CHRONOLOGY

(Yunanca köken — orijinale bakınız.) Literally, the doctrine of time: is the science which treats of the various divisions of time, and of the order and succe ion of events. In order to ascertain and register the intervals of time between different events, two things must nece arily be a umed: — 1st, An epoch or fixed point in time to which all events, whether preceding or succeeding, may be referred; and 2nd, A measure or definite portion pf time, by which the intervals between the fixed epoch and other events may be estimated. Of these the first is entirely arbitrary, and the second arbitrary to a certain e^ctent; for though certain periods are marked out by the recurrence of natural phenomena, a choice of these phenomena must be made. It is on account of' the arbitrary nature of these two elements, on which all chronological reckoning depends, that so much confusion and uncertainty exist respecting the; dates of historical events. The diversity of epochs which have been a umed as the origin of chronological reckoning, is a natural consequence of the manner in which?cience and civilization have spread over the world.. In the early ages the different communities or tribes into which mankind were divided began to date their years each from some event remarkable only in reference to its own individual history, but of which other tribes were either ignorant, or regarded with indifference. Hence not only different nations, but almost every individual historian or compiler of annals, adopted an epoch of his own. Events of local or temporary interest were also constantly occurring in every community which would appear of greater importance than those which were long past, and consequently be adopted as new historical dates. The foundation of a monarchy or a city, or the acce ion of a king, were events of this cla ; and accordingly are epochs of frequent occurrence in the ancient annals. Religion also came in to increase the confusion caused by political changes. Soon after the introduction of Christianity, the various sects began to establish eras, commencing with events connected with the appearance of Christ; but no regard was given to uniformity. In like manner, the Mohammedans employ dates having reference to the origin of their faith. All these circumstances have conspired to render it a task of extreme difficulty for modern historians to ascertain the order of the political occurrences of ancient times. Bttt it is not merely the number of chronological epochs and the various origins of eras that have caused the perplexity; the measure by which long intervals were compared varied in different countries, and in different ages, and hence arises another source of confusion in arranging the order of time. In the scripture history, the lapse of time is frequently estimated by generations or 'reigns of kings. Some of the historians of earlv Greece reckoned by the succe ion of the prieste es or Juno; others by that of the cphori of Sparta; and others again by the archons of Athens. Even when the length of the solar year began to be used as the measure of time, uniformity was not obtained. The length of the solar year is a fixed rlcment in nature, and liable to no variation. But neither the commencement or termination of the year is marked 232 CHRYSOGRAPHY. by any conspicuous sign. Its precise length can only be ascertained by a long-continued series of astronomical observations. Rude nations were therefore unacquainted with it; and even when it had become known with considerable accuracy, it was still nece ary to form a civil year, and adapt it to the seasons, the solar year not being composed of an exact number of days. Most nations had recourse to intercalations {see Calendar) for this purpose. The ancient Egyptians followed a purely solar year, which consisted of exactly 365 days. Its commencement, therefore, fell one day earlier with respect to the seasons eveiy four years, and in the period of about 14C0 years would succe ively fall on every day in the year, and a whole year be gained in the reckoning. The civil year of the Jews, the Greeks, and many other nations, was regulated partly by the sun and partly by the moon, which rendered its adjustment still more complicated and difficult. The Mohammedan year is purely lunar; and we can only pa from their calendar to the Greg or i an, which is used in Christian countries, by first finding the number of days from the commencement of their era to any given event, and then turning them back into Greg or i an years. {See Hegira.) The Chinese, Hindoos, and some other Asiatic nations, have epochs and methods of reckoning peculiar to themselves. For these reasons, and numerous others that might easily be adduced, it is very seldom that the precise Interval between the events mentioned in ancient history and modern dates can be determined with any degree of certainty, and great discrepancies exist among the computations of different chronologers. A remarkable instance of this occurs with regard to the computations made to determine the epoch of the creation of the world from the scripture history. Des vig noles, in the preface to his Chronology of Sacred History, mentions that he had collected upwards of two hundred different calculations, the shortest of which reckons only 3483 years between the creation and commencement of the common era, and the longest 6984; the difference being no le than thirty-five centuries. The most important works on chronology are, JJsher^s Annates Veteris et Novi Testament i; Newton's Chronology; Blair's Chronology and History of the World; Play fair's Chronology; Tables Chronologiques de I His to ire Ancienne et Moderne, by Thouret; and above all others, LArt de Verifier les Dates. [s. 245]