Chronology

Antoshisamazing · Post by **Antoshisamazing** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:16 pm

I have a question; in Swifter than Eagles what chronology is being used for dating the armies? When I was at uni I remember being told that there are several different chronologies for the ancient near east (although I must confess that I don't remember too much of what the lecturer was saying about them

) and after reading StE I got curious. Unfortunatly the wikipedia page is a mess and left me no more enlightened than before, so can anybody help me out with this?

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:25 pm

THink you need to look at the theories of David Rohl (?)

Something to do woth Apsis Bulls in Egypt If I remember correctly

Hope this helps

nikgaukroger · Post by **nikgaukroger** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 3:03 pm

IIRC the dates we used in Softer than Beagles are the conventional "Low" chronology.

We certainly didn't use Rohl's "makes good TV but poor history" chronology

Not that there aren't issues with the conventional chronologies of course, however ...

timmy1 · Post by **timmy1** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:59 pm

Nigel from the BM very Kindly pointed me at Ian Shaw's history of Egypt for a good explaination of the 'Low' chronology theory and practise.

Really good book (be prepared to skip the first 2 paragraphs if lithics - flint napping - are not your thing) and it really explains the pre-dynastic stuff. If anyone needs the ISBN etc, let me know and I will add the details.

Antoshisamazing · Post by **Antoshisamazing** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 12:40 am

Thanks guys, that really clears things up.
I actually have a copy of Shaw's History of Egypt with me, it's one of the few books I bought with me to China, I'll go back and have a look at the chronology section again.

Strategos69 · Post by **Strategos69** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 1:12 am

For a while I thought you were referring to disadjustment between preJulian calendar and our actual calendar, which has the correction made by the pope Gregory XIII. Some people do, specially before Julius Caesar's reforms, in order to know if seasons or events really took place in the year they were told to. After Caesar, disadjustments appeared after millenia, like with the Bolchevique revolution, reknow to be in October but actually happening in November. By the way, I prefer the idea of FoG books to be writen in mainstream history and not just some calculations.

Antoshisamazing · Post by **Antoshisamazing** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 2:16 am

I'm afraid to say that when it comes to ancient history all there really is is calculations, putting an exact date to anything in the ancient world is difficult at best, downright impossible in some cases.

bobm · Post by **bobm** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 11:33 am

Antoshisamazing wrote:I'm afraid to say that when it comes to ancient history all there really is is calculations, putting an exact date to anything in the ancient world is difficult at best, downright impossible in some cases.

...except for the battle of Pydna. Summer solstice and a lunar eclipse make things pretty precise!

Antoshisamazing · Post by **Antoshisamazing** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 12:22 pm

Hey, I said difficult, not impossible.