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Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2000 15:00:48 EST
Subject: Re: Upping the Ante Christ (was: BC(E) etc.)
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In a message dated 00-03-30 14:12:46 EST, JMP writes:

<<  See also Kelton, Arthur *Chronicle of the Brutes* (London, 1547)
 
 "Holy Eusebius, doth testifie
 Also sainct Bede, maketh mencion
 That noble Brute of the age, fiue and thirty
 Entered first into this region
 Whiche was before Christes incarnacion
 A thousand .i.C. twenty and twayne
 And after Troye .xliii. yeres playne."
 
 So it looks like the B.C. system was entrenched in England by the middle of
 the 16th C. at the latest, well before Petavius.
 
 JMP("Post Toasty") >>
************
  a fascinating citation, JMP; but "entrenched" is a little strong for a date 
which nonetheless suggests another system in the same passage.

  I still do not have the English abridgment of Petavius 1627 "Opus de 
doctrina temporum." It is my guess that there the "BC" dating system is for 
once and all given as the only method of referring to dates of that vintage.

  As long as multiple choices can be found in earlier documents, it is 
misreading history to say that the final "answer" is contained therein (since 
we know the outcome). After the fact, this seems obvious, I agree...

  All I was trying to say is that Petavius established the modern BC system 
that we use. No doubt I should be more precise in what I mean by "establish."

  I suppose the actual text of the English abridgement will be better 
evidence - but all I have at the moment are my (undated?) notes. Ironic that, 
as the world became more secular, it was willing to embrace a religious 
(Christian) dating sytem.

Allen Koenigsberg
BC
  

.