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a long established era, commencing from a known fixed epoch, both forwards and backwards, and furnishing the most convenient standard of comparison for all others.

Vulgaris illa quam tenemus era conservanda est, quæ præteritarum rerum memoriam usu jam inveterata continet; et undecunque ducatur nihil ad veritatis fidem interest. Petavius, tom. 2. p. 215.

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Of these several opinions, selected from a great number, the extremes differ no less than 1142 years. Indeed the variations of this important era, whence the history of the present race of mankind properly begins, are more perplexing and mischievous than those of the Creation itself.

Usher's date, attached to our English Bible, has been relinquished by the ablest chronologers of the present time, from its inconceivableness with the rise of the primitive empires, the Assyrian, Egyptian, Indian, and Chinese; all suggesting earlier dates of the Deluge. Hence, the authors of that great and elaborate work, the Ancient Universal History, adopted, in preference thereto, the date of the Deluge furnished by the Samaritan Hebrew text; and their example has been followed by Captain Wilford, in his Remarks on the Hindu Chronology, published in the Asiatic Researches.

IV. Epochs of the Exode of the ISRAELITES from Egypt.

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The gradual enlargement of this date from the lowest, but earliest, the Jewish, to the highest, is remarkable. It shews that succeeding chronologers found the dates of their predecessors insufficient to accord with the range of ancient history.

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Here the extremes differ from each other nearly 600 years!

VI. Epochs of the Destruction of TROY.

Life of Homer, Dodwell, Whiston, Freret, Bouhier, Larcher..
Dicæarchus, B.C. 310

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Democritus, B.C. 362; Vell. Paterculus, A.D. 31...

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Apollodorus, B.C. 115; Dionys. Halicarnass. B.C.5; Usher, Simp- }

son, Strauchius, Playfair....

Eratosthenes, B.C. 194; Diodorus Siculus, B.C. 80; Eusebius, Lactantius, Syncellus, Scaliger, Hales

Sosibius

Newton

Here the difference of the extremes is 366 years.

1191

1184

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VII. Periods from the Exode of the ISRAELITES to the
Foundation of SOLOMON'S Temple.

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*This is the correct date of Josephus there are two spurious dates in his present

text, 612, and 592, years.

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Here the extremes differ 262 years.

And if to this we add

the uncertainty attached to the epoch of the Exode, whence this period has been computed, the determination of the true time has been hitherto, as Houbigant justly states, Quæstio chronologica omnium difficillima.

VIII. Epochs of the Foundation of ROME.

Varro, Proclamations of the Emperors, Augustus, Claudius, &c..
The Historians, Tacitus, Plutarch, Dion, Aulus Gellius, Cen-
sorinus, Onuphrius, Baronius, &c. The Chronologers, Petavius,
Beveridge, Strauchius, Plagfair, &c. Hales

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Cato, Dionys. Halicarnass. Solinus, Eusebius, Fasti Consulares
Ainsworth's Dict.

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B.C.

753

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N.B. Livy, Cicero, Pliny, and Velleius Paterculus, fluctuate between the Varronian and Catonian computations.

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Here the difference of the extremes is 126 years.

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751

747

728

627

B.C. 612

609

Eusebius, Blair, Jackson, Play-} 606 fair, Hales .....

821

710

Marsham, Universal History..

605

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748 Helvicus

602

626 Vignoles

596

Here the extremes differ 300 years. Petavius and Usher, misled by Ctesias, have supposed a double capture of Nineveh, the first by Arbaces, the second by Cyaxares and Nebuchadonosor, when it was finally destroyed: differing widely from each other, and from the truth.

X. ECLIPSES supposed to have been that of THALES.

The solar eclipse foretold by Thales, which put an end to a battle between the Medes and Lydians, and is of the greatest importance in adjusting the Median, Lydian, and Assyrian chronology, has had the following claimants:

B.C

Howes

Calvisius

.....

March 5, 618

July 30, 607

Bayer, Mayer, Costard, Stukely, Lalande, Pingré, May 17, 603 Montucla, Kennedy, Playfair, Hales

Usher.....

Petavius, Marsham, Hardouin, Bouhier, Larcher

Sept. 19, 601

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Pliny, Scaliger, Strauchius, Riccioli, Newton, Ferguson,} May, 28, 585

Vignoles, Jackson

...

Scaliger, from Eudemus..

Here the extreme eclipses differ 35 years.

Oct... 1, 583

Such is the wide discordance that prevails among the learned respecting the principal epochs and periods of ancient chronology, sacred and profane.

ART. II. REVIEW OF THE LEADING SYSTEMS OF CHRONOLOGY.

IN this second article, I shall briefly examine and compare the general outline of each system.

I. Chronology of the JEWS.

The vulgar Jewish Chronology is the grand basis upon which the systems of Scaliger, Petavius, Usher, &c. and their followers, have been constructed, though not generally acknowledged by themselves.

What a variety of systems have prevailed among the Jews of different countries, and at different times, may appear from the foregoing dates of the Creation.

1. The Seder Olam Sutha, or " Small Chronicle of the World," published about A.D. 1121, dates the Creation, B.C. 4359. See David Ganz's Chronology, p. 135.

2. The Eastern Jews, B.C. 4220. See Abulfaragi, Hist. Dynast. p. 72.

3. The Western Jews, B.C. 4184, according to Riccioli.

4. The Chinese Jews, B.C. 4079. See a curious account of a Jewish colony settled in China, since A.D. 73, in the notes of Brotier's excellent edition of Tacitus, Tom. III. p. 567.

5. The Vulgar Jewish Era, B.C. 3760. See Ganz, p. 177.

6. Seder Olam Rabba, or "the great Chronicle of the World," B.C. 3751. This was the first curtailed system of Jewish chronology, fabricated by Rabbi Josi, under the auspices of Rabbi Akiba, the abettor of the rebel-impostor Barchochab, A.D. 130, in the reign of Adrian. See Ganz, pref. p. 1. and p. 106. 7. Rabbi Gersom, B.C. 3754. 8. Rabbi Habsom, B.C. 3740. 9. Rabbi Nosen, B.C. 3734.

10. Rabbi Hillel, B.C. 3700. He was the author of their ingenious Technical Chronology, about A.D. 358.

11. Rabbi Zacuth, B.C. 3671.

12. Rabbi Lipman, B.C. 3616. He published a work called Nizachon, or "a Victory over Christianity," in 1559. This notable champion of Judaism, outstripping all his predecessors in anachronisms and absurdity, (in which the Jewish chronologists abound) fixes the time of Christ's birth in a new and unheard-of way.

He contends, that Jesus of Nazareth was contemporary with Rabbi Joshua, son of Perechiah, and that he was born in the fourth year of King Jannæus, or Alexander, which he dates in the year of the creation, 3615. And to set aside the Jewish tradition, that Jesus was born in the days of Helen, Queen of Adiabene, and of Herod the Great, he absurdly supposes that Helen, who lived about the year of the Creation 3803, according to Ganz, was the wife of the aforesaid Jannæus, who lived about 188 years earlier! See Ganz's Chronology, p. 270, 271. The following outline of their vulgar system is collected from Ganz.

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