Fruit of the Spirit

Reconciling Dates

Finding a common frame of reference

This calculator page is provided as a service to students of judeo-christian history

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There are seven common ways of stating dates that are used for ancient times.

Today's civil calendar bce/ce (formerly BC/AD) system, developed by Dionysius Exiguus about 525 after Jesus, by his reckoning, and popularised by Bede 200 years later.
The Hebrew Year of the World (AM for latin Anno Mundi), counting from the traditional date of leaving Eden (sometimes called the Year of Adam in ancient texts).
The years since the birth of Abraham, used in some ancient texts (AA).
The Greek Olympiad system, counting by four-year Olympiads and year within the four.
The year from the founding of Rome as a village (A.U.C.).
The year from the establishment of the Greek Empire.
By local reference, such as "the third year of Cyrus", the most commonly used in the source documents, and least informative.

Many ancient writers tried to establish the dates of events by cross referencing several local references, such as "the days of Uzziah in Judah and Jeroboam in Israel". The Greeks created one answer to the problem of each town having their own calendar and date of the new year with the Olympiad system, which, with variances in dates of the game, and local new-years, allows confidence in dating to within 18 months. The historian Eusebius ties dates in several systems together with entries cross-dated, viz "in the 18th Year of Xerxes in Persia, the first year of the 78th Olympiad, and the 1549th of Abraham" (Xerxes 18 = Ol 78.1 and 1549 AA). The Astrologer/astronomer Ptolemy of Alexandria compiled a cross reference of rulers and astronomical events, commonly called the Canon, which is one of the main sources of dates for this table of epochs.

Of our sources, one with a strong reputation for honest scholarship is Livius, which we can strongly recomend for further reading on many of the events in these timelines.

This site uses AM, which avoids dealing with any dates "Before Zero" within the span of recorded history, and makes math simple.

Dates and events are Israel-centric - The empires that sought to eliminate the Jews and their bothersome strict monotheism are dead history, Israel and the Hebrew language survive.

List of significant dates: Dates suitable as epoch bases have preload buttons

By tradition, Adam and Eve leave the Garden in Eden in Year 1 of the world, starting the calendar.
The people that will be known as Summerians migrate into Mesopotamia about 510.
The Summerians invent writing and begin recording financial transactions about 600.
The Hindu Solar and lunar/solar calendar year 1 is.
Sargon the Great unites Summer and Akad about 1490.
Abraham was born in .
Abraham purchased a cave in Hebron in .
By tradition, Torah was given on Shavuot,.
By Several independent calculations, Joshua entered Canaan, Nisan.
The first year of Shalmaneser III of Assyria was .
The first year of Adad-nirari III of Assyria was .
The first Olympiad (Ol 1 Year 1) began in the summer of 2985.
Romulus founded The village of Rome in .
Amos and Hosea were preaching Nazarene doctrines by 3018.
Isaiah started preaching Nazarene doctrines in 3021.
The first year of Nabu-nadin-zer of Assyria was .
The first year of Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria was .
The first year of Shalmaneser V of Assyria was .
The first year of Marduk-apla-iddina II of Assyria was .
The first year of Sargon II of Assyria was .
The first year of Bel-ipni of Assyria was .
The first year of Asshur-nadin-shumni of Assyria was .
The first year of Nergal-ushezib of Assyria was .
The first year of Mushezib-Marduk of Assyria was .
The first year of Sennacherib of Assyria was .
The first year of Esarhaddon of Assyria was .
The first year of Ashurbanipal of Assyria was .
The first year of Shamash-Shuma-ukin of Assyria was .
The first year of Kandalanu of Assyria was .
The first year of Nabopolassar of Babylon was .
The first year of Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon was .
Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon Captured Jerusalem in .
The first year of Amel-Marduk of Babylon was .
The first year of Neriglissar of Babylon was .
The first year of Nabonidus of Babylon was .
The first year of Cyrus of Persia was .
The first year of Cyrus in Babylon was .
The first year of Cambyses II of Persia was .
The first year of Darius of Persia was .
The first year of Xerxes of Persia was .
The first year of Artaxerxes I Makrocheir of Persia was .
The first year of Darius II Nothus of Persia was .
The first year of Artaxerxes II Mnemon of Persia was .
The first year of Artaxerxes III Ochus of Persia was .
The first year of Artaxerxes IV Arses of Persia was .
The first year of Darius III Codomannus of Persia was .
The Greek Empire was established in .
The Hasmonean revolt against the Greek occupation was in 3596.
Roman General Pompey marches into Jerusalem, declares Judea a Roman protectorate in 3698.
Gaius Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon River with his troops in 3712.
The battle of Actium altered Roman politics in .
Julius Caesar Octavianus Assumed command of Rome as Consul in 3730.
Julius Caesar Octavianus became "Imperator Caesar Augustus" in .
By tradition, Jesus and his cousin John the Baptizer were both born in 3756.
The Christian "1 AD" is set as .
Tiberius became Caesar in .
Caligula became Caesar in .
Claudius became Caesar in .
Nero became Caesar in .
Galba, Otho and Vitellius battle for the title "Imperator," and Vespasian wins in , the Year of Four Caesars.
Titus became Caesar in .
Domitian became Caesar in .
Hadrian "solved the problem of Judea" by changing the name and exiling the Jews in .
Dionysius Exiguus Calculated a table of Easter dates for Pope John I, set a value for "1 AD" in 4285.
Mohammed emigrated to Medina in (start of Islamic and Persian calendars, Islamic years are not convertable with this script, Persian are).
The Venerable Bede wrote "The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation" (using BC/AD dates)in 4491.
The Spanish Inquisition was established, with Tomas Torquemada as the grand inquisitor in 5242.
The Spanish Inquisition Seized the property of 300,000 Jews in Spain, and issued a demand "Convert to Catholic or leave Spain with nothing". 200,000 leave in 5252.
The Spanish armada is destroyed by weather and a small British fleet in 5348.
The United States Declared Independence in .
The Independent Jewish state of Israel regains sovereignty in for the first time since Pompey in 3698.

Concordant date calculator

To use the calculator, you can type an AM value into the Year of the World box and calculate everything else from there, or, you can use one of the three entry systems. System one, click a date button in the event list to load the epoch box and the Year of the World box, and calculate. System two, enter an Olympiad number and year, then click the calc button to load the Year of the World box, and calculate. System three, like the second, except enter BCE or CE or AD values in their boxes. The epoch calculation section allows extended calculation use; you can derive the epoch base from a starting pair such as having the AM value for the 15th year of Ahab.

The Jewish Jubilee cycle is included as a result, but not as a method of input. The Jubilee system is "weeks of years", with the land being given a "Sabath year" to recover after each six years of cultivation, and special significance given to the seventh Sabath year, the year of Jubilee. Some sources try to make the Jubilee year an extra, fiftieth, year, but the calculations are exact, requiring the anouncement of Jubilee on a specific date in the seventh Sabath year. Tradition places the first year of the first cycle as the date that Joshua led the people into Canaan to begin the occupation of the promised land. The positive identification of two Jubilee years in the times of Josiah and of Ezekiel lock down the year of the cycle, but how many cycles were completed in each case could be off. Jubilee data is not used for entry because it was not used to describe the dates of other events.