Autor: reject (Use-Author-Address-Header_at_[127.1)
Data: Thu 08 Apr 1999 - 09:06:38 MET DST
The Historical Calendar of Jesus
Supplement to Item 1:
"1) Ezra left Babylon bound for Jerusalem with Artaxerxes'
decree[Ezra 7:6-9] on the Hebrew calendar date of 1 Nisan
3304, which was Tuesday, March 26, 457 BC. This 'going
forth' of the decree started the prophetic clock ticking
down Daniel's 7 plus 62 weeks-of-years[49 + 434 years]
to Messiah the Prince, Jesus the Nazarene[Dan 9:24-27].
(NOTE: the seventh year of the achaemenid Persian king
Artaxerxes was counted beginning 1 Nisanu through 29 Addaru
on the Chaldean-Babylonian calendar, which was April 8, 458
BC through March 26, 457 BC by the old civil(proleptic
Julian) calendar. But this gentile king's seventh year was
counted from 1 Tishri 3304 through 29 Elul 3304 on the
ancient Hebrew civil calendar recognized by the Hebrews,
placing Ezra's 7th year for Artaxerxes precisely from
October 2, 458 BC through September 20, 457 BC.)"
------------------------------------------------------------
The astronomical data with reference to the molad for Ezra's
"first day of the first month"[Ezra 7:9] is calculated thusly:
Julian Day: 1554589
Julian calendar: Tuesday, March 26, 457 BC
Jewish calendar: 1 Nisan 3304
New Moon: Mon, Mar 25, 457 BC @ 09:10:42 AM JST
Julian date: 1554587.79910; Lunation: -29421
Moon's distance: 394061 k(61.8 ER); Subtends: 0.5054 degrees
Right ascension: 23:59:48.41; Declination: -05:16:48
Azimuth: -53.004; Altitude: 36.966
Moonrise: 06:01:06 AM JST; JD 1554587.66743
Moonset: 05:54:52 PM JST; JD 1554588.16310
Sunrise: 05:44:55 AM JST; JD 1554588.65619
Sunset: 05:47:33 PM JST; JD 1554589.15802
Ezra stated that "on the first day of the fifth month" he
reached Jerusalem[Ezra 7:9]. This date was 1 Ab[Av] 3304, or
July 22, 457 BC[molad was Sun, Jul 21, 457 BC @ 11:09:38 PM
JST; JD 1554706.38169], where Ezra confirms for us that this
same "5th month"[Ab] was also in "the seventh year of the
king"[Ezra 7:8]. Clearly, unlike the Persians who'd counted
the 7th year of their king from 1 Nisanu that previous year
[458 BC], Ezra was NOT counting this gentile king's seventh
year from 1 Abib[Nisan] 3303[458 BC], but Ezra was counting
from the Hebrew civil calendar new year of 1 Tishri 3304[in
the fall of 458 BC]. Ezra's "first month" Abib was also the
7th civil calendar month Nisan of 3304, with the fifth month
of Ab placed as the 11th civil calendar month of Av--also in
3304, thusly both months were properly reckoned by Ezra as
within Artaxerxes' SEVENTH civil calendar year of 3304. Ezra's
"first" and "fifth" month references were to the "spring-to-
spring," 1 Abib to 1 Abib[hodesh ha-aviv] religious calendar
of the Torah, but not to the "fall-to-fall," 1 Tishri to 1
Tishri agricultural-liturgical "shana" observance of the
Hebrew civil calendar. This dual-aspect, or *bisection* of
Hebrew timekeeping methods is covered more thoroughly later.
Artaxerxes was made king by Persian eponym upon his father
Xerxes'(Ahasuerus) death in mid-August of 465 BC, but the
Persians regarded this time as Artaxerxes' "accession year",
observing the custom in which the new king was to "complete"
the last regnal year of his predecessor before being declared
sovereign on the next Persian calendar new year of 1 Nisanu.
Note the similarity between the names of the Babylonian civil
calendar and the Hebrew civil calendar months, since the
Hebrews had previously adopted and assimilated the Babylonian
month names into their civil calendar during their 70-years
captivity[606-536 BC]. Note also that the numbering of these
Hebrew months refers to the Hebrew Torah calendar numbering,
with the Hebrew civil calendar numbering in parentheses:
Month# Persian Hebrew Hebrew civil#
1 Nisanu Nisan (7)
2 Aiaru Iyyar (8)
3 Simanu Sivan (9)
4 Duzu Tammuz (10)
5 Abu Ab/Av (11)
6 Ululu Elul (12)
7 Tashritu Tishri (1)
8 Arahsamnu Heshvan (2)
9 Kislimu Kislev (3)
10 Tebetu Tebeth (4)
11 Shabatu Shebat (5)
12 Addaru Adar (6)
13* AddaruII V'Adar/AdarII (13)
*intercalary, or leap month
Artaxerxes' accession "year" lasted eight months, from the
late 4th, or early 5th, month[Duzu or Abu] of Xerxes' final
Persian-regnal year(the papyri place Xerxes' death in mid-
August of 465 BC, but no precise date is given), to 1 Nisanu
in the spring of 464 BC. This chronology is referenced in Sir
Isaac Newton's 'Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel'
[pp. 154-157], with historical sources firmly establishing
Artaxerxes' first regnal year in 464 BC. These include the
'Canon of Ptolemy', the 'Greek Olympiads', numerous allusions
to Persian affairs by Greek historians, and contemporaneous
business documents, ALL of which place the *seventh* Persian
civil-regnal calendar year of Artaxerxes from 1 Nisanu[April
8] of 458 BC through 29 Addaru[March 26] of 457 BC, with these
ancient dates *recorded* on the 'Venus Tablets of Ammizaduga'
[Langdon/ Fotheringham, London, 1928; 'Babylonian Chronology
626 BC-75 AD' Parker & Dubberstein; Brown Univ. Press, 1956].
The chart below lists the first ten regnal years of the
achaemenid Persian king Artakhshathra[Artaxerxes/Longimanus]
based on the new-moon(new crescent) tables of Karl Schoch,
as recorded on 'The Venus Tablets of Ammizaduga', which data
was carefully checked and recompiled by Parker & Dubberstein,
identified by the proleptic Julian calendar year/month/date
equivalents to the 1st day of each Babylonian calendar month:
Artaxerxes' 1st year 2nd year 3rd year 4th year 5th year
464BC 463BC 462BC 461BC 460BC
Nisanu 04/13 04/03 04/22 04/11 03/31
Aiaru 05/13 05/02 05/21 05/10 04/30
Simanu 06/11 06/01 06/20 06/08 05/29
Duzu 07/11 06/30 07/19 07/08 06/27
Abu 08/10 07/30 08/18 08/06 07/27
Ululu 09/09 08/29 09/16 09/05 08/25
Tashritu 10/08 09/27 10/16 10/04 09/23
Arahsamnu 11/07 10/27 11/15 11/03 10/23
Kislimu 12/06 11/26 12/14 12/02 11/21
463BC 461BC 460BC
Tebetu 01/05 12/25 01/13 01/01 12/21
462BC 459BC
Shabatu 02/03 01/24 02/12 01/31 01/20
Addaru 03/04 02/22 03/12 03/01 02/19
AddaruII 03/24 03/20
6th year 7th year 8th year 9th year 10th year
459BC 458BC 457BC 456BC 455BC
Nisanu 04/19 04/08 03/27 04/15 04/04
Aiaru 05/18 05/08 04/26 05/14 05/04
Simanu 06/17 06/06 05/25 06/13 06/02
Duzu 07/16 07/06 06/24 07/13 07/02
Abu 08/15 08/04 07/24 08/11 07/31
Ululu 09/13 09/03 08/22 09/10 08/30
Tashritu 10/12 10/02 09/21 10/10 09/29
Arahsamnu 11/11 10/31 10/20 11/08 10/29
Kislimu 12/10 11/30 11/19 12/08 11/27
458BC 455BC
Tebetu 01/09 12/29 12/18 01/06 12/27
457BC 456BC 454BC
Shabatu 02/08 01/28 01/17 02/05 01/25
Addaru 03/09 02/27 02/15 03/06 02/24
AddaruII 03/16 03/25
These ancient records coincide perfectly with our calculated
molads[using the full VSOP87/ELP-2000'82 theory], although
these ancient lunar months were delayed in most cases by 1 or
2 calendar days past the molad as a result of how the new moon
was determined, i.e. calculated lunation[Hebrew] or visual new
crescent[Persian], but also by dissimilar religious calendar
rules for observing the Holy Days and molad "overposts", thus
the calendar months were often delayed 1 or 2 days by both the
Persian and Hebrew calendars. For example, Artaxerxes' 1st
Persian regnal year began 2 days past the calculated molad for
that Persian calendar month of Nisanu 464 BC[the molad was
Tuesday, April 11, 464 BC @ 06:52:20 PM JST[JD 1552048.20301].
As we see from the chart above, the king's 1st Persian regnal
year began precisely on Thursday, April 13th, 464 BC.
Using the same molad data to ascertain the lunisolar Torah
calendar reckoning for that 1 Abib[Nisan], since the molad was
well-past the usual "overpost window" of 12 PM JST, then 1
Abib had to be delayed until Wednesday. But Passover[14 Abib]
could only fall on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Saturday, so
to have allowed 1 Abib to fall 14 days prior on a Wednesday
would've forced the Passover to fall on a Tuesday--a scenario
strictly forbidden by calendar rules! Hence, *this* 1 Abib was
properly delayed until Thursday, which was the very same date
the Persians selected. This is why the ancient Hebrew calendar
was calculated *years* in advance, so that calendars could be
mapped-out ahead of time, based on the calendar rules devised
to accommodate the Holy Days of each and every calendar year.
We'll cover more on these ancient Hebrew calendar rules later.
Since the reign of gentile kings was always reckoned by the
Hebrews as from the first "1 Tishri" which fell within the
first gentile-regnal year of that king, Ezra properly counted
Artaxerxes' seventh regnal year as from 1 Tishri 3304 through
29 Elul 3304 by the *Hebrew* civil calendar, which was October
2, 458 BC through September 20, 457 BC. By contrast, the reign
of Hebrew kings was counted from 1 Abib, not from 1 Tishri.
Even the unauthoritative "Babylonian Talmud" agrees[Mas Avodah
Zarah 10], although I'm loathe to cite anything from this
"Talmud" as it consistently fails historical muster(and calls
Mary a "whore" & calls Jesus a{blasphemy omitted}etc. etc.),
but the evidence in this instance proves the Talmud correct--
much as a broken clock is accurate twice a day, no doubt(!).
Back to the Bible...Nehemiah makes reference to "the month
Nisan, in the twentieth year[445-444 BC] of Artaxerxes the
king"[Neh 13:6], where the month is named instead of numbered.
This was the seventh month of the king's 20th year according
to the Hebrew civil calendar, thus Nehemiah's reference to
Nisan is in 444--not 445--BC. Nehemiah was an important
government official and cupbearer to Artaxerxes, who came to
Jerusalem in the capacity of civil governor to Judea. The
historian Josephus noted "Nehemiah...lived to great age, and
governed Judah the rest of his life"[beyond his twelve-year
appointment]. Nehemiah records that "Ezra the priest brought
the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all
that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the
seventh month"[Neh 8:2]. Here, Nehemiah makes reference to the
"seventh month", which he conspicuously numbers instead of
naming this seventh month, clearly in reference to the seventh
lunisolar Torah calendar month of Ethanim[civil month Tishri].
Further proof of this Hebrew "fall-to-fall" reckoning for
gentile kings is demonstrated by the Elephantine KR6 papyrus.
Elephantine was founded as a military colony in the 6th
century BC in southern Egypt, on an island in the Nile near
Aswan. Aramaic-speaking Jews constructed a temple there in 525
BC. About a century ago, numerous papyri were unearthed, many
of which are dated(some double-dated) from 471 to 402 BC,
dates which are useful for comparing these ancient Egyptian,
Persian and Hebrew civil calendars, and also for establishing
certain facts about them, including how that the Hebrew
calendar observed the "fall-to-fall" civil-regnal years for
gentile kings, and not the "spring-to-spring" civil-regnal
calendar of the Persians. Notably, the Elephantine Jews also
used Babylonian month names as did Ezra, Nehemiah, et al, but
in their Aramaic form. Similar to Hebrew and Arabic, Semitic
Aramaic derived its ancient alphabet from the North Semitic
(Phoenician) script of the 10th-9th centuries BC. By the Neo-
Babylonian period of the prophet Daniel's writings, Aramaic
was already in use throughout Mesopotamia, and was the lingua
franca of the Near East. In 539 BC, the Imperial(improved)
Aramaic was adopted as the official language of the Persian
Empire, which by then was in common use from Egypt to India.
Continuing, the Elephantine Kraeling 6 papyrus had but one
year listed, the 3rd year of Darius II(Nothius). The Hebrew
date was rendered as Tammuz 8, but the Egyptian was Pharmuthi
8. Because these dates fell on July 11th or 12th of that year,
the year was 420 BC, in the Egyptian year 4. The Aramaic AP25
and AP28 papyri agree, as does the Canon of Ptolemy, thus it
was also the Persian year 4. But, since Tammuz is several
months after Nisan in the Hebrew civil calendar, only the
fall-to-fall "shana" reckoning reconciles the Hebrew civil
calendar date with the year 420 BC as the 3rd--NOT the 4th--
year of Darius II, since Darius II's first regnal year was 1
Nisanu of 423 BC. Every historical evidence examined proves
that Ezra reckoned Artaxerxes' first Hebrew civil-regnal year
as beginning on 1 Tishri 3298, which date fell on Saturday,
October 7, 464 BC[the molad was Fri, Oct 6, 464 BC @ 04:44:39
AM JST; JD 1552225.61434].
As an added reference, the following chart lists the rulers
from Daniel's lifetime to the very end of the Persian empire,
emphasizing each ruler's time of greatest or empirical rule,
citing historically-identified aliases and ignoring eponymic
"accession periods" where applicable for clarity and brevity:
Nabopolassar r. 625-604
Nebuchadnezzar r. 606-561
Evil-Merodach r. 561-560
Neriglissar r. 559-556
Labash-Marduk r. 556
Nabonidus(retired king) r. 555--538
Belshazzar(prince/son of Nab.) r. 540-538(end Babylonian em.)
Cyrus II b. 590----------r. 538--529(1st Pers. king)
Darius(Gobryas/Cyaxares/Daniel's "Darius the Mede")...
b. 600------------r. 538-536(viceroy Chaldea)
----------------------- (post-exilic) ------------------------
Cambyses II(Artaxerxes, son-Cyrus II) r. 529-522(d.)
Bardiya(Smerdis, son of Artax., usurper) r.522-521
Darius I(Hystaspes) b. 550-----------r. 521-485
Xerxes(Ahasuerus) r. 485-465
Artaxerxes I(Longimanus) r. 465----425
Xerxes r. 424
Darius II(Nothius) r. 423-405
Artaxerxes II(Mnemon) r. 405-358
Artaxerxes III(Ochus) r. 358-338
Arses r. 338-335
Darius III(Codomanus) r. 335-331
Last of the Persian kings, Codomanus was defeated by Alexander
the Great in 331 BC at the battle of Arbela, near Nineveh.
--------------------------------------------------------------
<end 'Supplement to Item 1'; see
'Supplement to Item 2' for continuation>
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