Biblical chronology is the academic discipline of identifying in Gregorian calendar terms events mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, based on the assumption that the events related in the Bible were historical. The dating of events, from the narrative of Joseph to the times of the Babylonian captivity, are heavily reliant on the related discipline of Egyptian Chronology, the Old Testament, New Testament, Mishnah sources, and on the work of James Ussher.

Dates in the Bronze Age are traditional and do not have archaeological corroborations. Dates in the Iron Age and later are placed by the Bible into the wider framework of history, and so are dated by biblical references to historically verifiable events, such as Shishak's raid in 926 BCE.

For a historical look at the bible see The Bible and history

See Short chronology for a more detailed history of the Ancient Middle East and Ancient Near East region. See Timeline of Christianity for a more detailed chronology of the Christian Era.

Dating of Creation

Jewish computation

Years in the Hebrew calendar uses a calendar era anno mundi ("in the year of the world"), abbreviated AM. Years are counted from the Creation year. Interestingly, the beginning of "year 1" is not Creation, but about one year before Creation. This caused the new moon of its first month (Tishrei) to be called molad tohu (the mean new moon of chaos or nothing). The system in use today was adopted sometime before 3925 AM (165 CE), and based on the calculation in the Seder Olam Rabbah of Rabbi Yose Ben Halafta in about 160 CE.^[1] By his calculation first humans were created in the year 3761 BCE.^[2]

Its epoch (reference date), 1 Tishrei 1 AM, is equivalent to Monday, October 7 3761 BCE in the proleptic Julian calendar, the equivalent tabular date (same daylight period). This date is about one year before the traditional Jewish date of Creation on 25 Elul AM 1, based upon the Seder Olam of Rabbi Yossi ben Halafta, a second century CE sage. (A minority opinion places Creation on 25 Adar AM 1, six months earlier, or six months after the modern epoch.) Thus, adding 3760 (from September-October through December 3761) to any Julian/Gregorian year number after 1 CE will yield the Jewish year, ending in September-October, which roughly coincides with that Julian/Gregorian year. Owing to the slow drift of the modern Jewish calendar relative to the Gregorian calendar, this will be true for about another 20,000 years.

The traditional Jewish date for the destruction of the First Temple (3338 AM = 423 BCE) differs from the modern scientific date, which is usually expressed using the Gregorian calendar (586 BCE). The scientific date takes into account evidence from the ancient Babylonian calendar and its astronomical observations. In this and related cases, a difference between the traditional Jewish year and a scientific date in a Gregorian year results from a disagreement about when the event happened — and not simply a difference between the Jewish and Gregorian calendars. See the "Missing Years" in the Jewish Calendar.

The Jewish year spanning 2007–2008 CE, after Rosh Hashanah, is 5768 AM in the Hebrew calendar.

Other computations

Medieval historian Bede dated creation to 18 March 3952 BCE. The Chronicon of Eusebius and Jerome dated creation to the year of 5199 BCE.^[3][4] Earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology for Christmas Day used this date,^[5] as did the Irish Annals of the Four Masters.^[6]

James Ussher (1654) dated creation to 23 October 4004 BCE according to the Julian Calendar, which in the Gregorian Calendar would be 21 September 4004 BCE.^[7]

Creation to the Flood

The period from the Creation to the Flood is measured by the genealogical table of the ten patriarchs in Genesis, Ch.5, and Genesis, 7:6, but there are discrepancies in the table: the total number of years in the Hebrew sources is 1656, in the Samaritan texts it is 1307, and in the Septuagint it is 2242.[1] The AM dates given below are those traditionally used by Rabbinic Judaism and found in Seder Olam Rabbah, with the date of Creation generally being given as 3761 or 3760 BCE.^[8][9]

Flood to Babylon

Second temple period

• 516 BC Second Temple completed by Zerubbabel under Persian rule
• 515 BC Second Temple dedicated
• 458 BC Ezra brings law to Jerusalem
• 446 BC Nehemiah inquired about the Jews and Jerusalem
• 445 BC Nehemiah stood before the king and was made governor
• 444 BC Nehemiah built the wall of Jerusalem
• 332 BC Alexander the Great conquers Israel
• 323 BC Alexander the Great dies in Babylon
• 250 BC-AD 100 Septuagint written in Alexandria over a long period of time.
• 168-165 BC Hasmonean uprising
• 80 BC Roman defeat of the Maccabees
• 65 BC Syria becomes a Roman province
• 63 BC Roman conquest of Judea
• 37-4 BC Herod the Great is ruler of Judea, appointed by Rome

Early Christianity

• 98 BC Anna, the prophetess, wed her husband 91 years before the birth of Jesus in 7 BC
• 91 BC Anna, the prophetess, became widowed
• 7 BC Birth of Jesus.
• 5 BC God told Joseph to take Jesus and Mary and to flee into Egypt from Herod the Great. Herod the Great then slaughtered all the children 2 years old and under in around Bethlehem.
• 4 BC Herod the Great died
• 2 BC Joseph, Mary, and Jesus return from Egypt to Nazareth in Israel after the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC
• 6 AD: Census of Quirinius
• 26-36 AD: Pontius Pilate governor of Iudaea province
• 29 AD: John the Baptist began his ministry in the "15th year of Tiberius" (Luke 3:1–2)
• 30-33 AD: Crucifixion of Jesus
• 44 Death of Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:20–23)
• 45-95 New Testament written Bible Chronology
• 50 Council of Jerusalem
• 51-52 or 52-53 AD: proconsulship of Gallio according to an inscription, only fixed date in chronology of Paul^[11]
• 66-73 Revolt against Rome
• 70 Destruction of the Second Temple by Titus
• 132-135 Bar Kokhba revolt, Jews excluded from Jerusalem except for Tisha B'Av.
• 200 Mishnah compiled

First seven Ecumenical Councils

• 331 Constantine commissioned Eusebius to deliver 50 Bibles for the Church of Constantinople; Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Alexandrinus are widely considered examples of these Bibles. Together with the Peshitta, these are the earliest extant Christian Bibles.^[12]
• 425 (circa) Jerusalem Talmud edited
• 550 (circa) Babylonian Talmud edited