Nabonassar
（
Ναβονάσαρος). A king of Babylon, who lived about the
middle of the eighth century before the Christian era, and who gave name to what is called the
Nabonassarian Era. The origin of this era is thus represented by Syncellus from the accounts
of Polyhistor and Berosus, the earliest writers extant in Chaldaean history and antiquities:
“Nabonassar, having collected the acts of his predecessors, destroyed them, in order
that the computation of the reigns of the Chaldaean kings might be made from
himself.” It began, therefore, with the reign of Nabonassar (February 26, B.C. 747).
The form of year employed in it is the movable year of 365 days, consisting of twelve equal
months of thirty days, and five supernumerary days, which was the year in common use among the
Chaldaeans, Egyptians, Armenians, Persians, and the principal Oriental nations from the
earliest times. This year ran through all the seasons in the course of 1461 years. The freedom
of the Nabonassarean Year from intercalation rendered it peculiarly convenient for
astronomical calculation. Hence it was adopted by the early Greek astronomers Timochares and
Hipparchus, and by those of the Alexandrian school, Ptolemy, etc. In consequence of this, the
whole historical catalogue of reigns has been commonly, though improperly, called Ptolemy's
Canon, because he probably continued the original table of Chaldaean and
Persian kings, and added thereto the Egyptian and Roman down to his own time.
