Harpalus
is mentioned by Censorinus (100.18), and alluded to by Festus Avienus, as having either introduced an octaeteris, or altered the mode of intercalation practised in that of Cleostratus. [CLEOSTRATUS.] It is also mentioned that he introduced an Heccaedecaetesis, or cycle of sixteen years. But how far either was adopted is not very clear, and it would not be worth while to give a special account of one of the obscure points of the Antemetonic calendar. (Plin. Nat. 16.34. s. 32; Weidler, Hist. Astron.; Dodwell, de Veteribus Cyclis, dissert. 3.30-32.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.