea or object. These drawings depicted elements of the flora and fauna of the Nile River and household utensils. They also wrote numbers in hieroglyphs. The Egyptians had signs for numbers from 1 to 10.

In ancient Egyptian numbering, which originated more than 5000 years ago, there were special characters to write the numbers 1, 10, 100, 1000, ... and a special hieroglyph for tens, hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions and tens of millions. Then only specially trained people knew how to write and count; for ordinary people, counting was just as inaccessible as writing. This system has been used in Ancient Egypt in trade and tax collection, especially spreading during the construction of the Great Pyramids, and gradually died out along with the caste of builders and accountants, with the decline of Egypt.

In order to depict, for example, the integer 23145, it is enough to write two hieroglyphs in a row representing ten thousand, then three hieroglyphs for a thousand, one for a hundred, four for ten and five hieroglyphs for a unit:.

Babylon wedges

The Babylonian peoples used only two cuneiform characters - a straight wedge and a lying wedge. These peoples used the sexagesimal number system, for example, the number 23 was depicted as follows: The number 60 was again indicated by a sign, for example, the number 92 was written as follows:

Ancient Greece and Rus'

The ancestors of the Russian people - the Slavs - used letters to designate numbers. Above the letters used to designate numbers, special signs were placed - titla. To separate such letters - numbers from the text, dots were put in front and behind. This way of designating numbers is called numerals. It was borrowed by the Slavs from the medieval Greeks - the Byzantines. Therefore, the numbers were designated only by those letters for which there are correspondences in the Greek alphabet.

In the first half of the 1st millennium AD. at Eastern Slavs, according to academician B.A. Rybakov, there was already a calendar. Finding in a burial ground of the 4th c. AD Chernyakhovskaya culture of an earthenware vessel, which depicts the Slavic months.

This is a vase found in 1957 during excavations near the village of Lepesovka in Volhynia, in a pagan sanctuary of the 3rd–4th centuries. n. e. It was obviously intended for ritual and magical purposes. The wide and flat side of the vase is divided into 12 sectors, which, apparently, correspond to the 12 months of the year. The content of these images and their sequence coincide with the time (monthly) sequence pagan monuments ancient Slavs and with the calendar terms of various agricultural works in the area. January, March, June have the sign of an oblique cross, which among the ancient Slavs meant the sun and flame. Slavic pagan holidays of the sun fell on these months: the holiday of the beginning of the day's addition (winter Christmas time - January 6), the holidays of the spring equinox (end of March) and the summer solstice (Ivan Kupala's holiday - June 24). The last holiday of water is also marked with a wavy line. Agricultural work: April is marked with an image of a plow (the term for spring plowing of spring crops); August - the image of the ears (the term for threshing bread); September - an image of trees and a net (the term for autumn hunting with nets hung between trees on birds flying south this month); October - a schematic representation of the fibers (the processing time of flax and hemp).

The problem is the nature of this calendar. Academician B.A. Rybakov suggested that the Eastern Slavs had a solar calendar. Sun worship. In winter, at the beginning of January, carols were celebrated in honor of the sun (from the Latin "calenda"; another name for this holiday is "autumn" - from "autumn", the turning of the sun for summer). After Christianization, the carol coincided with Christmas. At the beginning of spring there was a holiday of meeting spring and seeing off winter - “red hill”. IN Christian religion This holiday has been preserved under the name Shrovetide. Maslenitsa is a pagan holiday. The celebration of Maslenitsa was associated with the cult of the sun, and it was celebrated when the sun began to warm up. The Kupala holiday, which was celebrated in June, when the sun turns to winter and the day begins to wane.

The most ancient system of counting time among the East Slavic tribes, whose economy was based on agricultural production, most likely was counting the seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter. The full period of the change of seasons was called "summer" (year).

In Rus', the year began in the spring (as N.V. Stepanov, N.G. Berezhkov, B.A. Rybakov believed), when agricultural work was resumed. B.D. Grekov: “The Slavs divided time into segments corresponding to the alternation of agricultural work. The ancient Slavic calendar arose even in the tribal system, during the dominance of the fire, slash-and-burn system of agriculture. The spring season fell on the period from March 25 to June 24, summer - from June 24 to September 24, autumn - from September 24 to January 25, winter - from January 25 to March 25.

The ancient Russian names of the months show an inextricable connection with nature: January was called prosinets (it became lighter), February - cut (slash-and-burn agriculture, it was the time of deforestation), March - dry (cut down trees dried up, and in some places the earth), April - birch or berezozol (birch blossom), May - grass (the time the grass appeared), June - izok (grasshopper), July - serpen (harvest time), August - glow (everything blooms), September - ryuen (from the verb ruit - roar) or veresen (most likely from heather, juniper, blooming in autumn), October - leaf fall, November - chest (frozen road rut), December - jelly.

Along with Christianity, the Julian calendar and the Roman names of the months, recorded in one of the oldest monuments of Russian writing, the Ostromir Gospel, spread to Rus'. Many old Russian names of the months have been preserved in the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages.

In ancient Rus', time was known in weeks, seven days each. This is where the old Russian name for the week, the week, comes from. Unlike many ancient calendars, in which the days of the week were named after the names of the planets dedicated to the ancient gods - Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, the ancient Russian names of the days reflected their ordinal position relative to Sunday, which was called the week (from not to do - not to work, since it was a day of rest). The next day is Monday (after the week), then Tuesday (second after the week), Wednesday (average, middle of the week), Thursday (fourth), Friday (fifth day after the week). Saturday got its name from the Hebrew word "sabbath" (sabbath), meaning rest.

Days in Ancient Rus' were divided into 24 hours and into two halves of 12 hours. So, in Moscow Rus' of the XVI-XVII centuries. day - the day, which was divided into light (day) and dark (night) parts. Naturally, these parts were equal or approximately equal only for a few days in spring and autumn, but in total they always amounted to 24 hours. In the monuments of writing there are such parts of the day: morning, dawn, early dawn, the beginning of light, sunrise, morning, mid-morning, mass, lunch, noon, noon, noon, lunch, evening, night, midnight. The beginning of the day fell on the time immediately before dawn and coincided with morning worship- in the morning. Matins began before dawn and ended before sunrise. The morning was divided into 4 main moments: before the dawn, dawn - dawn, sunrise, mass. The morning ended some time after sunrise during lunch or dinner. After lunch, the day began. It was noon in the afternoon. After noon - noon or afternoon. The evening began with Vespers. Vespers took place before sunset. The evening ended in darkness. After evening, night began, which stretched until dawn. The counting of hours began at sunrise.

The division of the hour into minutes and seconds has been known since the 12th century. Hours were counted from sunrise. When the mechanical clock was invented, it is not known exactly, in the 14th century. in Rus' they already existed - they were called watchrooms. Since only the light part of the day was counted, their number depended on the season, ranging from 7 to 17 hours. As a result, it can be very difficult to establish a correspondence between the ancient and modern accounts - the first hour could correspond to 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 hours of the modern account, i.e. time of sunrise. Daytime and nighttime hours "given away", i.e. was given a sign of their end. The return was made by a special signal (bell strike, etc.).

In ancient Rus', the Byzantine system was adopted from the creation of the world (from 5508 BC), which lasted until 1700. The year began in March. Having adopted the era from Byzantium, Rus' retained the original Slavic spring beginning of the year. The March style was replaced by the September style at the end of the 15th century.

Translation of dates. Having established the full date from the creation of the world, one should subtract 5508 from it, since according to the Byzantine era the creation of the world took place 5508 years before the birth of Christ. However, the year from the Nativity of Christ established in this way will be an accurate date only under certain conditions. The fact is that when subtracting the number 5508, one very important circumstance is not taken into account, namely the beginning of the year indicated in the source.

The existence of the September and March styles complicates the translation of dates from the Byzantine system to the modern one. In addition, the March style in Rus' had another variety - the ultra-March style. N.V. Stepanov first raised the question of the existence of two spring styles. N.G. Berezhkov proved that two spring styles were used during the period of feudal fragmentation. Whether there were two spring styles in the Old Russian state cannot yet be proven.

The year of Ultramart was not two months behind the year of March as compared to the year of January, but was ahead of it, beginning ten months earlier. In this respect, it is similar to September. January and February were common in the January and Ultramart years. Therefore, if an event occurred within these two months, subtract 5508 to convert the date. inclusive, it is necessary to subtract from it by one more - 5509. It is not difficult to see that the ultra-March style proceeds from the fact that not 5508, but 5509 years have passed from the creation of the world to the birth of Christ. Thus, there is a discrepancy between the annals in the designation of the year per unit. For example, some chronicles date the death of Andrei Bogolyubsky to March 6682, others to ultramart year 6683 - this is all 1174. The ultramart year continues to occur until the beginning of the 14th century, and then it immediately disappears in almost all chronicles. In the fourteenth century the dominance of the March year is restored. At the turn of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. in the annals, along with the spring year, the September designations of the years first appear. From the end of the fifteenth century the September year in the annals displaces the spring beginning of the year. The only beginning of the year was September 1st.

If the source does not indicate the month of events, then it is impossible to establish an absolute exact date according to the January calendar. When translating dates, you should always remember that they are determined according to the Julian calendar, or according to the old style. In order to express the established date according to the new style, an appropriate amendment must be introduced, i.e. increase it by the necessary difference between the old and new styles. This amendment is necessary for dating events that occurred after the introduction in 1582 of the Gregorian calendar.

Indicts. The 15-year cycle is borrowed from Byzantium. Apparently, such an account was formed in Roman Egypt on the basis of the periodic revision of tax lists (Latin "indication" - announcement, proclamation). In ancient Rome, under the emperor Diocletian, every 15 years the empire carried out a revaluation of property for proper taxation. The introduction of an indicative account of time in Byzantium is associated with the emperor Constantine, who introduced a new reckoning from September 23, 312. The date of the month was not chosen by chance - it was the birthday of the first Roman emperor Octavian Augustus.

In 462, for practical reasons, the beginning of the countdown of indicts was moved to September 1st. The starting point of the indicts was the creation of the world, in 537 the emperor Justinian introduced dating according to the indicts as mandatory. In the Holy Roman Empire, it was used until its collapse in 1806. The indict of the year is determined by dividing the date from the creation of the world by 15 according to the September style. The remainder of the division shows the indicator.

Sun circles. In ancient Rus', there was a time account with 28-year cycles of the sun. His starting point was the creation of the world. The same dates fall on different days of the week each year. The strict order of moving numbers by day of the week will be repeated every 28 years. This 28-year period is called the cycle of the sun, and the ordinal place of the year within it is the circle of the sun of a given year. The circle of the sun is determined similarly to the indict - by dividing the date from the creation of the world by 28. The remainder of the division shows the circle of the sun of a given year. By the beginning of our era, 196 full cycles of the sun had passed (5508:28 = 196 and 20 in the remainder). The circle of the sun in 5508 is equal to 0. Therefore, in order to facilitate the calculation of the circle of the sun for the date from the Nativity of Christ, 20 must be added to it and the sum divided by 28. Indications of sources for the circles of the sun help in determining the week, and in some cases are important for checking dates

Vrutseleto (“summer in hand”) is the name of Sunday in a given year, denoted by one of the first seven letters of the Russian alphabet. With the help of a vrutselet, you can determine the day of the week for any day of the month. In church calendars, they proceeded from the assumption that March 1 from the creation of the world fell on Friday, and the nearest Sunday, March 3, was designated by the first letter of the Russian alphabet A. The following days of the week were designated by the other six following letters, but in reverse alphabetical order: Monday - Z " earth", Tuesday - S "very", Wednesday - E "is", Thursday - D "good", Friday - G "verb", Saturday - B "lead". The letters B (beeches) and Zh (live) are missing here, which in Rus' did not have a digital meaning.

So, vrutselet this year - this is the letter that falls on the first Sunday in the year of March. Every year, the year changes, moving to the next letter (in a leap year, through the letter).

Setting dates for holidays church calendar. In historical sources, instead of the exact date, there are often indications of a church holiday that falls on the event in question. Russians church holidays can be divided into two groups: mobile and immobile. Movable holidays do not have a permanent fixed date and fall from year to year on different numbers calendar. Fixed holidays are celebrated on the same dates of the month. Of the latter, the following can often be found in sources: Baptism - January 6, Candlemas - February 2, Annunciation Holy Mother of God- March 25, St. George's spring day - April 23, Nikolin's spring day - May 9, Ilyin's day - July 20, Transfiguration of the Lord - August 6, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - August 15, Semyonov day - September 1, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - September 8, Entry into the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos - November 21, St. George's autumn day - November 26, Nikolin's autumn day - December 6, Christmas - December 25, etc. All dates are given here according to the Julian calendar.

There are also indications in the sources of certain fasting fasts, for example, the Assumption fast (from August 1 to August 15), Filippov, or Christmas fast (from November 15 to December 25). As for the movable holidays, they all depend on Easter, separated from it by certain fixed periods (before or after Easter). For example, the Ascension of the Lord is Thursday, 39 days after Easter, Palm Sunday- 7 days before Easter, Fomino Sunday - 7 days after Easter. The mobility of Easter itself is explained by the fact that it is calculated according to the lunar calendar. All questions related to its definition are called Paschalia. Easter is to be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first spring full moon, which is the full moon between March 21 and April 18. Accordingly, the first Sundays after the full moon may fall on the period from March 22 to April 25, according to the old style, which is called the "Easter Limit".

To determine the day of Easter, they use special tables of the “conversion of the great indiction”. The great indiction is the serial number of the year within a 532-year period. The movement of Easter day according to the calendar numbers in a certain order is repeated every 532 years, since 28 (solar cycle) when multiplied by 19 (lunar, Metonic cycle) gives 532.

Metonic (lunar) cycle. The phases of the moon fall on the same days of the solar calendar every 19 years. This cycle was established by the Greek astronomer Meton in the 5th century BC. BC. and named after him. The ordinal number of the year within the incomplete 19-year cycle is called the "golden number" or the circle of the moon. The name "golden number" is explained by the fact that in ancient Rome it was written in gold letters on special boards that were exhibited for the information of citizens. To determine the "golden number" it is necessary to add one to the date from the Nativity of Christ and divide the resulting amount by 19. The remainder will show the desired number. The addition to the date of the unit is determined by the fact that 1 year from the birth of Christ was considered the second in the lunar cycle.

Determination of dates by astronomical phenomena. In sources, primarily in Russian chronicles, various astronomical phenomena are quite often noted: solar and lunar eclipses, comets, shooting stars, etc. It is known that astronomical phenomena, as a rule, are strictly regular, therefore they provide additional opportunities for establishing dates . Astronomers have compiled special tables, according to which it is possible to determine the time of solar and lunar eclipses with an accuracy of up to a day. For example, it was precisely the indication of the "Lay of Igor's Campaign" to a solar eclipse that made it possible to accurately establish the date of Prince Igor's campaign against the Polovtsy. Tables of solar and lunar eclipses show that the solar eclipse occurred on May 1, 1185.

An important role for checking or clarifying dates is played by chronicle information about various comets, for example, about Halley's comet, which periodically returns on average after 76 years. Accurate to a day, the time of its passage through the point of the orbit closest to the Sun (perihelion) is established, for example, June 19, 912, June 8, 1465, September 5, 1682, etc.

Since 1700, the beginning of the New Year in our country has been moved to January 1, and the era since the birth of Christ has been introduced. The decree of Peter I of December 16, 7208 established that January 1, 7208 should be considered January 1, 1700 and celebrate the holiday - New Year, decorate Christmas trees. But the Julian calendar was preserved.

But the needs of international communication demanded a transition to a "new" style. Already in the XIX century. The “new” style, along with the “old”, began to be used by foreign departments, the merchant and navy. Astronomers and meteorologists switched to the Gregorian calendar. In the 19th century projects for the transition to the Gregorian calendar have been repeatedly developed. In 1830, the Academy of Sciences petitioned for the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, but the Minister of Public Education, Prince Liven, in his report to Nicholas I, spoke negatively about the introduction of the new calendar. He considered the introduction of a new calendar to be an untimely matter, which could cause undesirable unrest. Nicholas I agreed with this opinion, and the reform was not carried out. Attempts were made to reform the calendar in 1860 and 1864, but the "holy" Synod stubbornly opposed this. In 1899, a Calendar Reform Commission was formed under the Russian Astronomical Society. D.I. took an active part. Mendeleev. But the Chief Prosecutor of the Synod K.P. Pobedonostsev wrote the verdict: "Consider the introduction untimely."

The Decree "On the introduction of the Western European calendar in the Russian Republic" was adopted by the Council of People's Commissars on January 24 (February 6), 1918. The Gregorian calendar was introduced in our country. January 31st was followed by February 14th. On July 1, 1919, the so-called standard time was introduced, from the end of the 19th century. already used in several European countries. The essence of this innovation was as follows. The globe is conditionally divided into 24 time zones, the boundaries of which are 15 degrees apart from one another (from 0 to 23rd zone from west to east). For the zero belt, the Greenwich meridian was chosen.

In 1929 there was an attempt to abolish the 7-day week, a 5-day week was introduced. This was abandoned in 1931, 6-day week. The 7-day week was restored on June 26, 1940.

Control questions

1. Describe the basic units of time counting.

2. What was the 7-day period of time connected with and what were the days of the week called in Rome?

3. What types of eras do you know?

4. What lunisolar calendars of antiquity do you know?

5. Which ancient calendar was solar? What are its main characteristics?

6. What were the features of the calendar of ancient Rome?

7. What were the names of the months in ancient Rome?

8. Why did Julius Caesar realize the need for calendar reform?

9. Why by the XVI century. Is there a need for calendar reform?

10. How is the Gregorian calendar different from the Julian?

11. Why was the calendar of the French Revolution inconvenient?

12. What projects of introducing the "perpetual calendar" do you know?

13. Highlight the features of the account of time in Ancient Rus'.

14. What were the names of the months in Ancient Rus'?

15. How does the summer of the year help in dating the source?

16. How can I set the date for the holidays of the church calendar?

17. Where did the custom to measure time by indicts come from in Ancient Rus'? What was it for?

18. Describe the Metonic (lunar) cycle.

19. Circles of the sun - what is it?

20. What is standard time?

Bibliographic list

1. Leont'eva G.A., Shorin P.A., Kobrin V.B. Auxiliary historical disciplines. M., 2000.

2. Leontieva G.A. Paleography. Chronology. Archeography. Heraldry. M., 2000.

3. Kamentseva E.I. Chronology. M., 2003.

4. Klimishin I.A. Calendar and chronology. M., 1990.

5. Nikonov N., Haralampiev V. Astrologers of antiquity. M., 1991.

© A.V. Zhuravel, 2002, 2004

The question of how time was considered in Rus' remains not properly studied. This is especially true for the daily account. Turning to the works of modern historians, it is easy to see that many of them have a rather vague idea of ​​how our ancestors considered time. For example, V.A. Kuchkin, examining the testimony of Sofya Tverskoy's Life, asserts, on the one hand, that her tonsure as a nun, which took place on February 10, falls at 7 am, i.e. "the time between 22 hours 35 minutes and 23 hours 35 minutes according to the modern clock", on the other hand, that her death occurred "at 6 hours of the night, i.e. at 21 hours 35 minutes." and that "she was placed in a coffin on October 20 at 7 o'clock in the afternoon, i.e. at 12 hours 35 minutes." . It turns out that in one case the time indicated in the source corresponds to the modern equal hour, i.e. interval of 60 minutes, and in another case, a similar indication is considered as a point in time. At the same time, the historian refers to a table borrowed by L.V. Cherepnin from a long-standing study by D.I. Prozorovsky, although there is another approach to the problem of daily counting, from the point of view of which the Prozorovsky table to the realities of the late XIII century. just not applicable.

This makes a new appeal to the topic of the daily account very relevant, especially since the historiography of the issue is extremely small. Strictly speaking, in this regard, we can indicate the names of only three researchers who actually studied it - D.I. Prozorovsky, N.V. Stepanova and R.A. Simonova. All other historians usually dealt with only certain aspects of the problem (for example, N.I. Shostin, V.N. Pipunyrov and B.M. Chernyagin - issues of chronometry), or faced the topic in connection with the solution of some specific problems (for example, B. A. Rybakov - when trying to determine the date of death of Yaroslav the Wise).

DI. Prozorovsky, relying mainly on the material of the 16th-17th centuries, stated the existence in Rus' of two types of daily account. The first, called the "oblique" or variable hour (hereinafter referred to as KCH ("oblique" hours), KS (count KCh)), is characterized by the fact that the day is divided into 12 day and night hours, which are counted from sunrise and sunset, respectively. , and the duration of these hours directly depends on the time of year and the latitude of the place. Therefore, daytime and nighttime hours can only be equal at the equator or - north or south of the equator - twice a year: on the days of the spring and autumn equinoxes. At all other times, daytime hours are not equal to nighttime hours, lengthening in summer and shortening in winter. The second type of daily division corresponded to the modern one: the day was divided into 24 equal time intervals with the difference that the day and night hours were considered separately, and the points of reference remained the moments of sunrise and sunset, and therefore, in temperate latitudes, the days during the summer solstice reached 17.5 hours, and the nights were reduced to 6.5 hours. In winter, the ratio of daytime and nighttime hours changed. The main thing in this case is the account of equal hours (hereinafter - RF (equal hours); RS (RF account)), since the first, according to D.I. Prozorovsky, the Russians were only known, but in practice they were almost never used.

At the same time, he essentially called into question the very principle of counting hours from sunrise: according to his assessment, "the beginning of the day either preceded sunrise, or had its limit after sunrise, noon, which in all hourly reckoning was determined quite accurately" . The basis for this statement was expressions in sources such as "the sun rose at 1 o'clock", "whirling day at 1 o'clock in the afternoon", "when the sun rises at 1 o'clock in the afternoon", although all of them are quite consistent with the point of view, which was doubted by D. AND. Prozorovsky, who did not offer any constructive solution to the problem in return. However, in fact, this problem is completely artificial: the historian, apparently, was guided by his own idea of ​​the hour as a point, and not an interval of time. That is, a historian accustomed to dealing with mechanical clocks believed that the day began at 0 o'clock, and therefore "1st hour" is a point after a time interval of 60 minutes. I will return to this topic below, but for now I will point out another very significant methodological miscalculation by D.I. Prozorovsky: in his analysis of sources, he divided the chronological material by hours and months, and therefore he turned out to have mixed materials of the XI-XV and XVI-XVII centuries, which is why he essentially did not notice the "oblique" hours in Rus', reducing it's all about the equal hours he noticed on later material.

N.V. Stepanov, having studied the chronological material of the Novgorod I, Lavrentiev and Ipatiev chronicles, also considered insufficiently convincing arguments in favor of the fact that the "oblique" hour was actually used in Rus'. He believed that the word "hour" meant mainly "a brief moment", and the occasional use of "hour" as part of the day was a simple borrowing from liturgical books that had no system. That is, the mentions in the annals of day and night hours are equivalent in such cases to church hours and are connected with the fact that at that moment texts were read in the churches corresponding to the church hour named in the annals. That's why famous saying Kirik Novgorodts about the existence of 12 day and night hours, according to N.V. Stepanov, is not enough for a categorical statement that such an account was really used in Rus', but could simply be a demonstration of the learning of this Novgorod monk.

Among historians who did not specifically study the topic, but touched upon it in their studies, D.O. Svyatsky. Studying "astronomical phenomena in the Russian chronicles from a scientific-critical point of view", he did not pass by quite numerous indications of the hours at which solar and lunar eclipses occurred. At the same time, D.O. Svyatsky, noting in most cases a good correspondence between them and the testimony of the chronicles, believed that "the chroniclers take the time close to our 6 o'clock in the morning as the beginning of the counting of hours, regardless of the time of year and sunrise, i.e. the church time count, who came to us from Byzantium".

Unfortunately, the judgments of N.V. Stepanova and D.O. Svyatsky about the church hour cannot be considered solid. Their main drawback (as well as the judgments of D.I. Prozorovsky analyzed above) is their purely speculative nature: they actually transfer the realities of contemporary life to the Middle Ages. In what specific way - in the absence of a mechanical watch - could it be possible to determine the exact time of midnight and modern 6 o'clock in the morning, and even more so take them as a reference point? This question didn't even bother them. Link D.O. Svyatsky to Byzantium - without pointing to any sources and studies - is a typical example of extrapolation: just as at one time, from the fact of the spring New Year, they concluded that the Old Russian year began on March 1, so the idea of ​​​​the identity of the Byzantine 1st church hours and modern 6 o'clock in the morning is an incorrect generalization of the fact that the counting of hours began in the morning, more precisely, at sunrise. Only a simple and clear criterion for separating day and night, in the absence of instruments that were not difficult to use and accessible to everyone, could be the main one in that era. Therefore, it does not seem appropriate to describe in the following analysis the correspondence of these conditional "church hours" with chronicle sources - especially since the degree of such correspondence is very low.

R.A. Simonov took the path of searching in the archives - in collaboration with A.A. Turilov, A.V. Chernetsov, A.A. Romanova - and the study of new sources of calendar and chronological topics. As a result, he indisputably managed to prove that the "oblique" hour was really known and, possibly, was used in Rus' at least since the 14th century, and, based on data from liturgical books, he suggested that such a practice had developed back in the ancient Russian period. That is, the alleged N.V. Stepanov and D.O. The holy "church hour" was nothing but the same "oblique hour".

To resolve the issue, one should again follow the outlined by D.I. Prozorovsky and D.O. Svyatsky way and on the basis of annalistic data on solar and lunar eclipses find out what the clocks mentioned in medieval sources actually correspond to. Now it is possible to do this on a much more advanced basis than our predecessors: modern computer astronomical programs ("Astronomy Lab", "RedShift-3", "Zet", "StarCalc") make it possible to determine with great accuracy both the time of eclipses and and the duration of the day, and therefore, to build a CN grid for a given day and a given place, and therefore, to compare them with chronicle data on hours.

Already the first experience of such a study, carried out jointly with R.A. Simonov, gave very interesting results: the testimony of the Gustyn chronicle about the solar eclipse of 6541 (“In the same summer there was a terrible eclipse of the sun, June 29, from the sixth hour to the osmoth hour”) turned out to be very accurate: June 29, 1033 in the west of Russia, for example, in the Przemysl land, it was possible to observe an annular solar eclipse, which during the KS occurred exactly within the range from 6 to 8 hours.

Therefore, it is necessary to continue the study and study, using the same method, other solar and lunar eclipses, which are mentioned in Russian chronicles. So, using the above computer programs will be calculated:

1) the time of the eclipse - its beginning, middle and end, as well as the total duration of its possible observation in a given place;

2) the time of sunrise and sunset, which means the total duration of the day or night on the day when the eclipse occurred;

3) the duration of the CC for a given day or night, determined by dividing their length by 12;

4) the beginning and end of CCs adjacent to those named by chronicles.

If necessary, the annalistic data will be compared with the RF counted from sunrise or sunset. Calculations will be made, when needed, for several cities. This will make it possible, by the degree of correspondence between the calculated and chronicle data, to determine exactly where this or that chronicle record was made.

Here we must immediately make a reservation. In antiquity, there were no mechanical clocks, and therefore it is unreasonable to demand from the annals full compliance with the data of modern astronomy. In any case, discrepancies of 10-15 minutes can hardly be considered significant.

On the other hand, it should be emphasized once again that ancient and modern ideas about the passage of time may not coincide: when we say "7 o'clock in the morning", we are guided by an instrument called a clock, according to which readings from midnight, now accepted as a reference point , 7 full hours have passed. For people who do not have such an instrument, there can be no clear distinction between "seven o'clock" and "seventh hour": until a person specially observing time gives a signal (for example, a bell strikes) about the end of the "7th hour ", it was almost impossible to determine the beginning of the next hour. Therefore, "7 o'clock" at that time was the equivalent of our "seventh hour", i.e. between our "six" and "seven o'clock". We, looking at the device, say "6.10, 6.30, 6.50"; in ancient times, all these points are equally included in the value of the "7th hour". In addition, in the sources - up to the 16th century - "hour" is never in such cases in the genitive case, which means that it denotes duration, and not an instant.

A similar phenomenon, which received the name "including account" in the literature, was also observed when calculating years: the reign of Vladimir Monomakh in Kiev is determined in the annals at 13 years, although he really reigned there from March 20, 1113 to May 19, 1125, t .e. a little over 12 years old. Such an account, as we see, significantly levels the beginning and end of the unit of measurement, which can actually give rise to an error of almost one hour or one year, and this circumstance should be taken into account when evaluating chronicle data. Of course, it is theoretically possible to allow the use of the time calculation that we are used to, i.e. a priori proceed from the possibility of double counting - both by "points" and "intervals". Here's how it looks in relation to the "gustynsky" eclipse:

1) June 29, 1033 "In this summer there was a terrible eclipse of the sun, June 29, from the sixth hour to the osmo hour" (Gustyn Chronicle, 6541).

Table note. Here and below, Greenwich Mean Time is indicated in modern hours and minutes. The column "length of the "oblique" hours" shows hours, minutes and seconds. Other CN data are rounded to the nearest minute.

.

In general, the data for Przemysl correspond much better than the Kiev data to the interval indicated in the annals: in Przemysl, when counting by intervals, the beginning of the eclipse formally coincided with the end of the 6th hour, and ended at the very beginning of the 9th hour. In Kyiv, the eclipse falls on the time from 7 to 9 hours. However, there is no strict correspondence in both cases: the beginning of the eclipse, indicated in the table, was obtained by astronomical calculation, but visually even in Przemysl in the 8th and early 9th CC it was still impossible to notice it. Therefore, this situation can be "saved" by the assumption that in the absence in the XI century. modern technical means noon, i.e. the end of the 6th hour, in the Przemysl region, could actually be determined half an hour later than modern calculations do. On the other hand, this can serve as an argument in favor of the borrowing version: the best correspondence to the CN data will be established approximately 6-8° to the west, i.e. on the longitude of Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland. An indirect confirmation of this is the fact that in the chronicles of Kiev, Novgorod and Rostov-Suzdal origin (in these cities the eclipse was not so "terrible") not a word is said about this solar eclipse, which means that in the Gustyn chronicle, saturated with Polonisms, it came rather from Polish sources.

Therefore, the "point" method of calculating the CF is extremely unlikely here.

2) 21.5.1091 "In this summer, a sign in the sun: as if he perished and few remained, like a month was, at hour 2 days, the month of May 21 days" (Laurentian Chronicle, 6599).

№ 2	Solar eclipse				Day			"Spit"e clock
	On the- chalo	Silver Dina	Co- German	Duration	On the- chalo	End	Length	Length	1st	2nd	3rd
Kyiv	4.08	5.11	6.21	2.13	1.55	17.53	15.58	1.19.42	1.55- 3.15	3.16- 4.35	4.36- 5.55
Vladimir Volynsky	4.10	5.11	6.17	2.07	2.18	18.19	16.01	1.20.05	2.18- 3.38	3.39- 4.58	4.59- 6.18

At KS, the middle of the eclipse in Kyiv falls on the 3rd hour, and in the west of Rus', for example, in Vladimir Volynsky, the largest phase of the eclipse almost corresponds to the end of the 2nd hour. That is, these data can be interpreted in favor of the concept under study, if we accept that either the beginning of the eclipse was recorded in the annals when observed from Kiev, or the information about the hour of the eclipse was borrowed from a message that came from the Volyn land.

In MS, the discrepancy is much more significant.

3) 03/19/1113 "There was a sign in the sun, at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, to be seen by all people: there are few of him left, like a month down the horn, the month of March at 19" (Laurentian Chronicle, 6622).

The data of this eclipse N.V. Stepanov used to substantiate his point of view about the accidental use of the word "chas" in Rus'. However, his reasoning was far from flawless. He considered only the point of the middle of the eclipse, determining it half an hour later than modern astronomical programs. Meanwhile, this eclipse lasted almost 2 hours and began exactly at the 1st CC, and although the eclipse phase was still small, it must be recognized that the chronicle evidence does not contradict such an interpretation.

In addition, one cannot be sure that the record of the eclipse of 1113 is reproduced in full in the chronicles - without omitting the data on its completion: for example, the Ipatiev Chronicle under 6645 begins the story of eclipses in the plural ("the former sign"), however further mentions only the solar eclipse of June 1, 1136, apparently omitting the evidence of the lunar eclipse that occurred on June 15, i.e. 2 weeks after solar. Obviously, this message was much more complete in the original source than that preserved in the Ipatiev Chronicle.

Therefore, returning to the eclipse of March 19, 1113, this chronicle evidence should be defined as confirming, although not very strictly, the interpretation of the QS.

4) 11.8.1124 "In the same summer there was a sign in the sun: at 9 o'clock in the afternoon it was like a small month and not a little tornado at noon, the month of August on the 11th day" (Laurentian Chronicle, 6632).

Here there is an exact indication of the middle of the eclipse, expressed by CC: the middle of the eclipse falls at the beginning of the 9th hour. In MS, the 9th hour ends at 11.48, i.e. half an hour away from the middle of the eclipse.

5) May 1, 1185 "Maia on the 1st day, at 10 o'clock, as if in the evening ringing, the sun is quieter, as if by the hour and more, and the stars were, and the packs were enlightened, and for the sake of byhom" (Novgorodskaya Chronicle I, 6693 ) .

“There was a sign in the sun, on Wednesday at Vespers, the month of Maya, 1 day, at 11 o’clock; be a pamorochno, more than an hour the sun is darker, and the stars can be seen, and in the eyes of a person it is green, and the sun is like a moon, from a horn it’s like a coal burning out of you, and it’s terrible not to see a sign of God by a person; and the packs will be enlightened, and there will be joy in people "(Tver Chronicle, 6694).

№ 5	Solar eclipse				Day			"Slanting" clock
	On the- chalo	Silver Dina	Co- German	Duration	On the- chalo	End	Length	Length	9th	10th	11th
Novgorod	13.31	14.33	15.32	2.01	1.43	17.59	16.16	1.21.20	12.33- 13.53	13.54- 15.14	15.15- 16.36
Vladimir	13.39	14.39	15.35	1.56	1.18	17.11	15.53	1.19.25	11.54- 13.13	13.14- 14.32	14.33- 15.52
Chernihiv	13.39	14.40	15.38	1.59	2.14	17.28	15.14	1.16.10	12.25- 13.40	13.41- 14.56	14.57- 16.12

The famous eclipse described in The Tale of Igor's Campaign was best seen in the northern regions of Rus': for example, in Novgorod the eclipse was total, while when observed in Chernigov, the sun was not completely covered by the Moon.

It can be seen from the presented data that the record of the Novgorod First Chronicle was indeed made in Novgorod: the 10th CC really falls in the middle of the eclipse. The evidence of the Tver Chronicle about the "11 o'clock" at the KS turns out to be almost corresponding to the beginning of the 11 th hour in Vladimir, which means it gives grounds for the assertion that this entry was made in the eastern part of the Rostov-Suzdal land, or - the longitude is the same! - in Ryazan.

RS in this case is clearly not suitable, since it gives an error of more than 1 hour.

6) 14.5.1230 "The same month of May at 14, on Tuesday of the 7th week of the pasture, at 3 o'clock in the days the sun darkened: it was like a month at 5 o'clock in the night, and its pillars were blackened, and green, and blue. .. and in Novogorod, the sun was just like a month young at 5 o'clock in the night "(Tver Chronicle, 6738).

"Maia on the 3rd day, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon the sun changed and was like a month, return back and go to the east until the hour and again return to your course" (Typographic Chronicle, 6739).

"The same month on the 14th day, on Tuesday, 6 weeks after Easter, the second of the year, the sun began to die, seeing all the people, little remained of it and was like a month for 3 days, and began to fill up again, and multiply the moon going through the sky, Forget it between the months, and friends mnyahut the sun going back, more like a shell of malia, part of the midnight country of the greyhound run to the sun, to the midday country "(Laurentian Chronicle, 6738).

№ 6	Solar eclipse				Day			"Slanting" clock
	On the- chalo	Silver Dina	Co- German	Duration	On the- chalo	End	Length	Length	1st	2nd	3rd
Novgorod	3.06	3.59	4.53	1.47	1.14	18.27	17.13	1.26.05	1.14- 2.40	2.41- 4.06	4.07- 6.32
Vladimir	3.02	3.56	4.53	1.51	0.53	17.35	16.42	1.23.30	0.53- 2.17	2.18- 3.40	3.41- 5.04
Kyiv	2.55	3.46	4.40	1.45	2.01	17.46	15.45	1.18.45	2.01- 3.20	3.21- 4.39	4.40- 5.58

D.O. Svyatsky, noting that in May 1231 a solar eclipse could not be observed in Rus'. Meanwhile, if we proceed from the fact that in Rus' the lunisolar calendar was practically used, it is not difficult to explain the origin of such a discrepancy: solar eclipses almost always have the same lunar dating - more often the 29th day of the moon; if the ultra-March date - 6739 - is mistakenly considered March, i.e. corresponding not to 1230, but to 1231, then the recalculation of lunar dating into Julian will inevitably give rise to a shift 11 days ago - that is how many days the lunar calendar is shorter than the solar one; therefore "May 14" was bound to become "May 3".

The reports of the Typographical and Tver chronicles that the eclipse was observed at the 2nd and 3rd hours give a much better correspondence at RL than RL and at the same time allow us to think that the first observation was made at the longitude of Kiev and Novgorod, and the second at eastern part of Rus', at the longitude of Vladimir or Ryazan. It is in these cases that the midpoints of the eclipses fall on the CC indicated by the annals.

7) 26.6.1321 "The same summer, the 26th month of July, at the 3rd hour of the day, the sun died and was like a month of two days, and was filled with one hour" (Resurrection Chronicle, 6829).

"The same summer, the month of June 26, there was a sign in the sun before mass: I clear the sky, suddenly the sun darkened for an hour, and it was like a month of 5 nights, and darkness was like a winter night, and the packs were filled little by little; and for the sake of "(Novgorod Chronicle I, 6829).

№ 7	Solar eclipse				Day			"Slanting" clock
	On the- chalo	Silver Dina	Co- German	Duration	On the- chalo	End	Length	Length	2nd	3rd	4th
Novgorod	4.33	5.39	6.50	2.17	0.52	19.03	18.11	1.30.55	2.24- 3.54	3.55- 5.25	5.26- 6.56
Vladimir	4.32	5.41	6.57	2.25	0.35	18.06	17.31	1.27.35	2.04- 3.30	3.31- 4.58	4.59- 6.25
Smolensk	4.27	5.34	6.46	2.18	1.18	18.30	17.12	1.26.00	2.45- 4.10	4.11- 5.36	5.37- 7.02

This eclipse for the territory of Rus' looked as complete as possible in Smolensk (phase - 0.966). In Vladimir it was even longer, but the eclipse phase was slightly shorter. At the same time, the annalistic data are best consistent with the testimony of Smolensk, in which during the 3rd CC the total phase of the eclipse took place: in Novgorod and Vladimir, at the 3rd hour, it just began, and its middle fell already at the 4th hour.

With RS, the error turns out to be very large: the middle of the eclipse falls in all cases on the 5th hour.

8) 11/30/1331 "November 30, in memory of the holy Apostle Andrew, there was darkness in the sun and standing from the 1st hour to the 3rd" (Novgorod Chronicle I, 6839).

The three-hour interval indicated by the Novgorod I chronicle corresponds to the EC: the eclipse began at dawn and took less than one and a half equal hours, and therefore only with the count of CC, which at the end of November amounted to about 33 minutes, did the entire eclipse fit exactly in 3 hours.

9) 08/07/1366 "And then the sun died in the month of August on the 7th day in memory of the holy venerable martyr Domentia on tomorrow on Spasov days in the morning at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. and the darkness, like blue, comes from the west and stays dark for one hour, until the sun turns like a gap to the earth and thus begins to gradually let its light go, until the sun is filled and light reveals its packs and usually the rays of the Lordship of siashe "(Rogozhskaya Chronicle, 6874 ) .

"This, without touching the sun of a ray of its own concealment on August 7 at 3 o'clock, the sun was like a three-day month ... damaged by it from the upper country, the darkness of the green comes from the west and stays for an hour, turning the horns at noon, then to the earth, until the light is filled" (Novgorodskaya IV chronicle, 6874) .

"And this, without touching the sun of the ray of its hidden month of August, on the 7th day, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and then the sun was three days a month, a hole in it from the midday country, and the dark blue and green from the west coming, and the darkness abated Velia is one hour, and the sun turned its horns at noon, like a young month, even the sun turned its horns to the earth, and it was like a month and darkness Velia, and then gradually lowered its light, until the sun was all filled and its light was still manifest and usually light siashe "(Nikon Chronicle, 6874).

№ 9	Solar eclipse				Day			"Slanting" clock
	On the- chalo	Silver Dina	Co- German	Duration	On the- chalo	End	Length	Length	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
Novgorod	3.27	4.28	5.33	2.05	2.13	17.42	15.29	1.17.25	2.13- 3.30	3.31- 4.48	4.49- 6.05	6.06- 9.23
Ryazan	3.21	4.24	5.33	2.12	1.54	16.54	15.00	1.15.00	1.54-	3.10- 4.24	4.25- 5.39	5.40- 9.53

The above descriptions are very interesting and have already been investigated by D.O. Svyatsky. In particular, he noticed that the description of the eclipse in the Nikon chronicle is more accurate than in the Novgorod IV: the eclipse band passed south of Moscow, near Tula and Ryazan, and therefore the “hole” in the Sun from noon, i.e. south side, and "horns", i.e. a fragment of the Sun not covered by the Moon, turned to the earth, should be observed north of the eclipse band, and the comparison of the solar disk with a three-day month corresponds to the observation in Novgorod region.

However, not all so simple. The Rogozhskaya and Nikonovskaya Chronicles speak of a "darkness of orders", which could not exist if the Sun during the eclipse looked like a three-day month. This could only be in the eclipse band. Since Ryazan was the largest city in this zone, it can be assumed that Ryazan and Novgorod news were synthesized in these descriptions.

In addition, D.O. Svyatsky left without comment the indication of the "3rd hour", which is found in the annals and which irreconcilably contradicts his point of view on the "church account". Meanwhile, the CS does not contradict the annals, but at the same time, a comparison of the data from Novgorod and Ryazan shows that the indication of the "3rd hour" corresponds much better to the Ryazan indicators: in Novgorod, the middle of the eclipse falls on the 2nd hour of the day. In any case, in Ryazan, the beginning of the 3rd hour almost exactly coincides with the middle of the eclipse.

Fits within the framework of the "3rd hour" and RS.

10) 1.1.1386 "The same winter of the month of January at 1, in memory of the holy father the great Basil, at 7 o'clock in the afternoon, when people dine, the sun will die and stay in darkness for two hours, and packs of light will be fulfilled" (Rogozhskaya chronicle, 6893) .

№ 10	Solar eclipse				Day			"Slanting" clock
	On the- chalo	Silver Dina	Co- German	Duration	On the- chalo	End	Length	Length	6th	7th	8th	9th
Moscow	9.34	10.47	11.58	2.24	5.57	13.20	7.23	0.36.55	9.02- 9.39	9.39- 10.15	10.15- 10.52	10.53- 11.29
Tver	9.32	10.45	11.56	2.24	6.11	13.20	7.09	0.35.45	9.10- 9.46	9.46- 10.21	10.21- 10.57	10.57- 11.33

At CS, the eclipse midpoint falls on the 8th hour of the day: the eclipse phase was somewhat longer in the southeastern part of the country. However, nothing prevents us from thinking that such a significant eclipse was noticed as early as the 7th hour, i.e. according to the modern account, about half an hour earlier before the onset of the largest phase. This interpretation is also supported by the indication of a two-hour "darkness" noticed by an observer.

RS is clearly unsuitable here, since the 7th RF begins already after the end of the solar eclipse.

11) December 26-27, 1395 "The same winter of the month of December on the 27th day at 7 o'clock in the night, the month of death and was like blood" (Nikon Chronicle, 6904).

"Dec. 26, a week, at one o'clock in the night, a month perished, and it was like blood and in two hours was full of light" (6903, "History of the Russian State" by N.M. Karamzin, V.5, note 254).

№ 11	Moon eclipse				Night			"Slanting" clock
	On the- chalo	Silver Dina	Co- German	Duration	On the- chalo	End	Length	Length	7th	8th	9th
Novgorod	22.06 23.17	23.55	1.44 0.33	3.38 1.16	13.16	6.45	17.29	1.27.25	22.00- 23.27	23.27- 0.54	0.55- 2.22
Moscow					13.10	6.00	16.50	1.24.10	21.35- 22.59	22.59- 0.23	0.23- 1.48

Table note. The visibility zone of lunar eclipses significantly exceeds the visibility zone of solar eclipses, and therefore the parameters of lunar eclipses for different regions of Rus' remain almost identical. Here and below, if necessary, both data on the eclipse as a whole (first line) and on the phase of the total eclipse (bottom line) will be indicated. Sometimes information about the penumbral phase of eclipses will be given in brackets.

So far, we have only dealt with solar eclipses. The fact is that despite the appearance of information about night hours from the end of the 11th century. , the earliest data on the exact time of lunar eclipses were preserved only for the end of the 14th century.

The indication of the Nikon chronicle for the 7th hour of the night turns out to be quite consistent with the beginning of the lunar eclipse for Novgorod at the KS, and the testimony of N.M. Karamzin, taken by him from a chronicle that has not come down to us, with one exception, is even more accurate and specific: after the month began to die, the eclipse lasted another two hours - according to the "oblique" hours from the 7th to the 9th hours.

The exception is that Karamzin (more precisely, in the source he used) turned out to have missed an indication of the exact hour of this event. It is very tempting to interpret "one hour of the night" as "1st hour of the night", which means to see in the testimony of N.M. Karamzin is the first in time undoubted confirmation that in Russia of that time the countdown of hours from midnight was used, but this will be wrong for two reasons: firstly, in Russian chronicles, in contrast to modern word usage, "hour of the night (day)" and " 1st hour of the night (of the day)" are never equivalent (the night time is not at all the same as a certain part of it); at least in all other cases, the annals always indicate which particular hour is being referred to; secondly, this interpretation is hindered by the named N.M. Karamzin date: the eclipse occurred according to our account on the night of December 26-27, and therefore, when counting from midnight, when indicating the 1st hour of the night, the eclipse should be attributed to December 27, and not to December 26, and this unambiguously indicates that the chronicle used by the historian counted the night hours from sunset.

As for the date of the Nikon Chronicle, which is inaccurate from this point of view, the origin of this error should be sought in the fact that a certain chronicler recalculated the lunar dating in the original source using lunar tables, for which an error of 1 day compared to true lunation is a quite natural thing.

RS is clearly not acceptable here.

12) June 21, 1396, "on June 21, at 4 o'clock in the night, the month perished" (6904, "Russian History" by N.M. Karamzin, V.5, note 254).

№ 12	Moon eclipse				Night			"Slanting" clock
	On the- chalo	Silver Dina	Co- German	Duration	On the- chalo	End	Length	Length	4th	5th	6th	7th
Novgorod	20.00 21.01	21.52	23.43 22.43	3.43 1.42	19.05	0.49	5.44	0.28.40	20.31- 21.00	21.00- 21.28	21.29- 21.57	21.57- 22.56
Moscow					18.16	0.47	6.31	0.32.35	19.54- 20.26	20.27- 20.59	20.59- 21.32	21.32- 22.04

Brief communication by N.M. Karamzin about this lunar eclipse most likely corresponds to the undated news of the Nikon Chronicle under 6906: "in the month of September, the moon darkened at the 4th hour of the night and was not for a long time and was by no means darkly velmy" . Reference to September should not be misleading: at the turn of the XIV-XV centuries. in the Nikon chronicle, there was a transition from the "March", i.e. spring, chronology to September, and therefore many articles begin with such a mark, which most likely means only that this article should be considered exactly September. The date - 6906 - corresponds to the decimal style, to convert which into a modern account, you must subtract 5510 years.

According to the CS, the time of the eclipse is consistent with the data of both Novgorod and Moscow, with the difference that in Novgorod at the end of the 4th hour, a total eclipse had already begun, while, when observed from Moscow, this phase began only at the 5th hour.

At RS, the 4th hour covers the second half of the eclipse, when the month, in the words of the chronicler, has already "died", and not just "died". Therefore, this option seems less likely. The countdown from midnight is excluded in this case.

13) 2-3.8.1403 "The same summer there was a sign in the moon of the month of August at 2, in memory of the holy protomartyr Stephen, at 6 o'clock in the night" (Pskov III chronicle, 6912).

This evidence very accurately fixes the beginning of the lunar eclipse at the CR. The 6th RF will capture only the end of the eclipse, which makes this option unlikely.

14) 16.6.1406. "The month of June at 16, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun perished, and it remained like a month for three days, and it was gloomy and drowsy, and the packs were fulfilled by the hour" (Resurrection Chronicle, 6914).

"The same summer, a sign was in the sun, on the 16th day of the month of June, seeing the whole earth: the sun remained like a month of 4 days, and tacos perished from the 4th hour to the 6th" (Tver Chronicle, 6912).

"In the summer of 6914, June 16, 3 o'clock, the sun was destroyed" (Academic Chronicle, 6914).

№ 14	Solar eclipse				Day			"Slanting" clock
	On the- chalo	Silver Dina	Co- German	Duration	On the- chalo	End	Length	Length	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Novgorod	5.25	6.28	7.36	2.11	0.45	19.07	18.22	1.31.50	3.49- 5.21	5.21- 6.52	6.53- 8.24	8.24- 9.56
Moscow	5.26	6.28	7.34	2.08	0.43	18.17	17.34	1.27.50	3.39- 5.07	5.07- 6.34	6.34- 8.02	8.02- 9.30
Smolensk	5.21	6.23	7.29	2.08	1.13	18.33	17.20	1.26.40	4.06- 5.33	5.33- 7.00	7.00- 8.26	8.27- 9.53

The 4th CC exactly falls on the middle of the eclipse. However, the time interval indicated by the Tver Chronicle (from the 4th to the 6th hour) at the CR does not correspond to the data of Novgorod or Tver, which is not surprising: in mid-June, the length of the CC is approximately 1.5 equal hours, and therefore the eclipse time almost completely should fit into 2 CZ.

Meanwhile, RS gives the best result: the 6th hour from sunrise, i.e. for Moscow, the segment is from 5.43 to 6.43, exactly falls on the middle of the eclipse. Thus, this report appears to be the earliest evidence of MS in time. The Tver Chronicle thus mechanically combines two different messages in its message, in which the time of the same event is given in different reference systems. At the same time, the binding to Moscow was not made by me by chance: V.N. Pipunyrov and B. M. Chernyagin paid great attention to the chronicle reports under 6912, the most detailed of which is recorded in the Trinity Chronicle: "In the summer of 6912, Indict 12, the Great Prince planned a watchmaker and set up in his yard behind the church behind the Holy Annunciation This watchmaker is called clockwork, at every hour he strikes the bell with a hammer, measuring and calculating the hours of the night and day; not more than a man strikes, but human-like, self-resonant and self-moving, strangely stylized, somehow created by human cunning, exaggerated and exaggerated. the artist of this beyash is a certain Chernets, who came from the Holy Mountain, a Serbin by birth, named Lazar; the price of this beyash is more than half a hundred rubles ". The researchers, referring to the miniature in the 16th century Facial Vault, which depicts a tower clock divided into 12 parts, did not strongly suggest that they counted the CC. R.A. also accepted this point of view with reservations. Simonov. However, referring to a drawing from the middle of the 16th century, most likely made from nature or based on nature, is rather risky: for more than a century and a half separating it from the work of Lazar Serbin, the mechanism on the watch could well have been changed. In this regard, the testimony of the Tver Chronicle that the eclipse of June 16, 1406 fell on the 6th hour, seems to be a more weighty argument in favor of the fact that in the Moscow Kremlin in 1404 a clock with a PC was installed, on the dial of which there was no 12, but 17 or 24 divisions.

The indication of the "3rd hour" in the Academic Chronicle coincides with the beginning of the eclipse when observing it from Smolensk.

15) 7.6.1415 "The same summer of June 7, at hour 4 days, darkness was over all the earth, and the sun darkened, as if in the crucifixion of Christ and the stars appeared, and the dawn appeared morning and evening, and packs at one hour the Lord God will give enlightenment to the whole world" (Sophia II chronicle, 6923).

"The same summer of the month of June on the 7th day, in memory of the holy father Theodotos, at 7 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun perished all, and there was darkness, it was not possible to see a person in the face" (Tver Chronicle, 6923).

№ 15	Solar eclipse				Day			"Slanting" clock
	On the- chalo	Silver Dina	Co- German	Duration	On the- chalo	End	Length	Length	3rd	4th	5th
Novgorod	5.30	6.33	7.38	2.08	0.44	19.04	18.20	1.31.40	3.45- 5.17	5.17- 6.49	6.49- 8.20
Moscow	5.29	6.34	7.43	2.14	0.42	18.15	17.33	1.27.45	3.38- 5.05	5.05- 6.33	6.33- 8.01
Smolensk	5.25	6.28	7.35	2.10	1.12	18.30	17.18	1.26.30	4.05- 5.32	5.32- 6.58	6.58- 8.24

This eclipse appeared to be total in Smolensk and Moscow, but when observed in Novgorod, there was no complete occultation. The testimony of the Sophia II Chronicle exactly corresponds to the realities of Moscow and Smolensk in terms of time: the middle of the eclipse exactly falls on the 4th CC.

However, it is not a big mistake to indicate the 7th hour of the day. The Tver Chronicle again gives a message about the time of the eclipse in equal hours: in Moscow and Novgorod it was 6 equal hours from dawn and the 7th hour began at 6.42-6.44, when the eclipse phase was still quite large. At the same time, it is the total eclipse that is described in the annals, and therefore it is most likely a record of Moscow origin: in Smolensk, the 7th RC began at 7.12, i.e. half an hour later, when the eclipse was already ending. That is, this evidence indirectly speaks in favor of the fact that the tower clock installed in Moscow in 1404 counted equal intervals of time.

16) 24-25.7.1431 "The same summer of the month of July at 24.5 o'clock in the night, there was a sign in the moon, at midnight" (Pskov III Chronicle, 6939).

This eclipse was partial - phase 0.381. At the same time, the coating itself during the CS began not at 5, but at 6 o'clock in the morning. Thus, the reference to midnight, i.e. at the end of the 6th CC, it turns out to be more accurate. RS gives the best result: the 5th RF (22.24-23.24 GMT) falls just in the middle of the eclipse. That is, this very short message actually turns out to be a compilation.

It is interesting that in Pskov the tower clock was installed only in 1477, and in Novgorod - in 1436. Therefore, it seems likely that the RF data was taken from nearby Riga, where the Germans had probably already installed a clock tower. The night lasted there from 18.36 to 2.22, which does not significantly change the RF grid.

17) 5-6.1.1433 "The same summer, for the winter, the month of January on the 5th day, at night, there was a sign in the moon, at 7 o'clock in the night" (Pskov III chronicle, 6940).

"And then winter was a sign in the moon of the month of January at 6, at 7 o'clock in the night" (Pskov III chronicle, 6941).

The beginning of this total lunar eclipse, which is reported twice in the same chronicle, falls on the 8th CC. However, the difference of 14 minutes with the duration of the night hours of almost one and a half RF can hardly be considered significant.

The difference of 1 day in the chronicles does not indicate the existence of a countdown from midnight (otherwise the hour of the eclipse would be called the 1st or 2nd), but the use of different lunar tables, with the help of which the lunar dating was converted to Julian.

18) 17.6.1433 "The same week was on Wednesday, another sign in the sun, at 9 o'clock in the afternoon" (Pskov III chronicle, 6941).

The description of this partial solar eclipse in the annals is preceded by a story about a terrible thunderstorm on June 14, which makes it possible to determine Wednesday after the 14th as June 17.

It is easy to see that the 9th CC corresponds to the beginning of the eclipse. RS under the conditions of a long June day gives an error of more than 4 hours, and therefore is clearly not applicable in this case.

19) 7/18/1460 "The same ribbon of the month of July 18, on Friday, at one o'clock 2 days, the sun bent and it was like an osmotic day, the young month was filled with packs in one hour and went according to its degree" (Sophia II chronicle, 6968 ) .

"The same ribbon and month of the same June, 18th day, on Friday, at 2 o'clock, the days the sun began to die and it was like 5 days of the month; past the fourth hour and it was full, like it was before" (Simeonovskaya chronicle, 6968).

"June 18 day, on Friday, 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was doomed, the vrahi of its edge remained like the 3rd days of the month, and an hour and a half perished" (Typographic Chronicle, 6968).

№ 19	Solar eclipse				Day			"Slanting" clock
	On the- chalo	Silver Dina	Co- German	Duration	On the- chalo	End	Length	Length	2nd	3rd	4th
Pskov	3.29	4.19	5.12	1.43	1.48	18.34	16.46	1.23.50	3.12- 4.36	4.36- 6.00	6.00- 7.23
Moscow	3.24	4.17	5.15	1.51	1.23	17.45	16.22	1.21.50	2.45- 4.07	4.07- 5.29	5.29- 6.50

Other descriptions of this eclipse have been preserved in the annals: for example, the Resurrection Chronicle described the maximum phase of the eclipse as "10 days and months". BEFORE. Svyatsky, relying on the fraction of the solar diameter covered by the Moon, considered the "Nikon" record to be the most accurate description of the eclipse. However, comparing the eclipsed Sun with the phases of the Moon is a rather subjective thing: after all, one can compare not only the diameters of the luminaries, but also their "horns". And the solar and lunar "horns" behave differently: if during the entire 1st quarter of the Moon the size of the "horns" does not exceed half the diameter, and the middle of the Moon gradually grows fat (that is, the "horns" cease to be such), then the increase in solar "horns" during the eclipse occurs in proportion to the increase in the middle of the diameter. Therefore, it is possible that all descriptions are correct, so that "5th day" was determined on the basis of the diameter, "eighth day" - on the basis of the solar "horns". The researcher also noted that the indication of the "10th day" can be true only in the conditions of the Far North, but this does not contradict historical realities: the coast of the Arctic Ocean from the Kola Peninsula to the Urals was under the control of Veliky Novgorod, and therefore Novgorod tribute collectors they could well see and leave a description of this eclipse, being in the Arctic or off the coast of the White Sea.

As for the comparison of the eclipsed Sun in the Typographic Chronicle with the month of the 3rd day, such a description corresponds well to the observation of the eclipse in Moscow. The fact that this is precisely the Moscow description is clearly indicated by the reference to the hours of the eclipse: the "typographical" 3rd hour is "oblique" and exactly falls on the middle of the eclipse. The 2nd CC, named by other chronicles, is equally true for both Pskov and Moscow as the beginning of the eclipse, however, the words that the Sun became full at the end of the 4th hour do not correspond to this account at all: the eclipse ended completely in the 3rd CC . The best result can be obtained with RS from dawn: the 4th RF in Moscow started at 4.23, i.e. only 7 minutes later than the middle of the eclipse, so that almost the entire second half of it passed within the 4th hour. Therefore, the end of this time period was most likely determined by the striking of the Kremlin clock and meant that at the 5th hour the Sun acquired its familiar appearance.

Thus, in the "Simeonian" description of this eclipse, two different time counting systems turned out to be mechanically connected. It remains to be noted that the confusion of "June" and "July", observed in this case, is very common in the chronicles, but by no means always represents a paleographic error: the difference is exactly 1 moon month makes quite possible a chronological error, which arose due to the fact that the chronicler determined the beginning of the new year a month earlier or later than it was supposed to.

20) 12/17/1461 "The same month of December 17, in memory of the holy prophet Daniel and the three youths, from the 5th hour to the 12th hour, by the command of God, venerate the moon in darkness, and those who look at it were terrified ..." (Chronicle of Abraham, 6970) .

This evidence is perhaps the most confusing and controversial. On the one hand, it does not fit into the CS at all, but in the same way it does not fit into any other frame of reference. On the other hand, D.O. Svyatsky, who, when describing this eclipse, for some reason believed that it occurred at dawn, and not at sunset, as it was in reality.

In fact, the penumbra was already covering the Moon at the moment of its rising above the horizon, when the Sun had not yet set. Therefore, with a high degree of conditionality, it could still be said that the eclipse began at 12 noon, but it passed mainly during the 1st and 2nd hours of the night. The origin of the "5th hour", in turn, can be associated with the RS: if we take noon (9.57 GMT in Novgorod) as the starting point, then the middle of the eclipse will indeed fall on the 5th hour.

Therefore, most likely, such a contradictory chronicle evidence was the result of a not very skillful combination of two different primary sources, one of which indicated the time of the beginning of the eclipse at CC (12 noon), and the other - the time of the middle of the eclipse in RC counted from noon. The latter does not at all prove, in my opinion, that such a system of counting, which already existed in Western Europe, was indeed used in Rus': the evidence of this eclipse could well have been borrowed from some Latin source created in neighboring Catholic countries: for example, for Riga, the middle of this eclipse will also fall on the 5th hour in the afternoon.

21) 10/4/1465 "October 5, at 1 o'clock in the morning, the whole month perished for two hours" (Resurrection Chronicle, 6974).

The eclipse could be observed with the rising of the moon, starting from the 1st hour of the night. The total phase of the eclipse began in an equal hour and lasted for another 1 hour 26 minutes. So the chronicle evidence should be recognized as very accurate.

In the annals, an error of 1 day, quite frequent in cases with lunar eclipses, is again encountered, most likely associated, as noted earlier, with the use of lunar tables.

22) September 30, 1475 "The same month, 30, on Saturday, 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun died: a third of it bent and was like a month in roses. In Moscow, this was not seen by anyone, but in Kolomna and within its limits, many saw" (Moskovskaya chronicle, 6984) .

The phase of this eclipse is somewhat exaggerated in the chronicle: in fact, its magnitude is 0.245. But it is all the more interesting that it was observed by many residents of Kolomna and its environs. The eclipse completely fits into the framework of the 2nd hour - both equal and "oblique". Does this mean that a tower clock already existed in Kolomna at that time? In nearby Borovsk, as will be shown below, such a clock most likely already existed.

23) February 25, 1476 "The same winter, when the great prince came from Novgorod, February 25, to the Oil conspiracy, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was destroyed and the darkness was great, as if a person could not see each other in the face, but that be not long" (Typographic Chronicle, 6984).

"The same winter, the month of February, in the oily spell, at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, darkness came all over the earth and again and again" (Lviv Chronicle, 6983).

"February 25, on the cheese week, going out at the first hour of the day, the sky was clouded and the sun did not shine yet, it began to get dark and only it was dark, as if in a pamorochnoe at 2 o'clock in the morning, and having been a little taco, the clouds began to be bright from noon, and then light, as before" (Moscow Chronicle, 6984) .

This total solar eclipse is very accurately described in the Typographic Chronicle: "great darkness" came at the beginning of the 2nd of both CC and RC and did not last long: the full coverage of the Sun by the Moon lasted 2 minutes.

The report of the Lvov Chronicle accurately records the beginning of the eclipse at KS and RS.

The description in the Moscow Chronicle is very interesting: the observer who left it did not see the eclipse itself due to heavy cloudiness, but compared the darkness that had arisen since the end of the 1st hour of the day with the dusk of the 2nd hour of the night.

24) 03/10/1476 "The month of March 10, and the heavenly February 15, on the night of the week on Monday, at 3 o'clock, the month began to die and the whole death, it was not to be seen until midnight and then appear" (Moscow Chronicle, 6984 ) .

№ 24	Moon eclipse				Night			"Slanting" clock
	On the- chalo	Silver Dina	Co- German	Duration	On the- chalo	End	Length	Length	3rd	4th	5th
Novgorod	16.34 17.55	18.23	20.12 18.50	3.38 0.55	16.07	3.57	11.50	0.59.10	18.05- 19.05	19.05- 20.04	20.04- 21.03
Moscow					15.42	3.31	11.49	0.59.05	17.40- 18.39	18.39- 19.38	19.38- 20.37

The eclipse occurred near the day of the vernal equinox, and therefore the CF is almost equal to the RF. Moreover, in both cases, the 3rd hour named by the annals falls on the middle of the eclipse. However, the indication of the end of the eclipse ("before midnight") is more consistent with Moscow data, since the Moon's exit from the Earth's penumbra occurred at 21.27, and this is closer to Moscow (21.37) than Novgorod (22.02) midnight.

The date of this eclipse is very interesting. First, the indication of "the night from the week to Monday" corresponds to the count from midnight: the eclipse occurred before midnight, and cannot in any way refer to Monday. This means that the person who made this record in the chronicle proceeded from the fact that the change of day occurs at night, and not at dawn. However, since the night hours are still counted from sunset, it is appropriate to speak only about theoretical, and not about practical knowledge"Latin account".

Secondly, according to the annals, March 10 is also the 15th day of heavenly February. BEFORE. Svyatsky gave him the following interpretation: "The full moon was considered to come on the 15th day of the birth of the month, hence the expression" and heavenly February 15 ", because the full moon referred to the moon born in February."

Such an understanding makes it possible to explain more specifically why errors of 1 day occur so often when dating lunar eclipses. Back in the XII century. Kirik Novgorodets pointed out the need to add "from a year to a year" to the term, i.e. from the born month to the full moon 13 days, which together with the day of neomenia will give 14, not 15 days. Another day, which he mentions in this text, is needed for the equation of the 4-year solar and lunar cycles, and not at all for determining the day of the full moon. However, if the additional day indicated by Kirik is included in the period from "a year to a year", and this is how readers who are not too experienced in calendar and chronological issues could understand it, then when calculating the full moon, it was quite possible to get 1 extra day.

Another factor contributed to this. A considerable number of moonlighters have been preserved in the archives to this day (for example, in the Tolkova Palea), which reflected the heavenly realities of the 6th century, and for the 12th-15th centuries. gave a stable error of 2-3 days. It was not very convenient to use such moons, and the easiest way to correct them is to shift all their data 3 years ago (or - which is the same - shift the lunar circles 3 years ahead). In this case, the following picture arises: in most cases, tabular data will correctly indicate the days of astronomical new moons, and not the days of neomenias (the appearance of a new moon), which people have always been guided by. Since neomenias are most often 1 day late compared to the new moons, adding 15 rather than 14 days to the tabular data can give the correct result. But this is not always the case: sometimes the days of new moons and neomenia coincide, and then the tables will actually correspond to the days of neomenia, so adding 15 days to the tabular data will give an error of 1 day.

25) 20.8.1533. "The same summer, August at 19, at the first hour of the day, the sun died until the sixth hour of the day" (Sophia II chronicle, 7041).

“And then there were days after Osporzhin, on August 20, on Wednesday, there was a sign in heaven in the suns: like the rising sun at the second hour of the day, and the top of the sun was cut off little by little, and death began to abide in the sun from the first hour, etc. the third hour of the day, and the sun was like a third of the bend, from the side of the aki uski, and the sun was filled at the fifth hour, as if the days were already; in heaven, there was lightness, there was not a cloud "(Sophia II chronicle, 7041).

№ 25	Solar eclipse				Day			"Slanting" clock
	On the- chalo	Silver Dina	Co- German	Duration	On the- chalo	End	Length	Length	1st	2nd	3rd
Moscow	2.58	3.41	4.25	1.27	2.28	16.30	14.02	1.10.10	2.28- 3.38	3.38- 4.48	4.48- 5.59
Lower Novgorod	2.59	3.43	4.28	1.29	2.01	16.06	14.05	1.10.25	2.01- 3.11	3.11- 4.22	4.22- 5.31

The second of the messages of the Sophia II Chronicle, without naming the exact day of the eclipse, actually dates it exactly: Wednesday after the Lady of the Day, i.e. after the day of the Assumption of the Virgin on August 15, in 1533 it fell on the 20th. The origin of the error on one day in the first message is most likely of a "tabular" nature, indirectly indicating that in the 16th century. the lunar calendar was still valid.

The above data are not very consistent with each other and in other details: the second, detailed, message is clearly a compilation. It dates the beginning of the eclipse both at the 1st and at the 2nd hour. In addition, the phrase "beginning in the sun to dwell in death from the first hour until the third hour of the day" is also contradictory. If the preposition "in" is in its place, then the prefix ("stay" instead of the necessary "arrive") is confused in the verb, then the meaning of the statement will be: "the death of the sun began to arrive from the 1st to the 3rd hour" (i.e. e. the first half of the eclipse is described). If the union "in" is put in the wrong place, then the phrase should be read like this: "and the sun began to abide in death ..." In this case, the entire time of the solar eclipse is described, which is much closer to reality than the completely unbelievable statement that the eclipse lasted 5 or 6 o'clock: in August, CC exceeds RC by only 10 minutes, and therefore the duration indicated in the annals is impossible with any counting system. In fact, when counting from sunrise, both HF and RF eclipse mostly or completely fit within the first two hours: in Nizhny Novgorod, the end of the eclipse falls on the beginning of the 3rd equal hour, which in this case indicates the ability of people to distinguish very a small eclipse.

Its middle falls on the 2nd hour, which is rightly said at the beginning of the 2nd message. Moreover, the eclipse itself in its largest phase is also correctly described here, as pointed out by D.O. Svyatsky. Therefore, the following text was most likely the speculation of the compiler, who had at his disposal evidence that the eclipse ended at the 5th hour. Considering that, according to the first, brief, message, the Sun "fulfilled" at the 6th hour, we can assume that here we have the same situation as in the case of the chronicler Abraham (see Eclipse No. 20).

The fact is that when counting from midnight, the middle of the eclipse falls in Moscow on the 6th, and in Nizhny Novgorod - on the 5th RF: midnight in these cities occurs at 21.29 and 21.59 GMT, respectively. That is, in this case, when describing the eclipse of 1533, we have at our disposal two different testimonies (Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod), which speak of the use of the "Latin count" from midnight. Although they are unfortunately paired with SN or RF data calculated from sunrise, they should be identified - in contrast to the 1461 data - as local in origin. In any case, at that time in Rus' there were people who could practically determine the time in this way.

26) 11/27/1536 "The same autumn, the month of November on the 27th day, from Monday to Tuesday, at the first hour of the night, there was a sign in the moon: when you ascended on a cloud, at first it appeared according to custom, and gradually it began to be gloomy, and a hundred is bloody, and there is little bright place, as if it were less than fifths, and by the time of that hour and a half, even by God's command, the pack began to gradually settle down in his lordship "(Sophia II chronicle, 7045).

№ 26	Moon eclipse				Night			"Slanting" clock
	On the- chalo	Silver Dina	Co- German	Duration	On the- chalo	End	Length	Length	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
Novgorod	15.37 (14.22)	17.03	18.49 (20.03)	3.12 5.41	13.04	6.31	17.27	1.27.15	13.04- 14.31	14.31- 15.58	15.58- 17.26	17.26- 18.53
Moscow					12.58	5.46	16.48	1.24.00	12.58- 14.22	14.22- 15.46	15.46- 17.10	17.10- 18.34

This very detailed account of a partial lunar eclipse does not, strictly speaking, fit into any counting system, unless we assume that it fixes a rather early phase of the penumbral eclipse, which began at the end of the first hour in Novgorod or at the beginning of the 2nd hour in Moscow. However, the penumbra is usually hardly noticeable, and the covering of the Moon by the Earth's shadow began at 15.39, i.e., 1 EC after the beginning of the eclipse, and its largest phase indicated by the chronicle really lasted about one and a half EC (i.e. 2 RC).

However, it can be assumed that "the first hour of the night" characterizes not the eclipse as such, but the beginning of observing the Moon ("always rising on the cloud"). Does this mean that the observer knew about the upcoming eclipse and expected it?

27) 7.4.1540 "The same summer, the month of April on the 7th day, according to the great days of another week on Wednesday, there was a sign: the sun died for an hour before the second ..." (Pskovskaya Chronicle I, 7048).

"April on the 7th day the sun faded at the 3rd hour of the day" (Dvinskaya chronicle, 7049).

№ 27	Solar eclipse				Day			"Slanting" clock
	On the- chalo	Silver Dina	Co- German	Duration	On the- chalo	End	Length	Length	1st	2nd	3rd
Pskov	3.53	4.51	5.53	2.00	2.52	17.22	14.30	1.12.30	2.52- 4.05	4.04- 5.17	5.17- 6.30
Arkhangelsk	4.05	5.06	6.10	2.05	1.39	16.58	15.19	1.16.35	1.39- 2.56	2.56- 4.12	4.12- 5.29

Both in the Pskov and Arkhangelsk communications, time is kept in CC. The difference in terms is due to the fact that in Arkhangelsk dawn came about an hour earlier than in Pskov. Therefore, in Pskov the Sun "died" from the end of the 1st and almost until the end of the 2nd hour, when the culmination of the eclipse came (phase - 0.981). The second half of the sign, when during the 3rd CC the narrow strip of the Sun began to gradually increase in size, was not described by the chronicler.

28) 28.10. 1566 "October 28 from Monday to Tuesday at 3 o'clock in the morning about the full month there was a renewal of the month: the ginul was full, and it was like at the end of the decrepit in the small vision of the human, and was filled until 5 o'clock in the night, and was full at 5 o'clock" (7074 , "History of the Russian State" by N.M. Karamzin, V.9, note 268) .

At the time of its rising, the Moon was already covered by the earth's penumbra, so that its coverage began at the 1st hour, counting from sunset. At the same time, the message obviously did not use the CS: the phase of the total shadow eclipse almost completely ended in the 2nd, and not in the 3rd hour.

If we apply RF, the result is much better: the 3rd hour falls on the time from 15.39 to 16.39, i.e. at the time of the total eclipse, and the exit from the penumbra ended just at the 5th hour (17-39-18.39), so that the clock struck "5 o'clock" (end of the 5th hour), at the moment when the Moon was completely open to the eye observer. This is true for both Moscow and Novgorod, where the Sun set at 13.52.

29) 9.4.1567 "The same summer of April on the 9th day was the renewal of the month: ginush from osmago hour days and filled up to 11 o'clock, and it was gloomy at that time: every man of man is green, but the sun remains young for three days "(Supplement to the Nikon Chronicle, 7075).

This very accurate description of the solar eclipse is very expressive in chronological terms: the first half of the eclipse ("death" of the Sun) is exactly dated in CC, and its second half ("filling") - in RF: the 11th hour lasted from 12.17 to 13.17. That is, the chronicle compilation well reflects the real coexistence in the life of two systems of daily counting.

So, the above data on solar and lunar eclipses of the XI-XVI centuries. quite unambiguously indicate that the CS was used throughout Rus' during all this time. In any case, none of the chronicle evidence contradicts this idea, but almost all directly confirm it. However, only in the XV century. there is evidence of the use of RF, calculated from sunrise or sunset. All of them are most likely associated with the construction of tower clocks in Moscow, which means that their use was limited in space. In the future, as such watches were built in other large cities, their scope apparently expanded, but it could hardly become the main one.

Undoubted confirmation of the use of an equal account is the appearance in the annals in the texts of the middle of the 15th century. indications of hours exceeding 12 (see, for example, articles 6968 and 6985 in, 7041 - in): before that, the value of hours was always no more than 12. That is, starting from this time, it is far from always possible to determine which it is the hour - "oblique" or equal - that is referred to in the text, and therefore it is necessary to take into account exactly where the described event took place. If we are talking about Moscow or other large cities, then the probability of using an equal hour is higher.

Three pieces of evidence have come to light showing Russians' familiarity with the "Latin count" from midnight and noon, but they can hardly be taken as proof of its widespread use in Rus'. In this regard, it is appropriate to once again cite the researched R.A. Simonov, a document most likely related to the 16th century. It explains the account of time in the lunar cited in it in this way: “But this lunar clock is not honored as we read it: from the sunrise the first hour begins. Whenever the Sun wants to rise, we honor 12 o’clock, and when the Sun enters, we begin the first hour. we always call first. If we do such things, we can directly know this one. This source, quite clearly contrasting "our" account with the "Latin", could well serve as a guide for calculating those "Latin hours" that are mentioned in the reports of the eclipse of August 20, 1533. In this case, the scope of the "Latin account" will inevitably be very limited. .

The question of how people perceived hours in the period under study is definitely resolved: these were precisely intervals, and not points-islands in the river of time. That is, in the medieval era, "8 o'clock" is really the time interval between the end of the 7th and the beginning of the 9th hour, and not "8 o'clock" at all, not the end of this segment, as we used to perceive it.

Finally, it remains to consider the question of the relationship between those mentioned in the annals and the so-called church hours. Are these concepts identical? Researchers of the past tended to identify these concepts. I don't think this is justified enough. Church hours are, first of all, not a chronological concept, but parts of the order of worship established by the Christian church, according to which certain days and at a certain time it is necessary to send these, and not other church services. Historically, church clocks were undoubtedly connected with daily clocks, but in ancient Russian times this connection was no longer direct and immediate.

First of all, this is indicated by chronicle evidence about the main church services, and above all, the most numerous data on Vespers in this respect. So the Novgorod Chronicle I, over a relatively short period of time, mentions the evening time several times and each time in a different way:

"On the month of May at 14, at 10 pm, those who sing one from the clerk were infected by thunder, and the kliros with the people fell down, n' live bysha" (6625);

"On the month of July at 3, the churches were lit from the thunder of Varyazskaya in Targovishchi, in the evening, at 10 o'clock in the afternoon ..." (6689);

"Maia on the 1st day, at the hour of the 10th day, as if in the evening ringing, the sun is quieter ..." (6693) .

That is, at the same 10 o'clock in the afternoon, in one case, only the bells only ring, calling the people to the evening, in another case, the service is already underway, in the third, it has already ended. The action in this case takes place in May or early July, when the length of the CC is approximately equal.

The Tver Chronicle dates the eclipse of May 1, 1185 a little differently ("There was a sign in the sun, on Wednesday at vespers, the month of May 1 day, at 11 o'clock in the afternoon"), and it turns out that in another - most likely in the Rostov-Suzdal - land on the same day the same service was held at 11 o'clock.

We open the Simeonovskaya or Resurrection chronicles and under 6980 (1472), i.e. 300 years later, we find that on June 30, the Grand Duke "at 11 o'clock in the afternoon commanded to ring Vespers" . If we are talking about RF here, then the service began very early: sunrise occurred in Moscow at 0.55 GMT, and therefore the beginning of the evening falls on the end of the 8th - the first half of the 9th CC, between 14 and 15 hours according to the modern account. It is possible, however, that the beginning of the evening took place in the 11th CC, i.e. the service started between 18.18-19.44 on our account. On the other hand, Pafnutiy Borovsky died in 1477, according to the chronicle, "of the month of May on the 1st day, on Thursday, after vespers, at 15 o'clock in the afternoon." This hour is clearly equal, and it falls on the time from 18.24 to 19.24. With the COP, this time falls on the beginning of the 12th and the middle of the 11th hour, which began at 17.40. Since the abbot died after Vespers, it is obvious that it began a little earlier, i.e. most likely in the 10th CC.

The Pskov I chronicle under 6999 (1491) contains one more very interesting description solar eclipse, confirming the possibility of an early start of the evening service: "The same summer of the month of May, on the 8th day, there was a sign in the suns after the evening." This annular solar eclipse was clearly visible in Pskov: it lasted at 12.56 - 15.27 GMT, i.e. during the 9th and 10th CC, with the maximum phase (0.914) falling exactly at the turn of the 9th and 10th hours (14.15). It was impossible not to notice the eclipse already in the middle of the 9th hour. But this means that the evening service began very early that day, most likely at the end of the 8th or at the very beginning of the 9th CC, i.e. around 12:51 GMT, so that people, when they came to the service, did not yet observe the sign, but they saw it immediately after leaving the church.

That is, for the XII and the second half of the XV centuries. there is no fundamental difference in the question of the beginning of the evening service: it was approximately, but not at all rigidly tied to 9-11 CC, and therefore it would not be correct to consider them church ones.

However, it remains to solve the most difficult question: what specific methods were used to determine the CN in Rus'? The dating of the death of Pafnuty Borovsky makes us think that either in Borovsk by that time the same clock was built as in Moscow, or people knew a different way to determine RF.

R.A. Simonov, referring to the message about Paschalia to Novgorod Archbishop Gennady (80-90s of the XV century), as well as to the Pskov calendar of the same time, suggested that people could determine daylight hours based on the length of the shadow, which constantly changes: in this case, a person acts as a gnomon and, by the number of feet that "fit" in his shadow, can fix the change in time. However, the length of the shadow depends on the latitude of the place and the time of year, and these circumstances introduce serious restrictions on the applicability of this method. Indeed, it is quite suitable in the absence of cloudiness in the period from the spring to the autumn equinoxes. But in late autumn and winter, when the Sun does not rise high in our latitudes, the shadow becomes very long, and the CC becomes very short. If we add to this a rather small number of clear days, then the applicability of this method of calculating hours under short day conditions becomes very doubtful.

Meanwhile, people were able to calculate not only daytime, but also nighttime hours! This means that the way to measure CC with stops could be at best auxiliary. Therefore, it remains to be assumed that in Rus' methods of determining time were known, similar to those that were in use in Byzantium, the heir to the traditions of ancient Rome and Greece. One cannot categorically exclude the possibility that astrolabes were used in Rus', using which it is not so difficult to calculate day and night hours. In Rus', devices such as Greek clepsydras could well exist, based on a uniform flow of water through any containers, or candles (torches) could be used that burn evenly over the same period of time. However, the CS assumes an unequal number of "water" or "fire" units of measurement for different seasons. Therefore, there should be special tables for them, which, in principle, can be found in the archives. It is advisable to study the finds of archaeologists from such an angle: it is possible that some of the objects they found are also amenable to "chronological" interpretation. Therefore, the topic of the daily account remains far from exhausted, and new interesting discoveries are possible here.

We need to remember our history and go our own way.

Currently, we use the dating of the years from the birth of Christ and the Gregorian calendar.

The Julian calendar, the so-called "old style", is not forgotten either. Every year in January, we remember him when we celebrate the "old" New Year. Also, the media carefully reminds of the change of years according to the Chinese, Japanese, Thai and other calendars.

Of course, this expands our horizons. Let's expand our horizons.

But, in order to make our horizons even wider, let's touch the ancient tradition of chronology Slavic peoples- To the Daariyan Krugolet of Numberbog, according to which our Ancestors lived not so long ago.

Now this calendar is used only by the Old Believers - representatives of the most ancient Slavic-Aryan Faith - Ynglism.

The widespread use of our ancient calendar ceased a little over 300 years ago, when Tsar Peter 1, by his Decree, introduced a foreign calendar on the territory of Rus' and ordered on the night of January 1 to celebrate the onset of the year 1700 from the birth of Jesus Christ. The calendar reform stole (at least) 5500 years of our stories.

And in Rus' at that time it was Summer 7208 from the Creation of the World in the Star Temple.

But it does not say at all that the emperor did not just change the calendar, he actually “stole”, at least (!). five and a half thousand years of our true history.

After all, the event from which the years were counted - the Creation of the World in the Star Temple (5508 BC) did not mean the creation of the universe by the biblical god at all, but literally; the signing of a peace treaty in the year of the Star Temple for the Krugolet of Chislobog after the victory of the Power of the Great Race (in the modern sense - Russia) over the empire of the Great Dragon (in the modern - China).

By the way, the symbolic image of a rider on a white horse slaying a dragon, known in Christian tradition as George the Victorious, actually symbolizes just this victory.

That is why this symbol has long been so widespread and revered in Rus' among the Slavic-Aryan peoples.

From what events was the reckoning?

A natural question arises: what event was the reckoning from before the Creation of the World in the Star Temple?

The answer is obvious - from an earlier significant event.

Moreover, counting of years from different events could be carried out in parallel. That is how, with the mention of several time periods, the ancient chronicles began.

For example, here are a few dates of the current 2016 from RX:

Summer 7524 from the Creation of the World in the Star Temple

Summer 13024 from the Great Cooling

Summer 44560 from the Creation of the Great Kolo Rasseniya

Summer 106794 from the Founding of Asgard of Iria

Summer 111822 from the Great Migration from Daaria

Summer 143006 from the period of the Three Moons

Summer 153382 by Assa Dei

Summer 185782 from Thule Time

Summer 604390 from Time Three Suns etc.

Obviously, in the context of the modern "official" chronology, these dates look simply fantastic,

But for yourself thinking person who is interested in the ancient Cultural heritage of the peoples of the Earth, such "an abyss of years" does not look so frightening.

After all, not only in the Slavic-Aryan Vedas, but also in quite a few written monuments that have come down to us throughout the Earth, even much longer periods of historical time are mentioned,

Unbiased archaeological and paleo-astronomical studies point to the same facts.

It will also be very interesting to remember that in pre-Petrine times in Rus', not numbers were used to designate numerical values, as is now customary, but titled letters, i.e. Slavic letters with service symbols.

What did Cyril and Methodius "fix"?

And since the calendar is a written tradition (try to orally maintain and pass on such a complex and dynamic array of information from generation to generation), it is obvious that before the time of Peter I, writing in Rus' already existed, at least (!) Seven over a thousand years.

However, it is believed that writing was “invented” especially for us, “illiterates”, by two Greek monks Cyril and Methodius, who only added a few Greek letters to our alphabet instead of diphthongs they did not understand.

And, modestly speaking, the ever-increasing pomposity during the annual "Cyril and Methodius" and "birthdays" of "Slavic" writing is surprising. At present, since we are using modern calendar(from AD), then it would be more correct to apply it only to the events of the last three hundred years.

And more ancient events, for a clear understanding of their essence, must be dated in the system of chronology that was used before 1700. Otherwise, a misinterpretation of our history, culture, traditions and customs is possible.

It is sincerely regrettable that the dating of pre-Petrine events in modern textbooks,

For example, the year 1242 is called the year of the Battle on the Ice on Lake Peipsi, and at that time it was 6750 in Rus'.

Or, for example, the year 988 from the birth of Jesus Christ is considered the year of the baptism of Kyiv.

But in Kyiv then they celebrated Summer 6496 from the Creation of the World in the Star Temple.

Brothers and sisters, let's remember our past, look for it if evil minds hide it from us on purpose.

Slavs are a great race.