Meton

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Greek astronomer from Athens in the fifth century BC who devised a nineteen-year cycle linking lunar months to the solar year
2. Ancient Athenian skywatcher of the 400s BC best known for a nineteen-year calendar cycle that reconciles the moon with the sun
3. Fifth-century BC Athenian scientist who worked out a nineteen-year pattern aligning lunar phases with the solar calendar

Etymology: Meton of Athens was a Greek astronomer who, around 432 BC, observed that 19 solar years almost exactly equal 235 lunar months, or about 6,940 days. Because the moon's phases fall on the same calendar dates after that interval, the cycle helped keep lunar and solar calendars in step. A later tradition says he announced the discovery at the Olympic Games, but that detail is not firmly documented. The cycle proved durable. It became the basis for calendar reckoning across the Greek world, and it still underlies the calculation of the date of Easter in the Christian calendar. Meton was also a target for comedy. In Aristophanes' play "Birds" (414 BC), a character called Meton arrives with surveying instruments to measure the sky, and the playwright presents him as a pretentious figure.