Ancient History Timeline

Event

The Flood

God judges the world by a global Flood; Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives, and the animals are preserved in the Ark.

Sort year2348/2347 BC
Tier 1 · CFAH anchor point

Tier 1: CFAH anchor point: 2348–2347 B.C.

Description

Genesis 6–8. The Flood begins in Noah's 600th year, 2nd month, 17th day (Gen 7:11); the earth is dry in his 601st year, 2nd month, 27th day (Gen 8:14).

Scripture

Chronologies

Dates for The Flood, CFAH first
ChronologyDate as statedYear (BC / AM)Citation & note
CFAH anchor point 2348–2347 B.C.
Precision: year-range
 2348/2347 BC Griffith & White, "Chronological Framework of Ancient History. 4: Dating Creation and the Deluge," ARJ 16 (2023): 475–489, section "AP-29: The Flood: 2348–2347 B.C."
Five triangulations; also CFAH-1 Introduction ("the Flood in 2348/2347 BC") and Table 1 ("2348 Flood of Noah").
Sets sort year
CFAH-1 Table 1 Ussher–Jones baseline 2348 BC (Flood of Noah)
Precision: year
 2348 BC Griffith & White, "Chronological Framework of Ancient History. 1: Problem, Data, and Methodology," ARJ 15 (2022): 377–390, section "Our Assumptions (Declared Biases)", Table 1 "Biblically derived dates from Ussher and Jones"
CFAH-1 Table 1 (Ussher-Jones biblical baseline adopted by CFAH); not a triangulated anchor point.
Ussher-Jones 1656 AM, 2348 BC (year of the Flood)
Precision: year
 2348 BC
AM 1656		 Floyd Nolen Jones, Chart No. 1 "Creation to Jesus Christ" (© 1993), line "1656 AM 2348 BC the year of the FLOOD"; also Jones, Chronology of the Old Testament (15th ed., 2002), Chart One §B, p. 26 ("1921 + 427 = 2348 BC (year of the Flood)")
Jones: Flood AM 1656 = 2348 BC (Ussher heads AM 1656 as 2349 BC).
Ussher 1656 AM, 2365 JP, 2349 BC; enters Ark Sunday 7 December (Julian)
Precision: day
 2349 BC
AM 1656		 Ussher, Annals of the World, First Age, §34–35
Ussher's heading for AM 1656 reads 2349 BC; the exit from the Ark (AM 1657) is headed 2348 BC (Second Age §40–41). "Flood 2348 BC" in popular summaries therefore conflates the two AM years.
Differs from sort year by 1 yr
Jordan secondary AM 1656: announcement 2/10/1656, judgment commenced 2/17/1656 (Gen 7:10-11); "1657 - End of Flood"
Precision: day
 AM 1656 Jordan, "The Chronology of the Pentateuch (Part 2)," Biblical Chronology 6:4 (April 1994), §4 year list ("1656 - The Flood; Methuselah died") and §5 "The Chronology of the Flood Year"
Jordan writes dates as month/day/year AM. A Summary of OT Chronology (BC 4:8) §1: "This puts the Flood in the year Anno Mundi (year of the world) 1656"
Jordan secondary Flood: Anno Mundi 1656; 2274 B.C. (SBC)
Precision: year
 2274 BC
AM 1656		 Jordan, "Egypt in Biblical History," Biblical Chronology 5:8 (December 1993), chart "Anno Mundi / B.C. (SBC) / B.C. (CCC)" at the start of the article
B.C. year is Jordan's "SBC" (strictest Biblical chronology), which takes Daniel's 70 weeks literally from Cyrus (456 B.C. instead of the conventional 536 B.C.); not comparable one-to-one with Ussher/CFAH B.C. years.
Differs from sort year by 74 yrs
Jordan (compilation) secondary Flood 1656 2354 Gen. 7:6
Precision: year
 2354 BC
AM 1656		 Anno Mundi Chronology Studies (unnamed compiler; a compilation of James B. Jordan's system), p. 11, chart table "Biblical History According To A.M & B.C. Dates"
Agrees with Jordan's own published AM 1656. The compilation's B.C. year (2354) is AM subtracted from 4010 (its own convention: Creation 4010 B.C.); Jordan's own SBC B.C. figures differ (here 2274 B.C.). Display only; never converted or used for sorting.
Differs from sort year by 6 yrs
Biblical statements (direct Scripture data) Noah's 600th year, 2nd month, 17th day (begins); 601st year, 2nd month, 27th day (earth dry)
Precision: day
 — Gen 7:6, 7:11; Gen 8:13–14
MT-Gen AM 1656
Precision: year
 AM 1656 Noah born AM 1056 (Gen 5:3–29 cumulative) + Gen 7:6, 7:11
Methuselah (born AM 687, lived 969) dies AM 1656, the Flood year.
Josephus (Whiston translation) 2656 years from Adam [Whiston bracket: 1656]
Precision: year
 AM 2656 Josephus, Antiquities I.3.3 (Whiston)
Josephus's received text gives 2656; Whiston inserts [one thousand six hundred and fifty-six] in brackets.
Raleigh, The History of the World (1614/1617) "The general flood was in the year of the world 1656"
Precision: year
 AM 1656 Raleigh, The History of the World (11th ed. 1736, vol. 1), Book I, ch. VII, sect. III
Annals of Clonmacnoise "in the 600 yeare of Noeh's age came the flood" - first age, Adam to the Flood, 1656 years ("according to the 70 Interpreters" 2242)
Precision: year
 AM 1656 Annals of Clonmacnoise (trans. Mageoghagan 1627, ed. Murphy 1896), p. 12

Disagreements & open questions

  • Chronologies disagree BC years differ: 2354 BC (Jordan (compilation)); 2349 BC (Ussher); 2348 BC (CFAH, CFAH-1 Table 1, Ussher-Jones); 2274 BC (Jordan).
  • Chronologies disagree Anno Mundi figures differ: AM 1656 (Ussher-Jones, Ussher, Jordan, Jordan (compilation), MT-Gen, Annals of Clonmacnoise, Raleigh, The History of the World (1614/1617)); AM 2656 (Josephus (Whiston translation)).

Flags are generated from the figures stored in the data. The master timeline still sorts by the CFAH-weighted sort year.

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