* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Monday, September 8, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Monumental Sports & Entertainment Sets Corporate Direction at Nasdaq – PR Newswire

    Monumental Sports & Entertainment Reveals Bold New Corporate Vision at Nasdaq

    The Secret to What Made ‘CarJack’ Work on As the World Turns – yahoo.com

    The Surprising Secret Behind ‘CarJack’s’ Success on As the World Turns

    Victor Garber on his viral “And Just Like That” toilet scene: ‘I was delighted to be doing something ridiculous’ (exclusive) – yahoo.com

    Victor Garber on his viral “And Just Like That” toilet scene: ‘I was delighted to be doing something ridiculous’ (exclusive) – yahoo.com

    Pendulum Announce Homecoming 2026 Australian Tour – yahoo.com

    Pendulum Announces Thrilling Homecoming Tour Across Australia in 2026

    ITV Studios Launches New Entertainment Label – Global Bulletin – IMDb

    ITV Studios Unveils Exciting New Entertainment Label

    TS Entertainment bringing Malibu Jack’s to former Owensboro mall – Lane Report

    TS Entertainment Launches Malibu Jack’s at Former Owensboro Mall Location

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    AI will reshape internet, create jobs in West Virginia says High Technology Foundation’s Estep – WV News

    How AI Is Set to Transform the Internet and Boost Job Growth in West Virginia

    Industry partner provides Ferris State Plastics Engineering Technology students with state-of-the-art equipment to gain in-demand skills – Ferris State University

    Industry Partner Equips Ferris State Plastics Engineering Students with Cutting-Edge Technology to Boost In-Demand Skills

    Health Technology Ecosystem – Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services | CMS (.gov)

    Discover the Future of Health Technology: Innovations Revolutionizing Patient Care

    Coherent Joins LLNL’s STARFIRE Diode Technology Working Group to Advance Inertial Fusion Energy – GlobeNewswire

    Coherent Partners with LLNL’s STARFIRE Team to Drive Breakthroughs in Inertial Fusion Energy

    Gene Associated With Deadly Heart Disease in Golden Retrievers Identified – Technology Networks

    Breakthrough Discovery Uncovers Gene Behind Deadly Heart Disease in Golden Retrievers

    Monkey Island LNG Picks ConocoPhillips’ Liquefaction Technology – Hart Energy

    Monkey Island LNG Selects ConocoPhillips’ Advanced Liquefaction Technology for Next-Gen Energy Solutions

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Monumental Sports & Entertainment Sets Corporate Direction at Nasdaq – PR Newswire

    Monumental Sports & Entertainment Reveals Bold New Corporate Vision at Nasdaq

    The Secret to What Made ‘CarJack’ Work on As the World Turns – yahoo.com

    The Surprising Secret Behind ‘CarJack’s’ Success on As the World Turns

    Victor Garber on his viral “And Just Like That” toilet scene: ‘I was delighted to be doing something ridiculous’ (exclusive) – yahoo.com

    Victor Garber on his viral “And Just Like That” toilet scene: ‘I was delighted to be doing something ridiculous’ (exclusive) – yahoo.com

    Pendulum Announce Homecoming 2026 Australian Tour – yahoo.com

    Pendulum Announces Thrilling Homecoming Tour Across Australia in 2026

    ITV Studios Launches New Entertainment Label – Global Bulletin – IMDb

    ITV Studios Unveils Exciting New Entertainment Label

    TS Entertainment bringing Malibu Jack’s to former Owensboro mall – Lane Report

    TS Entertainment Launches Malibu Jack’s at Former Owensboro Mall Location

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    AI will reshape internet, create jobs in West Virginia says High Technology Foundation’s Estep – WV News

    How AI Is Set to Transform the Internet and Boost Job Growth in West Virginia

    Industry partner provides Ferris State Plastics Engineering Technology students with state-of-the-art equipment to gain in-demand skills – Ferris State University

    Industry Partner Equips Ferris State Plastics Engineering Students with Cutting-Edge Technology to Boost In-Demand Skills

    Health Technology Ecosystem – Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services | CMS (.gov)

    Discover the Future of Health Technology: Innovations Revolutionizing Patient Care

    Coherent Joins LLNL’s STARFIRE Diode Technology Working Group to Advance Inertial Fusion Energy – GlobeNewswire

    Coherent Partners with LLNL’s STARFIRE Team to Drive Breakthroughs in Inertial Fusion Energy

    Gene Associated With Deadly Heart Disease in Golden Retrievers Identified – Technology Networks

    Breakthrough Discovery Uncovers Gene Behind Deadly Heart Disease in Golden Retrievers

    Monkey Island LNG Picks ConocoPhillips’ Liquefaction Technology – Hart Energy

    Monkey Island LNG Selects ConocoPhillips’ Advanced Liquefaction Technology for Next-Gen Energy Solutions

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

This 2,200-year-old slab bears the world’s first mention of leap year

February 22, 2024
in Science
This 2,200-year-old slab bears the world’s first mention of leap year
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

ByIndi Bains

Published February 21, 2024

Every four years we add an extra day to the calendar to account for the solar year being roughly 365 and a quarter days, rather than 365. But how long has the leap year actually been around for? At least 2,262 years, according to a spectacular find from the Egyptian desert.

The Tanis Stele is a limestone slab (stele) more than seven feet tall and nearly three feet wide that was discovered in 1866 by a group of German scholars visiting the site of the ancient Egyptian city of Tanis in the Nile Delta. Like the more-famous Rosetta Stone, it bears an inscription in two languages, Egyptian (written in both hieroglyphs and Demotic script) and ancient Greek. The inscription, dated to 238 B.C., records a decree of pharaoh Ptolemy III that follows the standard of the time, including praise for the pharaoh, a description of military campaigns, and the stipulation that a copy of the decree should be erected in every major temple.

What is entirely original about this decree—known as the Canopus Decree for the ancient Egyptian city it was issued in—are its instructions regarding the calendar:

“And so that the seasons should always correspond to the established order of the universe, and that it should not happen that some of the public festivals which take place in winter are celebrated in summer, as the sun changes by one day in the course of four years… (it was resolved) to add from now onwards one festival day in honor of the gods…every four years to the five additional days, before the new year, so that all may now know that the former defect in the arrangement of the seasons…”

Why we need a leap year

The first references to a 365-day calendar, which specify a year of twelve 30-day months and 5 epagomenal days (‘monthless days’ added to the calendar to make it approximately equal to the solar year) are found in the records of Egypt’s Fourth and Fifth Dynasties around 2600 B.C., according to Adrienn Almàsy-Martin, an Egyptologist at the University of Oxford. The inaccuracy this introduces is sufficient to cause a slow drift of the seasons through the calendar.

The ancient Egyptians noticed a celestial coincidence that occurred annually at the same time as the flooding of the Nile—the appearance of Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. In the same way that some constellations are not visible all year, Sirius was not visible to the ancient Egyptians for the same 70 contiguous days of every year because it was too close to the sun. Annually after this absence, Sirius would reappear on the eastern horizon in the dawn sky, rising close to and just before the sun—a phenomenon known as “heliacal rising.”

Egyptian civilization depended upon the Nile floods to bring the rich silt that fertilized its farmlands. The reappearance of Sirius, linked as it was to the crucial Nile inundation, and which also occurred at the summer solstice, was keenly observed, and heralded the beginning of the ancient Egyptian new year. By measuring the elapsed time between each annual heliacal rising of Sirius, astronomers eventually realized the solar year was a quarter-day longer than 365 days. While this realization likely happened earlier in history, the Canopus Decree of 238 B.C. is our earliest recorded evidence for the leap year.

Multiple copies of the Canopus Decree would have existed in ancient times, according to Almàsy-Martin, and six complete or fragmented versions of the decree have survived to this day. The two best-preserved examples—from Tanis in 1866 and the site of Kom el-Hisn, in 1881—are in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. While they were discovered after the decipherment of the Rosetta Stone in 1822, the better-preserved examples of the Canopus Decree feature a greater number of hieroglyphs and their study ended all remaining doubt about the Rosetta’s decipherment. For this reason, their inscription is considered second only to the Rosetta’s in significance for understanding ancient Egyptian.

We know Ptolemy III’s directive in the Canopus Decree to add an additional day to the calendar every four years was ultimately unsuccessful, but not when or why his directions were ignored. It is possible the priests controlling the calendar didn’t want to change their traditions, or perhaps they thought the drift of the seasons through the calendar was unnoticeable within a typical 40-year lifetime.

What we do know is that when the Romans annexed Egypt in 30 B.C., the Egyptians were again using a 365-day calendar, and by 22 B.C—a few years after the Egyptian-inspired Julian calendar had been implemented in Rome—Emperor Augustus had reintroduced the leap day back to the Egyptians.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : National Geographic – https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/leap-day-year-canopus-decree-egypt-tanis-stele

Tags: -Year-OldBearsscience
Previous Post

The true history of Einstein’s role in developing the atomic bomb

Next Post

Knicks’ OG Anunoby Says He’s Optimistic of Regular Season Return From Elbow Injury

Ten standout moments from World Cup pool stage – BBC

Ten Unforgettable Moments from the World Cup Pool Stage

September 8, 2025
The supply and demand seesaw is sending mixed signals about the economy – MSN

The Supply and Demand Tug-of-War Is Sending Confusing Signals About the Economy

September 8, 2025
Why this San Antonio shopping center could be an entertainment hub – MySA

How This San Antonio Shopping Center Is Set to Become the Ultimate Entertainment Destination

September 8, 2025
Wearable health trackers reveal how accurate your smartwatch really is – News-Medical

Wearable health trackers reveal how accurate your smartwatch really is – News-Medical

September 8, 2025
‘It’s time we restore small-town America’: Bancroft Republican announces run for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District – weareiowa.com

‘It’s time we restore small-town America’: Bancroft Republican announces run for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District – weareiowa.com

September 8, 2025
Invasive flathead catfish now top predators in Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania – Phys.org

Invasive Flathead Catfish Rise to Top Predator Status in Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River

September 8, 2025
Column | Is whole milk better than low-fat? Here’s what the science says. – The Washington Post

Column | Is whole milk better than low-fat? Here’s what the science says. – The Washington Post

September 8, 2025
Ripple will launch their Fall 2025 Watershed Science Field Season following DayOne – Montana Tech

Ripple Launches Exciting Fall 2025 Watershed Science Field Season

September 8, 2025
Cancer risk according to lifestyle risk score trajectories: a population-based cohort study – Nature

Cancer risk according to lifestyle risk score trajectories: a population-based cohort study – Nature

September 8, 2025
AI will reshape internet, create jobs in West Virginia says High Technology Foundation’s Estep – WV News

How AI Is Set to Transform the Internet and Boost Job Growth in West Virginia

September 8, 2025

Categories

Archives

September 2025
MTWTFSS
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930 
« Aug    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (813)
  • Economy (831)
  • Entertainment (21,708)
  • General (16,926)
  • Health (9,873)
  • Lifestyle (844)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (833)
  • Politics (838)
  • Science (16,040)
  • Sports (21,330)
  • Technology (15,811)
  • World (813)

Recent News

Ten standout moments from World Cup pool stage – BBC

Ten Unforgettable Moments from the World Cup Pool Stage

September 8, 2025
The supply and demand seesaw is sending mixed signals about the economy – MSN

The Supply and Demand Tug-of-War Is Sending Confusing Signals About the Economy

September 8, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version