Recalculating Christ and Caligula Removes Julius Caesar from History and Shows Cyrus Equals Alexander

Reconstructing the Chronology of the Church Fathers

“Then a mighty king will arise, who will rule with great authority and do as he pleases. But as soon as he is established, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four winds of heaven. It will not go to his descendants, nor will it have the authority with which he ruled, because his kingdom will be uprooted and given to others.” (Daniel 11:3-4).

The early Christian church was just as determined as Paul to prove that Jesus Christ fulfilled the scriptures of the Jewish bible, but they preferred to use hardcore calculations instead of figurative language to prove their point. The Christian numerical goals were twofold. One, to place the birth of Christ 5500 years after the creation of Adam, marking the “eleventh hour” of a 6000 year world history that integrated Hebrew, Greek, and Roman timelines. Christ was also supposed to fulfill a prophecy about 70 “weeks of years” (490 years) between the prophecy of Daniel and Christ. The Christian chroniclers worked backwards from ideal numbers suggested by the old testament, opening the door wide for fraud as well as error.

The chronology of Christianity, in the deformed shadow of Caligula, builds upon nothing. Paul mentions Rome but offers no dates in his letters, naming none of the Roman emperors. Likewise the gospel of Mark offers little dating context, placing Christ’s ministry under the Roman empire by mentioning a coin of Caesar and the kingship of Herod. Mark’s version of Herod, who demands the head of John the Baptist, is also known as Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great (who is not in Mark’s gospel). Matthew would later demote Mark’s Herod to a tetrarch and introduce Herod the Great, the king of Judea when Christ was born under the Star of Bethlehem. Compared to Mark, Matthew doubles the number of Herods and places one at each end of Christ’s life. He says Herod the Great died shortly after the “massacre of the innocents” that sought to kill baby Jesus, while his death officially dates to 4 BC. Therefore Matthew implies Christ’s birth in 6-5 BC.

Both Marcion and Luke include the claim that Jesus began preaching in the fifteenth year of Tiberius (officially dated to 28-29 AD), and Luke alone tells us that he was about 30 years old. Furthermore, the synoptic gospels suggest Jesus preached for a year, while the gospel of John differs substantially, suggesting Jesus preached over 3 years and may have been older than 40 when he died (an age emphatically defended by church father Irenaeus). Incidentally, if you assume Christ’s birthdate in December of 6 BC per Matthew, plus his thirty year age at the beginning of his ministry according to Luke, plus his 3-4 year ministry from John, Christ’s death could fall on March 25, 29 AD, which indeed became the traditional Western Roman date.

One of the earliest Christian writers, Irenaeus of Lyons in modern France, insisted that Christ was over 40 when he died, having reached the age of a “Master”. He quotes John 8:57: “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Irenaeus rejects the Valentinian Gnostics, who argued that Jesus was an ideal 30 years old when he “suffered”. He says “being thirty years old when He came to be baptized, and then possessing the full age of a Master, He came to Jerusalem”(Against Heresies 2.22.4). Irenaeus concludes “He did not therefore preach only for one year, nor did He suffer in the twelfth month of the year. For the period included between the thirtieth and the fiftieth year can never be regarded as one year” (2.22.6). Irenaeus thus rejects the idea of a short ministry. He also introduces the claim that will henceforth be crucial to all of Christian chronology, that Christ was born in the 41st year of Augustus, writing “our Lord was born about the forty-first year of the reign of Augustus; but Ptolemy was much earlier, under whom the Scriptures were interpreted” (3.21.3). Note Irenaeus does not tell us how long Augustus reigned.

In the previous chapter, we examined the political writings of Philo to understand why a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher of the 1st century AD would write about Caligula instead of Christ. Philo shows no awareness of Christ yet is scandalized by Caligula’s demand to be worshiped as a God less than a decade later. One of the most provocative clues in all of Philo is his claim that Augustus only reigned for 43 years. This number is a definitive mismatch from Josephus and the later Christian chroniclers, who cite Augustus’ reign at 57 (or 56) years. The official explanation is that Philo and Josephus count Augustus’ reign from different dates; Josephus from the death of Julius Caesar in 44 BC (or the formation of the Second Triumvirate in 43 BC) and Philo from Cleopatra’s defeat at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. But if we also count Philo’s figure from 44 BC it would still work with the claim that Christ was born in the 41st or 42nd year of Augustus.

The problem is, if Augustus really died 14 years earlier than we believe, then Tiberius became Emperor in 1 BC instead of 14 AD. Since Jesus also supposedly began preaching in the 15th year of Tiberius, this put the beginning of Christ’s ministry in 14-15 AD instead of 28-29 AD. This chronology is obliquely confirmed by Eusebius in his Church History, since he argues that Jesus ministered for about 3.5 years (the long ministry of John) while encompassing the end of Annas’ reign as high priest and the beginning of Caiaphas’ reign. By his logic about the Jewish priests, Eusebius places the beginning of Christ’s ministry in 15 AD. According to Church History’s other claims that Jesus died 75-76 years after Augustus first became emperor, this places the beginning of Augustus’ reign in 57 BC. As we shall see, the date of 59-57 BC is repeatedly imputed by Christian chroniclers for the dawn of the Roman empire. All their chronology is built on a ~15 year contradiction which amounts to this: should Daniel’s prophecy of 70 “weeks” equal 490 lunar years or solar years? Because 490 lunar years = 475.4 solar years, and the Hebrews supposedly used a lunar calendar.

Remarkably, no matter who we turn to, Caligula is at the dead center of Christian chronology. And surprisingly, Cyrus and Alexander the Great are right there with him.

70 “Sevens” of Tertullian Ending in 70 AD

Church Father Tertullian provides the oldest systematic Christian chronology, dating his own writings to the fifteenth year of Septimius Severus (208 AD) in Against Marcion (1.15). While Theophilus of Antioch is generally credited with writing the first Christian chronology in 169-182 AD, he dates his own work to 213 AD by his account of history. This suggests Tertullian in 208 AD was the first Christian chronicler. Indeed, unlike Theophilus and the later computists, Tertullian does not work with the 5500 year Anno Mundi system, instead aligning his dates with Hebrew chronology and the prophecy of Daniel. Hebrew chronology is substantially different from Anno Mundi and official chronology, including about 165 “missing years” dating back to the Babylonian captivity. But Hebrew chronology still dates the destruction of the “second” temple to 68 AD, two years before the official date.

Tertullian intends to prove that Jesus helped fulfill Daniel’s prophecy of 70 “hebdomads”, literally “sevens” or “weeks”. Daniel says “seventy hebdomads are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression” (Daniel 9:24) and “from the issuance of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven hebdomads and sixty-two hebdomads” (9:25). Daniel adds “after the sixty-two hebdomads the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing” and “he will confirm a covenant with many for one hebdomad, but in the middle of the hebdomad he will put an end to sacrifice and offering” (9:26-27). Although there are many ways to interpret Daniel, Tertullian interprets it to mean 70 hebdomads = 490 years, culminating in the destruction of the “second” temple.

Tertullian proclaims his chronology: “let us see, therefore, how the years are filled up until the advent of the Christ” (Against Jews 8). Unbelievably, Tertullian does not mention Cyrus the Great. He lists the emperors of the Persians beginning with Darius, saying “we are bound to compute from the first year of Darius, when Daniel saw this vision” (as in Daniel 11:1: “I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, stood up to strengthen and protect him”). He counts the time beginning with Darius until the reign of Alexander as only 106 years, which official history counts as 187 years.

Tertullian’s chronology relates Daniel’s prophecy to the life and death of Jesus Christ: “In such wise, therefore, did Daniel predict concerning Him, as to show both when and in what time He was to set the nations free; and how, after the passion of the Christ, that city had to be exterminated” (Against Jews 8). Note Tertullian’s prophecy fulfillment places the extermination of “that city” (Jerusalem) after Christ’s passion, thus indicating the siege dated to 68 AD by Hebrew chronology or 70 AD officially. There is inherent uncertainty about whether the 490 years articulated by Tertullian are lunar or solar years, since 490 lunar years = ~475 solar years. But as we shall see, Tertullian clearly reckons the hebdomads as lunar years, dating the vision of Daniel to ~475 years before the destruction of the temple. Yet Tertullian also contradicts his own logic in multiple ways. Regardless, his most basic argumentation puts the first year of Darius in 406 BC when aligned with the official timeline.

“The time of the 62.5 fulfilled hebdomads, we have proved that at that specified time Christ came, that is, was born; and, (by showing the time) of the 7.5 hebdomads, which are subdivided so as to be cut off from the former hebdomads, within which times we have shown Christ to have suffered, and by the consequent conclusion of the 70 hebdomads, and the extermination of the city, (we have proved) that sacrifice and unction thenceforth cease.” (Tertullian, Against Jews 11)

Tertullian breaks down the 70 hebdomads differently than Daniel. Daniel counts 7 then 62 then 0.5 then 0.5 to get to 70. Tertullian counts 62.5 hebdomads from the first year of Darius to Christ’s birth, then 6 more until Christ’s death, then 1.5 more until the destruction of the temple, indicating periods of 437.5, 42, and 10.5 lunar years. Tertullian says of Christ, “He had to suffer, and the holy city had to be exterminated after one and an half hebdomad — whereby namely, the seven and an half hebdomads have been completed”. Converted to solar years, Tertullian thus tells us that Christ died ~10 years before the destruction of the temple at the age of ~41. Thus on our official timeline, Tertullian’s logic puts the birth of Christ in ~19 AD and his death in ~60 AD, only 10 years before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus Caesar.

But Tertullian’s internal consistency fall apart when he explicitly places the crucifiction under the consulship of Rubellius and Rufius Gemini (29 AD) at about the age of 30. Tertullian’s logic about Daniel says that Christ lived for 6 hebdomads (~41 solar years). And yet elsewhere Tertullian states Christ’s age as ~30 and indicates his death in 29 AD by Roman consulship. Ultimately the age of Christ cannot be reconciled in Tertullian. He cannot be both ~30 and ~41 years old at the time of his suffering. Is this an original contradiction or evidence of later interpolation?

Tertullian defines the central chronology of Christianity as follows:

“In the forty-first year of the empire of Augustus, when he has been reigning for 28 years after the death of Cleopatra, the Christ is born. (And the same Augustus survived, after Christ is born, 15 years; and the remaining times of years to the day of the birth of Christ will bring us to the 41st year, which is the 28th of Augustus after the death of Cleopatra.) There are, (then) made up 337 years, 5 months: (whence are filled up 62.5 hebdomads: which make up 437.5 years, on the day of the birth of Christ.” (Tertullian, Against Jews 8)

Let’s first try reconciling Tertullian’s chronology from his Roman aligned 29 AD. If it is the year of Christ’s suffering, then the temple fell ~10 years later in 39 AD, 31 years before the official date. But now according to Christ’s age of ~41 years, he was born in 13 BC and the first year of Augustus is ~53 BC, and the death of Cleopatra in ~41 BC. Furthermore, ~40 AD is the officially aligned date of Caligula’s desecration of the temple in Philo that apparently earned him a death sentence 3.5 years into his reign. Tertullian’s claim of 29 AD for Christ would imply that Caligula destroyed the temple!

Also note how Tertullian marks a moment in time 100 years and 1 month after the prophecy of Daniel, followed by “337 years, 5 months” to the birth of Christ. With Christ’s suffering in 29 AD at the true age of ~41, yielding a birth in 13 BC, 337.5 lunar years earlier is 340 BC, four years before the official rule of Alexander. Tertullian’s reasoning indicates the beginning of the 70 hebdomads occurred 100 lunar(?) years (and 1 month) before Alexander, contradicting his other statement that the Persians reigned for 106 years. This line of reasoning now puts Daniel’s prophecy in 437 BC. If we realign this information to the official temple chronology of 70 AD, it again implies 406 BC as the year of Daniel’s vision, yet now in the 6th-9th year of Persian rule instead of the 1st. This contradiction allows a small window for Cyrus the Great. Yet the only Cyrus mentioned by Tertullian is the grandson of Darius.

We will now use Tertullian’s detailed reign lengths to calculate his chronology from two additional starting points in an attempt to understand his historical claims. First, from the official year of the “second” temple’s destruction in 70 AD. He says “Vespasian, in the first year of his empire, subdues the Jews in war; and there are made 52 years, 7 months [7.5 hebdomads] […] And thus, in the day of their storming, the Jews fulfilled the 70 hebdomads predicted in Daniel”. The passion of Christ falls in 60 AD, and his birth in 19 AD. Tertullian gives very specific numbers for the reigns of Tiberius and Caligula, at “20 years, 7 months, 29 days” and “3 years, 8 months, 13 days” respectively. He tallies 13 years and 22 days between the death of Caligula and the first year of Vespasian’s reign: a total of 22 years, 5 months between the 15th year of Tiberius and the destruction of the temple, with Caligula’s death falling in 57 AD.

Thus Tertullian’s Roman reign lengths combined with his hebdomad sequences indicate Caligula was assassinated ~3 years BEFORE the crucifiction rather than 12 years after! None of this is reconcilable with a date of 29 AD (the official 15th year of Tiberius) for the passion of Christ, since Tertullian clearly establishes that the temple was destroyed ~10 years after Christ suffered. Tellingly, Tertullian makes no mention of either Claudius (Caligula’s successor) or Julius Caesar in his chronology of the Roman empire. Furthermore this 3 year divergence between the death of Christ and Caligula in Tertullian could reflect the same divergence introduced by his contradictory terms of 106 and ~100 years, as previously discussed. It is possible that the unadulterated text of Tertullian originally aligned Christ and Caligula perfectly.

Tertullian’s dating of Christ also aligns neatly with Josephus’ account of Jesus the Woe Sayer in Wars of the Jews, who Josephus says was whipped by the Roman procurator for his “divine fury” in 62 AD, after prophesying against Jerusalem 4 years before the beginning of the Jewish Revolt. Furthermore, due to a different ordering of the hebdomad sequence, the prophecy of Daniel locates the coming of “christ” a Half-Hebdomad (3.5 years) later than Tertullian, in 63 AD. We have some reason to trust the date of 70 AD for the destruction of Jerusalem, since Josephus says a great comet offered an omen of the impending disaster, and Halley’s comet passed in 66 AD. And we have nailed down a unified crucifiction date to 57-63 AD.

Another way to consider Tertullian’s chronology is to count forward from the official date of Alexander’s death in 323 BC. Tertullian counts the reign of the Ptolemies in Egypt, from the death of Alexander to the inauguration of Cleopatra at 243 years, putting the beginning of her reign in 80 BC, 29 years earlier than the official date. Tertullian claims Cleopatra reigned 20 years and 5 months before Augustus became emperor, placing Augustus’ rise to power in 59 BC, the same year officially given to the first consulship of Julius Caesar (which he held, like all his public offices, two years before he was legally allowed). Tertullian then claims Cleopatra and Augustus ruled jointly for 13 years, taking us to 46 BC and the death of Cleopatra. This approach seems distinctly erroneous, yet Eusebius will later make a similar analysis.

Tertullian’s total reign tally to the “second” temple destruction adds up to ~475 years, clearly showing that he has converted from 490 lunar years. Yet nowhere does Tertullian make such a distinction. Instead, he counts the last 15 years of Augustus twice in order to hit his 490 year prophecy. Specifically, Tertullian counts 62.5 hebdomads (437.5 years) from the first year of Darius to the very end of Augustus’ reign. Then he counts 7.5 hebdomads (52.5 years) from fifteen years before the end of Augustus reign, the traditional birth year of Christ. This double counting of 15 years is the basis of all confusion in Christian chronology. It will eventually manifest in Eusebius as the double dating and double numbering of Cleopatra’s reign.

Hebrew chronology places the destruction of the “first” temple in ~422 BC, 165 years later than the academic date of ~587 BC, and furthermore they place the destruction of the “second” temple in 68 AD not 70 AD. Hebrew chronology interprets Daniel’s prophecy differently, placing the destruction of the second temple 490 solar years after the destruction of the first temple. In Wars of the Jews, Josephus even says that the two temples were destroyed on the same day of the Jewish calendar and that both temples were destroyed for the same reason: Jewish impiety. This is our ultimate clue: that the 490 or ~475 years don’t exist at all, and the temple was only destroyed once.

Tertullian also makes a very peculiar claim:

“After Augustus who survived after the birth of Christ, are made up...15 years. To whom succeeded Tiberius Cæsar, and held the empire...20 years, 7 months, 28 days. (In the fiftieth year of his empire Christ suffered, being about 30 years of age when he suffered.) Again Caius Cæsar, also called Caligula,...3 years, 8 months, 13 days.”

Note the error or contradiction of “fiftieth” for “fifteenth”. If the 15th year of Tiberius is 29 AD, then the hypothetical 50th year would be 64 AD—once again aligning Christ with Jesus the Woe Sayer and Daniel’s ordering of the hebdomads.

In any case it is necessary for Christ to be ~41 years old and not ~30, vindicating John and Irenaeus. Ultimately the age of 30 reflects the idea that Jesus ministered for less than a year, not enough to count one year at all, the same implication made by the synoptic gospels. Irenaeus specifically rejects this belief in arguing against the Gnostic claim that Christ died in the 12th month of his ministry at the age of 30. Associating the date of ~30 with the age of ~30 is an error made for obvious reasons. Note: 6 hebdomads of lunar years are technically less than 41, more like 40.75. With Christ technically in his 41st year and thus only 40 years old, it would mean that either Christ was born in 12 BC and died in 29 AD, or he was born in 1 AD and crucified in 41 AD (matching the official death of Caligula), or he was born in 20 AD and crucified in 60 AD (aligned with official chronology). Giving Christ a ministry of 12-13 years also matches Tertullian’s reign for Alexander, and the official interval between Alexander’s defeat of the Persian empire and his death. Furthermore, Tertullian’s description of Christ makes him analogous to a world conqueror:

“For upon whom else have the universal nations believed, but upon the Christ who is already come? For whom have the nations believed — Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and they who inhabit Mesopotamia, Armenia, Phrygia, Cappadocia, and they who dwell in Pontus, and Asia, and Pamphylia, tarriers in Egypt, and inhabiters of the region of Africa which is beyond Cyrene, Romans and sojourners, yes, and in Jerusalem Jews, and all other nations; as, for instance, by this time, the varied races of the Gætulians, and manifold confines of the Moors, all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons — inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ, and of the Sarmatians, and Dacians, and Germans, and Scythians, and of many remote nations, and of provinces and islands many, to us unknown, and which we can scarce enumerate? In all which places the name of the Christ who is already come reigns, as of Him before whom the gates of all cities have been opened, and to whom none are closed, before whom iron bars have been crumbled, and brazen gates opened.”

Tertullian isn’t kidding when he writes “the vaticinations of the first advent obscured it with manifold figures, and debased it with every dishonour”. Indeed we are still not sure who is the real McCoy: Cyrus, Alexander, Christ, or a Caesar. What name do we give this figure when all his elaborate mythohistory collapses into one? At least we are certain that Tertullian is wrong when he claims Jesus was ~30 years old in 29 AD. Either he was ~41 on this date and the official chronology of the fall of Jerusalem is off by 31 years, or his death should be moved to 60 AD to reflect the official chronology of 70 AD. Consider what Tertullian tells us about Persian rule:

For Darius reigned...xviiii years (19).
Artaxerxes reigned...xl and i years (41).
Then King Ochus (who is also called Cyrus) reigned...xxiiii years (24).
Argus...one year.
Another Darius, who is also named Melas...xxi years (21).
Alexander the Macedonian...xii years (12)

This is the only mention of Cyrus in Tertullian’s chronology, and rather than coming before Darius like Cyrus the Great, Cyrus is now the grandson of Darius and has a non-Persian alibi! Note how this Cyrus/Ochus of Tertullian begins his reign 60 years after Darius begins his (406 - 60 = 346 BC). This is the same ~60 year relationship between the beginning of Augustus’ reign in Philo and the 16th year of Tiberius, later implied by Julius Africanus as the year of Christ’s death. What this suggests is an equivalence between Augustus and Darius, with the erroneously claimed death of Christ in 29-30 AD linked to the beginning of the reign of Darius’ grandson Cyrus/Ochus. This grandson of Augustus/Darius then aligns with Caligula as well as the mysterious figure known as Bardiya, Smerdis, or Gautama the Mage, second son of Cyrus the Great, whose immense conflicting mythology dates back to Herodotus.

Counting from Tertullian’s first year of Darius in 406 BC, Cyrus/Ochus begins his reign in 346 BC, ten years before the official date of Alexander, and ends in 322 BC, one year after Alexander’s death. The fact that Alexander also occupies the end of Tertullian’s timeline is irrelevant, since he has flatly contradicted himself already. According to Hebrew chronology, the “first” temple was destroyed in ~422 BC, which would put the “rebuilding” of the temple in 352 BC. By Hebrew count, the Greeks began their rule in 318 BC, implying it as the year of Darius’ death, and further implying Alexander’s death in ~311 BC. In a later section, we will examine the heavily muddled chronology of Cyrus and Darius in relation to the book of Daniel.

By official chronology, Caligula ruled for the Half-Hebdomad of ~3.5 years. In fact, all three jokers Julius Caesar, Caligula, and Christ were said to rule/minister for 3.5 years. Likewise, according to the Seder Olam, Cyrus the Great ruled only 3 years (compare this to Theophilus’ claim that Cyrus the Great ruled for 29 years, and Tertullian’s implication of 0 years, complete nonexistence). Even Titus Caesar who destroyed the “second” temple reigned for less than 3 years as emperor. Like Cyrus the Great in Tertullian, poor Bardiya is officially given no reign at all. It seems there is only one dead prince in this hall of mirrors, and Caligula/Alexander sits squarely in the middle. Soon we will see how the Anno Mundi system began to expand Tertullian’s timeline by claiming that Cyrus the Great ruled for a full 29 years before Darius, thereby moving the destruction of the “first” temple all the way back to 630 BC.

Now we could suppose that Philo is a reliable witness, and that the people with the most motive for Caligula’s death were the Jews. If he died in ~57 AD, and the Temple fell in 70, it indicates that the fall of the temple was Rome’s vengeance upon Jerusalem for the assassination of Caligula. This thesis is strongly supported by the “parable of the vineyard” in Mark. This interpretation allows the first temple to disappear completely. The only temple was destroyed after the assassination of the Divine Emperor, as we may call him. It’s not Caligula as we think of him, because Caligula is a caricature built on the deliberate destruction of a dead man’s memory.

Theophilus Realigns Christ and Caligula

“Writers are fond of composing a multitude of books for vainglory — some concerning gods, and wars, and chronology, and some, too, concerning useless legends.” -Theophilus

In his 5698-year chronicle of history, Theophilus of Antioch aligns the timeline of Rome with the Greek Olympiads and the Jewish religion in his letter To Autolycus, officially dated to 169-183 AD. Theophilus was the bishop of Antioch on the northern edge of ancient Syria, a former capital of the Seleucid empire and early seat of Christianity. Both Luke and the book of Acts are dedicated to a Theophilus, and it must be the same, since Luke is first mentioned by Irenaeus some years later. If 5500 AM should be 1 AD, then Theophilus’ claimed year 5698 AM should ideally be 199 AD. But he also locates 5698 AM in 213 AD by his alignment of Greek and Roman timelines, by which measure his 5500 AM actually falls in our 15 AD, three years after the official birth of Caligula. This could be why 3 BC became a preferred birthdate for Christ. Unfortunately, like Tertullian, Theophilus double dates his analysis repeatedly.

The strangest thing about Theophilus is that he does not mention Jesus Christ at all; not his birth, not his death, not his age nor the 15th year of Tiberius nor the Roman consulship of 29 AD. The full contrast with Tertullian is fascinating. Tertullian leaves out Cyrus the Great, while Theophilus says he reigned for 29 years, and leaves out Jesus Christ instead. This number 29 will recur throughout the rest of our analysis, not least as the approximate lifespan of Caligula. But like Tertullian, who gives the age of Christ as both ~30 and ~41 and counts the same 15 years of Augustus twice, Theophilus is hopelessly conflicted in his own chronology. He counts his 29 years of Cyrus in both directions on the timeline, forward and backward from the same date.

Unlike Tertullian and his Hebrew aligned chronology, the ultimate goal of the Anno Mundi system is to place the birth of Christ 5500 years after the creation of the world described in Genesis. Julius Africanus would later describe “5500 years as the period up to the advent of the Word of salvation, that was announced to the world in the time of the sway of the Caesars” (Fragment 1). Theophilus places the great flood in 2242 Anno Mundi, more than 2000 years after God made Adam and Eve (Autolycus 3.24). He puts the birth of Abraham in 3278 AM and the death of Moses in 3938 AM. Theophilus then begins to relate his calendar to the wider historical timeline:

“The king of Babylon, named Nebuchadnezzar, came up into Judæa, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah. He transferred the people of the Jews to Babylon, and destroyed the temple which Solomon had built. And in the Babylonian banishment the people passed 70 years. Until the sojourning in the land of Babylon, there are therefore, in all, 4954 years 6 months and 10 days.” -Theophilus, Autolycus 3.25

Thus Theophilus equates the end of the Babylonian captivity to his Anno Mundi 4954.5 AM. This should be the beginning or midst of Cyrus’ reign. Yet inexplicably, the same year also identifies Cyrus’ death, 744 years before 5698 AM. As Theophilus writes: “from the government of Cyrus to the death of the Emperor Aurelius Verus, 744 years. All the years from the creation of the world amount to a total of 5698 years” and “from the death of Cyrus, therefore, and the reign of Tarquinius Superbus, to the death of the Emperor Verus, the whole time amounts to 744 years” (Autolycus 3.27-28). Therefore he explicitly places the death of Verus in 5698 AM and the death of Cyrus in 4954 AM. Theophilus also says Cyrus reigned for 29 years until the 62nd Olympiad:

“When Cyrus, then, had reigned twenty-nine years, and had been slain by Tomyris in the country of the Massagetæ, this being in the 62d Olympiad, then the Romans began to increase in power, God strengthening them, Rome having been founded by Romulus, the reputed child of Mars and Ilia, in the 7th Olympiad, on the 21st day of April, the year being then reckoned as consisting of ten months. Cyrus, then, having died, as we have already said, in the 62d Olympiad, this date falls 220 A.U.C., in which year also Tarquinius, surnamed Superbus, reigned over the Romans” -Theophilus, Autolycus 3.27

Theophilus thus affixes the death of Cyrus to the 62nd Olympiad, of which the first year is 532 BC. Theophilus also equates the 62nd Olympiad to 220 AUC, placing the foundation of Rome in 752 BC, one year later than the Roman historians. Eusebius later affirms the founding of Rome in 752 BC. We must keep in mind that so far, Anno Mundi dating falls 1 year later than Roman dating. Theophilus implies the beginning of Cyrus’ reign 29 years before the 62nd Olympiad, or 561 BC at the earliest. Eusebius also places the beginning of Cyrus’ reign in the 55th Olympiad (560-557 BC), basically agreeing with the alignment of Theophilus and settling the date in 560 BC (as specifically claimed by Julius Africanus). Per official chronology, Cyrus became the king of Persia in 559 BC and Emperor in 550 BC. Thus 561-559 BC marks a point where Christian Anno Mundi and official chronology agree as the first year of Cyrus the Great. Compare to the implied first year of Cyrus/Ochus in Tertullian, 348-346 BC.

The first year of Darius in Theophilus, beginning 4954 AM, is equivalent to his own 532 BC as well as the 406 BC of Tertullian. Theophilus says when Cyrus died in 532 BC, “also Tarquinius, surnamed Superbus, reigned over the Romans” while further stating that Superbus “reigned twenty-five years”, after which “yearly consuls were introduced, tribunes also and ediles for 453 years” before Julius Caesar became the first emperor. Theophilus also gives us the reign lengths of the Roman emperors, saying “the time therefore of the Caesars to the death of the Emperor Verus is 237 years 5 days”. These numbers add up to 690 years between the beginning of the Roman republic and the death of Verus in 5698 AM, locating the first year of Julius Caesar as early as 5460 AM or 26 BC, and again showing Theophilus’ 5500 AM = 15 AD.

Theophilus actually places both the end of the captivity and the death of Cyrus in the same year, while also claiming they should be 29 years apart. He puts the beginning of the Republic 54 years (744 - 690) after 532 BC, or 478 BC, implying 29 extra years for the reign of the last Roman king Superbus. Like Tertullian, who counted 15 years of Augustus’ reign twice and simultaneously claimed Jesus was ~41 and ~30 years old, Theophilus contains a flagrant internal contradiction, counting the reign of Cyrus both before and after 4954.5 AM. Eusebius later claims the Roman kings “ceased after a period of 244 years” after the 7th Olympiad, placing the dawn of the Republic in 508 BC, a year later than the official date and 30 years earlier than Theophilus. In the next section we will see how Julius Africanus corrects the alignment of Cyrus and Rome, at the cost of moving the destruction of the “first” temple all the way back to 630 BC.

Theophilus provides individual reign lengths for the Roman emperors, beginning with “Caius Julius, who reigned 3 years 4 months 6 days; then Augustus, 56 years 4 months 1 day; Tiberius, 22 years; then another Caius [Caligula], 3 years 8 months 7 days”. This is an interval of 85 years, 4 months up to the death of Caligula. With the first year of the Caesars falling just over 237 years before the death of Verus in 5698 AM, Julius Caesar’s reign begins as early as Yule of 5460 AM, Augustus’ in 5463 AM, Tiberius in 5519 AM, Caligula in ~5542 and his death in ~5545 AM. This last year is equivalent to our 60 AD, three years later than Caligula’s death in Tertullian and the same year in which Tertullian implies the suffering of Christ. Although not mentioned by Theophilus, the fifteenth year of Tiberius would begin in his ~5533 AM, and the 41st year of Augustus in his ~5504 AM (our 19 AD). This resembles official chronology, with the 15th year of Tiberius falling ~12 years before Caligula’s death, and the birth and baptism years of Christ falling 29 years apart in 5504-5533 AM.

In his Roman reign lengths, Theophilus adds 27 years between the death of Caligula and the fall of the temple compared to Tertullian (who counts the same interval as only 13 years). Theophilus also adds 2 years to Tiberius, a total of 29 extra years between the 15th year of Tiberius and the fall of the “second” temple. Theophilus also counts “3 years 4 months” for Julius Caesar before Augustus, while Tertullian omits the “great” Caesar. Official chronology places the death of Verus 99 years after the destruction of the “second” temple, but Theophilus tallies this same interval as ~110 years, placing the fall of the temple in ~5588 AM (our 103 AD). The later chroniclers would drag Cyrus’ reign back in time and realign the timeline. But the underlying contradictions cannot be resolved, leaving Eusebius to ultimately place Cleopatra’s death in two years at once, separated by 15 years.

Remember that Tertullian placed the fulfillment of the 70 hebdomads (~475 solar years) in the first year of Vespasian, with the prophecy beginning in the first year of Darius, or 406 BC when normalized to the official date of the temple’s destruction in 70 AD. Tertullian’s 406 BC thus aligns with Theophilus’ 4954 AM. In Theophilus’ system, Tertullian would place the destruction of the temple in the first year of Vespasian in 5429 AM. Yet Theophilus places his own first year of Vespasian in 5587 AM. Compared to Tertullian, Theophilus would like to add 158 years to the timeline. This nearly accounts for the 165 year discrepancy between Hebrew and official chronology. Tertullian’s 5500 AM would fall in our 140 AD, when Marcion first published his bible.

With Cyrus’ death in 4954.5 AM and a reign of 29 years, his reign began in 4925 AM. Tertullian says Daniel had his vision in the first year of Darius, but Theophilus says the same vision came in the third year of Cyrus, beginning in his 4927 AM, which would be fulfilled in 5402 AM. Theophilus claims: “the foundations of the temple having been laid the second year of the reign of Cyrus, the temple was completed in the second year of the reign of Darius” (3.29). Thus Theophilus places Daniel’s vision one year after the temple began to be rebuilt, rather than one year before. Compared to Tertullian, Theophilus moves back Daniel’s vision by 27 years—the same amount of time he adds between the death of Caligula and the fall of the temple. Theophilus also says “In the second year, therefore, of Darius are fulfilled the 70 years which were foretold by Jeremiah.” Thus we could estimate Tertullian begins Daniel’s prophecy (of 70 hebdomads) 70 weeks before the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s 70 years!

Theophilus says the captivity lasted for 70 years, adding “these 70 years then being accomplished, Cyrus becomes king of the Persians, who, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, issued a decree in the second year of his reign” (3.25). Yet two sentences later, Theophilus says, “In the second year, therefore, of Darius are fulfilled the 70 years which were foretold by Jeremiah”. How can the 70 years be fulfilled under both Cyrus and Darius? This implies the first year of Darius and Cyrus was the same year—the same thing implied by Tertullian, since he doesn’t mention Cyrus the Great at all. It means there are 29 years in Theophilus that are spoken of but never properly tallied: the entire reign of Cyrus. We will return to this mystery in the conclusion.

Evolving Computations of the Church Fathers

Julius Africanus provides a landmark in Christian chronology that would be adapted by Eusebius more than a century later. Africanus states, “to the advent of the Lord from Adam and the creation is 5531 years, from which epoch to the 250th Olympiad there are 192 years.” By this alignment, with the 250th Olympiad beginning in 221 AD, the advent or beginning of Christ’s ministry fell 192 years earlier in 29 AD, and Jesus was born in ~2 BC or 5500 AM. Note that Africanus has internally dated his own work 8 years after Theophilus and 13 years after Tertullian. Mere fragments of his work survive, indicating that it was one of many works systematically destroyed after the legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Indeed Eusebius condemns his works, writing “Africanus, who compiled a Chronography in five books, seems to me to have been greatly mistaken in these matters. […] He is wrong, not only because what he says is contrary to the account of the Holy Scriptures, but also because he audaciously adds a total of 100 years on his own authority” (Chronicon).

Africanus clarifies Theophilus’ dating of Cyrus, saying “after the 70 years of captivity, Cyrus became king of the Persians at the time of the 55th Olympiad” and mentions “the first year of his reign, which was the first year of the 55th Olympiad”. The 55th Olympiad dates to 560 BC, and Africanus says this time fell after 70 years of captivity, placing the beginning of the captivity in 630 BC, 43 years earlier than official timeline and 29 years earlier that Theophilus. Africanus specifically claims: “then come the 70 years of the captivity, the last year of which was the first year of the reign of Cyrus” in 560 BC. Theophilus claimed the 70 years ended in the second year of Darius. Thus we can see Africanus moves back the 29 years of Cyrus’ rule that Theophilus effectively doubles. He also moves the AM timeline forward by 1 year based on the earliest possible year of Cyrus’s rule in 560 BC, meaning the AM timeline proceeding from Theophilus is now 2 years ahead of the Roman dating.

Like Tertullian, Africanus incorporates the prophecy of seventy “weeks” of Daniel interpreted as 490 years. But unlike Tertullian, who puts 490 lunar years between the first year of Darius and the fall of the temple in 70 AD, Africanus describes “the beginning of the numbers, that is, of the seventy weeks which make up 490 years, the angel instructs us to take from the going forth of the commandment to answer and to build Jerusalem. And this happened in the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia”. Africanus says the end of the 490 years marks the ministry of Jesus and not the destruction of the “second” temple. Thus Africanus completely redefines Tertullian’s interpretation of Daniel’s prophecy. Artaxerxes (or simply Xerxes in the Septuagint) is named as the father of Darius in the book of Daniel.

Africanus says “(Jerusalem) remained in this position, accordingly, until Nehemiah and the reign of Artaxerxes, and the 115th year of the sovereignty of the Persians. And from the capture of Jerusalem that makes 185 years”. This tells us that the order to rebuild Jerusalem occurred 185 years after the beginning of the captivity in 630 BC, or 445 BC. And he tells us the advent of Christ fell 490 years later, but unlike Tertullian, Africanus explicitly clarifies that these are 490 lunar years, or ~475 solar years. Thus Africanus fulfills Daniel’s prophecy with the ministry of Christ in 31 AD, beginning the prophecy in 445 BC instead of the ~422 BC of the Hebrews or 406 BC of Tertullian.

Africanus explains in detail:

“It is by calculating from Artaxerxes, therefore, up to the time of Christ that the seventy weeks are made up, according to the numeration of the Jews. For from Nehemiah, who was despatched by Artaxerxes to build Jerusalem in the 115th year of the Persian empire, and the 4th year of the 83d Olympiad, and the 20th year of the reign of Artaxerxes himself, up to this date, which was the second year of the 202d Olympiad, and the 16th year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, there are reckoned 475 years”. (Julius Africanus, Chronography 16.3)

The fourth year of the 83rd Olympiad is 445 BC, which Africanus says is also the 115th year of Persian rule, putting the beginning of Persian rule in 560 BC with Cyrus. The second year of the 202nd Olympiad, which Africanus indicates as the sixteenth year of Tiberius and the year of Christ’s death, falls in 30 AD. This is 475 solar years or 490 lunar years from 445 BC. Note that Africanus has apparently failed to account for the lack of a year 0, and compensated by moving the crucifiction from the the 15th year of Tiberius to the 16th year of Tiberius. Irenaeus also points straight to Artaxerxes in relation to the Babylonian captivity:

“During the captivity of the people under Nebuchadnezzar, the Scriptures had been corrupted, and when, after seventy years, the Jews had returned to their own land, then, in the times of Artaxerxes king of the Persians, inspired Esdras the priest, of the tribe of Levi, to recast all the words of the former prophets, and to re-establish with the people the Mosaic legislation.” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.21.2)

Africanus writes “we find the sovereignty of the Persians comprising a period of 230 years [124 years longer than Tertullian], and that of the Macedonians extending over 370 years [94 years longer than Tertullian], and from that to the 16th year of Tiberius Cæsar is a period of about 60 years [agreeing with Tertullian]” (Fragment 16.2). Thus Africanus’ dynasty count is 218 years longer than Tertullian’s! However the very next fragment of Africanus contradicts his own Macedonian numbers by 72 years, after describing Cleopatra’s suicide by asp, reducing the total discrepancy to 146 years compared to Tertullian, or 199 years compared to the Hebrews:

“The whole duration of the Macedonian empire after the subversion of the Persian power was 298 years. Thus is made up the whole period from the foundation of the Macedonian empire to its subversion in the time of the Ptolemies, and under Cleopatra, the last of these, the date of which event is the 11th year of the monarchy and empire of the Romans, and the 4th year of the 187th Olympiad. Altogether, from Adam 5472 years are reckoned.” -Julius Africanus 17.3

The 4th year of the 187th Olympiad is 29 BC, and Africanus equates this year with 5472 AM. Africanus later confirms this date, “After the taking of Alexandria the 188th Olympiad began” (17.4). He thus equates 5500 AM to 1 BC, a perfect match for Christian chronology, and 16 years earlier than the previous AM alignment of Theophilus. Working backwards through the above citation, Africanus puts the first year of the Roman empire in 40 BC and the foundation of Alexander’s empire in 327 BC. Using his earlier claim of 230 years of Persian rule, this puts the beginning of Cyrus’ rule in 557 BC, three years off from his earlier assertion of 560 BC.

He notes “Herod was declared king of the Jews by the senate and Octavius Augustus, and reigned 34 years,” saying “that was in the 186th Olympiad [36-32 BC]”. Thus Africanus has again remixed Christian chronology, and again established new contradictions. He boasts however, “Let no one now think us unskilled in the calculations of astronomy, when we fix without further ado the number of days at 365¼. For it is not in ignorance of the truth, but rather by reason of exact study”. Here again we observe Africanus 2 years ahead of official chronology, placing the end of Herod’s reign in 2 BC at the earliest instead of the official 4 BC.

Hippolytus’ Chronicle also contains some notable contradictions and divergences from Tertullian. He writes, “after the transmigration into Babylon until the generation of Christ, there was 14 generations, 660 years, and from the generation of Christ until the Passion there was 30 years and from the Passion up until this year which is the 13th year of the Emperor Alexander, there is 206 years” (Chronicle 687). The 13th year of Severus Alexander falls in 235 AD (indicating the date of Hippolytus’ work), 206 years after the passion in 29 AD. 660 years before 29 AD is 630 BC. Thus like Africanus, Hippolytus explicitly places the beginning of the Babylonian captivity in 630 BC instead of 587 BC by official chronology or ~422 BC by Hebrew chronology.

Hippolytus also demonstrates a strange contradiction when he lists the reign lengths of the Ptolemies in Egypt. His list adds up to 295 years, essentially agreeing with Eusebius. But he also concludes of the dynasty, “There are in them 346 years” (766). Remember that Tertullian only claimed 276 years for the reign of the Ptolemies. While the church fathers can agree with themselves and each other about some things, they cannot agree about the length of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which owing to the Library of Alexandria should actually be more well documented than anything.

As for the Roman emperors, Hippolytus produces an extremely problematic list:

757. The emperors of the Romans
758. Augustus, 57 years
759. Tiberius, 22 years 7 months, 22 days
760. Gaius, 3 years 9 months
761. Claudius, 13 years 1 month 28 days
762. Nero, 13 years 8 months 28 days
763. Galba, 5 months 26 days
764. Otho, 8 months 12 days
765. Vitellius, 9 months 15 days
766. Titus, 3 years 2 months 2 days

His numbers for the first three emperors closely match Josephus’ Wars of the Jews. But Hippolytus leaves out Vespasian completely, skipping from Vitellius to Titus. Meanwhile recall that Tertullian included Vespasian (counting his reign at 11 years) and left out Claudius! Alas, there is some serious contrivance afoot. Hippolytus’ list counts 112 years from Augustus to the end of Vitellius. Tertullian only counts 93.5. Hippolytus’ list of emperors runs all the way to Severus Alexander, whose reign officially began on March 13, 222. Counting back from this date, Hippolytus places the end of Vitellius’ rule in 120 AD instead of 69 AD. The total cumulative discrepancy is 50 years after 29 AD. Thus it seems Hippolytus (or an interpolator) tried to take 50 years from the Romans and give it to the Ptolemies. Indeed, he declares 346 years for the Ptolemies while listing only 295, and declares 206 years between the 15th year of Tiberius and the 13th year of Severus Alexander, while listing only 156.

Hippolytus also says “Therefore all the years from Adam up until the 13th year of the Emperor Alexander make 5,738 years. The 13th year of Alexander falls in 235 AD. Thus Hippolytus gives a date of ~4 BC for 5500 AM. His internal alignment is only off by 3 years compared to Julius Africanus, reflecting a lingering uncertainty about the first year of Cyrus the Great. Such is the precursor to Eusebius’ defining work.

Eusebius Codifies the Chronicle

Eusebius became the bookmaster of Christianity under Constantine the Great, and his histories cover events up to 325 AD. Christianity had been legalized with the Edict of Milan in 313 AD and became the religion of the Roman empire in 380 AD, after which the Christians set about burning their enemies and all their enemies’ books. Eusebius doesn’t actually endorse the purpose of his own work, writing:

“It will help if first we remember the advice of our true master, who told his companions [Acts, 1:7]: ‘It is not for you to know the hours and seasons which the Father has set under his own authority.’ He, as our Lord and God, uttered this saying not only about the end of the world, but also, in my opinion, about all dates, to dissuade men from such pointless investigations.” -Eusebius, Chronicon

Eusebius kvetches about ancient history: “even amongst my beloved Hebrews one can find inconsistencies”. Indeed Eusebius attempts to reconcile the the 1732 year discrepancy between the ancient Greek and Hebrew texts of the Jewish bible, settling on the longer Greek chronology. Yet the Chronicon also endeavors to move the birth of Christ backward a full 300 years on the Anno Mundi timeline to 5200 AM—an innovation that would not endure as later chroniclers reverted to 5500 AM for the birth of Christ. Eusebius wanted to align Constantine with 5500 AM instead.

Eusebius’ Church History and his Chronicle repeatedly confirm a double-dated Christian chronology. He writes “It was in the forty-second year of the reign of Augustus and the twenty-eighth after the subjugation of Egypt and the death of Antony and Cleopatra, with whom the dynasty of the Ptolemies in Egypt came to an end, that our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ was born” (Church History 1.5). Likewise, Eusebius’ Chronicle states “[Cleopatra died] in the 15th year of Augustus' reign.” Both works reference Augustus’ conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt officially dated to 30 BC, saying the 28th year thereafter, 3 BC, was also the 42nd year of Augustus and the year Christ was born. By this logic, Church History implies the beginning of Augustus’ reign in 44 BC, marking the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Eusebius first mentions “the death of queen Cleopatra, who reigned in about the 187th Olympiad [32-29 B.C.]”, yet elsewhere writes “Octavius Caesar, also called Augustus, conquered Egypt in the battle of Actium, and succeeded Cleopatra as ruler of Egypt in the second year of the 184th Olympiad [43 B.C.]”. This is 13 years earlier than the official death of Cleopatra dated to 30 BC. Eusebius already told us that Augustus ruled for 14 years before conquering Egypt. But now he implies that he only ruled for 1, equating the Battle of Actium to the death of Julius Caesar on his own timeline (44 BC). He places Cleopatra’s death in two years at once, just like Christ’s.

If Eusebius believed that Cleopatra really died in 43 BC instead of 30 BC, it pushes the implied beginning of Augustus’ reign back to 57 BC. This is the same contradiction evidenced by Eusebius’ placement of Christ’s ministry in 15-18 AD in his Church History, wherein he aligns the ministry of Jesus to the end of the high priesthood of Annas and the beginning of the high priesthood of Caiaphas in 15-18 AD. We now have three reasons to begin Augustus’ reign in 59-57 BC: Tertullian’s implied dating of Cleopatra’s death in Against Jews when counting from the official death of Alexander, Eusebius’ explicit dating of Cleopatra’s death in Chronicle, and Eusebius’ argument about the Jewish priesthoods in Church History. Eusebius cannot escape the original contradictory logic of Tertullian, who counted the last 15 years of Augustus twice, and so he repeatedly places the same event in different years.

In another instance, Eusebius contradicts himself within a few sentences, writing “So the total duration of the rule of all the kings of Alexandria, down to the death of Cleopatra, is 293 years”, and then Augustus “killed Cleopatra and put an end to the dynasty of the Ptolemaei, who had ruled for 295 years”. Compare these numbers to Tertullian’s claim of 276 years. Furthermore, Eusebius’ first number apparently includes the reign of Alexander the Great and the second number does not. 293 years after 336 BC is 43 BC. In the next sentence, he puts Cleopatra’s death 295 years after 323 BC, in 28 BC. Thus Eusebius’ Chronicon shows internal conflict as to whether Cleopatra died in 43 BC or 28 BC, a divergence of 15 years. If we correct Eusebius’s range by 2 years to match the official year of Cleopatra’s death, we get 45 to 30 BC, with 45 BC also marking the first year of the Julian calendar.

Let us assume for a moment that 45 BC marks the death of Cleopatra and Augustus’ conquest of Egypt. Tertullian says Augustus ruled for 14 years before Cleopatra’s death, now from 59 BC. Using Tertullian’s 56 or Josephus’ 57 years, Augustus dies in 3-2 BC. If Philo is counting 43 years from 45 BC, then 2 BC. Even Matthew could agree that Jesus was born in the 41st year of Augustus as counted from 45 BC.

Thus it could very well be that Philo, who mentions neither Cyrus, Alexander, Julius Caesar, or Cleopatra, is counting from 45 BC for the reign of Augustus—and that this year is what truly marked the defeat of Egypt at the hands of Rome, and Rome’s adoption of the Julian Calendar, which was based on the work of an Alexandrian astronomer named Sosigenes. Those counting 56-57 years for Augustus should be counting from 59-57 BC, although they think they are counting from 44-43 BC. If Jesus really died at age 30-33, this places the crucifiction in 15-18 AD, matching Eusebius’ logic about Annas and Caiaphas in his Church History.

5 BC is the birth year of Christ that best aligns with the gospel of Matthew, which is the only gospel to report Herod’s persecution of infants. Since 4 BC is the last year Herod was alive, Yule of 5 BC would be the latest birthdate for Christ. 5 BC would indeed be the 41st year of the Julian Calendar, aligning with Tertullian and Irenaeus’ claims that Christ was born in the 41st year of Augustus. Combining a birth year of 5 BC from Matthew with the age of ~30 from Luke and the long ministry from John allows a death year of 29 AD, exactly as identified by Tertullian.

Eusebius continues to tell us about the Persians:

“The empire of the Persians lasted for 234 years. Beginning in the 55th Olympiad [560-557 B.C.], it ended in the 113th Olympiad [328-325 B.C.]. And from the second year of Dareius until the death of Alexander, who died in the first year of the 114th Olympiad [324 B.C.], is 197 years.” (Eusebius, Chronicle)

Compare to Tertullian, who gave the Persians only 106 years instead of 234. Also note that when Tertullian is aligned to the Hebrew date of 68 AD for the destruction of the “second” temple, then his death of Cyrus/Ochus also falls in 324 BC. Offering a hot smoking gun, Eusebius acknowledges his double-numbering of Cleopatra:

“Her 16th year was also called the first year, because after the death of Lysimachus the king of Chalcis in Syria, the Roman general Marcus Antonius gave Chalcis and the surrounding regions to Cleopatra. And from then onwards for the remaining years up until the 22nd year, which was the last of Cleopatra's reign, the years were counted in the same way, so that the 22nd year was also called the 7th year.”

This double numbering of Cleopatra’s reign is proof of the fraud that runs all the way back to Tertullian. If her reign was only in its 7th year instead of its 22nd, Cleopatra could have indeed died in 43 BC as previously claimed by Eusebius. Eusebius says of Cleopatra, “in her reign, Gaius Julius Caesar became the first Roman emperor. The next emperor, Octavius Caesar Augustus, called Sebastos in Greek, killed Cleopatra and put an end to the dynasty of the Ptolemaei, who had ruled for 295 years.” Tertullian’s total number of years from Ptolemy I to the demise of Cleopatra (276 years) actually closely matches the official number (275), yet the official number only counts 23 years of Ptolemy’s reign while Tertullian counts 35 and Eusebius counts 40. Although Tertullian and Eusebius’ Ptolemaic reign lengths differ at several points, the main divergence between them appears to be the reign of Ptolemaeus Philometor, listed at 31 years in Eusebius yet absent from Tertullian (and Hippolytus).

Eusebius continues to harp on the flagrant falsification of Roman history:

“As to the succeeding Princes, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero; the dread of their tyranny, whilst they yet reigned, falsified their history; and after their fall, the fresh detestation of their cruelties inflamed their Historians.”

Meanwhile the Roman historian Tacitus actually adds up over 57 years for the reign of Augustus, saying he “had exercised the power of the Tribuneship seven-and-thirty continued years: that he was one-and-twenty times proclaimed Imperator” (Annals 1). Josephus specifically claims “fifty-seven years, six months, and two days” for the rule of Augustus (Wars 2.9.1). Suetonius claims Augustus died “in the consul­ship of two Sextuses, Pompeius and Appuleius”, dated to 14 AD. 57 years before 14 AD is 44 BC, the official death of Julius Caesar. Eusebius fixes Julius definitively to the timeline:

“184th Olympiad [44 B.C.], Julius Caesar became emperor of the Romans, for 4 years and 7 months. And after him, Augustus (Sebastos in Greek) was emperor for 56 years and 6 months. In his reign, Herodes was the first foreigner to be made king of the Jews by the Romans […] and he had no right to the throne. In Herodes' reign, Christ the Son of God was born in Bethlehem of Judaea.” (Chronicon)

After Augustus, Tiberius became emperor. Eusebius says “In [Tiberius’] 15th year, the fourth year of the 201st Olympiad [28 A.D.], our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ the Son of God, appeared amongst men”. Let us work backwards from the statement that the 15th year of Tiberius began in the fourth year of the 201st Olympiad (28 AD). The first year of Tiberius falls in 14 AD, agreeing with official chronology. Eusebius also gives 56 years and 6 months for the reign of Augustus, putting the beginning of his reign in 43-44 BC. Thus Eusebius equates 15 AD, the last year Annas was high priest, with 28 AD, the 15th year of Tiberius, identifying both years as the ministry of Christ.

“So from Antiochus Epiphanes until the 15th year of Tiberius, is 201 years. And from Alexander of Macedonia until the same year of Tiberius, is 352 years. And from the second year of Dareius [until the same year of Tiberius], is 548 years. And from the 15th year of Tiberius until the final siege of Jerusalem in the second year of Vespasianus, is 42 years. From Adam until the second year of Dareius and the second building of [the temple in] Jerusalem, is 4680 years. And from the second year of Dareius which was the first year of the 65th Olympiad [520 B.C.] [until the ministry of Christ], is 137 Olympiads and 548 years.” (Chronicon)

By this reckoning of the second year of Darius in 4680 AM, Eusebius suggests the birth of Christ in 5200 AM instead of 5500 AM, as if trying to claw back 3 centuries from Theophilus and Africanus. Eusebius’ 5500 AM then falls in 300 AD! Eusebius explicitly claims: “So the total, from Adam until the 15th year of Tiberius, is 5228 years. From the 15th year of Tiberius until the 20th anniversary of Constantinus Victor Augustus, is 300 years” (Chronicon). Thus Eusebius places the first year of Constantine in 5508 AM or 308 AD. Constantine officially began his reign in 306 AD.

Eusebius also offers us another way to count lunar years: as months of 30 days, describing the Egyptian use of “lunar years, which lasted for 30 days. That is the period which we now call a month, but the men of that time called it a year” (Chronicon). In that case, the 490 lunar “years” implied by Daniel would only ~40.25 solar years. Now, for the ultimate conclusion, we must return to the book of Daniel and the mystery of the Septuagint or LXX or “70”. Why is the Greek version of the Jewish Bible named after the very numerological “prophecy” we are pursuing?

Deciphering the Book of Daniel

In the Greek text of Daniel in the Septuagint, Darius the Great is said to be the son of Xerxes, an odd choice for translators who should be familiar with the Greco-Persian wars that ended in 449 BC, starring the official Xerxes, son of Darius the Great. In the Hebrew text of Daniel, the same name is written Ahasuerus, a transliteration of Artaxerxes. By conventional chronology, the Persian empire ruled for 220 years, with no less than three Dariuses and four Artaxerxes in addition to Xerxes. But Hebrew chronology gives the same empire only 53 years, going straight from Cyrus to Artaxerxes to Darius to Hellenistic rule. Compare this to conventional chronology, wherein Cyrus’ heir is Cambyses and his second son Bardiya is knocked off the throne by Darius the Great, who claims Bardiya was impersonated by a Zoroastrian mage.

The oldest Christian chronology in Tertullian is different yet again, giving 106 years for the Persian empire, but also saying that Cyrus came after Artaxerxes, appearing to be the grandson of Darius and also known as “King Ochus”. Tertullian’s Artaxerxes reigned from 387 to 346 BC while the Hebrew Artaxerxes reigned from 368 to 354 BC and the official Xerxes, son of Darius the Great ruled from 518 to 465 BC. Julius Africanus claims that it was in the 20th year of the reign of Artaxerxes, his 445 BC, that the order was given to rebuild Jerusalem, aligning with the official Artaxerxes I, the same under whom Irenaeus says the Jewish priests rewrote their scriptures. Unfortunately most of Africanus’ work has been destroyed.

Eusebius offers another interesting tidbit about King Ochus from Josephus’ Antiquities, writing “After Nectanebus, Ochus the king of the Persians gained control of Egypt, and ruled over it for 6 years. After him, his son Arses [was king] for 4 years. After him, Dareius [was king] for 6 years. Then Alexander the Macedonian killed Dareius the Persian, and ruled over both the Asians and the Egyptians.” See how this account resembles the short Persian rule of Hebrew chronology, with Ochus explicitly taking the place of Cyrus the Great. I cannot actually find this passage in Antiquities.

Eusebius also claims “Alexander of Macedonia died in the 114th Olympiad [324 B.C.], after reigning for a total of 12 years”. Working backward, this puts the first year of Alexander in 336 BC and the first year of King Ochus in 352 BC - the same year the Hebrews identify as the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s 70 years, and their second year of Darius. Furthermore this date of 352 BC is only six years earlier than the first year of Cyrus/Ochus in Tertullian. If we conclude that King Ochus is Cyrus the Great, and that he actually ruled for 29 years, his death falls in 323 BC, matching the official death of Alexander. Thus again it seems that Cyrus = Alexander.

The beginning of Christ’s ministry falls 380 years after the beginning of a combined Cyrus/Ochus/Alexander (352 BC), in 29 AD. If we give Christ the same reign length as Cyrus at 29 years, his death falls in 58 AD, right between Tertullian’s implied dates of 57 AD for Caligula and 60 AD for Christ. 58 AD is the same year identified by Roman consulship for the death of Christ according to Annianos. Let us not forget that Cyrus is originally called “christened” by the “Lord” in the Greek text of the Septuagint, literally “Thus saith the Kyrios of the gods to his christened Kyro” (Isaiah 45:1). Isaiah says Cyrus will conquer the world exactly as Tertullian claimed about Christ, as the “Lord” says “I will break down gates of bronze, and cut through bars of iron” (45:2).

Josephus’ also provides a unique perspective on Darius, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes. Wars of the Jews only mentions Darius and Xerxes, saying the Jewish forefathers “had come out of Babylon, and returned home, in the reign of Xerxes” (2.6.2), as well as once alluding to “Darius, the son of Hystaspes” despite not mentioning Darius’ rule of the Persian empire (1.24.2). Josephus confirms his Xerxes in Wars of the Jews, under whom the Jews returned from Babylon, is the same individual who attacked Greece:

“While those Athenians, who, in order to preserve the liberty of Greece, did once set fire to their own city; who pursued Xerxes, that proud prince, when he sailed upon the land, and walked upon the sea, and could not be contained by the seas, but conducted such an army as was too broad for Europe; and made him run away like a fugitive in a single ship, and brake so great a part of Asia at the Lesser Salamis.” (Wars of the Jews 2.16.4)

Yet in the same book, Josephus writes of “the slavery we were under at Babylon, where the people were captives for seventy years; yet were they not delivered into freedom again before God made Cyrus his gracious instrument in bringing it about; accordingly they were set free by him, and did again restore the worship of their Deliverer at his temple” (5.9.4). Josephus thus claims that both Xerxes and Cyrus ended the captivity. He also firmly aligns the event to Roman history, writing “from the second building of [the temple], which was done by Haggai, in the second year of Cyrus the king, till its destruction under Vespasian, there were six hundred and thirty-nine years and forty-five days” (6.4.8). Counting from 70 AD, the second year of Cyrus falls in 570 BC. Indeed, Book XI of Antiquities is subtitled “Containing The Interval Of Two Hundred And Fifty-Three Years And Five Months.—From The First Of Cyrus To The Death Of Alexander The Great,” which suggests the death of Alexander in 318 BC, the same year in which Hebrew chronology puts the death of Darius.

In his Antiquities of the Jews, published about 20 years later than Wars, Josephus offers an expanded vision of Persian history. He writes “upon the death of Darius, Xerxes his son took the kingdom”. Translator William Whiston notes “with what an unusual accuracy Josephus determines these years of Xerxes, in which the walls of Jerusalem were built, viz. that Nehemiah came with his commission in the twenty-fifth of Xerxes, that the walls were two years and four months in building, and that they were finished on the twenty-eighth of Xerxes”. Josephus calls Xerxes “exceeding friendly to the Jews” and characterizes him as ordering the return of Jews from Babylon:

“I think it agreeable to that love which I bear to mankind, to permit those of the Jewish nation that are so disposed, as well as those of the priests and Levites that are in our kingdom, to go together to Jerusalem. […] Let them also take with them those presents which I and my friends have vowed, with all that silver and gold that is found in the country of the Babylonians, as dedicated to God, and let all this be carried to Jerusalem to God for sacrifices.” (Antiquities 11.5.1)

Josephus then tells us “After the death of Xerxes, the kingdom came to be transferred to his son Cyrus, whom the Greeks called Artaxerxes”. If you’re not confused yet, you should be! Antiquities goes from Darius—>Xerxes—>Cyrus (aka Artaxerxes). Similarly, Tertullian goes from Darius—>Artaxerxes—>Ochus (aka Cyrus). Daniel goes from Xerxes (aka Artaxerxes)—>Darius, and Hebrew chronology goes from Cyrus—>Artaxerxes—>Darius. It is well worth noting that “Xerxes” is etymologically identical to Cyrus; wikipedia describes it as a “transliteration of the Old Iranian Xšaya-ṛšā (‘ruling over heroes’), which can be seen by the first part xšaya, meaning "ruling", and the second ṛšā, meaning "hero, man". The name of Xerxes was known in Akkadian as Ḫi-ši-ʾ-ar-šá and in Aramaic as ḥšyʾrš.” In Aramaic, Xerxes is phonetically identical to Cyrus. We could further conclude that Cyrus/Xerxes is cognate with Caesar. In Antiquities, Artaxerxes/Cyrus is encouraged by Haman to go to war against the Jews:

“There is a certain wicked nation, and it is dispersed over all the habitable earth that was under his dominion; a nation separate from others, unsociable, neither admitting the same sort of Divine worship that others do, nor using laws like to the laws of others, at enmity with thy people, and with all men, both in their manners and practices. Now, if thou wilt be a benefactor to thy subjects, thou wilt give order to destroy them utterly, and not leave the least remains of them, nor preserve any of them, either for slaves or for captives." (Antiquities 11.6.5)

Artaxerxes/Cyrus is persuaded by the “antisemitism” of Haman, giving an order “that all these men, of whom Haman our second father hath informed us, be destroyed, with their wives and children, and that none of them be spared, and that none prefer pity to them before obedience to this decree.” This decree of total destruction against the Jews is extremely reminiscent of Philo’s characterization of Caligula as a man prepared to commit genocide against the self-chosen people.

The book of Daniel is set during the 70 year Babylonian captivity foretold by Jeremiah. In Jeremiah’s prophecy, which he dates to “the fourth year of Joakim, son of Josias, king of Juda”, YHWH says “behold I send and take a family from the north, and will bring them against this land” (Jeremiah 25:9) and warns that the Jews “shall serve among the nations seventy years. And when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will take vengeance on that nation, and will make them a perpetual desolation” (25:11-12). Note Jeremiah uses the unit of years, whereas Daniel uses the unit of hebdomads or “sevens”. The end of Jeremiah’s 70 year prophecy marks the desolation of the Gentiles or families of the north, while Daniel’s 70 “week” prophecy marks the desolation of Jerusalem that comes at the end of time. This is a major difference: Jeremiah and Isaiah predict the triumph of the Jews, but Daniel predicts ultimate destruction. Daniel says of his stay in Babylon, “Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus” (1:21), clearly indicating that Cyrus ended the captivity.

The Hebrew chronology counts the 490 years of Daniel’s prophecy from the destruction of the first temple to the destruction of the second temple, a perfect synchronism. Furthermore Josephus tells us that both temples were destroyed on the same day of the Hebrew calendar, Tisha B’av. This proves that the Hebrew interpretation of Daniel should be 490 lunar years in order to fall on the same lunar date, equalling ~475 solar years, as ultimately tallied by the Christians. It suggests the conclusion of this research—that the temple was only destroyed once, and mythohistoric prophecy is the only thing that cushions ancient history. If the “first” temple destruction fell ~475 years before the “second” temple destruction in 70 AD, it was destroyed in ~406 BC, 16 years after the Hebrew date in ~422. We can imagine that the prophecies were fulfilled 70 years later. Now by the logic of Tertullian, the prophecies are fulfilled by the crowning of Alexander the Great in 336 BC! Daniel’s use of “70 hebdomads” has a quintuple meaning: 70 weeks, 70 years, and 490 months or years, with the years possibly reckoned as lunar.

Daniel first references the 70 years of Jeremiah, before making his own prophecy:

“In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes, a Mede by descent, who was made ruler over the kingdom of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.” (Daniel 9:1-2)

Once more we are confronted with very strange implications. Now Darius is the son of Xerxes according to the Septuagint, although the Hebrew text has a different name for Darius’s father: Ahasuerus (ie, Artaxerxes). And “Chaldean” (Babylonian) after all is the racial identity of Abraham and the linguistic identity of Hebrew. But then Daniel makes a second prophecy about 70 hebdomads or “weeks” instead of 70 years:

“From the going forth of the command for the answer and for the building of Jerusalem until Christ the prince seven hebdomads, and sixty-two hebdomads; and then shall return, and the street shall be built, and the wall, and the times shall be exhausted. And after the sixty-two hebdomads, the christened one shall be destroyed […] And one hebdomad shall establish the covenant with many: and in the midst of the hebdomad my sacrifice and drink-offering shall be taken away: and on the temple the abomination of desolations.” -Daniel 9:25-27 LXX

In Daniel’s prophecy, the 7 hebdomads come before the 62 hebdomads, and “christ” comes after 69 hebdomads, only to be destroyed thereafter. In the middle of the final hebdomad, the temple is destroyed, so that one year must be divided in half. Daniel’s prophecy is about the second temple after all, since from Daniel’s point of view, the first temple has already been destroyed. Scholars date the final composition of Daniel rather late, aligned with “the defilement of the altar in Jerusalem in 167 BC”. In other words, Daniel is admitted to be one of the youngest books of the Jewish bible.

Now let us suppose for a second that the book of Daniel can literally means “week” when using the word “hebdomad” and not a period of seven years. This would place Daniel’s prophecy a little over a year (70 weeks) before the rebuilding and/or destruction of the temple, the same timeline given by the Christian Anno Mundi chroniclers for the end of the captivity and the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s 70 years. Thus Jeremiah’s prophecy of 70 years and Daniel’s prophecy of 70 weeks (and/or 490 lunar years) could all end on the same date, identified by Judaism as Tisha B’Av.

Daniel gives us much more detail about his prophecy, describing the rise and fall of a northern king that resembles a hybrid of Alexander the Great and Caligula. He writes, “In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel” about a great war (Daniel 10:11). Consider these descriptions from Daniel, and ask yourself whether they better match up to Alexander, Caligula, or some other Caesar:

“Then the king of the North will come, build up a siege ramp, and capture a fortified city. The forces of the South will not stand; even their best troops will not be able to resist. The invader will do as he pleases, and no one will stand against him. He will establish himself in the Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand.” (Daniel 11:15-16)

“Ships of Kittim will come against him, and he will lose heart. Then he will turn back and rage against the holy covenant and do damage. So he will return and show favor to those who forsake the holy covenant. His forces will rise up and desecrate the temple fortress. They will abolish the daily sacrifice and set up the abomination of desolation.” (11:30-31)

“Then the king will do as he pleases and will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and he will speak monstrous things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been decreed must be accomplished.” (11:36)

“He will extend his power over many countries, and not even the land of Egypt will escape. He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and over all the riches of Egypt, and the Libyans and Cushites will also submit to him.” (11:42-43)

“He will meet his end with no one to help him.” (11:45)

Daniel gives us a very good reason to interpret hebdomads as “weeks of years”, since he clearly defines the unit of the Half-Hebdomad: “And from the time the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation set up, there will be 1,290 days [3.5 years]. Blessed is he who waits and reaches the end of the 1,335 days” (12:11). Furthermore these two numbers of days are equivalent if converting between lunar and solar years. Note Paul never mentions Daniel! Should Daniel be dated after Paul?

Conclusion: Christ=Caesar=Cyrus=Constantine?

To resolve this deeply conflicted mesh of contrived chronology, we must return to the dating of Theophilus in his letter To Autolycus, Book III. This document is short, only about 9,000 words compared to 46,000 words in the Chronicon of Eusebius. Theophilus only mentions two Anno Mundi dates after the flood: 4954.5 AM, associated with the Babylonian captivity, and 5698 AM, which he says is the total age of the world up through Emperor Verus. There are 744 years between these two, and Theophilus specifically claims 744 years between the death of Cyrus and the death of Verus.

Theophilus places the death of Cyrus in 532 BC after reigning for 29 years, and says Tarquinus Superbus was also then the last king of the Romans, whose reign officially began in 534 BC. Technically Theophilus’ interval of 744 years must be counted from the first year of Cyrus to the last year of Verus in order to basically align with official chronology. Theophilus puts the first year of Cyrus in 561 BC at the earliest. 744 years after this date is 184 AD, which is still 15 years later than the official death of Verus. Yet if we count 744 years from the death of Cyrus instead, it only moves the death of Verus 29 years forward all the way to 213 AD, when the official date is 169 AD.

If Theophilus is correct that Verus died in 5698 and Cyrus died ~715 years earlier (744 - 29) in 4983 AM or 532 BC, then his first year of Cyrus aligns with his date of 4954.5 AM. Theophilus puts the vision of Daniel in the third year of Cyrus, beginning 4956.5 AM, and according to the Christians this prophecy of seventy times seven refers to 490 lunar years, or 475.4 solar years. 475.4 solar years after 4956.5 AM is 5431.9, which is equivalent to 84 BC. Now we will switch to working backwards from 5698 or 184 AD to see which Roman date falls in 84 BC by this alignment. The first dictatorship of Julius Caesar falls 237 years before the death of Verus in 184 AD 5461 AM, or 53 BC. The first year of Augustus begins in 50 BC, and the 41st year of Augustus is 10 BC or 5504 AM. The death of Caligula falls 85 years after the first dictatorship of Caesar, right about where Christ should be in 33 AD. The only better alignment of a “00” (double zero) date in Theophilus is found by reinterpreting the date of 4954.5 AM and changing the total age of the world. And it may provide a better answer than the birth of Christ in 5504 AM, especially since Theophilus doesn’t mention Christ at all.

In Josephus’ Wars of the Jews, he first mentions Caesar: “upon the flight of Pompey and of the senate beyond the Ionian Sea, Caesar got Rome and the empire under his power” (1.9.1). Josephus connects this event to the poisoning of Aristobolus, officially dated to 49 BC, and indeed 49 BC is the official date of Caesar’s first dictatorship. Wars mentions [Julius] Caesar 17 times, calling him the “great” Caesar once to distinguish him from Sextus Caesar, who was also assassinated just before Caesar. After that, he mentions the “younger Caesar” once and then uses the name Caesar to refer to Augustus and his successors. Wars never distinguishes Julius Caesar by name. Note that based on Josephus’ implication that Caesar gained power circa 49 BC, his reign length of “three years and seven months” (Wars 1.11.1) could be too short to reach 44 BC, ending in 45 BC instead and implying it as the first year of Augustus.

Theophilus’ reign lengths of the Roman emperors tally over 40 years between the death of Caligula and the first year of Vespasian, when the “second” temple was supposedly destroyed, 27 years longer than Tertullian. But 40 years is supposed to be the time period between the death of Christ and the fall of the temple per official chronology. Note Theophilus gives Caligula’s successor Claudius over 23 years as emperor, while Tertullian leaves out Claudius completely! The reign of Claudius is stated still differently by official chronology: 13 years from 41 to 54 AD. Theophilus says the time of the Caesars from the first dictatorship of Julius to the death of Verus is 237 years. Officially, these dates fall in 49 BC and 169 AD, 217 years apart, 20 years less than Theophilus.

Tertullian surreptitiously counts the years of Daniel’s prophecy as both ~475 and 490 years, meaning he could also be counting from ~422 like the Hebrews as well as 408-406 BC. Did Tertullian attempt to delete Claudius, Julius Caesar, Cyrus the Great and half the Persian imperial dynasty from history in order to align with Hebrew chronology? Or were all these rulers added by Theophilus? Occam’s razor suggests the latter. Yet both—indeed all—Christian chronologies are contradicted internally. It seems someone worked backward to change history. One of the ultimate numbers we need in this analysis is half of 29 years, or 14.5 years. To be even more precise, we need the difference, in solar years, between 490 solar years and 490 lunar years. This is almost exactly 14.6 solar years, since 490 lunar years = 475.4 solar years.

Another way to count Theophilus is to mark 4954.5 AM as the midpoint of Cyrus’ 29 year reign rather than the beginning and/or end. Let’s assume the reign of Cyrus at 29.2 years, double the magic number of 14.6. This puts its beginning in 4939.9 AM and its end in 4969.1 AM, agreeing with his placement of Cyrus’s death in 532 BC, with 1 BC falling 531 years later in 5500 AM. In this new alignment, Theophilus places the beginning of the prophecy of Daniel in the third year of Cyrus, beginning in 4941.9 AM. Depending on whether you count 475.4 or 490 solar years, you land earliest in 5417.3 or 5431.9 AM. In this alignment the first dictatorship of Caesar falls as early as Yule of 5475 AM. Thus the prophecy of Daniel in Theophilus should be fulfilled either ~58.6 years or ~44 years before the first dictatorship of Caesar, which is 49 BC on the official timeline. On average, the prophecy is fulfilled 51 years before the first dictatorship of Caesar, or 100 BC, exactly matching the official birth of Julius Caesar.

Counting 4954.5 AM as the midpoint of Cyrus and thus working backwards from the death of Verus in 5713 AM (despite Theophilus claiming only 5698 years of history), Theophilus puts the first dictatorship of Julius Caesar as early as Yule of 5475, with the 41st year of Augustus beginning 5519 AM. This places the death of Caligula in January 5562, now aligned with 62 AD and Jesus the Woe Sayer, and places the fall of the “second” temple in late 5602 AM. This also puts Caligula’s death 43 years after the 41st year of Augustus, agreeing with the official timeline. According to his official lifespan of 28+ years, Caligula would be born in 5533 AM, with the last year of Augustus beginning 5535 AM. Recall Tertullian technically placed the death of Caligula in 57 AD and Christ in 60 AD when aligned with the official timeline of 70 AD, and due to his other contradictions we suspected Christ and Caligula should fall in the same year. Also remember Julius Africanus repositioned the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy in 5531 AM as the first/only year of Christ’s ministry.

Theophilus counts 20 extra years in the reign of the Caesars up through Verus compared to official chronology, including 10 extra years in the reign of Claudius. Thus when we align Theophilus with official chronology by the death of Caligula, the destruction of the temple falls an extra ~11 years later in 81 AD. 79 AD was the year Vesuvius erupted, and it falls exactly in Theophilus’ 5600 AM by way of “midpoint” alignment, 38 years after the death of Caligula. This is one of the most exact “00” alignments in all of Theophilus. If 5600 AM = 79 AD, then 4969 AM (the last year of Cyrus when his reign is split on 4954.5 AM) equals 553 BC. Remember Josephus’ Antiquities claims the longest Persian empire of all, “Two Hundred And Fifty-Three Years And Five Months.—From The First Of Cyrus To The Death Of Alexander The Great”, suggesting Cyrus began his reign in January of 576 BC, ~15 years earlier than Theophilus. Going by Josephus, Theophilus would place the vision of Daniel in 574 BC, with its fulfillment 475.4 solar years later in 99 BC, almost exactly matching the “midpoint” alignment of Theophilus and again indicating the birth of Julius Caesar.

There is another very precise “00” alignment and it falls when counting the prophecy of Daniel from the first year of Cyrus instead of the third. There is good reason to do this since Tertullian places the vision of Daniel in the first year of the Persian empire, even though according to Tertullian this fell under Darius, with Cyrus/Ochus coming third in line. If 4954.5 AM is the end of Cyrus’ 29 year reign, as technically stated by Theophilus, then Persian rule begins in 4925.5. The prophecy would be fulfilled 490 lunar years or 475.4 solar years later in 5400.9. If 5500 AM should equal the birth of Christ in 1 AD, then 5400 is 100 BC, the birth of Julius Caesar, and indeed Theophilus puts the 41st year of Augustus in 5504 AM when he states the total age of history as 5698 years. It is only by counting 4954.5 AM as the midpoint of Cyrus’s reign that the alignment of Vesuvius in 5600 and the fall of the Temple in 5602 emerges. We can see how these dates would be equivalent to Tertullian: the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy and the destruction of the “second” temple. Yet when we average the contradictions of Theophilus, they are almost exactly 200 years apart.

But there may be an even better way to count Theophilus. Remember he says it was 4954.5 years “until the sojourning in Babylon”, indicating that the year might actually indicate the beginning of the captivity, not the end. Since the numbers of Theophilus do not agree with each other, some of them must be erroneous and/or fraudulent. If we count 70 years from the beginning of the captivity in 4954.5 AM to the first year of Cyrus in 5024.5, then we count Daniel’s prophecy of 475.4 years, we land in 5499.9 AM. This is exactly the bimillennial date we covet, and as we have already seen, it should technically fall in the life (or death) of Julius Caesar.

The AM alignment of Theophilus could also be corrected by 14.6 years, so that the first year of Cyrus moves from 561 BC to 575 BC (one year before Josephus), and now also showing that 475 years after the first year of Cyrus is 100 BC. This also moves the death of Verus in 184 AD back to the official date in 169 AD. Theophilus says the time of the Caesars through the death of Emperor Verus was 237 years, putting the first dictatorship of Caesar in 69 BC, 20 years too early. This is still not entirely satisfactory.

Lets us take a leap of faith and align the first dictatorship of Julius Caesar with 45 BC, the first year of the Julian calendar. The death of Verus falls in January 193 AD, the death of Caligula in April 41 AD, the destruction of the temple in the first year of Vespasian beginning February 82 AD, the 41st year of Augustus in 2 BC, and the 15th year of Tiberius in 29 AD, giving a hypothetical Christ a perfect age of 30 years exactly aligned with official AD equivalents along with the death of Caligula. Remember Theophilus doesn’t even mention Christ. It could be that his 2 BC should mark the birth of Caligula. This can be verified by combining the 41st year of Augustus with the 43 year reign length of Augustus in Philo, compared to the Roman claim that Caligula was born 2 years before Augustus death.

One possibility is that there are ~15 years too many in the timeline of the early Roman empire. We saw this in Tertullian who counts the last 15 years of Augustus twice, Theophilus who suggests the beginning and end of Cyrus the Great’s 29 year reign at the same moment in time, and Eusebius who flagrantly double dates the timelines of Augustus, Cleopatra, and Christ. In order to preserve the time period of 59-44 BC, the last 15 years of Julius Caesar’s career, we turn them instead into the first 15 years of Augustus’ career, removing 15 years from the end of the prophetic timeline and so placing the fall of the “second” temple in 53-55 AD instead of 68-70 AD. According to Tertullian’s analysis of Daniel’s prophecy and his Roman reign lengths, if the temple fell in 54 AD, then Christ suffered in 44 AD, and Caligula was assassinated in 41 AD, matching the official date of his death according to Suetonius.

This approach requires counting the reign of Augustus at 57.5 years (as stated by Josephus in Wars) from 59 BC, allowing the last 15 years of Julius Caesar’s career to become the beginning of Augustus’ career. Augustus’ conquest of Egypt falls in 45 BC, marking the adoption of the Julian calendar from Alexandria, the death of Cleopatra, and the beginning of Augustus’ 43 year reign according to Philo in Embassy to Gaius. Christ/Caligula is born in the 41st year after 45 BC, beginning 5 BC, agreeing with Matthew. But by this analysis, the first year of Tiberius falls in 2 BC, and the fifteenth year of Tiberius in 14-15 AD. 15 AD is the same year in which Eusebius places the first year of Christ’s ministry based on the high priesthoods of Annas and Caiaphas.

We can split the difference between the Hebrew and official date of the “second” temple destruction and reckon it in either 69 AD or 54 AD. The next question is whether to trust Josephus on the possible sighting of Halley’s comet in 66 AD as a harbinger of the brutal Roman siege warfare to come. Do any of our historical sources remain pure? Even Philo in his twin accounts of the Alexandrian riots contradicts himself deeply. Because the reign of Claudius and a few extra years are absent from Tertullian, it could be that 54 AD is the year he implies for the destruction of the “second” temple, 13 years after the death of Caligula. This is the result of aligning Tertullian and official chronology by the death of Caligula. Furthermore, if the Hebrew chronologists counted in the same manner as Tertullian, they would convert 490 lunar years into ~475 solar years between the destruction “dates” of the “temples”, which from their ~422 BC would also be 54 AD.

Wikipedia notes that the chronology of the Hebrew Seder Olam places the end of the Bar Kochba revolt 52 years after the destruction of the “second” temple. From the official date of the end of the revolt in 135 AD, the temple would fall in 83 AD, four years after Vesuvius erupted instead of the two years implied by Theophilus and ~15 years later than the Hebrews otherwise place the fall of the temple—now, unsurprisingly, 29 years from our competing date of 54 AD. If 83 AD should be counted as the fall of the temple, then Tertullian’s hebdomad breakdown would put the birth of Christ in 32-33 AD, the death of Christ in 73 AD, and the death of Caligula in 70 AD, exactly where the fall of the temple would otherwise be.

Theophilus tallies 110 years between the temple’s destruction and the death of Verus, leaving 127 years between the first dictatorship of Julius Caesar and the destruction of the “second” temple. With the latter event falling in 81 AD or 5602 AM according to our new alignment of Vesuvius in Theophilus, 127 years earlier is 47 BC or 5475 AM. Only by aligning the fall of the temple exactly with Vesuvius can the first dictatorship of Caesar fall in 49 BC according to Theophilus and match the official date. When the fall of the “second” temple is aligned to 79 AD, the first year of Daniel’s prophecy according to Tertullian falls 475.4 years earlier in 397 BC. This is Tertullian’s first year of Darius, who combined with his son Artaxerxes ruled for 60 years before the first year of Cyrus/Ochus. Now the first year of Cyrus/Ochus falls in 337-336, matching the official crowning of Alexander the Great in 336. Tertullian gives the reign of Cyrus/Ochus as 24 years, now ending in 312 BC. Official chronology says Alexander died 7 years after he defeated Darius, and Hebrew chronology says Darius was defeated in 318 BC, which also suggests the death of Alexander in 311 BC.

We are now converging on two essential dates, one marking the death of a combined Cyrus/Alexander figure in 311 BC and one marking the death of Christ/Caligula in 70 AD (or 323 BC and ~58 AD by competing alignment). These are 380 years apart, an ideal sum of five Calippic cycles. A calippic cycle also ideally relates the deaths of Julius Caesar and Jesus Christ in Anno Domini, just a day short of 76 years, ~44 BC to ~33 AD. Calippic cycles are a very handy tool for aligning lunar and solar calendars. Again the question becomes, did Tertullian delete Claudius, and Julius Caesar, and Cyrus the Great, and otherwise shorten history by 200 years, despite also doubling the short Persian history of the Hebrews? Or did Theophilus omit Jesus Christ and replace him with Julius Caesar? Whose chronology was written first?

Eusebius says Africanus added 100 over years to the timeline, and indeed Africanus (and Hippolytus) shift Daniel’s prophecy 115-129 years later than Theophilus, beginning in the 20th year of Artaxerxes in 445 BC and ending in ~5531 AM (30 AD) with the ministry of Christ. Yet Eusebius takes a full 300 years away from Africanus, implying Christ’s birth in 5200 AM instead of 5500 AM. Most later chroniclers, including Annianos who established the early Eastern Byzantine chronology in 412 AD, reverted to ~5500 AM for Christ’s birth. Dionysius Exiguus, who invented the official Anno Domini alignment in 525 AD, abandoned the use of Anno Mundi altogether. Eusebius moves the birth of Christ back to 5200 AM but places the 0-year of Constantine in 5508 AM, only 4 years after Theophilus implies the birth of Christ. Indeed some competing chronicles aligned the birth of Christ late in the decade, as in “AM 5506 or 5507 (3 BC: the Byzantine era and Paschal Chronicle)” and “AM 5968 (2 BC: John Malalas)” (Declercq, Anno Domini). Thus the 0-year of Constantine converges with the birth of both Christ and Caesar.

Meanwhile, the Easter date most consistent with the synoptic gospels falls in 42 AD, as identified by Annianos in 412 AD and used by the Byzantine church until the 9th century AD. Together with the synoptic emphasis on the short ministry, this places the birth year of Christ in 12 AD—yielding the approximate death and official birth of Caligula, who died in 41 AD according to Suetonius and official chronology. Furthermore the establishment of the Christian church in Alexandria by Mark is dated to 42 AD, conspicuously tied to Alexandria’s supposed deification of Caligula in Philo only two years earlier. We could suppose that 41 AD truly marks the death year of both Christ and Caligula. Historian Georges Declercq notes that the chronography of Annianos shows substantial contradictions with the official timeline:

“The only unpleasant fact was that the year chosen for the Passion and Resurrection of Christ (AD 42) fell in reality in the reign of Claudius instead of in that of Tiberius, so that the traditional chronology of Christ’s life was shifted by more than a decade. Annianos, however, was apparently not even aware of this historical inaccuracy, for he identified AM 5533/34, the year of the Passion and Resurrection (AD 42), with the nineteenth year of Tiberius (AD 32/33) and the third consulship of Nero and that of Messala (AD 58).”

-Georges Declercq, Anno Domini

Note how Annianos’ crucifiction date in 42 AD is simultaneously identified as 33 AD and 58 AD by his chronological landmarks. Also note that 5533 AM is the same date for the fifteenth year of Tiberius according to the Roman reign lengths of Theophilus, so that despite the number shuffling of his successors, that particular alignment for Christ’s death remained constant. The officially aligned date implied by Tertullian for the death of Caligula is 57 AD, while Annianos correlates the crucifiction to the consulship of Nero and Messala in 58 AD. In fact, if we align Tertullian’s “second” temple destruction to the Hebrew date of 68 AD instead of the official date of 70 AD, then Tertullian also implies Christ’s death in 58 AD, and Caligula’s in 55 AD.

Philo offers an invaluable perspective as an eyewitness to the times of Christ and the journalist of Caligula’s desire to have the Jews worship him as God. Philo is the earliest biographer of both Caligula and Pilate, yet he neglects to mention Christ at all. Like Tertullian, he also omits Julius Caesar despite him setting the precedent of the first deified emperor. Philo contains the oldest Christian themes, including the tale of Carabbas mocked as “king of the Jews” and the controversy over winebibbing in synods. His words and his general approach to scripture anticipate Paul, who would pick up writing in the same year that Philo leaves off. In the next chapter, we will consider the possibility that just as Caligula = Christ, and Petronius = Peter, so Philo = Paul, and Philo is the true originator of Christian scripture.

What this all ultimately indicates it that Julius Caesar as we think of him never existed. His birth 100 years before Christ is likely an artifact created by Tertullian’s specific delineation of a 100 year and 1 month interval, and the later chroniclers’ attempt to expand Tertullian’s timeline by centuries. Furthermore Julius Caesar’s birth was evidently set off from Christ’s by dividing a hebdomad or a year; explaining why Julius Caesar is born after the summer solstice in July while Christ is born at the winter solstice in Yule or Guili, on the same name of the holiday yet 5 months apart. A two year gap is observed in the biography of Julius Caesar, who curiously held every political office 2 years before his age allowed. According to Julius Caesar’s birthdate, he should not have been able to hold his first consulship until 57 BC, the same date imputed by Eusebius for the beginning of Augustus’ reign.

This conclusion is approved by the fact that like Philo’s account of early Imperial history, which gives credit to Augustus for conquering the whole world, Eusebius’ Church History makes no mention of Julius Caesar whatsoever. Julius Caesar is however featured in Eusebius’ Chronicon, aligned with reign dates that are clearly modified from Josephus. It may be that script master Eusebius interpolated all of the Christian chroniclers, explaining the flagrant internal contradictions of Tertullian and Theophilus. Yet the differences between Hebrew and Septuagint chronology are not limited to the ~165 year misalignment of the destruction of the “first” temple:

“While both eras reputedly begin with the creation of the world, their disparity in epoch lies in the biblical texts chosen to infer a year of creation. According to the Septuagint, the Earth seems to have been created roughly around 5500 BCE, and about 3760 BCE based on the Hebrew Masoretic text. Most of the 1,732-year difference resides in numerical discrepancies in the genealogies of the two versions of the Book of Genesis. Patriarchs from Adam to Terah, the father of Abraham, are said to be older by 100 years or more when they begat their named son in the Septuagint than they were in the Latin Vulgate, or the Hebrew Tanakh.”

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Mundi

Much work remains to be done to reconstruct a consistent chronology with a clear account of cause and effect. Happy Easter, wherever and whenever you may be.

“Daniel's Answer to the King” by Briton Rivière

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