Anno Mundi
Anno Mundi (Latin for "in the year of the world"; Hebrew: לבריאת העולם, "to the creation of the world"), abbreviated as AM or A.M., or Year After Creation,[1] is a calendar era based on the biblical accounts of the creation of the world and subsequent history. Two such calendar eras have seen notable use historically:
- The Byzantine calendar was used in the Byzantine Empire and many Christian Orthodox countries and Eastern Orthodox Churches and was based on the Septuagint text of the bible. That calendar is similar to the Julian calendar except that its epoch is equivalent to 1 September 5509 BC on the Julian proleptic calendar.
- The Hebrew calendar is based on rabbinic calculations of the year of creation from the Hebrew Masoretic text of the bible. This calendar is used within Jewish communities for religious and other purposes. On the Hebrew calendar, the day begins at sunset. The calendar's epoch, corresponding to the calculated date of the world's creation, is equivalent to sunset on the Julian proleptic calendar date 6 October 3761 BC.[2] The new year begins at Rosh Hashanah, roughly in September. Year anno mundi 5778, or AM 5778, began at sunset on 20 September 2017 on the Gregorian calendar.[3]
While differences in biblical interpretation or in calculation methodology can produce some differences in the creation date, most results fall relatively close to one of these two dominant models. The primary reason for the disparity seems to lie in which underlying Biblical text is chosen (roughly 5500 BC based on the Greek Septuagint text, about 3750 BC based on the Hebrew Masoretic text). Most of the 1,732-year difference resides in numerical discrepancies in the genealogies of the two versions of the Book of Genesis. Patriarchs from Adam to Terah, the father of Abraham, are said to be older by as much as 100 years or more when they begat their named son in the Greek Septuagint[4][5] than they were in the Latin Vulgate (Genesis 5; Genesis 11) or the Hebrew Tanakh (Gen 5; Gen 11). The net difference between the two major genealogies of Genesis is 1466 years (ignoring the "second year after the flood" ambiguity), 85% of the total difference. (See Dating creation.)
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[hide]Jewish tradition[edit]
During the Talmudic era, from the 1st to the 10th centuries AD, the center of the Jewish world was in the Middle East, primarily in the Talmudic Academies of Babylonia and Israel. Jews in these regions used Seleucid Era dating (also known as the "Anno Graecorum (AG)" or the "Era of Contracts") as the primary method for calculating the calendar year.[6] For example, the writings of Josephus and the Books of the Maccabees used Seleucid Era dating exclusively, and the Talmud tractate Avodah Zarah states:
Occasionally in Talmudic writings, reference was made to other starting points for eras, such as Destruction Era dating,[8] being the number of years since the AD 70 destruction of the Second Temple, and the number of years since the Creation year based on the calculation in the Seder Olam Rabbah of Rabbi Jose ben Halafta in about AD 160.[9] By his calculation, based on the Masoretic Text, Adam and Eve were created on 1st of Tishrei (Rosh Hashanah Day 1) in 3760 BC,[10][11][12] later confirmed by the Muslim chronologist al-Biruni as 3448 years before the Seleucid era.[13] An example is the c. 8th-century AD Baraita of Samuel.
In the 8th and 9th centuries AD, the center of Jewish life moved from Babylonia to Europe, so calculations from the Seleucid era "became meaningless".[6] From the 11th century, anno mundi dating became dominant throughout most of the world's Jewish communities, replacing the Seleucid dating system.[6][14] The new system reached its definitive form in AD 1178 when Maimonides completed the Mishneh Torah. In the section Sanctification of the Moon (11.16), he wrote of his choice of Epoch, from which calculations of all dates should be made, as "the third day of Nisan in this present year ... which is the year 4938 of the creation of the world" (March 22, AD 1178).[15] He included all the rules for the calculated calendar epoch and their scriptural basis, including the modern epochal year in his work, and establishing the final formal usage of the anno mundi era.
The first year of the Jewish calendar, Anno Mundi 1 (AM 1), began about one year before Creation, so that year is also called the Year of emptiness. The first five days of Jewish Creation week occupy the last five days of AM 1, Elul 25–29. The sixth day of Creation, when Adam and Eve were created, is the first day of AM 2, Rosh Hashanah (1 Tishrei). Its associated molad Adam (molad VaYaD) occurred on Day 5 (yom Vav) at 14 (Yud Daled) hours (and 0 parts). A year earlier, the first day of AM 1, Rosh Hashanah (1 Tishrei), is associated with molad tohu (new moon of chaos), so named because it occurred before Creation when everything was still chaotic — it is also translated as the new moon of nothing. This is also called molad BaHaRaD, because it occurred on Day 2 (yom Beis), 5 (Hei) hours, 204 (RaD) parts (11:11:20 pm). Because this is just before midnight when the Western day begins, but after 6 pm when the Jewish calendrical day begins (equivalent to the next tabular day with the same daylight period), its Julian calendar date is 6/7 October 3761 BCE (Gregorian: 6/7 September 3761 BCE or −3760).[16][17][18]
Greek tradition[edit]
The Septuagint was the most scholarly non-Hebrew version of the Old Testament available to early Christians. Many converts already spoke Greek, and it was readily adopted as the preferred vernacular-language rendering for the eastern Roman Empire. The later Latin translation called the Vulgate, an interpretative translation from the later Masoretic Text (a Jewish revision and consolidation of earlier Hebrew texts), replaced it in the west after its completion by St. Jerome c. 405, Latin being the most common vernacular language in those regions.
Earliest Christian chronology[edit]
The earliest extant Christian writings on the age of the world according to the biblical chronology were therefore based on the Septuagint, due to its early availability. They can be found in the Apology to Autolycus (Apologia ad Autolycum) by Theophilus (AD 115-181), the sixth bishop of Antioch,[19] and the Five Books of Chronology by Sextus Julius Africanus (AD 200-245).[20]
Theophilus presents a detailed chronology "from the foundation of the world" to emperor Marcus Aurelius.[19] His chronology begins with the biblical first man Adam through to emperor Marcus Aurelius, in whose reign Theophilus lived. The chronology puts the creation of the world at about 5529 BC: "All the years from the creation of the world amount to a total of 5,698 years."[19] No mention of Jesus of Nazareth is made in his chronology. Seraphim Rose corrected the date to about 5530 BC, to recognise that there is no year 0 in Christian era dating.[21]
Dr. Ben Zion Wacholder points out that the writings of the Church Fathers on this subject are of vital significance (even though he disagrees with their chronological system based on the authenticity of the Septuagint, as compared to that of the Hebrew text), in that through the Christian chronographers a window to the earlier Hellenistic biblical chronographers[note 1] is preserved:
- An immense intellectual effort was expended during the Hellenistic period by both Jews and pagans to date creation, the flood, exodus, building of the Temple... In the course of their studies, men such as Tatian of Antioch (flourished in 180), Clement of Alexandria (died before 215), Hippolytus of Rome (died in 235), Sextus Julius Africanus of Jerusalem (died after 240), Eusebius of Caesarea in Palestine (260-340), and Pseudo-Justin frequently quoted their predecessors, the Graeco-Jewish biblical chronographers of the Hellenistic period, thereby allowing discernment of more distant scholarship.[22]
The Chronicon of Eusebius (early 4th century) and Jerome (c. 380, Constantinople) dated Creation to 5199 BC.[23][24] Earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology for Christmas Dayused this date,[25] as did the Irish Annals of the Four Masters.[26]
Alexandrian era[edit]
The Alexandrian era, arising in AD 412, was the precursor to the Byzantine era. After the initial attempts by Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria and others, the Alexandrian computation of the date of creation was worked out to be 25 March 5493 BC.[27]
The Alexandrian monk Panodoros reckoned 5904 years from Adam to the year AD 412. His years began with 29 August, corresponding to the First of Thoth, or the Egyptian new year.[28] Annianus of Alexandria however, preferred the Annunciation style as New Year's Day, 25 March, and shifted the Panodoros era by about six months, to begin on 25 March. This created the Alexandrian era, whose first day was the first day of the proleptic[note 2] Alexandrian civil year in progress, 29 August 5493 BC, with the ecclesiastical year beginning on 25 March 5493 BC.
- This system presents in a masterly sort of way the mystical coincidence of the three main dates of the world's history: the beginning of Creation, the Incarnation, and the Resurrection of Christ. All these events happened, according to the Alexandrian chronology, on the 25th of March; furthermore, the first two events were separated by the period of exactly 5500 years; the first and the third one occurred on Sunday — the sacred day of the beginning of the Creation and its renovation through Christ.[29]
Dionysius of Alexandria had earlier emphatically quoted mystical justifications for the choice of 25 March as the start of the year:
- March 25 was considered to be the anniversary of Creation itself. It was the first day of the year in the medieval Julian calendar and the nominal vernal equinox (it had been the actual equinox at the time when the Julian calendar was originally designed). Considering that Christ was conceived at that date turned March 25 into the Feast of the Annunciation which had to be followed, nine months later, by the celebration of the birth of Christ, Christmas, on December 25.
The Alexandrian Era of 25 March 5493 BC was adopted by church fathers such as Maximus the Confessor and Theophanes the Confessor, as well as chroniclers such as George Syncellus. Its striking mysticism made it popular in Byzantium especially in monastic circles. However this masterpiece of Christian symbolism had two serious weak points: historical inaccuracy surrounding the date of Resurrection as determined by its Easter computus,[note 3] and its contradiction to the chronology of the Gospel of St John regarding the date of the Crucifixion on Friday after the Passover.[29]
Chronicon Paschale[edit]
A new variant of the World Era was suggested in the Chronicon Paschale, a valuable Byzantine universal chronicle of the world, composed about the year AD 630 by some representative of the Antiochian scholarly tradition.[29] It dates the creation of Adam to 21 March 5507 BC.
For its influence on Greek Christian chronology, and also because of its wide scope, the "Chronicon Paschale" takes its place beside Eusebius, and the chronicle of the monk Georgius Syncellus[30] which was so important in the Middle Ages; but in respect of form it is inferior to these works.[31]
Adoption of Byzantine era[edit]
The Byzantine Anno Mundi era was the official calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church from c. AD 691 to 1728 in the Ecumenical Patriarchate. By the late 10th century the Byzantine era, which had become fixed at 1 September 5509 BC since at least the mid-7th century (differing by 16 years from the Alexandrian date, and 2 years from the Chronicon Paschale), had become the widely accepted calendar by Chalcedonian Christianity. The Byzantine era was used as the civil calendar by the Byzantine Empire from AD 988 to 1453, and by Russia from c. AD 988 to 1700.
The computation was derived from the Septuagint version of the Bible, and placed the date of creation at 5509 years before the Incarnation, which was later taken to mean 5509 BC when conversions to the Christian era were desired. With a new year date of September 1, which coincides with the beginning of the Orthodox liturgical year, its epoch became 1 September 5509 BC (Julian), and year AM 1 thus lasted until 31 August 5508 BC. The "year of creation" was generally expressed in Greek in the Byzantine calendar as "Etos Kosmou", literally "year of the universe".
Western church[edit]
Western Christianity never fully adopted an Anno Mundi epoch system, and did not at first produce chronologies based on the Vulgate that were in contrast to the eastern calculations from the Septuagint. Since the Vulgate was not completed until only a few years before the sack of Rome by the Goths, there was little time for such developments before the political upheavals that followed in the west. Whatever the reasons, the west eventually came to rely instead on the independently developed Anno Domini (AD) epoch system. AM dating did continue to be of interest for liturgical reasons, however, since it was of direct relevance to the calculation of the Nativity of Jesus (AM 5197-5199) and the Passion of Christ (AM 5228-5231). For example, Bede in his World-Chronicle (Chapter 66 of his De Temporum Ratione, On the Reckoning of Time), dated all events using an epoch he derived from the Vulgate which set the birth of Christ as AM 3952.[32][33][34] In his Letter to Plegwin, Bede explained the difference between the two epochs.[35]
Dating creation
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Dating creation is the attempt to provide an estimate of the age of Earth or the age of the universe as understood through the origin myths of various religious traditions. Various traditional beliefs held that Planet Earth, or the entire Universe, was brought into being in a grand creation event by one or more gods. Once these cultures developed calendars, many began to ponder the question of precisely how long ago this event happened.
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[hide]Sumerian and Babylonian[edit]
The standard ancient Sumerian King List (WB 444) lists various mythical antediluvian kings and gives them reigns of several tens of thousands of years. The first Sumerian king Alulim, at Eridu, is described as reigning for 28,800 years, followed by several later kings of similar periods. In total these antediluvian kings ruled for 241,200 years from the time when "the kingship was lowered from heaven" to the time when "the flood" swept over the land.[1] Excavations in Iraq have revealed evidence of localized flooding at Shuruppak (modern Tell Fara, Iraq) and various other Sumerian cities—all dated to the same time. A layer of riverine sediments, radiocarbon dated to ca. 2900 BC, interrupts the continuity of settlement, extending as far north as the city of Kish. Polychrome pottery from the Jemdet Nasr period (3000–2900 BC) was discovered immediately below the Shuruppak flood stratum. The "flood" described in the Sumerian King List, is believed to have a historical basis, and has been dated 2900 BC.[2] Adding 241,200 years to 2900 gives the date 244,100 BC; however, most modern scholars do not believe the ancient Sumerians or Babylonians believed in a chronology of their own this old. Instead they believe that these figures were either fabrications, or were based on not literal solar years (365.2425 days) but instead lunar months (29.53059 days).[3]
Cicero, reacting to the chronologies of such authors as Berossos (who composed a Greek-language history of Babylonia, known as the Babyloniaca, during the 3rd century BC) strongly criticised the claim that the Babylonians had kings going back hundreds of thousands of years:
Diodorus Siculus also wrote something similar about how he believed the Babylonians fabricated their chronology:
Despite these criticisms, some ancient Greeks, including most notably Alexander Polyhistor and Proclus, believed the Babylonian kings were hundreds of thousands of years old, and that the Babylonians dated their creation 400,000–200,000 years before their own time.[6][7]
Egyptian[edit]
The ancient Turin King List lists a mythical predynastic "reign of the gods" which first occurred 36,620 years before Menes (3050 BC), therefore dating the creation to around 39,670 BC.[8] One fragment from Manetho also dates the reign of the first Egyptian God (Ptah) 36,525 years before Menes (FGrH, #610 F2) and so dates the creation to about 39,575 BC.[9]Other fragments from Manetho (Eusebius, George Syncellus and preserved in Felix Jacoby's FGrH), however, list different dates.[10] Eusebius in his Chronicle recorded that:
So 13,900 + 1,255 + 1,817 + 1,790 + 350 + 5,813 = 24,950 years, and counting back from Menes (3050 BC) fixes the creation at 28,000 BC.[12] George Syncellus preserved yet another set of figures for the predynastic "reign of the gods", 11,984 years for Gods and 2,646 for demigods producing 14,630 years, thus dating the creation to 17,680 BC.[13] The Book of Sothis also provides another similar figure for the creation.
The ancient Greeks reported similar figures on ancient Egyptian chronology. Diogenes Laertius recorded that the ancient Egyptians dated their creation to their first god Hephaestus, who by interpretatio graeca was Ptah.[14] According to Laeretius, Hephaestus (Ptah) lived 48,863 years before Alexander the Great (b. 356 BC), dating the creation to 49,219 BC.[15]Herodotus wrote that the ancient Egyptians had gods who ruled over them before the first dynasty of Egypt, but did not attempt to precisely date their creation by using their chronology:
According to Herodotus the ancient Egyptian demigods began 11,340 years before the reign of Seti I (1290 BC), so 11,340 + 1290 = 12,630 BC, while he listed earlier figures, 15,000 and 17,000, for the reign of the gods. These figures were discussed by Isaac Newton in his The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended (1728) but were dismissed as fabrications.[17] The mathematician and esotericist R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, however, in his work Sacred Science, reconstructed these dates to conclude that the ancient Egyptians dated their creation to an astronomical (stellar) event some 30,000 years before Herodotus' own time.[18] Martianus Capella, a pagan writer, wrote in his De nuptiis in the 5th century AD that the ancient Egyptians had archives of astronomy which started 40,000 years before his own era.[citation needed] The ancient Greek writer Diodorus Siculus wrote that the ancient Egyptians dated their creation (or start of their reign of Gods) "a little less than eighteen thousand years" from Ptolemy XII Auletes (117–51 BC).[19]
Apollonius, an Egyptian pagan priest in the 2nd century AD, calculated the cosmos to be 153,075 years old as reported by Theophilus of Antioch.[20]
Greek and Roman[edit]
Most ancient Greek and Roman chroniclers, poets, grammarians, and scholars (Eratosthenes, Varro, Apollodorus of Athens, Ovid, Censorinus, Catullus, and Castor of Rhodes) believed in a threefold division of history: ádelon (obscure), mythikón (mythical) and historikón (historical) periods.[21] According to the Roman grammarian Censorinus the first period, the ádelon (obscure), was calculated by Varro as follows:
The primordial ádelon (obscure) period ended with the flood of Ogyges and what followed was the beginning of the mythikón (mythical) period. Varro dated this flood to 2137 BC[23]but Censorinus wrote in his De Die Natali ch.xxi that the Ogyges’ diluvium occurred 1600 years before the first Olympiad (776 BC) meaning 2376 BC.[24] Castor of Rhodes also provided another date for the start of the mythikón (mythical) period, 2123 BC.[25] Censorinus recorded that the second period, the mythikón, stretched from the flood of Ogyges to the first Olympiad:
According to Censorinus (quoting Varro), the second period (mythikón) lasted from 2137 to 776 BC, or if Censorinus' own dates are used: 2376 BC to 776 BC, or finally if Castor's: 2123 BC to 776 BC. Ovid, however, dated the start of the (mythikón) period to the reign of Inachus, who he dated 400 or so years after the flood of Ogyges, meaning around 1900–1700 BC, but agreed with Varro that the mythikón ended during the first Olympiad (776 BC).[26] See Ages of Man for more details about Ovid's chronology. Another ancient date for the start of the mythikón (mythical) period is found preserved in Augustine's City of God xviii.3, which dates it to 2050 BC.[27] The final period according to Censorinus and Varro, the historikón (historical) era, began from 776 BC (the first Olympiad) to their own time:
Eratosthenes and Apollodorus of Athens, however, pushed back the start of the historical period to the Trojan War, which they fixed at 1184 BC.[25]
Very few ancient Greeks or Romans attempted to date the creation, or beginning of the ádelon (obscure) period. While all ancient sources (excluding Ovid) dated the end of this period and start of the mythical (mythikón) period to 2376–2050 BC, most did not claim to know when the creation (ádelon period) exactly began. As Censorinus admitted:
Varro and Castor of Rhodes also wrote something very similar; however, some ancient Greek and Romans attempted to calculate the date for the creation by using ancient sources or records of mythological figures.[29] Since Inachus was dated 400 years after the flood of Ogyges and that Ogyges himself was considered a Titan[30] or a primordial Autochthon"from earliest ages",[31] some ancient Greek or Romans dated the creation (beginning with Chaos or Gaia) only a few hundred years before Ogyges (2376–2050 BC).[32] Most ancient Greeks, however, did not subscribe to such a literalist view of using mythology to attempt to date the creation; Hecataeus of Miletus was an early ancient Greek logographer who strongly criticised this method, while Ptolemy wrote of such an "immense period" of time before the historical period (776 BC), and thus believed in a much greater age for the creation.[33]
Among the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers there were different opinions and traditions pertaining to the date of the creation. Some philosophers believed the Universe was eternal, and actually had no date of creation.
Zoroastrianism[edit]
Zoroastrianism involves a 12,000-year cosmogony and chronology, often divided into four ages as outlined in the Bundahishn.[34][35][36] The first age lasted for 3,000 years and included the spiritual creation by Ahura Mazda, followed by the physical creation of 3,000 years when evil entered the world (see Angra Mainyu). During the 6,000th year, Zoroaster's Fravashi was created, followed by the prophet Zoroaster himself at the end of the 9th millennium. The 9,000th year marked the start of the fourth and last age.[37] Modern Zoroastrians believe they are living currently in the final age.[38] Since evil first entered the physical creation after the spiritual creation was complete, Zoroastrians maintain that for 9,000 years the world continues to be a battlefield between Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu, which will end during the 12,000th year, when the Saoshyants brings about the final renovation of the world to defeat evil.[37][34]
Dating precisely the beginning of the start of the 12,000th year cosmogony rests solely on the date Zoroaster is estimated to have been born.[39] Since Zoroaster was born himself at the end of the 9th millennium (just before the 9,000th year), the date of creation can be calculated by counting back 8,900 – 9,000 years. The Persian Zoroastrian tradition places Zoroaster around the 7th or 6th century BC, since the Bundahishn (34. 1-9) and the Book of Arda Viraf dates Zoroaster 258 years before the era of Alexander the Great (356 - 323 BC) which dates Zoroaster from 614 - 581 BC.[40][41] The 11th century Persian Muslim scholar Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī also dated Zoroaster 258 years before the era of Alexander (The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries, p. 17, l. 10, transl. Sachau).[42] This date is also found in the historical account The Meadows of Gold (iv. 107) written by the 9th-century Arab historian Al-Masudi.[43] Other Arabic, Persian and Muslim sources place Zoroaster around the same date (600 BC).[44][45] Therefore, if 8,900 - 9,000 years are added to about 600 BC the date of creation comes to 9600 - 9500 BC. A 12,000 year chronology places the end date at around 2400 - 2500 AD, which is why modern Zoroastrians believe they are living in the end few hundred years of the final era.[citation needed] Other dates for Zoroaster, however, differ and dates proposed for Zoroaster's birth range from 1750 to 500 BC.
Hinduism[edit]
The Hindu cosmology and timeline is the closest to modern scientific timelines.[46]
The Rig Veda questions the origin of the cosmos in:
Dick Teresi in his book "Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Science", reviews Vedas, he writes that:
Carl Sagan and Fritjof Capra have pointed out similarities between the latest scientific understanding of the age of the universe and the Hindu concept of a "day and night of Brahma", which is much closer to the current known age of the universe than other creation views. The days and nights of Brahma posit a view of the universe that is divinely created, and is not strictly evolutionary, but an ongoing cycle of birth, death, and rebirth of the universe. According to Sagan:
Chinese[edit]
The ancient Chinese historian Xu Zheng (fl. 220~265 AD) in his Three Five Historic Records dated the creation of the world by Pangu 36,000 years (2 x 18,000) before the reign of the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.[50][51][52] The date of the Three sovereigns is fixed at 3000–2700 BC[53] and therefore dates the creation about 39000 BC.
Maya[edit]
The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar dates the creation of the world of human beings to 11 August 3114 BC (in the most commonly accepted correlation) according to the proleptic Gregorian calendar, or Monday, 6 September 3114 BC according to the proleptic Julian calendar.[54] There was also a previous creation that did not have a beginning date, but a date on Stela F from Quirigua refers to a date possibly 24 trillion years in the past.[55]
Abrahamic religions[edit]
Genesis creation narrative[edit]
Within the biblical framework and chronology, various dates have been proposed for the date of creation since ancient times, to more recent periods. The Bible begins with the Book of Genesis, in which God creates the Earth, the rest of the Universe, and the Earth's plants and animals, including the first humans, in six days. A second narrative begins with the first human pair, Adam and Eve, and goes on to list many of their descendants, in many cases giving the ages at which they had children and died. If these events and ages are interpreted literally throughout and the genealogies are considered closed, it is possible to build up a chronology in which many of the events of the Old Testament are dated to an estimated number of years after creation. Some scholars have gone further, attempting to harmonise this biblical chronology with that of recorded history, thus establishing a date for creation in a modern calendar. Since the biblical story lacks chronology for some periods, the duration of events has been subject to interpretation in many different ways, resulting in a variety of estimates of the date of creation.
Numerous efforts have been made to determine the biblical date of creation, yielding varying results. Besides differences in interpretation, the use of different versions of the Bible can also affect the result. Two dominant dates for creation using such models exist, about 5500 BC and about 4000 BC. These were calculated from the genealogies in two versions of the Bible, with most of the difference arising from two versions of Genesis. The older dates stem from the Greek Septuagint.[56] The later dates are based on the Hebrew Masoretic text.[57] The patriarchs from Adam to Terah, the father of Abraham, were often 100 years older when they begat their named son in the Septuagint than they were in the Hebrew or the Vulgate (Genesis 5, 11). The net difference between the two genealogies of Genesis amounts to 1466 years (ignoring the "second year after the flood" ambiguity), which accounts for virtually all of the 1500-year difference between 5500 BC and 4000 BC. For example, the period from the creation to the Flood derives from the genealogical table of the ten patriarchs listed in Genesis 5, and 7:6, called the generations of Adam. According to the Masoretic Text, this period consists of 1,656 years, and Western Christian Bibles deriving from the Latin Vulgate also follow this dating. However, the Samaritan texts give an equivalent period of 1,307 years, and according to the Septuagint (Codex Alexandrinus, Elizabeth Bible) it is 2,262 years.[58] James Ussher agrees with the dating until the birth of Abraham, which he argues took place when Terah was 130, and not 70 as is the direct reading of Genesis 11:26, thus adding 60 years to his chronology for events postdating Abraham.[59]
Early Jewish estimations[edit]
The earliest post-exilic Jewish chronicle preserved in the Hebrew language, the Seder Olam Rabbah, compiled by Jose ben Halafta in 160 AD, dates the creation of the world to 3761 BC while the later Seder Olam Zutta to 4339 BC.[60] The Hebrew Calendar has traditionally, since the 4th century AD by Hillel II, dated the creation to 3761 BC.[61][62]
Septuagint[edit]
Many of the earliest Christians who followed the Septuagint calculated creation around 5500 BC, and Christians up to the Middle-Ages continued to use this rough estimate: Clement of Alexandria (5592 BC), Theophilus of Antioch (5529 BC), Sextus Julius Africanus (5501 BC), Hippolytus of Rome (5500 BC), Gregory of Tours (5500 BC), Panodorus of Alexandria(5493 BC), Maximus the Confessor (5493 BC), George Syncellus (5492 BC) Sulpicius Severus (5469 BC) and Isidore of Seville (5336 BC).[63][64][65] The Byzantine calendar has traditionally dated the creation of the world to September 1, 5509 BC.
The Chronicon of Eusebius (early 4th century) dated creation to 5228 BC while Jerome (c. 380, Constantinople) dated creation to 5199 BC.[66] Earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology for Christmas Day used this date,[67] as did the Irish Annals of the Four Masters.[68]
Bede was one of the first to break away from the standard Septuagint date for the creation and in his work De Temporibus ("On Time") (completed in 703 AD) dated the creation to 18 March 3952 BC but was accused of heresy at the table of Bishop Wilfrid, because his chronology was contrary to accepted calculations of around 5500 BC.[69]
Masoretic[edit]
After the Masoretic Text was published, however, dating creation around 4000 BC became common, and was received with wide support.[70] Proposed calculations of the date of creation using the Masoretic from the 10th century to the 18th century include: Marianus Scotus (4192 BC), Henry Fynes Clinton (4138 BC), Maimonides (4058 BC), Henri Spondanus (4051 BC), Benedict Pereira (4021 BC), Louis Cappel (4005 BC), James Ussher (4004 BC), Augustin Calmet (4002 BC), Isaac Newton (4000 BC)[citation needed], Petavius(3984 BC), Theodore Bibliander (3980 BC), Johannes Kepler (April 27, 3977 BC) [based on his book Mysterium Cosmographicum], Heinrich Bünting (3967 BC), Christen Sørensen Longomontanus (3966 BC), Melanchthon (3964 BC), Martin Luther (3961 BC), Cornelius Cornelii a Lapide (3961 BC), John Lightfoot (3960 BC), Joseph Justus Scaliger (3949 BC), Christoph Helvig (3947 BC), Gerardus Mercator (3928 BC), Matthieu Brouard (3927 BC), Benito Arias Montano (3849 BC), Andreas Helwig (3836 BC), David Gans (3761 BC), Gershom ben Judah (3754 BC) and Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller (3616 BC).[65]
Among the Masoretic creation estimates or calculations for the date of creation only Archbishop Ussher's specific chronology dating the creation to 4004 BC became the most accepted and popular, mainly because this specific date was attached to the King James Bible.[71]
Alfonsine tables[edit]
Alfonso X of Castile commissioned the Alfonsine tables, composed of astronomical data based on observation, from which the date of the creation has been calculated to be either 6984 BC or 6484 BC.[72][73][74]
Other biblical estimations[edit]
- Christian Charles Josias Bunsen in the 19th century dated the creation to 20,000 BC.[75]
- Tarleton Perry Crawford dated the creation to 12,500 BC.[76]
- Harold Camping dated the creation to 11,013 BC.[77]
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