Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1917 — HONOR ACCORDED TO GREEKS [ARTICLE]

HONOR ACCORDED TO GREEKS

Believed to Have Been the First People to Introduce Written Almanacs Jto the World The first written almanacs probably were complied., by the Greeks of Alexandria between 100 and 150 A. D. Calendars are much older, the ancient Romans having proclaimed the first of the month and posted a notice of its occurrence in a public place. The first of the month thus came to be called The Kalends, from “I call” or “I proclaim,” and thus the world “calendar” was derived. Probably the oldest calendar In existence was - found in the ruins of-Pom-peii. It was cut upon a square block of marble, upon each side of which three months, are registered, each headed by the'proper sign of the zodiac. The first almanac printed in Europe covered the years 1475, 1494 and 1513 and was published at Buda, Hungary. The first printed almanac in England was the “Sheapheards Kaiender,” printed in .1497. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries almanacs became comparatively common In Europe. The early almanacs contained many prognostications regarding “the Dispocission of the People and also of the Wether”—to quotfe ohe of them, as also instruction in “Phislke and Surgerye" and Information about “infortunate Times to Bie and Sell, take Medicine, Sowe, Plant and Journey, etc.”