A Jewish grave stone using the Anno Mundi chronology

Anno Mundi (Latin: "in the year of the world") abbreviated as AM or A.M., refers to a Calendar era counting from the Biblical creation of the world.

Jewish computation

The inscription over the Bevis Marks Synagogue, City of London, gives a year in Anno Mundi (5461) and Anno Domini (1701).

Years in the Hebrew calendar are counted from the Creation year. The system in use today was adopted sometime before 3925 AM (165 AD), and based on the calculation in the Seder Olam Rabbah of Rabbi Jose ben Halafta in about 160 AD.[1] By his calculation first humans were created in the year 3760 BC.[2]

The Jewish year spanning 8 September 2010 – 28 September 2011, which is a leap year, beginning and ending at Rosh Hashanah, is 5771 AM in the Hebrew calendar; 28 September 2011 - 16 September 2012 corresponds to 5772 AM.

Christian computation

Early Christian chronographers have also calculated Creation.

The earliest extant Christian writings on the age of the world according to the Biblical chronology are by Theophilus (AD 115-181), the sixth bishop of Antioch from the Apostles, in his apologetic work To Autolycus,[3] and by Julius Africanus (AD 200-245) in his Five Books of Chronology [4]. Both of these early Christian writers, following the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, determined the age of the world to have been about 5,530 years at the birth of Christ.[5].

Dr. Ben Zion Wacholder points out that the writings of the Church Fathers on this subject are of vital significance (even though he disagrees with their chronological system based on the authenticity of the Septuagint, as compared to that of the Hebrew text), in that through the Christian chronographers a window to the earlier Hellenistic biblical chronographers[note 1] is preserved:

An immense intellectual effort was expended during the Hellenistic period by both Jews and pagans to date creation, the flood, exodus, building of the Temple... In the course of their studies, men such as Tatian of Antioch (flourished in 180), Clement of Alexandria (died before 215), Hippolytus of Rome (died in 235), Julius Africanus of Jerusalem (died after 240), Eusebius of Caesarea in Palestine (260-340), and Pseudo-Justin frequently quoted their predecessors, the Graeco-Jewish biblical chronographers of the Hellenistic period, thereby allowing discernment of more distant scholarship.[6].

The Hellenistic Jewish writer Demetrius the Chronographer (flourishing 221-204 BC) wrote On the Kings of Judea which dealt with biblical exegesis, mainly chronology; he computed the date of the flood and the birth of Abraham exactly as in the Septuagint, and first established the Annus Adami - Era of Adam, the antecedent of the Hebrew World Era, and of the Alexandrian and Byzantine Creation Eras.

The medieval historian Bede dated creation to 18 March 3952 BC. The Chronicon of Eusebius and Jerome dated creation to the year of 5199 BC.[7][8] Earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology for Christmas Day used this date,[9] as did the Irish Annals of the Four Masters.[10]

The Etos Kosmou is the corresponding concept in the Byzantine calendar, which dates creation to 1 September 5509 BC.

James Ussher (1654) dated creation to 23 October 4004 BC according to the Julian calendar, which in the Gregorian calendar would be 21 September 4004 BC.

The Coptic Church in Egypt has its own computation. This was used by Abu Shakir, known as Ibn Al-Rahib (Son of the Monk), in his book. Copts believed that the world was created in 5500 BC. Although Copts often use the Anno Mundi system, in Coptic English literature the abbreviation A.M. is reserved for the Calendar of the Martyrs, called Anno Martyri, which starts from 284 AD, to commemorate the Christians killed by the Roman Emperor Diocletian (284-305 AD).

The computation in the 5000 BC range are based on the Septuagint, while those in the 4000 BC range are based on the Vulgate.

Other computations

Freemason cornerstone with year in Common Era and Anno Lucis

Related to this is the Freemasonry's Anno Lucis ("Year of Light", abbreviated A.L., also initially acronymed for Anno Latomorum, or "Year of Stonecutters"), which adds 4000 years to the AD date (based on Ussher's work, first referenced in Masonic material in 1732).[11]

References

  1. ^ p.107, Kantor
  2. ^ Genesis 2:7
  3. ^ Theophilus of Antioch. Theophilus of Antioch to Autolycus. Book III. Chap XXIV (Chronology from Adam) - Chap. XXVIII (Leading Chronological Epochs).
  4. ^ Julius Africanus. Extant Writings III. The Extant Fragments of the Five Books of the Chronography of Julius Africanus.
  5. ^ Fr. Seraphim Rose. GENESIS, CREATION and EARLY MAN: The Orthodox Christian Vision. St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Platina, California, 2000. p.236.
  6. ^ Dr. Ben Zion Wacholder. "Biblical Chronology in the Hellenistic World Chronicles". in The Harvard Theological Review, Vol.61, No.3 (Jul., 1968), pp.451–452.
  7. ^ The Penn Commentary on Piers Plowman by Andrew Galloway page 69
  8. ^ Fourth Century (see 327 Eusebius of Caesarea). Archived 2009-10-25.
  9. ^ Howlett, J.A. (1913). "Biblical Chronology" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  10. ^ from 5194 A.M. in the Annals at CELT — University College Cork's Corpus of Electronic Texts project has the full text of the annals online, both in the original Irish and in O'Donovan's translation
  11. ^ "What is the Masonic Calendar?". Library and Museum Charitable Trust of the United Grand Lodge of England. Retrieved 2006-07-06.

Sources

See also

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. ((cite encyclopedia)): Missing or empty |title= (help)
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