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From: cconway@freenet.scri.fsu.edu (Clayton Conway)
Subject: Re: Why AD Latin, BC English?
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bert (perry@csn.org) wrote:
: In article <36pvs2$g68@nntp1.u.washington.edu> cconway@freenet.scri.fsu.edu
 (Clayton Conway) writes:
: >     This subject comes up a lot.  Josephus gives the date of Jesus
: >birth as in the reign of Herod in the 42nd year of Augustus.  I have
: >never seen any good reason for making the zero point between BCE and CE
: >where it is, but it does happen to be the jewish thirtieth jubilee.

: Quick question; I realize that the date of the thirtieth jubilee could
: be significant, but there could be one problem with this.  To my
: ( perhaps flawed ) knowledge, jubilee was never actually observed in 
: Israel.  Which leads me to the question; was the date of the thirtieth
: jubilee counted by someone in antiquity or by someone today?

: bert


     Sabbathical years (every 7 years) were indeed observed as were
jubilees (every 50 years), but the evidence is that they were not
observed by all the kings.  It seems that such actual observances were
celebrated by the prophets meaning that it wasn't automatic or even
rare that the kings would go to the trouble of enforcing them.  This
may suggest that some groups always observed, but most were lax and
would not do so unless enforced by an authority.  Hezekiah and Josiah
have examples of prophets celebrating the kings willingness to enforce
observance.  If I remember right, one of the methods of calculating
Hezekiahs date of reign is based on a sabbathical year followed
directly by a jubilee year or two years that the ground was not
tilled.  However that may be your point is important in that there is
no agreement as to exactly where to place the 50 year jubilees.  Since
the the length of the peroid between the exodus and the destruction of
the Temple by Titus is known, we know how many jubilees there were,
but the chronology is just as uncertain as any we have.
     I can only suggest that the traditions where observed or were at
least known or that the scheme (frame) they used had the effect of
creating the one we use today.  Our understanding of exact chronology
is very dismal as best.  Note that the death of Augustus has been
placed on many years like AD 17 instead of its current position of AD
14.  According to tradition Herod was alive and reigning in Augustus
42nd year.  This does not accord with what is used today, but there is
no good reason to reject this tradition except that we prefer to
accept mathematical calculations over them.  But note also that what
was observed then does not accord with what our calculations give us
today.  The eclipses recorded in ancient times does not fit the
pattern exactly and the ones used for placement are selected for their
agreement.  In truth the date of Augustus death can be known to a
percision of plus or minus 5 years in its present placement of AD 14
and Herod to plus or minus 15 years.  Many an argument this statement
would give by those who teach that such is impossible, but take the
history of Egypt or babylonia with their starting places given in ever
millennia before the common era.  In truth if we can come to within
plus or minus ten years, we are doing very well.  Exact chronology has
yet to be achieved and accepted.
-- 
Respect - It's the only place to go.
