Some authors, however, among whom are Eusebius, Jerome and the historian Socrates, place its commencement at the 1st of September; these, however, appear to have confounded the Olympic year with the civil year of the Greeks, or the era of the Seleucidae.
In the era of Rome the commencement of the year is placed at the 21st of April; an event therefore which happened in the months of January, February, March, or during the first twenty days of April, in the year (for example) 500 of Rome, belongs to the civil year 501.
Others again confound both the year of Rome and the civil year with the Julian year, which in fact became the civil year after the regulation of the calendar by Julius Caesar.
In the 12th century, however, the custom of beginning the civil year with the day of the Annunciation, or the - 25th of March, began to prevail, and continued to be generally followed from that time till the reformation of the calendar in 1752.
In their civil affairs the Armenians follow the ancient vague year of the Egyptians; but their ecclesiastical year, which begins on the 1 1th of August, is regulated in the same manner as the Julian year, every fourth year consisting of 366 days, so that Easter and the other festivals are retained at the same place in the seasons as well as in the civil year.
