Ancient History Timeline

Chronologies & sorting

How the timeline is sorted

sorting_year = the BC/AD year of the first tier that has a non-null year_bc_ad (events: chronologies[]; people: dates.birth[]). The first matching entry within a tier is used; for split years (2348/2347) the start year is used. Secondary display chronologies (bible, masoretic-genealogy, jordan, josephus, Clonmacnoise, Raleigh) never set sorting_year.

  1. Tier 1 · CFAH anchor point cfah entry with cfah_basis = anchor_point
  2. Tier 2 · CFAH-1 Table 1 (Ussher–Jones baseline) cfah entry with cfah_basis = table1_baseline (CFAH-1 Table 1)
  3. Tier 3 · Ussher–Jones (Floyd Nolen Jones) ussher-jones entry (Floyd Nolen Jones)
  4. Tier 4 · Ussher, Annals of the World ussher entry (Annals of the World)

If no tier yields a year: tier "derived" (sorting_year copied from the record named in derived_from; events only by convention) or tier "none" (sorting_year null; people only).

Chronological Framework of Ancient History primary

Kenneth C. Griffith, Darrell K. White

Primary sorting chronology. A planned 20-paper series in Answers Research Journal (CFAH-1 to CFAH-6 published as of 2026-10-17) that harmonises durations from ancient chroniclers with Ussher's biblical chronology as modified by Floyd Nolan Jones ("Ussher-Jones"). Only dates read directly in the ARJ papers are entered; every CFAH date carries paper + section citation. Each dated cfah entry carries cfah_basis: "anchor_point" (dates the papers derive/triangulate, e.g. AP-29, AP-30) or "table1_baseline" (CFAH-1 Table 1, the Ussher-Jones biblical baseline the authors adopt). These are sort tiers 1 and 2.

Dates given in Julian BC; split years written as 2348/2347 (year_bc_ad = -2348, year_bc_ad_end = -2347). CFAH papers do not use AM numbering in their anchor points; year_am left null unless the paper states it.

Ussher-Jones (Floyd Nolen Jones, The Chronology of the Old Testament)

Floyd Nolen Jones

Floyd Nolen Jones's refinement of Ussher (The Chronology of the Old Testament: A Return to the Basics, 1993-2019; Master Books edition 2004+). CFAH treats it as its biblical baseline (CFAH-1 Table 1), but here it is a separate chronology (sort tier 3) so Jones's own statements are cited directly. Entries are filled only where read in a freely accessible Jones source; everything else is null with a note.

Creation = 0 AM = 4004 BC; Jones states "any BC number added to its corresponding AM counterpart will always yield the value 4004" (15th ed. 2002, Chart Five discussion, p. 110). That rule is documented here but NOT used to convert AM-only figures; year_bc_ad is filled only where Jones prints the BC year.

Ussher, Annals of the World (1650/1658)

James Ussher

Archbishop James Ussher's Annales Veteris Testamenti (1650), English edition 1658. Gives Anno Mundi (AM), Julian Period (JP) and BC years for each entry.

AM 1 = 710 JP = 4004 BC (Creation began at the evening preceding 23 October 4004 BC, Julian). Ussher's year runs autumn to autumn, so one AM year straddles two BC years; Ussher's printed BC heading is used for year_bc_ad. E.g. AM 1656 (Flood begins) is headed 2349 BC and AM 1657 (Noah leaves the Ark) is headed 2348 BC.

James B. Jordan, Biblical Chronology (Biblical Horizons / ICE, 1989-1997) and Studies in Biblical Chronology Nos. 2-3 (2001)

James B. Jordan

SECONDARY DISPLAY CHRONOLOGY - never used for sorting_year (not one of the four sort tiers). James B. Jordan's monthly newsletter Biblical Chronology (Institute for Christian Economics / Biblical Horizons, 1989-1997). Framework: six 24-hour creation days, no gaps in Genesis 5 or 11, Masoretic numbers (rejects the LXX and the "second Cainan"); Flood AM 1656; Arphaxad AM 1658 ("two years after the Flood"); Abram born AM 2008 (Terah 130, from Gen 11:26 + Acts 7:4) - the same as Ussher and 60 years later than plain Gen 11:26 arithmetic (1948); the 430 years of Ex 12:40 counted from Abram's entry into Canaan (AM 2083), so the Exodus is AM 2513 (same as Ussher/Jones); Judges partly overlapping, 480 years to the Temple foundation in Solomon's 4th year, AM 2993 (one year later than Ussher/Jones 2992), completed AM 3000, dedicated (he assumes) AM 3014 (Ussher: 3001); kings of Judah as the controlling "Adamic chronology" (rejects Thiele and the conventional Assyrian synchronisms); fall of Jerusalem c. AM 3425; decree of Cyrus c. AM 3474; Daniel's 70 weeks taken as 490 literal years from Cyrus, which REJECTS the Ptolemaic Persian chronology and shortens the post-exilic period by about 80 years; crucifixion AM 3960 and, "if this happened in A.D. 30", the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 = AM 4000. Consequence: Jordan's B.C. dates (his "SBC", strictest Biblical chronology, first set out in BC 5:8, Dec. 1993) run about 74-75 years later than Ussher/CFAH for the same events (Creation 3930 B.C., Flood 2274, Abram 1922, Exodus 1417, Temple begun 937), while his AM figures mostly match Ussher. Later issues (Daniel series 1995) date the Persian period with conventional B.C. years (e.g. Cyrus 538 B.C.), so his B.C. usage is not uniform. JUDGES PERIOD: Jordan set out two schemes. (1) BC 3:7-3:8 (July-Aug. 1991): the 300 years of Judges 11:26 end at Jephthah's victory, AM 2853. (2) From Creation to Solomon (Studies in Biblical Chronology No. 2, Oct. 2001), ch. 11: the 300 years run 2560-2860 and end when Ammon took the villages, so his judges dates move 26 years later (Jephthah 2879, Eli begins 2841, Saul 2909, David born 2919, Samuel dies 2946). Both are recorded on the judges records, 2001 first. Jordan's 1980s books (Law of the Covenant 1984, Judges 1985, Sociology of the Church 1986, Through New Eyes 1988, Covenant Sequence 1989, and the Christianity and Civilization symposia) give intervals at most; see data/jordan-dates-extract.md.

Anno Mundi counted from Adam's creation as year 0 ("0 - Adam created"; Seth 130), written "AM 1656", "A.M. 2008", or month/day/year as "2/17/1656". His year sometimes runs from spring (Pentateuch plague calendar, "1st Month (March-April 2513)") and sometimes turns in the 7th month (wilderness narrative, BC 6:8 §18). year_bc_ad is filled only where Jordan prints a B.C. year, which is almost always his SBC figure; the note says so. Nothing is converted between AM and B.C. Many of his dates carry "?" or "c." or are called "arbitrary"/"aesthetic"; those use precision "conjectural".

Biblical statements (direct Scripture data)

Dates/durations stated explicitly in Scripture (relative dates such as "in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day"). The Bible is the infallible standard; this chronology records the text's own statements without conversion.

date holds the scriptural wording/paraphrase; year_am filled only when the verse itself fixes it relative to a stated life (otherwise null); year_bc_ad always null.

Masoretic Text genealogy arithmetic (Genesis 5 & 11)

Straight arithmetic on the Masoretic/KJV figures of Genesis 5 and 11 with no external calibration: each birth = father's birth + father's age at begetting; each death = birth + lifespan.

Anno Mundi counted as completed years from the creation of Adam (Adam created AM 0; Seth born AM 130 because "Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat... Seth", Gen 5:3). The Flood falls in AM 1656 (Noah born AM 1056; Flood in his 600th year, Gen 7:6, 7:11). year_bc_ad is always null (the text gives no BC anchor).

Josephus (Whiston translation)

Flavius Josephus

Chronological statements in Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (Whiston translation). Josephus's figures for the antediluvians largely follow LXX-type numbers in the received text; Whiston's brackets give Masoretic corrections.

Years from Adam as Josephus states them (stored in year_am); no BC conversion.

Annals of Clonmacnoise

(Irish annalists)

Irish annals from the earliest period to AD 1408, surviving in Conell Mageoghagan's 1627 English translation (ed. Murphy, 1896). Referenced by CFAH-2 for the colonisation of Ireland.

Years from Adam as stated (stored in year_am only when the text states an AM figure); intervals between ages of the world are recorded as text in date with year_am null. Read from the 1896 Internet Archive OCR text.

Raleigh, The History of the World (1614/1617)

Sir Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World (1st ed. 1614; primary text the 1617 issue, EEBO-TCP A10357 / STC 20638 / ESTC S112960; 11th ed. 1736 as secondary reading copy), Books I–V from Creation to 130 BC.

Year of the world (AM) as Raleigh states it (year_am); no BC conversion. Primary text: 1617 EEBO-TCP transcription (sources/raleigh/). Anchors below were read from the 1736 (11th ed.) vol. 1 Internet Archive OCR and still cite it until they are re-checked against the 1617 text.

Anno Mundi Chronology Studies (compilation of Jordan's system)

Unnamed compiler

SECONDARY DISPLAY CHRONOLOGY. It never sets sorting_year and is not one of the four sort tiers. It is kept separate from "jordan", which holds Jordan's own published figures. A 14-page set of charts that compiles James B. Jordan's Anno Mundi system from Creation to Solomon (Judges as in his 2001 From Creation to Solomon), with an A.M./B.C. table running to A.D. 70. The owner confirmed it as an accurate compilation (2026-10-18). Its B.C. column is the compiler's own: Creation 4010 B.C., so B.C. = 4010 − AM through the Temple (3000 AM = 1010 B.C.). This is about 80 years earlier than Jordan's SBC (3930) and 6 years earlier than Ussher (4004). Known slips against Scripture and Jordan: Enosh dies 1130 (should be 1140); Arphaxad dies 2093 at 435 (should be 2096 at 438). It corrects Jordan's Mahalalel 396 to 395. Jephthah 2878 vs Jordan 2879; Moses dies 2553 vs Jordan 2554; Jacob dies 2315 vs Jordan 2313 (Jordan's slip). Each entry notes agreement or difference with Jordan's own figure.

AM as printed (year_am). B.C. (year_bc_ad) only where the compilation prints a B.C. year (pp. 3 and 11). Nothing is converted. Its AM has a year 0 ("There is a “0” year in A.M.", p. 13).

All free sources