The Beginning of the Christian Era Revisited: New Findings
Abstract
:1. A Slippery Dating
2. The Search of the Eclipse Associated with Herod’s Death
2.1. The Eclipse of 4 BC and Its Naked-Eye Visibility
2.2. The Eclipses of 5 BC
2.3. The Eclipses of 1 BC
2.4. The Eclipse of 2 AD and Conclusions
3. Correlation between Segmented‒Sleep and Time of Eclipses
4. Constraints Due to Yom Kippur (the Day of Fast) and to Rabbinic Tradition
- (1)
- Yom Kippur (10 Tishri);
- (2)
- Eclipse (closer to Yom Kippur than to Passover);
- (3)
- Herod’s death (7 Kislev or 2 Shevat);
- (4)
- Passover (15 Nisan).
- (a)
- After the eclipse proposed by Barnes, therefore, as already noticed, it does not satisfy the chronological sequence due to Josephus;
- (b)
- five months before the eclipse proposed by Schürer;
- (c)
- three months before the eclipses proposed by Filmer and Pratt;
- (d)
- Only 34 days before the eclipse proposed by Fedalto.
5. Chronology Issues Concerning Herod’s Death
5.1. Inconsistency of the Year 4 BC and Earlier Years
- (1)
- Josephus applied the rule of the year of non–accession;
- (2)
- The year started in the first day of Nisan;
- (3)
- Herod died after the first day of Nisan;
5.2. Historical Inconsistency of the Year 1 BC
- (1)
- Josephus did not apply the rule of the year of accession; the fraction of the year between Herod’s conquest of power and the first day of the next year must be counted as first year of reign [15];
- (2)
- By comparing Roman history and Josephus’ writing on the arrival of August in Syria, the spring calendar (beginning the first day of Nisan) must be preferred [15] to the autumn calendar (first day of Tishri) adopted by Filmer.
5.3. Hypothesis on the Period of Coregency of Herod and His Sons
- (1)
- Herod did not die 34 years since Jerusalem’s conquest, or 37 years since he was proclaimed king;
- (2)
- After this time, the period of coregency with his three sons started;
- (3)
- The beginning of coregency did not coincide with Herod’s death; therefore, it must not necessarily have occurred in a year of an eclipse visible from Palestine.
- (1)
- Josephus applied the rule of non–accession;
- (2)
- A year starts at the first day of Nisan.
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Informed Consent Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A. Modeling Naked-Eye Vision of Partial Lunar Eclipses
- (1)
- Characteristics of full–Moon image suitable for simulating, from digital photographs, how it is seen by naked eyes;
- (2)
- Effects of human visual system such as: angular acuity, dynamic range, luminosity adaption, non–linear brightness perception;
- (3)
- Luminosity variation of the Moon during a partial eclipse.
Appendix A.1. Characteristics of Full–Moon Image
Appendix A.2. Brightness Adaption and Discrimination
Appendix A.3. Partial Lunar Eclipses Seen by Naked Eyes
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Author | Barnes | Schürer | Filmer | Pratt (*) | Fedalto |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Eclipse date | 15 September 5 BC | 13 March 4 BC | 10 January 1 BC | 29 December 1 BC | 8–9 November 2 AD |
Maximum fraction of lunar dish shadowed (%) | 100 | 36 | 100 | 57 | 46 |
Time of maximum fraction | 22:12 | 02:41 | 01:09 | 16:30 (*) | 00:43 |
Moon elevation angle at maximum fraction | 54° | 40° | 70° | <0° (*) | 67° |
Approximate eclipse duration | 20:20‒24:00 | 01:30‒03:50 | 00:20‒03:00 | 16:50‒17:50 | 23:30‒02:00 |
Next 15 Nisan (Passover) | 12 Apr 4 BC | 12 Apr 4 BC | 9 Apr 1 BC | 30 Mar 1 AD | 7 Apr 3 AD |
Interval between eclipse and Passover (months) | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
Hour | 16 | 17–18 Sunset | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06–07 Sunrise |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
5 BC (Barnes) | |||||||||||||||
4 BC (Schürer) | |||||||||||||||
10 January 1 BC (Filmer) | |||||||||||||||
29 December 1 BC (Prat) | |||||||||||||||
2 AD (Fedalto) | |||||||||||||||
Sleep intervals |
Author | Barnes | Schürer | Filmer | Pratt | Fedalto |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | 5–4 BC | 5–4 BC | 2–1 BC | 1 AC–1 AD | 2–3 AD |
Eclipse 15 September 5 BC | |||||
10 Tishri (Fast day) | 13 October 5 BC | 13 October 5 BC | 10 October 2 BC | 28 September 1 BC | 5 October 2 AD, E |
Eclipse 8–9 November 2 AD | |||||
7 Kislev (Herod’s death day) | 6 December 5 BC, E | 1 December 2 AD E | |||
Eclipse 10 January 1 BC | Eclipse 29 December 1 BC | ||||
2 Shevat (Herod’s death day) | 28 January 1 BC, E | 16 January 1 AD | 24 January 3 AD, E | ||
Eclipse 13 March 4 BC | |||||
15 Nisan (Passower) | 12 April 4 BC | 12 April 4 BC | 9 April 1 BC | 30 March 1 AD | 7 April 3 AD |
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De Caro, L.; La Greca, F.; Matricciani, E. The Beginning of the Christian Era Revisited: New Findings. Histories 2021, 1, 145-168. https://doi.org/10.3390/histories1030016
De Caro L, La Greca F, Matricciani E. The Beginning of the Christian Era Revisited: New Findings. Histories. 2021; 1(3):145-168. https://doi.org/10.3390/histories1030016
Chicago/Turabian StyleDe Caro, Liberato, Fernando La Greca, and Emilio Matricciani. 2021. "The Beginning of the Christian Era Revisited: New Findings" Histories 1, no. 3: 145-168. https://doi.org/10.3390/histories1030016
APA StyleDe Caro, L., La Greca, F., & Matricciani, E. (2021). The Beginning of the Christian Era Revisited: New Findings. Histories, 1(3), 145-168. https://doi.org/10.3390/histories1030016