"Dionysius Exiguus and the Introduction of the Christian Era", Sacris Erudiri Volume 41 (2002), p. 165-246 (original) (raw)
References (50)
earliest possible date for Easter75. It advances every year by 11, because 72 KRUSCH, Studien II, p. 68.
KRUSCH, Studien II, pp. 69-74. For a transcription of the five Dionysian cycles for the period AD 532-626 in Arabic numerals, see DECLERCQ, Anno Domini, pp. 197-200. 74 On the indictions, which officially began in AD 312/13, see GINZEL, Handbuch, I, pp. 232-234 and III, pp. 148-155; GRUMEL, La chronologie, pp. 192-206; and BAGNALL -WaRP, Tht Chronological Systems of Byzantine Egypt, pp. 1-29. 75 On the epact( s) and their use in the Easter computus, see GINZEL, Handbuch, III, pp. 140-142 and RUHL, Chronologie, pp. 138-142. Dionysius does not explicitly mention 22 March as the location of the epacts (or the sedes epactarum as medieval computists used to say), but the date can be deduced from his Easter table: in the fifth year of the 19-year cycle the epacts are 14 and the Paschal 14th moon falls on 22 March. According to NEUGEBAUER, Ethiopic Astronomy and Computus, p. 188 note 5, this 'medieval' definition of the epact GLORlE, Dionisii Exigui praefationes, p. 39; cf. MAHLER, Denys le Petit, p. 33. 105 Cf. above note 65 and below note 108. 106 On this consultation of Dionysius, see KRUSCH, Die Einfiihrung des griechi- schen Paschalritus, pp. 107-109 and IDEM, Ein Bericht der piiPstlichen Kanzlei, pp. 48-57; cf. also JONES, Bedae Opera de limporibus, p. 73 and IDEM, The Victorian and Dionysiac Paschal1tzbles, p. 414.
KRUSCH, Studien II, pp. 82-86. On the manuscript tradition, see CORDOLIANI, Les traites de comput, p. 60 and STEVENS, Cycles a/Time, p. 41 note 29. For the date of this letter, cf. above note 64.
KRUSCH, Studien II, p. 82: Reverentiae paschalis regulam, diu sancto ac vene- rabili Petronio episcopo commonente, tandem stilo commendare con pulsus, omnem p.38. 133
See DECLERCQ, Anno Domini, pp. 45-48.
MOMMSEN, Prosperi Tironis epitoma chronicon, pp. 409-499. On the Passion era used by Prosper, cf. HUMPHRIES, Chronicle and Chronology, pp. 159-160. 135 KRUSCH, Studien II, pp. 27-52.
MOMMSEN, Prosperi Tironis epitoma chronicon, pp. 409-410; KRUSCH, Studien II, pp. 25 and 27. The reason why Victorius was forced to shift the tra- ditional date of rhe Passion by one year has been explained in DECLERCQ, Anno Domini, pp. 84-85. On the consulate of rhe two Gemini as the conventional date of Christ's Passion in rhe West, see rhe literature cited above in note 37. ity of Christ were therefore generally dated in the year correspond- ing in our modern system to 3 or 2 BC, although the dating system used to indicate the year might differ 144: some preferred, like Eusebius and Rufinus, the regnal year of Augustus, not only the forty-second (2 BC), but also the forty-first (or 3 BC, preferred by Tertullian and Irenaeus of Lyon) 145; others used an era of creation to mark the event: AM 5500 (2 BC: Mricanus and Hippolytus of Rome) 146, AM 5506 or 5507 (3 BC: the Byzantine era and Paschal Chronicle) 147, AM 5967 or 5968 (3 or 2 BC: John Malalas) 148, AM 5199 (2 BC: Victor of Tunnuna on the basis of Eusebius/ Jerome) 149; others marked the consulate following the usual prac- 144 A detailed survey of early Christian sources with regard to the year of Jesus's birth can be found in LAzZARATO, Chronologia Christi, pp. 62-116. For a discus- sion of the most important authorities, see FINEGAN, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, pp. 281i-291.
KROYMANN, fertulliani Opera, II, p. 1360; A. RoUSSEAu-L. DOlTfRELEAU, Irent'"e de Lyon. Contre les heresies, livre III, II, Paris, 1974 (SC 211 ), pp. 406-407. The first author tol place the birth of Christ in the forty-second year of Augustus was apparently Hi{tpolytus of Rome; see OGG, Hippoiytus and the Introduction of the Christian Era, pp. 4 and 7-9.
GELZER, St"'fUS Julius Africanus und die Byzantinische Chronographie, I, pp. 46-47 and 50 (Mricanus) and II, pp. 18-20 (Hippolytus); c£ FINEGAN, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, pp. 156-160 and 288. On the chronology us<:d by Hippolytus in hfs works, see also GRUMEL, La chronologie, pp. 6-17 and OGG, Hippoiytus and the Introduction of the Christian Era, pp. 4-14.
PG, XCII, col. 489-490 and 495-496 (Paschal Chronicle, AM 5507); cf.
GELZER, Sextus Julius Africanus und die Byzantinische Chronographie, II, p. 149 and GRUMEL, La chronologie, pp. 220 and 223. For the year of the incarnation and birth of Jesus in the Byzantine era (AM 5506), see Ibidem, p. 30 and DECLERCQ, Anno Domini, p. 35.
GELZER, Sextus Julius Africanus und die Byzantinische Chronographie, II, pp. 130-132; cf. yRUMEL, La chronologie, pp. 220 and 223.
Th. MOMMSI}N, Victoris 1Onnennemis episcopi chronica, in M.G.H., M., XI, Berlin, 1894, pp. 181 and 206; cf. R. L. POOLE, The Earliest Use of the Easter Cycle ofDionysius, in IDEM, Studies in Chronology and History, Oxford, 1934, p. 35. As both Mommsen and Poole point out, Victor ofTunnuna, who lived in the latter part of the s~th century, clearly arrived at this date by using Jerome's trans- lation of the chronicle of Eusebius of Caesarea. In this work, the birth of Christ is dated in the year 2015 since Abraham, the forty-second year of Augustus and the third year of the 194th olympiad (2 DC). The age of the world is not men- tioned as such, but given the (repeated) indication of the number of years passed from Adam to the flood (2242 years) and from the latter event to Abraham (942 years), it must have been quite easy to calculate that, according to Eusebius/Jerome, Jesus was born in AM 5199 (= 2242 + 942 + 2015). See R.~ HELM, Eusebius Werke. Siebenter Band: Die Chronik des Hieronymus (Hieronymi Chronicon), Berlin, 19562, pp. 15, 169, 174 and 250; cf. FINEGAN, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, pp. 169, 182-184 and 189-192.
Th. MOMMSEN, Consu/aria Constantinopolitana and Consu/aria Italica, in M.G.H.,M., IX, Berlin, 1892, pp. 218 and 278; R. W. BURGESS, The Chronicle of Hydatius and the Consu/aria Constantinopolitana. Two Contemporary Accounts of the Final J-ears of the Roman Empire, Oxford, 1993, p. 226. The same consular date for the birth of Jesus is mentioned by the fourth-century bishop Epiphanios;
GELZER, St'Xtus Julius Africanus und die Byzantinische Chronographie, I, p. 47 note 6 and FINEGAN, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, p. 289. 151 HELM, Eusebius Werke. Siebenter Band: Die Chronikdes Hieronymus, p. 169;
C. ZANGEMEISTER, Pauli Grosii Historiarum adversum paganos libri VI/, Vienna, 1882 (CSEL V), pp. 426, 428 and 437.
Th. MOMMSEN, Cassiodori senatoris chronica, in M.G.H., M., XI, Berlin, 1894, p. 135.
G. OPPERT, Ueber die Entstehung der Aera Dionysiana und den Ursprung der Null, in Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft fiir Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, 1900, pp. 102-136, esp. pp. 116 and 120-122. This explanation was accepted (generally without reference to Oppert) by GINZEL, Handbuch, III, p. 179;
ROHL, Chronologie, p. 198; KRUSCH, Studien I/, p. 60; GRUMEL, La chronologie, p. 224; STROBEL, Ursprung und Geschichte, p. 138; and BORST, Die karolingische Kalenderreform, pp. 741-742.
159 On the Easter table of Hippolytus, see in particular M. RICHARD, Comput ~t chronographi~ chez saint Hippolyt~ (I), in Me/ang~s de Sci~nc~ ReligitUS~, VII (1950), pp. 237-268 (reprinted in IDEM, Opera Minora, I, no. 19); c£ also GINZEL, Handbuch, III, pp. 236-238; STROBEL, Ursprung und G~schicht~, pp. 122-133; GRUMEL, La chronologi~, pp. 6-9 and 16. For the cyclical link between the thirty-second year of the table and the Passion of Christ, see Ibidem, p. 9 and SCHWARTZ, Christlich~ und judisch~ Ostertaftln, pp. 34-36; c£ also DECLERCQ, Anno Domini, pp. 18-19. On Friday 25 March AD 29 as the conventional date of the Passion in the West, c£ LAzZARATO, Chronologia Christi, pp. 349-398;
STROBEL, Ursprung und Geschichte, pp. 139-143; and M. RICHARD, Com put ~t chronographi~ ch~z saint Hippolyt~ (II), in Me/ang~s de Sci~nc~ ReligitUS~, VIII (1951), pp. 36-38 (reprinted in IDEM, Opera Minora, I, no. 19).
Th. MOMMSEN, Liber paschal is codicis Cizmsis, in M.G.H., AA., IX, Berlin, 1892, pp. 501-510, esp. p. 507 (prologue); c£ KRUSCH, Studien I, pp. 116-123 and STROBEL, Ursprung und G~schichte, pp. 270-271.
KRUSCH, Studi~n II, pp. 24-25 and 27; on the shift from AD 29 to 28 and from 25 March to 26 March, see JONES, B~dae Opera de Temporibus, p. 63 and DECLERCQ, Anno Domini, pp. 84-85.
JONES, Bedae Opera de 1emporibus, pp. 70 and 381. I~Th..MoMMSEN, Chronographusanni CCCLIJII, inM.G.H.,M., IX, Berlin, 1892, p. 56: Caesare et Paulo ...Hoc com(ulibus) dominus Jesus Christus natus est VIII kal. Jan( uarii) d( ie) Ven( ens) luna xv. On this work, see now in particular M. R. SALZMAN, On Roman Time. The Codex-Calendar 0[354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity, Berkeley -Los Angeles -Oxford, 1990 (The Transformation of the Classical Heritage, XVII).
Cf. SALZMAN, On Roman Time, pp. 3-4.
MOMMSEN, Chronographus anni CCCLIIIJ, pp. 56-60.
197 See in particular the detailed description of the lost Carolingian copy of this work (c£ hereafter note 199) by Nicholas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc in a letter of 18 December 1620: MOMMSEN, Chronographus anni CCCLIIIJ, pp. 19-20. 198 Cf. JONES, Bedae Opera de 1emporibus, p. 76.
MOMMSEN, Prosperi Tironis epitoma chronicon, pp. 407-408.
MOMMSEN, Prosperi Tironis epitoma chronicon, pp. 409-410; cf. HuM- PHRIES, Chronicle and Chronology, pp. 159-160. On the use of Prosper's chroni- cle in the fifth and sixth centuries, see A. D. VaN DEN BRINCKEN, Studien zur Lateinischen Weltchronistik bis in das Zeitalter Ottos von Freising, Dusseldorf, 1957, p. 69.
MOMMSEN, Prosperi Tironis epitoma chronicon, p. 445.
G. TERES, Time Computatiom and Dionysius Exiguus, in Journal for the History of Astronomy, XV (1984), pp. 177-188. 223 The number qf this olympiad has been garbled in other manuscripts: XLV (London, British 4brary, Cotton Caligula A XV, f' 78vo; KRUSCH, Studim II, pp. 68 note and 87, on the basis of Oxfottl, Bodleian Library, Digby 63, f' 7Ov°a nd Milan, Bibl. Ambrosiana, H 150 Inf., f' 50rO), CCXLII (Cologne, Diozesan-und Do~bibliothek, 83 II, f' 67rO), CCXLV (WIESENBACH, Sigebert ofGembloux, p. 296).
Cf. JONES, The Victorian and Dionysiac Paschal1ables, pp. 416-417 and IDEM, &dae Opera de lemporibus, pp. 73-74.
BORST, Die karolingische Kalenderreform, p. 723 ('Mehr als ein ungelenkes Rechenkunststiick war das nicht').
HELM, Eusebius Werke. Siebenter Band: Die Chronik des Hieronymus, pp. 169 and 225.
BICKERMAN, Chronology of the Ancient World, p. 88 describes it as the 'stan- dard of chronological knowledge in the West'. 228 A substantial part of a fifth-century manuscript (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Auct. T. II 26, f" 33-145), as well as several ftagments dating ftom the same peri- od (Paris, Bibl. Nat., Latin 6400B, f" 1-8 and 285-290 + Vatican Library, Reg. lat. 1709A, f" 34-35 + Leid~n, Universiteitsbibliotheek, Voss. lat. Q. 110a, f" 167-172 + Orleans, Bibl. Mun., 305: 23 leaves, late fifth century; Wrodaw, Bibl. Univ., I Fol. 120d: 2 leaves, fifth century; London, British Library, Harley 3941, f' 124-125, 1,34-135,240-241,246,248-249,251,253,260 and 265: 13
palimpsest leaves, fifth or sixth century} have been preserved; c£ HELM, Eusebius Werke. Siebenter Band: Die Chronik des Hieronymus, pp. IX-X and E. A. LOWE, Codices Latini Antiquiores, II, Oxford, 1935, p. 32, no. 233a (Oxford);
Supplement, Oxford, 1971, p. 12, no. 1704 (London). For a cqmplete list of the manuscripts of Jerome's translation (and continuation) of the chronicle of Eusebius, see B. LAMBERT, Bibliotheca Hieronymiana Manuscripta. La tradition manuscrite des ll'Uvres de saint Jerome, II, The Hague, 1959, pp. 31-42.
MOMMSEN, ~speri Tironis epitoma chronicon, pp. 385-485; BURGESS, The Chronicle ofHydatius, pp. 70-123 (and pp. 7-8 of the introduction);
Th. MOMMSEN, Chronica Gallica a. CCCCL/I et DXl, in M.G.H, M., IX, Berlin, 1892, pp. 615-666; c£ VON DEN BRINCKEN, Studien zur Lateinischen Weltchronistik, pp. 66-71.
ZANGEMEISTER, Pauli Grosii Historiarum adversum paganos libri VII; c£ VON DEN BRINCKEN, Studien zur Lateinischen Weltchronistik, p. 81. 231 MOMMSEN, Cassiodori senatoris chronica, pp. 119-161; c£ VON DEN BRINCKEN, Studien zur Lateinischen Weltchronistik, pp. 86-87.
MOSSHAMMER, Georgii Syncelli Ecloga Chronographica, pp. 1-,2 and 381- 382; cf. GELZER, Sextus Julius Africanus und die Byzantinische Chronographie, II, pp. 248-2~9; GRUMEL, La chronologie, pp. 92-93; ADLER, lime Immemorial, pp. 161-162. On the chronological system of Annianos, which was based on the establishment of a mystical relationship between the first day of creation, the incarnation of Christ and his Resurrection, all occurring on 25 March, cf. also above note 41.
Cf. GELZER, Sextus Julius Africanus und die Byzantinische Chronographie, I, p. 47 and II, pp. 149 and 248-249.
H. G. BECK, Kirche und theologische Literatur im Byzantinischen Reich, Munich, 1977 (Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft XII, 2, 1), p. 260.
MOMMSEN, Chronographus anni CCCLIIII, p. 71: VIII kal. Ian( uarii) natus Christus in Betleem Iudeae. The date 25 December is also indicated as the birth- day of Jesus in the consular annals of the same work; cf. above note 194. 260 ZANGEMEISTER, Pauli Orosii Historiarum adversum paganos libri VII, p. 437. 261 KRUSCH, Studien II, p. 64.
Cf. VAN WlJK, Le nombre d'or, pp. 15-16 and IDEM, De late paasch van 1943, pp. 38-39.
FINEGAN, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, p. 114: 'For the year of the incarnation Dionysius accepted the year AUC 753 (= 1 BC) and also for the day 271 C£GRUMEL, La chronologie, pp. 7, 92-93 and 135, and WALLIS, Bede, p. XXXVII. 272 C£ above note 155.
C£ OPPERT, Ueber die Entstehung der Aera Dionysiana, p. 109 and WALLIS, Bede, pp. 273 and 280.