Meton

Mĕton or Mĕto, ōnis, m., = Μέτων,

• a celebrated Athenian astronomer, who discovered the cycle of nineteen years, at the end of which the new and full moons again fall on the same days, Avien. Prognost. 48; Aus. Epis. 2, 12.—Hence Cicero says, jestingly, of a debtor named Meton, who promised to pay in a year's time: quando iste Metonis annus veniet? Cic. Att. 12, 3, 2; cf. id. ib. 12, 51, 3.

Metōn, ōnis, m. (Μέτων), berühmter athenischer Astronom, der zur Ausgleichung der Sonnen- u. Mondbahn einen Zyklus von 19 Jahren einführte, Avien. progn. 48. Auson. ep. 2, 12. p. 158 Schenkl. – Dah. scherzh., mit Anspielung auf den Zyklus des Meton als langen Zeitraum, Cicero über seinen säumigen Schuldner Meton quando iste Metonis annus veniet? Cic. ad Att. 12, 3, 2; vgl. 12, 51, 3.

Meton

(Μέτων). A Greek astronomer of Athens, who instituted in B.C. 432 the cycle of nineteen years called after him; it was intended to reconcile the lunar and the solar year: 235 lunar months of 29 or 30 days (on an average 29 25/47)=19 solar years of 365 5/19 days. This cycle was not adopted at Athens till much later, probably in B.C. 330. (See calendarium.) He is said to have feigned insanity in order to avoid going on the ill-fated Sicilian expedition in the Peloponnesian War (Diod. xii. 36).