What is chronology? Definition in history briefly. Auxiliary historical disciplines: historical chronology

Ushakov's Dictionary

Chronology

chronology, chronology, wives(from Greek chronos - time and logos - teaching).

1. List of events in their time sequence. Chronology of Russian history.

2. The time or sequence in which something appears in time. Chronology of events.

3. An auxiliary historical discipline that establishes the dates of events, the time of appearance of documents ( specialist.).

Political Science: Dictionary-Reference Book

Chronology

(from chrono... and logos word, teaching)

1) sequence of historical events in time;

2) the science of measuring time. For example, astronomical chronology studies the patterns of recurring celestial phenomena and establishes precise astronomical time. Historical chronologies - an auxiliary historical discipline that studies chronology systems and calendars various peoples and states, helps to establish the dates of historical events and the time of creation of historical sources.

The beginnings of modern natural science. Thesaurus

Chronology

(from Greek chronos - time + logic)

1) the science of measuring time;

2) the sequence of any events in time;

3) historical, astronomical, geological and other chronologies establish a list, dates, periods and other time periods of certain events, phenomena, documents.

encyclopedic Dictionary

Chronology

(from chrono... and...logy),..

1. sequence of historical events in time...
2. The science of measuring time. Astronomical chronology studies the patterns of recurring celestial phenomena and establishes precise astronomical time. Historical chronology is an auxiliary historical discipline that studies the chronology systems and calendars of various peoples and states, helps to establish the dates of historical events and the time of creation of historical sources.

Ozhegov's Dictionary

CHRONOL ABOUT GIA, And, and.

1. A branch of historical science that studies the history of chronology.

2. List of events in their time sequence. X. Russian history.

3. what. Sequence of appearance of chegon. in time. X. events.

| adj. chronological, oh, oh.

Efremova's Dictionary

Chronology

1. and.
   1. Scientific discipline, studying the history of chronology.
   2. List of historical events in their time sequence.
   3. A sequence of events or the appearance of something. in time.
2. and. outdated Same as: chronicle (1).

Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

Chronology

The doctrine of the measurement of time. Distinguish astronomical X. And technical, or historical, X. Astronomical X. considers various more or less regularly repeating celestial phenomena as a means for calculating time. It provides for technical X. reference points, a scale and a means for comparing various techniques and methods of counting time used by different peoples. Technical, or historical, X. teaches exactly how individual peoples and centuries used movements celestial bodies to measure time and how their chronological definitions of events should be translated into our time and chronology system. The best and most natural measure of time is the rotation of the earth on its axis, which occurs quite uniformly. A complete revolution (360° in angular measure) of the earth is called stellar days, since in time it is equal to the interval between two successive culminations of a star (its passage through a certain part, northern or southern, of the meridian this place on the ground). Due to the rotation of the earth around the sun solar true day, i.e. the period of time between two climaxes of the sun, is slightly more than a sidereal day. This difference constantly changes depending on the uneven rotation of the earth in the ecliptic plane; therefore, a true day cannot serve as a unit of time. Instead they are used in the hostel average day, i.e. the interval between the culminations of a fictitious luminary - the “average” sun, moving evenly along the equator, his place is on celestial sphere in certain eras it coincides with the place of the true sun. For major periods time, instead of a day, it is necessary to use other units of time, borrowed from observations of the apparent position of the moon and sun among the stars on the celestial sphere. The period of time during which the moon, after completing a full revolution around the earth, is opposite the same stars is sidereal (star) month(27 d 7 h 43 m). Depending on the movement of the earth along with the moon around the sun after sidereal month the relative placement of the three luminaries will change somewhat, so the phase of the moon visible from the earth will be slightly different and the interval through which the moon returns to its previous phase, the so-called. synodic month, more than sidereal (29 d 12 h 44 m). The chronology of some peoples is limited exclusively to the counting of synodic months. The period of time through which, as a result of the earth’s revolution around the sun, this latter apparently returns to the same constellations, to the “same star,” is called star year. The brilliance of the sun eclipses the stars during the day, and instead of the constellations against which the sun falls, one can compare the constellations opposite them, culminating at midnight at a given time of year. Due to precession (see), the line of intersection of the planes of the equator and ecliptic changes, the equinox point (see), from which longitudes and right ascensions are calculated on the celestial sphere, slowly recedes, therefore tropical a year, i.e., the interval through which the sun returns to the point (for example, the vernal) equinox, is 20 minutes less than the sidereal one. The magnitude of the sidereal year does not change, the magnitude of the tropical year fluctuates depending on changes in the magnitude of precession; in our time, it concludes in average days and hours 365 s 5 h 48 m 46 s, in sidereal days and hours 366 s 5 h 48 m 46 s. In the time of Hipparchus (2nd century BC), the tropical year was 12 seconds longer. Tropical year determines the onset of the so-called. seasons, and therefore it is accepted as a unit of time in solar calendars. Individual calendar years must necessarily contain a whole number of days; Meanwhile, the lengths of the year and day are incommensurable. Various systems of solar calendars arose as a consequence of greater or lesser accuracy of the length of the year in days adopted in the calendar and certain methods of counting the accumulated fractions of the day, i.e., the distribution of insertions days. In turn, the lunar month is incommensurate with the solar year; in lunisolar calendars, various methods have been chosen to equalize the accumulating discrepancy intercalary months. Then the month lost its lunar rotation character and became a conventional fraction of the solar year. Ancient astronomers, not knowing how to observe the culmination of stars, were content with the crude method of observing the rising and setting of stars. Special meaning had the so-called helic star rising (see). The length of the periods built on helical risings requires each time a special calculation depending on the given star (i.e., its location relative to the celestial equator and ecliptic), the latitude of the given observation site on earth and the magnitude of precession. See also Art. Calendar (Egyptian, Hindu, Chaldean, Jewish, Armenian, Arabic, pre-Islamic, Muslim, Greek, Roman, Julian, Gregorian, Republican in France); Easter (in it lunar cycle- circle of the moon, solar cycle- circle of the sun, golden number, epact); The period where the indiction, the cycle of indictions, is briefly mentioned, about which we provide some more details below.

V.V. WITH.

Cycle indictions (indictio, ίνδιχτίων, ίνδιχτος) embraces 15 years. Until the 4th century. according to R.H. indicts are not found in the chronography. They were probably related to the five-year tax periods in Egypt. The news of the Chronicon paschale that the indictments of Constantine begin in the year 312 must be understood in such a way that during the reign of Constantine, the year 312 was the first in which new cycle indictions. For indiction, the third year BC is taken as the beginning (see Indiction).

The starting point of each chronology is called era. Neither the era of the Olympiads (776 BC) nor the era of the city of Rome (usually 753 BC) had civil significance. In both Greece and Rome, years were designated by dignitaries (the last consul was Flavius ​​Basilius Junior in 541 AD; further considered post consulatum Basilii). In addition, there was a designation of time according to the years of reign of the emperors. In Egypt, from ancient times it was the custom to count according to rulers; hence the era of Diocletian arose there, i.e. August 29, 284 AD. The Alexandrian Easter tables were based on the era of Diocletian; Christians treasured it, but called it the era of martyrs. The eras from the creation of the world are extremely diverse. Now (from the 4th century BC) the Jews have the era of the creation of the world - 3761 BC; So, we need to add 3760 years to our years. Of the Christian eras from the creation of the world, the era of the Alexandrian monk Panodorus, who wrote under the emperor, is important. Arcadia. This era, with some amendments, was spread by another Egyptian monk, Annianus. The first year from the Alexandrian era of Panodorus-Annian, 5493-5492 BC, was the first after a leap year, that is, the first in leap cycles of 4 years, the first for the solar circle at 28 years, the first for the lunar circle at 19 years, but the second for the cycle of indicts at 15 years. Therefore, the Byzantines decided to change this Alexandrian era so that the first year from the creation of the world would be the first after a leap year and the first in all cycles. If they had simply added 1 (5492 + 1), they would have received in 5493 the first year for indicts, but also a leap year (i.e., the fourth in the leap year cycle). Therefore, in addition to one, they added another 15, i.e., they pushed the era back by an entire indiction period. So, 15 + 1 = 16 years is the difference between the creation of the world among the Alexandrians (5493 BC) and the Byzantines (5509 BC); but the first year after the creation of the world among the Byzantines (i.e. September 5509-5508 BC) is the first in all cycles and the first after the leap year. To get for Byzantine chronology indict, solar circle, etc., we need to add 5508 to our year, and then divide by 15, 28, etc.; the remainder gives the desired sign of the year. It should be noted, however, that only the New Year and the Indictment were started by the Byzantines on September 1; they began the solar circle from October 1, 5509 BC, the lunar circle - from January 1, 5508. So, if the desired day, about which we're talking about, falls between September 1 and October 1, then the found solar cycle must be reduced by one; in the same way, you need to reduce the golden number by one if this day lies between September 1 and January 1. To find the Byzantine ones for our year according to R.H. characteristic features years (indict and cycles), it is best to transfer them to the era from the creation of the world, adding for numbers before September 1 - 5508, for numbers after September 1 - 5509. In general, the Byzantine lunar cycle begins three years later compared to the cyclus decemnovennalis, which in the West is called the cycle of the moon. The Byzantine solar circle differs by 11 years and 3 months from the Western European one. Finally, the era AD was introduced by Dionysius Exiguus; he equated the 248th year of the era of Diocletian to the 532nd year after AD. According to some chronologists, he made a major mistake in determining the year of birth of Jesus Christ; however, it is unlikely that this year can be established quite precisely. In official acts, the era from R.H. is found already in the capitulary of Carloman dated April 21. 742 In papal acts it has been in use since John XIII (10th century). Since Pope Eugene IV (1431), the years AD have been obligatory noted in papal acts. The beginning of the year was also established in a variety of ways: a) January 1 is the beginning of the year according to the Julian calendar, coinciding with the consuls taking office; it became dominant in the West. Europe only since the 16th century. (in England since 1752, in Venice since 1797). b) March 1st. This beginning among Christians was probably due to the desire to consider the first month to be the one in which the first full moon of spring fell; this beginning was maintained longest in Venice. c) March 25. Those who wished to begin with the incarnation chose either December 25 or March 25. The last day, as the beginning of the year, was adopted in the Middle Ages with some peculiarities in Pisa and Florence, and in England it prevailed until 1751 inclusive. d) December 25. This beginning of the year was predominant in Germany in the Middle Ages, in France under the Carolingians, and in England under the Anglo-Saxons. Papal office during the transition from the 10th century. by the 11th century counted from Christmas (later March 25 and Easter were mixed in, until Gregory XIII established January 1), e) Easter. In this case, Good Friday was usually considered the beginning of the year. Counting from Easter was common in France. French kings from the 13th century counted from Holy Saturday. Due to the mobility of Easter, this beginning was very inconvenient (the difference from March 22 to April 25 is up to 35 days). e) September 1. Flowed out from the beginning financial year in connection with the indictments. It became common in Byzantium. There are formulas for converting chronological notations of time (dates) from one system to another. For example, the formula for the problem: determine what day of the week it fell on x year date at according to the Julian calendar? Four Julian years give 1461 days. So, we need a number x decrease by 1 and then divide by 4; multiply the quotient by 1461, the remainder by 365; add both products; add to it the number of days that have passed in x year to date at inclusive; divide the resulting amount by 7; if the remainder is 0, then the searched day is Friday; the remainder 1 corresponds to Saturday, 2 to Sunday, etc. So, for example, imp. Frederick II died on December 13, 1250. What day of the week is this? 1250 - 1 = 1249: 4 = quotient 312 and remainder 1. Next 312 x 1461 = 455832, 1 x 365 = 365; the number of days in 1250 until December 13 = 347. Adding these three numbers, we get 456544: 7 = the remainder is 4, i.e. the day is Tuesday. However, usually answers to particular chronological questions are found in chronological tables, which also indicate how to use them, for example, in Grotefend. The most concise and reliable manuals on X.: W. Wislicenus, “Astronomische Chronologie” (Lpts., 1895); F. Rühl, “Chronologie des Mittelalter s und der Neuzeit” (B., 1897); Grotefend, "Zeitrechnung des deutschen Mittelalters und der Neuzeit" (vol. I-II, 1-2, Hanover, 1891-98); Mas-Latrie, "Tr ésor de Chronologie, d"histoire et de Géographie pour l"étude et l"emploi des documents du moyen â ge" (P., 1889); Giry, "Manuel de Diplomatique" (P., 1894 ). More extensive manuals and tables with a selection of dated facts: Ch. L. Ideler, “Handbuch der matematischen und technischen Chronologie” (1825-1826); his abbreviated manual: “Lehrbuch der Chr o nologie” (1831); , "Handbook of Rules and Tables for verifying dates of the Christian Era" (L., 1875, new edition 1889); les é tats du globe" (vols. I-III, Leiden, 1888-93); Woodward and Gutes, "Encyclopaedia of Chronology" (1872); R. Schram, "Hilfstafeln für Chronologie"; Gelzer, "Sextus Julius Africanus und die byzantinische Chronographie". Old classical works on X" J. J. Scaliger, "De amendatione temporum" (Par., 1583); his, "Thesaurus temporum" Leiden, 1606); D. Petavius ​​(D. Petau), "Opus de doctrina temporum" (Par. ., 1627), his “Rationarium temporum”. Particularly famous is the “L” Art de vé rifier les dates” of the Benedictines of the Congregation of St. Mavra (first edition 1750, the most complete is the fourth, P., 1818-44).

Chronology, from the Greek “chronos” - time and "logos" - doctrine. Understood in two senses:

1. the science of time and its measurement;
2. scientifically reconstructed sequence of historical events and their temporal extent;

“... those who think that it is possible to understand history without chronology are even more mistaken than those who hope to get out of the labyrinth without a guide...”(J. Bodin, "Method...", ch. VIII)

Chronology-related concepts

Astronomical or mathematical chronology

Astronomical, or mathematical chronology is usually called the science of the patterns of celestial phenomena and their dating, in the case when such dating is unique; otherwise - the whole spectrum is offered possible values for subsequent study and selection. Mathematical chronology studies the movement of celestial bodies and develops systems for calculating astronomical time.

Historical or technical chronology

Historical, or technical chronology - considered auxiliary discipline V historical science. Historical (technical) chronology establishes, based on the study of written or archaeological sources, the time of an event, as well as the time of occurrence of the historical sources themselves. She also studies time systems and calendars different nations and states.

It is generally accepted that the foundations of historical chronology were laid Eusebius Pamphilus in the 4th century AD in the work “History of Times from the Beginning of the World to the Council of Nicea”, but this work has reached us only in a “restored” Joseph Scaliger form. The dating of ancient events, accepted today, was first most consistently formalized in a series of works Joseph Scaliger ( –) ("Opus novum de emendatione temporum", ; "Thesaurum temporum", ) and Jesuit scientist Dionysius Petavius ( –) ("De doctrina temporum", ). It was finally consolidated in the writings of the Irish Archbishop Usseria ( –) ("The Annals of the World", ) and Jesuit scientist Riccioli ( –) ("Chronologia reformata", ). Periodized and chronologized ancient art Winkelmann ( –) ("Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums", ). This version of the chronology is called "Scaligerian chronology" or traditional chronology (TX).

In traditional history chronology counts "auxiliary discipline", since traditional chronology is based on a priori judgments of historians about the time of events that occurred and has no independent meaning for them (none of the other sciences, except history and theology, have “auxiliary” disciplines). Until recently, the framework of TX was "Sacred Chronology"(see below), but in modern times the religious framework was discarded, surviving only in the form of hardwired traditional chronology dates of “sacred” events: Births Christ, Flood, etc.

Sacred chronology

"Sacred Chronology"- chronology of events in the Old and New Testaments. In the year of the Irish Archbishop Ashsher (Usseriy) published his “Annals of the World”, in which he proposed his version of the exact chronologization of all the events described in the Bible. According to Ashshera, supported by astrological arguments, the creation of the world began at the beginning of the night preceding October 23, 4004 BC, that is, at 6.00 pm on October 22. Some chronological dates according to Usseria(hour, day, month omitted, years BC):

• 4004 - Creation of the World, Fall of the Angels
• 2349 - The Flood
• 2290, August 17 - Noah “sent out a raven” from his ark
• 1921 - Conscription Jehovah To Abraham from the burning bush
• 1706 - Arrival of the family in Egypt Jacob
• 1491 - Exodus from Egypt
• 1451 - Conquest of Canaan
• 1405 - First Judge of Israel Othniel
• 1095 - Accession Saula
• 1004 - Construction of the Temple Solomon
• 975 - Separation of Israel and Judah
• 721 - Fall of Israel
• 587 - Fall of Judea
• 536 - Return from Captivity
• 4 - Birth Jesus

According to Byzantine Orthodox tradition, creation Adam occurred on Friday, March 1, 5508 BC.

era Sacred History did not end in the 17th century. Historian A.L. Schlözer(-) adhered to this system at the beginning of the 19th century. A modern historian points out:

“... the historian Schlözer lived back in the Middle Ages: he seriously wrote that the world has existed for about 6,000 years. In its chronology there are periods: “from creation to the flood”, “from the flood to Rome”, etc. But, on the other hand, Schlözer is a conductor of new methods in historical research. Schlözer considered his history of mankind as a new kind of history, different from the works created earlier, as he said, by philosophers.” ()

Scientific chronology

Scientific chronology - modern, active emerging discipline at the intersection of natural and humanities, the purpose of which is to restore the true order of historical events and determine their duration. It is based on mathematical and natural scientific dating methods and is itself the foundation for scientific analysis historical processes. Fundamentals of modern scientific chronology laid down ON THE. Morozov() And A.T. Fomenko(). As a result of research A.T. Fomenko And G.V. Nosovsky they proposed another version of the chronology of world history, significantly different from TX - the so-called

Historical (technical) chronology- a special historical discipline that studies the chronology systems and calendars of different peoples and states, and helps to establish the dates of historical events and the time of creation of historical sources.

Astronomical chronology

The most natural measure of time is the rotation of the Earth around its axis. A complete revolution (360°) of the Earth is called sidereal day, since in time it is equal to the interval between two successive culminations of a star. Due to the Earth's revolution around the Sun, the solar true day, that is, the time interval between two culminations of the Sun, is approximately 3 minutes 56 seconds longer than the sidereal day. This difference varies throughout the year due to the uneven rotation of the Earth around the Sun in the ecliptic plane, so the true day cannot serve exact unit time. Instead of them, the average day is usually used, that is, the interval between the culminations of a fictitious luminary - the “average sun”, moving uniformly along the ecliptic; its place on the celestial sphere in certain epochs coincides with the place of the true Sun.

For large time intervals, instead of a day, it is more convenient to use other units of time, historically associated with observing the visible position of the Moon and the Sun among the stars on the celestial sphere. The period of time during which the Moon, after completing a full revolution around the Earth, is opposite the same stars is called sidereal(sidereal) month (27 days 7 hours 43 minutes). Depending on the movement of the Earth together with the Moon around the Sun after the sidereal month, the relative placement of the three luminaries will change somewhat, therefore the phase of the Moon visible from the Earth will be slightly different, and the interval through which the Moon returns to its previous phase, the so-called synodic month, more than sidereal (29 days 12 hours 44 minutes).

The period of time through which, as a result of the Earth’s revolution around the Sun, the luminary returns to the same constellations, to the “same star,” is called the sidereal year. During the day, the brilliance of the Sun eclipses the stars and instead of the constellations against which the Sun falls, one can compare the constellations opposite them, culminating at midnight at a given time of year. The seasons are determined by the passage of the Sun through the equinoxes and solstices. As a result of precession, the points of intersection of the planes of the equator and the ecliptic (equinox), as well as the points of greatest distance of the Sun from the line of the celestial equator (solstice), shift. The total duration of the four seasons is called the tropical year and is determined through average speed movement of the Sun in longitude. The tropical year is often defined as the average interval between two successive passages of the Sun through the vernal equinox, which is incorrect because the equinoxes and solstices move relative to each other due to planetary disturbances. The tropical year is 20 minutes less than the sidereal year. Magnitude sidereal year does not change, the value of the tropical fluctuates depending on changes in the magnitude of precession; in our time, the tropical year consists of an average day and hour of 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes. 46 s, in sidereal days and hours 366 d 5 h 48 m 46 s. In the time of Hipparchus (2nd century BC), the tropical year was 12 seconds shorter.

Individual calendar years must necessarily contain a whole number of days; Meanwhile, the lengths of the year and day are incommensurable. Various systems of solar calendars arose as a result of greater or lesser accuracy of the length of the year in days adopted in the calendar and certain methods of calculating the accumulated fractions of the day, that is, the distribution of intercalary days. In turn, the lunar month is incommensurate with the solar year; In the well-known lunisolar calendars, there were various techniques to equalize the accumulating discrepancy with intercalary months. Later, the month lost its lunar rotation character and became a conventional fraction of the solar year. Ancient astronomers, not knowing how to observe the culmination of stars, were content with the crude method of observing their rising and setting. Of particular importance was the so-called heliacal star rise. Length of periods built on heliacal sunrises, requires each time a special calculation depending on the given star (that is, on its location relative to the celestial equator and the ecliptic), the latitude of the given observation location on earth and the magnitude of precession.

Historical chronology

Calendar

Lunar and solar calendars

First and natural unit The calculation of time for ancient people was a day, divided into day and night. Subsequently, when observing the phases of the moon, they began to distinguish the lunar month, which was counted alternately at 29 and 30 days. It was then noticed that after about 12 lunar months natural phenomena repeat themselves. Thus the year was opened. However, a year of 12 lunar months of 354 days does not correspond to the astronomical (solar) year, and moon calendar of 12 lunar months turned out to be movable (the Arabs still use this type of calendar). In order to correlate it with the astronomical year, as the error accumulated (approximately once every 3 years), an additional month was inserted (among the Romans, for example, it was called “Mercedonius" and was inserted between February 23-24). Of such kind lunisolar calendar used by most ancient peoples; in modern times it is used by Jews (see Jewish calendar).

Solar calendar was invented in Egypt (see ancient Egyptian calendar). It consisted of 12 months of 30 days and 5 additional days. But since the true astronomical year exceeds 365 days, the Egyptian calendar also turned out to be inaccurate. Subsequently, the Hellenistic kings of Egypt, based on the calculations of Alexandrian astronomers, tried to introduce leap years; but the reform did not take root. In 26 BC. e. Augustus reformed the Egyptian calendar according to the Julian calendar, establishing leap years and fixing the beginning of the year (1 tota) on August 29, but counting “according to the old style” was widely practiced in Egypt until the very end of antiquity.

Metonic cycle

In the 4th-6th centuries, in most Christian countries, unified Easter tables were established, based on Julian calendar; thus, the Julian calendar spread throughout christian world. In these tables, March 21 was taken as the day of the vernal equinox.

However, as the error accumulated (1 day in 128 years), the discrepancy between the astronomical vernal equinox and the calendar one became more and more obvious, and many Catholic Europe they believed that it could no longer be ignored. This was noted by the 13th-century Castilian king Alfonso X; in the next century, the Byzantine scientist Nikephoros Gregoras even proposed a calendar reform. In reality, such a reform was carried out by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, based on the project of the mathematician and physician Aloysius Lilius. The pope's decree of February 24, 1582 established that October 5, 1582 should be followed by October 15, and in the future only those century years will be considered leap years, the number of hundreds of years of which is divisible by 4 without a remainder (, , 2400), and other century years will be considered simple ( , , , ). As a result, the Gregorian calendar was created, which is astronomically more accurate than the Julian calendar. From European countries, Catholics switched to a new style immediately, Protestant - in the majority in the 18th century: Northern Germany, Denmark and Norway - since 1700, England - since 1752, Sweden - since 1753; Orthodox countries switched to the Gregorian calendar only at the beginning of the 20th century: Bulgaria since 1916, Russia since February 1/14, 1918, Serbia and Romania - since 1919, Greece - since 1924.

Some calendars

Chronography

Counting the years. The formation of historical chronology

The need for consistent counting of years appeared with the emergence of written culture and primarily stemmed from administrative needs. As a rule, documents were dated from the year of the king's reign; thus, the list of kings with the years of their reign provided a primitive chronological table. Such lists came from Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, but they should be used with caution, since they are often indicated as successive reigns, which in reality are completely or partially synchronous (for example, in times of unrest), and similar “simplifications” are allowed.

In city-states, years were dated by the names of officials elected for the year, who, for example, in Ashur were called “limmu”, in Athens - “eponymous archons”, etc. ( "eponymous year"). In Mesopotamia, years were also often designated by important events - so the list of years was something like a short chronicle.

The urgent need for chronological calculations appeared with the emergence of historical science, that is, around the 5th century BC. e. The simplest way of dating was mutual relative dating of events: event A occurred X years before event B; event C happened Y years after event B; Moreover, the same events are mentioned by different authors. From this, when comparing the works of historians, it is relatively easy to calculate the mutual relationship between the events they mention. For example, the Greco-Persian Wars are the central event of Herodotus's History, which also affects earlier events - the formation of the Persian kingdom; Thucydides, describing the Peloponnesian War, mentions that between its beginning and the departure of Xerxes from Hellas, “approximately 50 years” passed, and briefly talks about the events of this “fiftieth year”; Xenophon directly continues Thucydides - that is, only from a comparison of these three authors can a detailed chronological sequence events over about 200 years, from the middle to the middle of the 4th century BC. e.

For events distant in time (such as the Trojan War), based on genealogical tables, an approximate calculation “by generation” was used, taking 3 generations per century. At the same time, attempts were made to compile a system of absolute chronology. The first chronological tables: priestesses of the priestesses of Hera in Argos (their author, Hellanicus of Lesbos, apparently was the first to take up chronological issues), lists of Spartan ephors, Athenian archons-eponyms; in Herodotus one can find the years of the reign of the Persian and other eastern kings. When comparing such lists, it became possible to convert a date from one system to another (for example, to say under which Persian king an event occurred that happened under such and such an archon), as well as to find out the chronological relationship of events to each other (that is, to establish their relative chronology) and with the moment at which the work is written (that is, to find out the absolute chronology). Since there was no single chronological system in Greece, when a historian spoke about some important event, it was desirable to date it according to several systems at once: the year of the reign of the Persian king, the Spartan ephors, the Athenian eponymous archon. For example, here is a passage from Thucydides, which contains both relative and absolute dating key moment his “History” - the beginning of the Peloponnesian War (431 BC):

For 14 years, the thirty-year peace concluded after the conquest of Euboea continued to exist. In the fifteenth year, the forty-eighth year of the priesthood of Chrysis in Argos, when Enesius was an ephor in Sparta, and Pythodorus had 4 months of archonship left in Athens, in the sixteenth month after the battle of Potidaea, at the beginning of spring a detachment of armed Thebans (...) at the beginning of a night's sleep invaded the Boeotian city of Plataea...

All other dates in the text of Thucydides’ “History” are in one way or another correlated with the date of the start of the war (in the above passage this can be seen in the example of the date of the end of the first Athenian-Spartan war and the Battle of Potidaea; in the future the dates are designated: “for such and such a year of the war” ). Of the dating systems used by Thucydides, dating according to the Athenian archons existed in historical science for many centuries, and this allowed ancient chronologists to easily correlate Thucydides’ data with later chronological scales (according to the Olympiads - through it with the Roman chronology according to consuls and “from the foundation Rome" - and already through the latter this event is easily translated into modern system chronology, which is a direct continuation of the Roman one). Finally, this date is also amenable to astronomical verification, since Thucydides dates a solar eclipse to the summer of the same year, which, according to calculations (first done by Joseph Scaliger), took place on August 3, 431 BC. e.

At the same time, in the Hellenistic East, official dating of the familiar type came into use, counting from one date - the “epoch of an era.” The era was the rise to power of Seleucus Nicator, the commander of Alexander the Great - 312 BC. e. However, the “Seleucid era” remained administrative until late antiquity and was not used by historians. Subsequently, it entered Aramaic, then Arabic historiography (under the incorrect name “Alexander’s era”) and was used by Syrian Christians until the 19th century. The Parthian Arsacids, in turn, introduced the era from their own accession (248 BC), which was also in circulation in the East.

The Romans, who had long kept their “fastas” - lists of consuls, which also served as a brief official chronicle, easily fit into the Greek chronological system, so, for example, in the work of the Greek author of the Roman era Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC) we We find dates all at once: according to the Olympiads, according to the Athenian archons and according to the Roman consuls. A contemporary of Diodorus was the Roman scientist Varro, who, on the basis of consular fasts and the years of reign of the Roman kings reported by legend, calculated the date of the founding of Rome (according to Varro - 753 BC) and introduced it as an era in scientific circulation. This era “from the foundation of Rome” was not officially used, but in historiography it survived until the 19th century (since it dealt with the events of Roman history).

Of great importance for chronology is the so-called “Royal Canon of Ptolemy” - a list of kings preserved in Theon’s commentary on Ptolemy’s astronomical work. This is a list of the reigns, with exact astronomical dates, of the kings of Babylon (the Babylonian kings themselves, as well as the Persian kings and Alexander the Great as Babylonians), the kings of Hellenistic Egypt, and the Roman emperors. It was compiled by Alexandrian astronomers for the needs of their own calculations (in fact, for dating astronomical phenomena) based on their own records and the records of Babylonian priests and then continued by scribes who entered names into it Byzantine emperors(in some manuscripts it is brought to the fall of Constantinople in 1453). It begins with the accession to the throne of the Babylonian king Nabonassar on February 27, 747 BC. e. (the so-called “era of Nabonassar”), during which systematic astronomical observations began for the first time, and is based on the moving Egyptian calendar (without leap years), which was then used by astronomers.

In the late Roman period, the era from the beginning of the reign of Emperor Diocletian - 284, became widespread in astronomical and astrological texts; Easter tables were compiled in it (this era is still preserved by the Coptic-Ethiopian church under the name “era of martyrs”).

Calculus from the birth of Christ

Interest in issues of chronology reappears during the Renaissance. It is believed that the foundations of modern chronology were laid by Joseph Scaliger (-); he introduced dating according to the Julian period he invented, beginning in 4713 BC. e., which made it possible to convert all available dates into one system; He was also the first to begin (or rather resumed, since it was used sporadically in antiquity) the astronomical verification of dates found in historical sources (for example, he was the first to give astronomical dating solar eclipse of 431 BC e., mentioned by Thucydides). By cross-checking synchronous information and using astronomical data, Scaliger and the Jesuit scientist Dionysius Petavius ​​(-) calculated the main dates, which in turn made it possible to recalculate all the dates of ancient history using a unified chronology system. Petavius ​​in 1627 proposed a system of “counting back” dates “before the Nativity of Christ.” This system, which received universal recognition only towards the end of the 18th century, greatly facilitated the study of chronology.

The controversy caused by the works of Scaliger stimulated the appearance of a large number of works on astronomical and technical chronology. A generalizing work in this area was in the 18th century the work of the Benedictines d’Antin, Clemense and Durand, “The Art of Verifying Dates,” the last edition of which included 44 volumes. By the beginning of the 20th century, scientific chronology had reached its peak. Until now, the work of the German astronomer and chronologist Christian-Ludwig Idler, “Handbook of Mathematical and Technical Chronology,” has not lost its significance. From modern specialists In terms of chronology, the American scientist of Russian origin E. Bickerman, author of the work “Chronology of the Ancient World” (London, 1969; Russian translation M., 1975), is especially famous.

Questions of the reliability of ancient chronology

Roman chronology, the direct continuation of which, as indicated, is our chronology system, is completely reliable. It is characteristic, for example, that the date of Diocletian’s rise to power (284) was established by three different scientists using three different methods. Scaliger proceeded from the Coptic-Ethiopian tradition, which equated 1582 with 1299 of the era of Diocletian [ ] . Petavius ​​- from the fact that Diocletian, according to the Easter Chronicle, came to power in the consulate of Carinus (second) and Numerian, which, according to consular fasts, corresponds to the year 284 [ ] ; Idler instead used Ptolemy's Canon and astronomical observation to derive a synchronic dating: 81 years after the reign of Diocletian = 1112 years after the accession of Nabonassar; this equation again leads to 284 [ ] .

Greek history can be synchronized with Roman history, since many dates are known in both the Greek and Roman numeral systems. Those eastern chronological data that have a direct or indirect connection with Roman chronology are also reliable. Thus, Manetho’s lists of Egyptian pharaohs include the Persian kings and the Ptolemies, the dates of whose reigns are precisely known - this makes it possible to calculate the dates of the reigns of previous rulers. Here, however, difficulties arise due to the mentioned features of the eastern royal lists. However, it is believed that until about 800 BC. e. Egyptian reigns are dated absolutely precisely [ by whom?] [ ], until the 16th century BC. e. (that is, before the beginning of the New Kingdom) - with a tolerance of several decades. But the duration of the transition period between the Middle and New Kingdoms is not precisely known - as a result, the connection with Roman chronology is lost. An important role in the chronology of the Middle Kingdom is played by writing in the so-called. "Illahun papyrus", dating back to the end of the XII dynasty; it states that Sirius will rise on the 16th of the VIII lunar month of the year 7 during the reign of Senwosret III. The date of this event is around 1800 BC. e. , and this allows (since the number of years of reign of the pharaohs of the dynasty is known) to conclude that XII Dynasty rules from about 2000 to 1800 BC. e. The duration of the First Transition Period between the Old and Middle Kingdoms is also unknown, and therefore the chronology of the Old Kingdom is even more uncertain.

The historians of Western Asia have somewhat more solid support. First of all, the Assyrian list of eponyms (limmu) has been preserved, between 911 and 648 BC. e., which is verified both by the “Canon of Ptolemy” and by the solar eclipse indicated in it. For more early centuries Establishing the date of the beginning of the reign of King Hammurabi is of key importance. It is based on the observation of the heliacal rising (the first rise at dawn) of Venus, described in a cuneiform document, which occurred in the 6th year of the reign of Amisaduga, one of last kings dynasty of Hammurabi (whereas it is known that 1 year of his reign is 146 years away from 1 year of Hammurabi’s reign). The heliacal rising conditions described in the document are repeated over several decades, so that as a result, several variant dates for the 1st year of Hammurabi's reign have emerged; Based on the totality of historical data, the most plausible date is considered to be 1792 BC. e. Accordingly, the dating of previous and subsequent reigns is tied to this date.

CHRONOLOGY

CHRONOLOGY

1. List of events in their time sequence. Chronology of Russian history.

2. The time or sequence in which something appears in time. Chronology of events.

3. An auxiliary historical discipline that establishes the dates of events and the time of appearance of documents (special).

Dictionary Ushakova. D.N. Ushakov. 1935-1940.

Synonyms:

See what "CHRONOLOGY" is in other dictionaries:

- (from the Greek χρόνος time; λόγος teaching): an auxiliary historical discipline that establishes the dates of historical events and documents; sequence of historical events in time; a list of any events in their time... ... Wikipedia

chronology- and, f. chronologie f. n. lat. chronology. 1. outdated Recording historical events in their time sequence; chronicle. BAS 1. [Vyacheslav:] You are confusing history with chronology, with the chronicle. V. Odoevsky Rus. nights. || Book of time... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

- (Greek, from chronos time, and logos word). 1) the science of calculating time, as well as the time of various historical events. 2) placement of events by their corresponding years. Dictionary foreign words, included in the Russian language.... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

- (from chrono... and...logy) ..1) sequence of historical events in time2)] The science of measuring time. Astronomical chronology studies the patterns of recurring celestial phenomena and establishes precise astronomical time.… … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Turn, turn, order, turn, turn, sequence Dictionary of Russian synonyms. chronology noun, number of synonyms: 15 time calculation (6) ... Synonym dictionary

- (from chrono... and logos word, teaching) 1) sequence of historical events in time; 2) the science of measuring time. For example, astronomical chronology studies the patterns of repeating celestial phenomena and establishes the exact... ... Political science. Dictionary.

Chronology- (from chrono... and...logy), sequence of events in time. Historical chronology is a special historical discipline that studies the chronology systems and calendars of different peoples and states, helps to establish the dates of historical events... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

CHRONOLOGY, and, women. 1. A branch of historical science that studies the history of chronology. 2. List of events in their time sequence. X. Russian history. 3. what. The sequence of appearance of something. in time. X. events. | adj.... ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

The doctrine of the measurement of time. There are astronomical X. and technical or historical charting. Astronomical charting considers various more or less regularly recurring celestial phenomena as a means for calculating time. She gives for... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

chronology- CHRONOLOGY, and, g. Narcology. See timeline... Dictionary of Russian argot

Books

• Chronology of Russian military history. Chronology of Russian military history Text: chronological index of wars, battles and affairs in which Russian troops participated from Peter I to modern times / comp. assistant librarian...
• Chronology. Journey Through the Ages, Peter Hus. Chronology. Journey through the centuries...

Chronology (from the Greek χρόνος - time and λόγος - doctrine) is the science of measuring time, an auxiliary historical discipline that studies the ways of calculating the time of different peoples in different historical periods. Its purpose is to give the historian correct information about the time of historical events or determine exact dates.

Today we know that the great historian of Ancient Greece, Herodotus, lived in 484-425. BC e., in 490 BC. e. Persian troops were defeated at Marathon, Alexander the Great died in 323 BC. e., March 15, 44 BC. e. Gaius Julius Caesar was killed in the 1st century. BC e. Virgil and Horace created. How is it established exactly when events so distant from us took place? After all, even the historical sources that have reached us often do not have a date. And no written sources have survived from more distant eras.

Historical chronology has various techniques that make it possible to quite reliably establish the date historical event. The main condition for establishing a reliable date for a source is an integrated approach, that is, the use of data from paleography, diplomacy, linguistics, archeology and, of course, data from astronomical chronology. If when dating historical fact not taking into account all components of the study is an inevitable mistake. This makes it difficult to establish the chronology of ancient history.

To measure time, we used phenomena that repeat in nature: the periodic change of day and night, the change lunar phases and the change of seasons. The first of these phenomena determines the unit of time - the day; the second is the synodic month, the average duration of which is 29.5306 days; the third is a tropical year, equal to 365.2422 days. The synodic month and the tropical year do not contain an integer number of solar days, so all three of these measures are incommensurable. An attempt to at least to some extent coordinate the day, month and year with each other led to the fact that in different eras three types of calendars were created - lunar (based on the duration of the synodic month), solar (based on the duration of the synodic month). tropical year) and lunisolar (combining both periods). They became the basis of the lunisolar calendar.

In ancient times, each country had its own methods of calculating chronology and, as a rule, there was no single era, i.e., counting years from certain event. In the states of the Ancient East, the year was designated by outstanding events: the construction of temples and canals, military victories. In other countries, time was counted according to the years of the king's reign. But such records were not accurate, since there was no sequence in recording the events of the history of the country as a whole; sometimes these records stopped altogether due to military or social conflicts.

But these ancient records can only be correlated with modern chronology if they can be associated with a precisely dated (most often astronomical) phenomenon. The most reliable chronology is verified by solar eclipses. So, for example, on this basis all the events in the history of Western Asia, starting from 911 BC. e., are dated most accurately, the error, as a rule, does not exceed 2 years.

The chronology of Ancient Egypt was conducted according to the records of the reign of the pharaohs, starting from the era Early Kingdom 21-28 centuries BC e. However, in these records, as in the royal lists of Mesopotamia, there are a lot of inaccuracies, errors sometimes reach 300 years or more. Egyptian historian Manetho, who lived at the end of the 4th century. BC e., carefully studied and largely clarified the lists of the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt based on materials from the archives of the pharaohs, and his chronology is still used in world historical science.

The same can be said about the chronology of Ancient China. In China, as in Egypt, Greece and Rome, special historical works were created, which necessarily provided chronological information. The outstanding historian of Ancient China Sima Qian wrote “Historical Notes”.

In his work, he paid great attention to chronology, gave chronological framework history of Ancient China - from the legendary date of creation of the world to the end of the 2nd century. BC e. However, he did not indicate the sources and grounds for dating the events, which is why the dating cannot be considered unconditionally reliable.

The most reliable chronological systems of antiquity are the counting of years in Greek and Roman history. In Greece there was a pan-Greek system of chronology based on the Olympics. According to legend, the first Olympics took place in 776. Then the Games were successively held every four years. Relationship between dating and events Greek history can also be traced to the dating of the reign of archons - officials in Athens (these notes have partially survived to this day).

Credibility Greek chronology can be considered proven subject to constant comparison of data from different historical sources, results of archaeological excavations, and numismatic material. For example, thanks to the method benchmarking It has been established that Alexander the Great died in the 114th Olympiad, i.e. in 323 BC. e.; a year after his death his teacher died great philosopher antiquity Aristotle (384-322 BC).

The chronology of Rome also has its own specific starting point. The Roman era begins in 753 BC. e. - from the legendary date of the founding of Rome. Archaeological excavations This date was recently confirmed. But back in the 1st century. BC e. Roman historian Marcus Terence Varro used the method of comparative analysis of Greek dating according to archons and Olympiads with Roman dating according to consuls. Thus, he calculated the year of the founding of Rome, placing it in the third year of the sixth Olympiad (754-753 BC).

In 46 BC. e. In Rome, Julius Caesar adopted the solar calendar developed by the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes. The new calendar contained 365 days for three years in a row ( simple years), and every fourth (leap year) - 366. The New Year began on January 1. The length of the year was 365 days, 6 hours, i.e. it was 11 minutes 14 seconds longer than the tropical one. This calendar, called the Julian calendar, was recognized as mandatory for all Christians at the Nicene Ecumenical Council in 325.

A new attempt to create a chronology system was made only in the 4th century. n. e. Dionysius the Insignificant (he was nicknamed this way because of his small stature) proposed starting a new calendar from the date of the birth of Jesus Christ, considering the birthday of Christ to be December 25, 753 from the founding of Rome.

The new era was not immediately recognized in the world. For a long time the countdown here coexisted with the countdown from the “creation of the world”: 5508 BC. e. - according to eastern dating christian church. The Muslim era even now begins from the date of the journey of the prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina (622 AD) - according to the Muslim calendar, now only the 14th century begins.

Gradually, chronology from the beginning of our era (from the conventional date of birth of Jesus Christ) was accepted by most peoples of the world.

But the difference between tropical and calendar years gradually increased (every 128 years by 1 day) and by the end of the 6th century. was 10 days, as a result of which the vernal equinox began to fall not on March 21, but on March 11. This complicated the calculations church holidays, and the then head catholic church Pope Gregory XIII carried out a reform of the Julian calendar in 1582 according to the project of the physician and mathematician Aloysio Lilio. A special papal bull ordered that after Thursday, October 4, skip 10 days in the count and consider the next day to be Friday, October 15. In order to prevent the day of the equinox from moving in the future, it was prescribed to exclude 3 days from every four hundred Julian calendar years, so the leap year system also changed. Of the “century” years, those whose first two digits were divisible by 4 without a remainder remained leap years - 1600, 2000, 2400, etc. The Gregorian calendar is more accurate than the Julian calendar; a difference of one day accumulates in it in 3280 years. During the XVI-XVIII centuries. it has been adopted in most European countries.

The calendar of the ancient Slavs was lunisolar; The counting of days within months began from the new moon. Two years had 354 days each (12 lunar months of 29 and 30 days), and the third year had 384 days (354 + 30). The beginning of the year occurred on the spring new moon (around March 1). The names of the months were associated with the change of seasons and agricultural work: grass (when the first spring grass sprouted), serpen (harvest time), leaf fall, jelly, etc. With the introduction of Christianity, the Orthodox Church adopted the Julian calendar and the era from the “creation of the world” ( The church, according to Byzantine tradition, dated the “creation of the world” to 5508 BC). The New Year (since 1492) began on September 1. This time reckoning system lasted until the end of the 17th century, when Peter I carried out a calendar reform. He moved the beginning of the year to January 1 and introduced the era from the Nativity of Christ. Now it is accepted in historical science and is called the new era (AD).

The introduction of a generally accepted era and the January beginning of the year made it easier for Russia to trade, scientifically and cultural connections. However, the Julian calendar was preserved, and already in the 19th century. Russia felt serious inconvenience due to calendar isolation. Privately, the Gregorian calendar was used in the ministries of foreign affairs, finance, railways, internal affairs, the commercial and navy, as well as astronomical meteorological services. The government and the Orthodox Church opposed the Gregorian calendar, since its canons and accounting chronological cycles were associated with the Julian calendar.

The calendar reform was carried out after October revolution 1917 The Decree of the Council of People's Commissars determined that after January 31, 1918, it should be considered not February 1, but February 14. Now we celebrate the New Year twice: January 1 according to the new style and January 13 according to the old style.

The development of the chronology continues based on system use achievements of archaeological, paleographic, linguistic and other research methods, which will ultimately make it possible to clarify the still controversial dating of the history of many countries.

Date reduction

• 1. Translation of dates of the Byzantine era.
  • a) Dates of the September year. If the event occurs in the months from January to August, 5508 years should be subtracted; if the event occurs in the months from September to December, 5509 years should be subtracted.
  • b) Dates of the March year. If the event occurs in the months from March to December, 5508 years should be subtracted, and if in January and February, 5507 years should be subtracted.
• 2. Converting dates from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.
  • a) Dates are translated by adding to the number of the month:
    • 10 days for the 16th century. (from 1582) - XVII century,
    • 11 days for the 18th century. (from March 1, 1770),
    • 12 days for the 19th century. (since March 1, 1800),
    • 13 days for the 20th century. (since March 1, 1900) - XXI century,
    • 14 days for the 22nd century. (since March 1, 2100).
  • b) In the 21st century. the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars will be 13 days, as in the 20th century, since the year 2000, which ends the 20th century, will be a leap year both according to the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The difference will increase only in the 22nd century.
  • c) The number of days changes when converting dates from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar due to extra day, which ends in February of a leap year (February 29), so the difference increases from March 1.
  • d) Centuries end with years with two zeros at the end, and the next century begins with the 1st year - 1601, 1701, 1801, 1901, 2001 (3rd millennium), etc.