313

E P O

EP O

EP1TRITUS, in prosody, a foot consisting of three long andone short syllable. Of these, grammarians reckon four kinds: thefirst consisting of an iambus and spondams, as sSliitantes ; the se-cond of a trocluvus and spomkcus, as cbnc'i'tati ; the third of aspondami and an iambus, as commum'cans ; and the fourth of aspomkcus and troclncus, as Incantarih

EP1TROPUS, a kind of arbitrator, whom the Greek Chris-tians under the Turks elect to terminate their differences, amiavoid carrying them before the Turkish magistrates. Ancientlythe Greeks used the term t-ilnne; in the same sense as the Latinsdid procurator, viz. for a commissioner or intemkmt.

EPIZEUXIS, in rhetoric, a figure which repeats the sameword, without any other intervening; such is that of Virgil,“ Nunc, nunc, insurgite remis.”

EPOCHA, [nr»x>i, from t-tyja, to contain,] in chronology, aterm or fixed point of time, whence the succeeding years arenumbered or accounted. The most remarkable epochas are thosethat follow.

Epocha of thf. Creation of the World. According tothe Vulgate, archbishop Ussher places this event 4004 years beforethe vulgar R’ra of the birth of Christ ; Sealiger makes it 3950, Pe-tavius 3984, and Ricciolus 4184 years before Christ. Accordingto the Septuagint, Eusebius places the creation 5200 years beforethe nativity of our Lprd ; the Alphonsine tables, 6934 ; and Ric-ciolus 5634. The creation, tbereiore, as we follow the archbishop ,happened in the year 710 of the Julian period. Sir Isaac Newton ,again, makes the creation of the world later by 500 years than allother chronologists ; and the proofs by which this illustrious philo-sopher supports his opinion are of two different kinds. The Egyp-tians counted 341 generations from Memos to Setho, allowing ahundred years for three generations ; and the ancient Greeks com-puted one generation at about forty years. Now, says Sir Isaac ,it is true, three ordinary generations maybe computed at about120 years ; but generations are longer than the reign of kings, be-cause it is evident that mankind in general live longer than kingsreign. The duration of a reign, therefore, taking one with an-other, is according to him about twenty wears: whence he con-cludes, that the ancients have erred in their calculation in allow-ing forty years for every generation. The second kind of proofis taken from the precession of the equinoxes. According to Cle-mens Alexandrinus, Chiron, who was in the expedition of the Ar-gonauts , fixed the vernal equinox at the fifteenth degree of Aries,and consequently the summer-solstice at the fifteenth degree ofCancer. Me to fixed the summer-solstice at the eighth degree ofCancer, a year before the Peloponnesian war . Now since onedegree answers to the retrograde motion of the equinoctial pointsin 72 years, there are seven times 72 years from the expedition ofthe Argonauts to the beginning of the Peloponnesian war: that is,504 years, and not 507 years, as the Greeks affirm. By combin-ing these two different proofs, Sir Isaac concludes, that the expe-dition of the Argonauts ought to he placed 909 years before Jesus Clm-A, and not 1400, as is generally believed : and therefore thatthe creation of the world ought fo he placed about 500 years latertnan chronologists generally place it.

Epocha of the Deluge. According to the Hebrew text,there are 1656 years from the creation to the deluge; 1307 ac-cording to the .Samaritan ; 2242, according to Eusebius and theSeptuagint; 2256, according to Josephus and the Septuagint; and*262, according to Julius Airicanus, Petavius , and the Septuagint.>n following the Hebrew text this epocha begins in the year 2366Julian period. *

, - f °oha OF THE Olympiads, used principally by the Creeks,ia< us origin from the Olympic games, which were celebrated atk. eginmng of every fourth year. This epocha begins 776 yearsictoie the incarnation, or in the year 3938 of the Julian period.

Epocha, Yarronian, of the Building of Rome , is fixed7->3 years before our Saviour’s birth, and in the year 3961 of theJu.ian period.

Epocha of Naeonassar, King of Babylon, made use ofjiy I tolemy, Censorious,and several other authors, began 747 yearsbefore incarnation, and in the year 3967 of the Julian period.

Epocha, Julian. The first year of Julius Ca’sar’s correctingtne calendar stands 45 years before our Saviour’s birth, and coin-cides with Hie year 4669 of the Julian period.

Epocha of Chiust. The Christian world generally rcckon-vol. xi.— no. 75.

ed from the epocha of the creation, the building of Rome , theconsuls’ register, or the emperor’s reign, (ill about 500 years afterChrist, when the epocha of the nativity of our blessed Lord wasintroduced by Dionysius Exiguus . lie began his account fromthe conception or incarnation, properly called Eady-day. Mostcountries in Europe , however, at present reckon from the first ofJanuary next following, except the court of Rome , where theepocha of the incarnation still obtains for the date of their hullsand briefs. But here we are to observe, that there are differentopinions respecting the year of our Saviour’s birth. Capelins andKepler fix it at about the 758th year from the building of Rome .Deckar and Petavius place the incarnation in the 749th of Rome .Sealiger and Y'ossius make it fall on the 751st of Rome. Diony-sius Exiguus, Bede , Sac. fix the birth of our Saviour to the year751 of Rome ; the diversity of these opinions proceeding from thedifficulty' of fixing Herod the Great ’s death, who, as is evidentfrom the evangelists, was living at our Saviour’s birth, the taxa-tion of Cyrenius , and the time of our Saviour’s beginning his mi-nistry. But it is generally agreed, that as to computation and use,the common epocha is to he followed which places the birth ofChrist in the 4713th of the Julian period, although the true birthrather corresponds with the 471 lth of the same period.

Epocha, Dioclesian , or Epocha of Martyrs, called alsothe ara of the Cophti or Egyptians, because the emperor Diocle-sian made a great many martyrs in Egypt , begins in the year 2S3of our Lord, and the 4997th of the Julian period.

Epocha of thf. Hegira, or Flight of Mohammed, is an teraused by the Mohammedans. In obedience to the command of.their prophet they make use of the lunar year, which consists of12 complete synodic revolutions of the moon ; so that their yearcontains 354 and sometimes 355 days. The first year of thisepoch happened in the 5335th year of the Julian period, and inthe 622d year of the Christian :era. The following is a 'Fable ofthe Epocha of the Hegira connected with the Christian aira fromA. D. 1810 to A. D. 1923-. N, Ii. An asterisk prefixed beforeany particular year of Christ denotes it to be bissextile, and a dag-ger before any particular year of the Hegira points it out to be oneof those years which contains 355 days. The month and day ofthe month placed after the year of the Hegira is the day of thecorresponding year of Christ upon which the said year of the He-gira commences.

Year ofChrist.

Corresponding Yearof the Hegira. j

1

Y ear ofChrist.

Corresponding Yearof the Hegira.

1810

1225 February 5 ;

1837

1253 April 5

1811

•|-1226 January 24 ,

1838

11254 March 25

*1812

1227 January 13 !

1839

1255 March 15

1813

1228 January 2 !

* 1840

1-1256 March 3

1813

+ 1229 December 22j

1841

1257 February 21

1814

1230 December 12

1842

1258 February 10

1815

1231 December 1

1843

+ 1259 January 30

*1816

+ 1232 November 19

*1844

1260 January 19

1-817

1233 November 9 |

1845

1261 January 8

ISIS

1234 October 29 j

1845

+ 1262 December 28

1819

•(■1235 October 18 i

1846

1263 December 18

* 1820

1236 October 7 1

1847

1264 December 7

1821

+ 1237 September 26.

*1848

f 1265 Novemher 25

1822

1238 September 16'

1S49

1266 November 15

1823

1239 September 5 i

1850

+ 1267 November 4

* 1824

+ 1240 August 24 j

1S51

1268 October 25

1825

1241 August 14 i

*1852

1269 October 13

1826

1242 August 3 j

1853

+ 1270 October 2

1827

-|-1243 July 23

1854

1271 September 22

* 1828

1244 July 12

1855

1272 September 11

1829

|-1245 July 1

*1856

+ 1273 Augiwf 30

1830

1246 June 21

1857

1274 Augu-t 20

1831

1247 June 10

1858

+ 1275 August 9

•*1832

|-1248 May 29

1859

1276 Julv 30

1833

1249 May 19

* 1860

1277 Julv 18

1834

1250 May 8

1861

1-1278 July 7

1835

f 1251 April 27

186?

1279 June 27

*1836

1252 April 16

1863

1280 June 16

4 E

Table