714 m a n k i n d ’s c h r o n o l o g y .
J udaic M eta-H istok ical P e b io d .
Thou shalt no more he called A B -11 a M (F a t h e r of the HiGH-land = Aramaxi) -
Thy name shall he , ............ A B -E a E aM ” (F a t h e r of a multitude) . (564)
Abrahamidce.
ITsKAaK = “ laughter.”
IiiKoB, surnamed I srael.
(12 Signs of the Zodiac, 12 Sons, 12 Tribes of Israel.)
Levi.
Kohath.
Amram.
J u d a i c H i s t o r i c a l P e r i o d .
s — a s s u m e d e p o c h ....................... i . . . . . . .............. .................................................. 1 4 th c e n tu r y b .0.
[ I n t e r v a l b e tw e e n Exodus a n d t h e first Temple, a b o u t 3 1 4 -3 2 2 y e a r s .]
Solomon— (Ch r o n o lo g ic a l t im e s b e g i n ) a b o u t B.C. 100 0
tM r s t m o n u m e n t a l s y n c h r o n ism , R eh ob o am a n d S h e s h o n k “ 9 7 1 -3
\Alphdbetno-wriMng d o e s n o t b e g in u n t i l t h e 9 t h - 8 t h c e n t u r y b. c .]
H tt.ktah — “ f o u n d a b o o k o f t h e L aw ” ....... ................ ..................... ..................... ......... “ 620
Jerusalem b u r n t ; a n d Captivity c o m m e n c e d ........... 586
E z r a — Second Temvle— “ V H t h y e a r o f A r t a x e r x e s ” ..................... “ 457
Esdraic School— “ R e n a is s a n o e ” b e g i n s ......... ................................................................ • “ 400
A lexander — v i s i t s J e r u s a lem ..................................................... . . . . . . . . . . . ... “ 332
Alexandria School:
M a n e th o — t h e e a r l i e s t k n o w n chronologist............................ “ 2 6 0
Scptuagint t r a n s la t io n s c om m e n c e .. .......... ¿................. - “ 2 5 0
A n tio ch u s -J EpipTiavies— p lu n d e r s J e r u s a lem , a n d b u r n s t h e b o o k s .................... “ 1 6 4
D aniel, t h e S a t ir is t , w r o t e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .............,^ ................................................................. “ 1 6 0
J udas, t h e H am m e r e r — r e s to r e s t h e b o o k s ..................... “ 150
Maccdbee coin-letters e x t a n t — S im e o n ......................................... “ 1 4 2
Scptuagint t r a n s la t io n s f in is h e d ......................... “ 1 3 0
S ir a c id e s , Canon c lo s e s . . . . ?. “ 130
(R om a n d om in io n — b . c. 4 9 .) ’
Ch r is t ia n E ra .
B e tw e e n b. c . 7 a n d a . d . 3 ; b u t assumed a t 1 8 5 3 years ago.
H e r o d — d e c o r a te s t h e Third Temple w i t h p a g a n H e lle n ic a r c h i t e c t u r e .................................. A.D. 1 5
Fad o f Jerusalem:
Titu s r a z e s t h e T em p le t o i t s f o u n d a t i o n s ........................................................................ “ 74
J o s e p h u s — r e c e iv e s t h e Templar- c o p y o f t h e H e b r ew T e x t , a s a p r e s e n t f r om V e sp a s ia n
a t R om e , a b o u t ........................................................................................ “ 7 5
(E a r lie s t c it a t io n o f “ G o ep e ls ” —? J u s t in M a r t y r , d ie d a b o u t 166.)
C o n t r o v e r s ie s b e tw e e n t h e Fathers a n d t h e Rabbis h e r e c om m e n c e .
T h e Oriental J e w s t r a n s c r ib e t h e Text in t o t h e square-letter a lp h a b e t , d u r in g t h e 3d
c e n t u r y a ft e r c.
TTtt.t.et. H a n a s s i — c om p u t e s Jewish chronology ................................................ “ ’3 4 4
T h e Masoreticpoints b e g u n b y R a b b is o f T ib e r ia s ........................................................... “ 5 0 6
Oldest Manuscripts o f G r e ek L X X e x t a n t , 5 th c e n tu r y a f t e r o.
Oldest Manuscripts o f Hebrew T e x t e x t a n t , 1 0 th c e n tu r y a f t e r c.
King James's English Version, printed a . d . 1 611.
(564) Genesis; xvii. 5 ; — Ca h e n : i. p. 42, note 5.
HINDOO. 715
CHRO NO LO G Y — H IN D OO.
“ Originally this [Universe] was naught b u t Soul: nothing else existed active [or passive]. He
had this th o u g h t—I will create worlds. I t is th u s th a t He created these [divers] worlds, the water,
the light, the mortals, and the waters. This water is the [region] above the sky, (365) which the
sky supports; the atmosphere contains the lig h t; th e earth is mortal; and the regions beneath
are th^waters.” — (Vedas, “ Aitareya A’ran’y a ” — P a u t h ie r : Liv. Sac., p. 318.)
Although, in our Table of Alphabetical origins, we have dealt as sternly with unhistorical
Indian documents, as with the metaphysical fables of all other nations, it may be well to
say a few passing words upon Hindoo chronologies; lest it be supposed that we are not prepared
to reagitate that which, to us, is no longer a “ vexata quaes tio.” Referring the
reader to the citations from Wilson, Turnour, and Sykes, therein adduced, we repeat, that
there is no connected chronology, to be settled archaeologically by existing monuments,
throughout the whole Peninsula of Hindostan, of a date anterior to the fifth century b . c.
That vast centre of creation swarmed with varied indigenous and exotic populations,
from epochas coeval with the earliest historical nations; but, if any of these Indian philosophers
ever composed a rigidly-chronological list of events, we have lost the record; or,
what is more probable, the chronological element was wanting in the organism of Hindoo
minds, until the latter received instruction (from Chaldsean magi scattered by Darius)
through the Persians; — tuition greatly improved after contact with the Bactrian Greeks
during the third century b . c.
In any case, the extract subjoined will show that the antiquarian dreams of Sir W. Jones
and of Colebrooke are now fleeting away.
“ Whether safe historic ground is to be found in India earlier than 1200 b . c., according
to the chronicles of Kashmere (Radjtarangini, trad, par Troyer), is a question involved in
obscurity; while Megasthenes (Indica, ed. Schwanbeck, 1846, p. 50) reckons for 158 kings
of the dynasty of Magadha, from Manu to Kandragupt.a, from 60 to 64 centuries; and the
astronomer Aryababhatta places the beginning of his chronology 3102 b . c. (Lassen, Ind.
Alterthumsk., bd. I., s. 473—505, 507, and 510).”
From Humboldt (566) we pass on to Prichard; whose Hindoo prepossessions of 1819(567)
have not only been nullified by Egyptian discoveries, but, with the learned ethnographer’s
usual candor, have become greatly modified by his own later reflections.(568) The inquirer
can judge from the perusal of the passages referred to whether he can make out a fixed
chronological idea, in India, prior to the age of Budha in the sixth century b . c. «
Lepsius (569) contents his objects (confined to a general review of the world’s chronological
elements) by mentioning, that the Hindoo astronomical cycle kali ynga falls on the
18th Feb. 3102 b . c. ; that the Cashmeerian king Gonarda I. is supposed to have reigned
about b . c. 2448; and that king Vikramaditya’s era is fixed at b . o. 58. But he also
shows that the 4th-5th centuries b . c. comprise all we can depend upon, archaeologically,
in Hindoo history.
However, by opening the excellent work of De Brotonne, (570) the reader will easily
perceive how the Chaldsean astrological cycle of 432,000 years became extended by later
Brahmanical pundits to one, equally fabulous, of 4,320,000 years: and inasmuch as this
fact merely invalidates Sanscrit hallucinations the more, we are fain to leave Hindoo chronology
in the same “ slough of despond” in which we found it.
Reader! — the task proposed to myself in the preparation of these three supplementary
Essays here ends. -It was assumed under the following circumstances:—
(565) This is the same cosmogony as th a t of CoSMAS-Indicopleustes, herein-hefore described. Indeed, the notion
was universal; and, in theography, is so still.
(56$) Cosmos; transl. Ott6; 1850; ii. p. 115.
(567) Analysis o f Mythology.
(568) Researches into the Physical History o f Manldnd; 1844: iv. pp. 98-139.
(569) Chronologie; i. pp. 4-5.
(670) Filiations; i. pp. 238, 239, 414-433.