Critique on Africanus’ Chronology
Written by Darrell Genzlinger in April 1999
Last revision in summer of 2003

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Sextus Julius Africanus was the first Christian historian known to produce a universal chronology.(1) Africanus was born around A.D. 180 in Jerusalem. His life is not well documented, but evidence indicates that Africanus traveled considerably in Asia, Egypt, and Italy and later lived chiefly at Emmaus, in Palestine, where he served as prefect. He was named regional ambassador to Rome, when he became a protégé of the Roman emperor Severus Alexander. Africanus' greatest work was 'Chronographiai' written about A.D. 221.(2) It was a five-volume treatise on sacred and profane history from the Creation which he found to be 5502 years before the Christian Era. Relying on the Septuagint, or a recension of it, as the basis of his calculations, he incorporated and synchronized Egyptian and Chaldean chronologies, Greek mythology, and Judaic history with Christianity. His work raised the prestige of early Christianity by placing it within a historical context.

Chronology of the World According to Africanus
Without knowing for sure what references was used by Africanus it was difficult to determine how he came up with 5531 years between creation and Jesus beginning His ministry on earth. I can only make an educated guess. The references that I think that Africanus had available to him were the Hebrew text, the Samaritan Pentateuch, several versions of the Septuagint, the writings of Josephus, the Apocrypha, and Pseudepigrapha. These references are available to me also except those writings, if any pertaining to the subject, that have since become lost.

The Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint texts differ extensively with the Hebrew text, or what later was referred to as the Masoretic text, as to chronology. This difference is shown in Figure 1. The Hebrew text has 1948 years for the interval of time between creation and Abraham's birth. The Samaritan Pentateuch gives 2249 years for the same interval. The Alexandrinus version of the Septuagint has 3334 years. The Vaticanus version has 3414 years. Josephus gives dates but because of their contradictory nature was hard to compare.

The genealogical account given in Genesis 5 and 11 of the Septuagint was undoubtedly the basis for Africanus' pre-Abrahamic chronology. Africanus had the flood occurring in 2262 A.M., which is identical to the year given in the Alexandrian version of the Septuagint. He probably used the Alexandrian version for the genealogical trail of the postdiluvian patriarchs also. Africanus had a time interval from creation to Abraham's birth of 3202 years. This is 132 years less than the Septuagint Alexandrinus. I think Africanus differed with the Septuagint in two areas. First, he had Shem being the progenitor of Arphaxad "after the flood' instead of 'two years after the flood'. This was, I believe, an oversight. And second, I think he left out Cainan as a patriarch. This resulted in another 130 years. This omission was probably on purpose. So, Africanus had the year of Abraham birth as 3202 A.M., whereas the Septuagint Alexandrinus has the year of 3334 A.M. Was this a miscalculation by Africanus? Or was he using another version of the Septuagint Text? A version which possibly agreed with the Hebrew Text in that area or with another writer, such as, Josephus. Josephus (A.D. c.37-c.100) also relied heavily on the Septuagint. Josephus also omitted Cainan as a post-diluvian patriarch.(3) See Figure 1.

Africanus goes on with his chronology. Abraham begot Isaac when he was 100. Isaac begot Jacob when he was 60. Jacob begat Joseph when be was 91 years old. Compare Gen. 41:46-47, 45:6, and 47:9 to verify. Joseph lived 110 years and died. This totals 3563 years from creation to Joseph's death.

HEB

SP

LXX-A

LXX-B

Josephus

PATRIARCH	YB	AP	YB	AP	YB	AP	YB	AP	YB	AP
Adam Seth Enosh Cainan Mahalalel Jared Enoch^ Methuselah* Lamech Noah Shem <<Flood>> Arphaxad Cainan Salah Eber Peleg Reu Serug Nahor Terah** Abraham*** Isaac Jacob	0 130 235 325 395 460 622 687 874 1056 1558 1656 1658 1693 1723 1757 1787 1819 1849 1878 1948 2048 2108	130 105 90 70 65 162 65 187 182 502 100 35 30 34 30 32 30 29 70 100 60 .	0 130 235 325 395 460 522 587 654 707 1209 1307 1309 1444 1574 1708 1838 1970 2100 2179 2249 2349 2409	130 105 90 70 65 62 65 67 53 502 100 135 130 134 130 132 130 79 70 100 60 .	0 230 435 625 795 960 1122 1287 1474 1662 2164 2262 2264 2399 2529 2659 2793 2923 3055 3185 3264 3334 3434 3494	230 205 190 170 165 162 165 187 188 502 100 135 130 130 134 130 132 130 79 70 100 60 .	0 230 435 625 795 960 1122 1287 1454 1642 2144 2242 2244 2379 2509 2639 2773 2903 3035 3165 3344 3414 3514 3574	230 205 190 170 165 162 165 167 188 502 100 135 130 130 134 130 132 130 179 70 100 60 .	0 230 435 625 795 960 1122 1287 1474 1656 2256 2268 2403 2533 2667 2797 2927 3059 2548 .	230 205 190 170 165 162 165 187 182 135 130 134 130 130 132 70 100 .

HEB = Hebrew Text commonly referred to as the Masoretic Text (written sometime before the Christian Era).
SP = Samaritan Pentateuch Text (written between 500 and 200 BCE).
LXX-A = Septuagint Alexandrinus Text (LXX written during the 3rd century BCE; LXX-Codex A is dated to the 5th century CE).
LXX-B = Septuagint Vaticanus Text (LXX written during the 3rd century BCE; LXX-Codex B is dated to the 4th century CE).
Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews (written between 70 and 100 CE)
YB = Year of Birth - A.M.
AP = Age at Propagation .
^ Enoch did not die. God took him.
* LXX-B has Methuselah’s death 14 years after the flood.
** Terah was 70 years old when he begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran, but not all three or in that order.
*** Josephus wrote in b.1, c.6, s.5 that Abraham was born in the 292nd year after Deluge. This agrees with the Hebrew Text.

Figure 1: Genealogy of Patriarchs in Genesis

Africanus then shifted the reference from creation (Anno Mundi) to the Olympiad era. He attempted to relate Hebrew history with Greek history. Africanus obtained the date of the Exodus via Greek mythical literature. He measured the time period from Ogygus, a fictional character. Ogygus was said to have survived the devastating flood of Attica, a region around present day Athens. [I could not locate this literature on Ogygus.] Africanus believed that the flood of Attica occurred at the same time as the Exodus.

The chronograph of Attica was related to the first year of the 55th Greek Olympiad. According to Africanus, Cyrus the Great became king of the Persians that year, and in the same year, the Persians ended the 70-year Babylonian captivity of Israel. The first year of the 55th Olympiad is equal to 559 B.C. in the Christian era. [Cyrus reigned from 559 B.C. to 530 B.C. He conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. and wrote his decree in 538 B.C., or shortly thereafter, allowing the Jews to return to Israel.](4)

The first Olympic Games were played on July 17, 776 B.C. The Greek festival became a tradition and was played every four years thereafter until finally abolished after the Olympics in the 4th century of the Christian era. The date of the Olympic festivals was governed by the first full moon after the summer solstice. An Olympiad is the four-year period between two successive Olympic festivals. The year following the Olympic games was the first year of the Olympiad. The year after the first year was the second year of the Olympiad, and so forth. Consequently, the years of an Olympiad would start in July and end in July. The Greeks and many of the nations governed by Greece used Olympiads as a reference for historical events. The formula for converting a year given in reference to the Olympiad era to a year before the birth of Christ is: [780 - (4 * Olympiad + year within Olympiad) = B.C.]. If the result is less than or equal to zero then use the formula: [(4 * Olympiad + year within Olympiad + 1) - 780 = A.D.]. The reference origin is 780 B.C. These equations account for the fact that there is no 0 year in the Christian era.

The time interval from Ogygus (or from Moses and the Exodus) to Cyrus was broken down into two sub-intervals. Africanus derived 1020 years using Ogygus as the starting point and going to the first Olympiad. The first year of the 55th Olympiad was 217 years after the first Olympiad. Therefore the total time interval was 1237 years.

In another calculation of this interval, Africanus added together seven sub-intervals. He stated: from the exodus to Moses death are 40; Joshua led the Israelites are 25; the time where the elders were judges are 30; the judges whose history is given in the book of Judges are 490; those of the priests Eli and Samuel are 90; those of the successive kings of the Hebrews are 490; and those of captivity are 70 years to the first year of the reign of Cyrus. The total of 40 + 25 + 30 + 490 + 90 + 490 + 70 = 1235 years. The time interval of 1235 years was only 2 years less than the interval calculated earlier so he used 1237 years. [I certainly agree with the 40 and 70 years but Scripture is not clear as to the other intervals of time.]

The next event for making a time measurement was Artaxerxes' command to rebuild Jerusalem. Artaxerxes gave that command in the 20th year of his reign (Neh. 1:1, 2:1 & 2:7-9). Africanus said that Artaxerxes gave that decree in the 4th year of the 83rd Olympiad, or during the 115th year of the Persian empire. This event occurred during the year prior to the summer of (559 B.C. - 115 years = 444 B.C.)(4)

Africanus then used the prophecy of 70 'weeks of years' = 490 years given in Daniel (Dan. 9:24-27) to make the last time interval of his chronology. Africanus interpreted the 490 years to mean lunar years. A lunar year is composed of 12 lunar months. Each lunar month is about 29.5 days long. Thus, a lunar year is approximately 354 days. A solar year is about 365 days. The number of solar years in 490 lunar months is: 490 * 354/365 = 475.23 or approx. 475 solar years. Therefore, by adding 475 years to 444 B.C. we get A.D. 32.

Africanus did another calculation for this time interval using the Greek method of measurement. The time interval for his interpretation of Daniel's 70 weeks was measured from the 4th year of the 83rd Olympiad to the 2nd year of the 202nd Olympiad, which was the 16th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. From the command to rebuild Jerusalem (780 - (4 * 83 + 4) = 444 B.C.) to the 16th year of Tiberius Caesar ((4 * 202 + 2 + 1) - 780 = A.D. 31) was 475 years. [I calculate 474 years.]

Africanus relates the 2nd year of the 202nd Olympiad with the 16th year of Tiberius Caesar. Luke 3:1 reads "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, ...." This verse is making reference to John the Baptist and when he began his ministry. Since Jesus is six months younger that John, Tiberius could have been in his 16th year of reign when Jesus began His ministry.

Africanus ends his work on chronology with this statement. "The period, then, to the advent of the Lord from Adam and the creation is 5531 years, from which epoch to the 250th Olympiad there are 192 years, as has been shown above." I believe that he is saying from creation to the advent of our Lord is 5531 years, and this epoch ends 192 years before the 250th Olympiad. Jesus then began His ministry in A.D. 29. This is not the year that He was born, as we might infer from the word 'advent'. The start of the Christian era, according to Africanus' chronology, would be 5531 - 29 = 5502 A.M.

In summarizing, the time intervals calculated by Africanus are: creation of Adam ------- 2262 years ------- Flood ------- 940 years ------- Abraham's birth ------- 361 years ------- death of Joseph ------- ??? ------- Exodus ------- 1237 years ------- Cyrus became king of Persia ------- 115 years ------- Artaxerxes' command to rebuild Jerusalem ------- 475 years ------- Christ began His Ministry = 5531 years (A.D. 29). See Figure 2. The writings of Africanus failed to include the interval between the death of Joseph and the Exodus. We can calculate that interval of time by subtracting the subtotal from 5531 years to get 141 years. [I calculate this time interval to be 154 years. See Figure 3: Chronology of Biblical Events in <The 7th Millennium> document for the dates of these two events.]

Chronological Event	Africanus’ calculations-years	My calculations-years
Creation to Flood Flood to Abraham’s birth Abraham’s birth to Joseph’s death Joseph’s death to Exodus Exodus to Cyrus’ reign Cyrus’ reign to Command to rebuild Jerusalem Jerusalem rebuilt to Christ’s begins His Ministry <<<<<<<<Total years from creation to A.D. 29	2262 940 361 141 1237 115 475 5531	1656 352 361 154 910 95 472 4000

Figure 2

Conclusion
1. Africanus probably used a version of the Septuagint for his Biblical source reference. The version he used could not be found. The Septuagint gave him a much older earth than the Hebrew text because the age of the patriarchs when they propagated their successor was usually 100 years larger.

2. His omission of Cainan as one of the post-diluvian progenitors of Christ would tend to support the Hebrew text in this area. Josephus and the writers of the Samaritan Pentateuch also omitted Cainan.

3. Africanus' interpretation of Daniel's '70 weeks' contradicts Scripture. He should have used 69 weeks of years rather than 70 weeks of years. He also defined a year as being a lunar year, or 354 days. A year is defined (by inference reasoning: 1260 days = 42 months = 3 1/2 years) as 360 days in the book of Revelation.

References
1) The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 1, page l36.

2) The Extant Writings of Julius Africanus, These writings of Africanus can be obtained off of the internet at <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0614.htm>.

3) Antiquities of the Jews, b.1, c.6, s.4. The Works of Flavius Josephus, translated by William Whiston, Baker Book House, 1975.

4) Persia and the Bible, Edwin M. Yamauchi, pages 72 - 92, Baker Book House, 1990.

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