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Statement of belief: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy
word is truth.” (John 17:17 KJV)
Created 5928± 13 23 2024 [2008-03-31]
Updated 5929± 12 03 2025 [2011-03-08]
Firm Historical Evidence for
Caesar Augustus’ Death on August 19, 10 CE
Abstract:
Correctly
dating the death of Caesar Augustus is very significant and important because
that event and the date generally attributed to it, August 19, 14 A.D., is used
as the basis for most or even all of conventional dating of the history and of
the events in and surrounding the first century A.D. and thus also for the
events of the New Testament. Use a faulty foundation and the entire structure
built upon it will be flawed! It
appears as though this 14 A.D. error is based upon an assumption that
Ptolemy’s Canon of Kings is exactly reliable and based upon no longer
extant source material. This does not seem to hold true to careful scrutiny!
Our
road to ultimate truth is frequently long and circuitous. The simple and direct
routes are frequently overlooked. So it was for me and that which is found
below is not how I originally arrived at these results re the date of the death
of Caesar Augustus. What is found below is a simplified and much more direct route
to the recognition of the correct date pertaining to the death of Caesar Augustus. He died in 10
CE, and not, as generally assumed, in 14 CE!:
A
simple four step calculation based on modern astronomy plus three ancient
manuscripts:
-
“Four simple steps from the 29 CE solar eclipse of Phlegon to
Augustus’ death on August 19, 10 CE…”
(For
the full context of the abbreviated quotes used in steps 1-2 please see the Reference section below!)
1. From Phlegon we learn that an “eclipse of the Sun took place greater than any previously
known, and night came on at the sixth hour of the day, so that stars actually
appeared in the sky,”
i.e. a total eclipse that occurred between 11 AM and noon visible from a
location known to Phlegon (cf. Romans 16:14! Might Phlegon have gotten his
report from Paul???) This is a rare enough event* as
specified by the characteristics given that it may be identified as the solar
eclipse of November 24, 29 CE. Given that this is identified by Phlegon as
having occurred “in the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad,” we may then first
recognize that said fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad began on July 1, 29 CE
and ended at the beginning of July 1, 30 CE… [Notice that attributing Phlegon’s
solar eclipse report to the March 19, 33 CE solar eclipse, as has been done in
the past, is considered incorrect! Cf. Solar Eclipse
Newsletter, Vol. 8:11, Nov 2003, p. 5:4!]
Another
anchor point for the Olympic calendar as used in ancient times is the
successful solar eclipse prediction of “Thales of
2. It follows
that the 187th Olympiad began July 1, 35 BCE. That is: (202*4) – (186*4)
= 808 – 744 = 64 years. 30 CE – 64 years = -34 = 35 BCE.
The
significance of dating the 187th Olympiad is that:
a. Josephus is referencing the 187th Olympiad when
pinpointing the conclusion of the fight between Caesar and Marc Antony. Said
fight began with the Battle
of Actium on September 2 of the year before it was concluded on August 12
by Cleopatra’s death. Josephus’ words:
“the battle… fell into the
hundred eighty and seventh Olympiad;” and also
that…
b.
Suetonius
provides that Caesar Augustus “ruled
the State… by himself for forty-four
[years before] he died… on the fourteenth day
before the Kalends of September at the ninth hour…” (i.e.
on August 19 between 2 and 3 pm.)
3.
Because, accordingly, Augustus became the sole ruler
beginning August 12, 35 BCE, it follows that his 1st of 44
anniversaries fell
on August 12, 34 BCE and that his 44th anniversary as sole ruler
fell on August 12, 10 CE.
That is: 35 BCE + 44 years = -34 + 44 = 10 CE.
4. On the first
August 19th following his 44th anniversary as sole ruler
Augustus died, i.e. on August 19, 10 CE.
- Not
“14 A.D.” as commonly held! (To learn more about the “14
A.D.” error please click on the links below the full Quotes
from Origen and Phlegon below!)
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________________________________
*) How many
total solar eclipses do you find in NASA’s
eclipse map that could possibly be seen from the Roman Empire and which
could possibly fit the description of Phlegon? Cf. also this table
(
Origen (“ca 185 - ca 254 A.D.:”)
English translation (emphasis added:)
"And Phlegon also who
compiled the Olympiads writes about the same things in his 13th book in the
following words: 'In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, an eclipse of the Sun took place greater
than any previously known, and night came on at the sixth hour of the day, so
that stars actually appeared in the sky; and a great earthquake took place in Bithynia and
overthrew the greater part of Niceaea;"
(“From: Phlegon, Olympiades,
fragment 17. Quoted in Historical Eclipses and Earth's Rotation, by F
Richard Stephenson, Cambridge University Press, 1997, page 359-360;”
Solar
Eclipse Newsletter, Vol. 8:11, Nov 2003, p. 5:4. Cf. Google
Book Search and MrEclipse.com.)
English
translation (emphasis added:)
“1. HEREUPON Herod held himself ready to go
against the king of Arabia, because of his ingratitude to him, and because,
after all, he would do nothing that was just to him, although Herod made the Roman
war an occasion of delaying his own; for the battle at Actium was now expected,
which fell into the hundred eighty and seventh olympiad, where Caesar and
Antony were to fight for the supreme power of the world…”
(Flavius
Josephus, Antiquities of
the Jews (ed. William Whiston, A.M.,) Book
XV:5:1)
Greek text (emphasis added:)
“[108] (Hrw/dhj de\ tou=ton to\n tro/pon a)gnwmonou=ntoj kai\ to\ teleutai=on ou)de\n e)/ti tw=n dikai/wn poiei=n e)qe/lontoj ei)=xen me\n w(j e)peceleuso/menoj, proqesmi/a| de\ e)xrh/sato tw=| (Rwmai+kw=| pole/mw|.
(Flavius
Josephus, Antiquitates
Judaicae (ed. B. Niese,)
Book
XV:5:1)
English
translation (emphasis added:)
“8:2
When Caesar, after recovering the Spanish provinces, planned an expedition
against the Dacians and then against the Parthians, Augustus, who had been sent
on in advance to Apollonia, devoted his leisure to study. As soon as he learned
that his uncle had been slain and that he was his heir, he was in doubt for
some time whether to appeal to the nearest legions, but gave up the idea as
hasty and premature. He did, however, return to the city and enter upon his
inheritance, in spite of the doubts of his mother and the strong opposition of
his stepfather, the ex-consul Marcius Philippus. 3 Then he levied armies and henceforth ruled the State, at first with Marcus Antonius
and Marcus Lepidus, then with
“100 ![[Legamen ad paginam Latinam]](AugustusDeath10CEsimplified_files/image003.gif){kind=small}
He died in the same room as his father Octavius,
in the consulship of two Sextuses, Pompeius and Appuleius,
on the
fourteenth day before the Kalends of September at the ninth hour, just thirty-five days before his
seventy-sixth birthday. “
(Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars, The Life of Augustus)
Cf. C. Suetonius Tranquillus, The Lives of the Caesars (ed. Alexander Thomson)
Another English
translation (emphasis added:)
– Notice:
“14 A.D.” is an editorial remark not based upon the Latin original!
"100.
Augustus died in the same room as his father Octavius. That was 19 August
14 A.D., at about 3 p.m., the Consuls of the year being Sextus
Pompey and Sextus Appuleius. Before the close of the following month he
would have attained the age of seventy-six. Senators from the
neighbouring municipalities and veteran colonies bore the body, in stages, all
the way from Nola to Bovillae -- but at night, owing to the hot weather --
laying it in the town hall or principal temple of every halting place.
From Bovillae, a party of Roman knights carried it to the vestibule of the
Palace at
(The
Twelve Caesars by Suetonius; translation by Robert Graves)
Latin original text (emphasis added:)
“8:2 Caesare post receptas Hispanias expeditionem in Dacos et inde
Parthos7
destinante praemissus Apolloniam studiis vacavit. Utque primum occisum eum
heredemque se comperit, diu cunctatus an proximas legiones imploraret, id
quidem consilium ut praeceps inmaturumque omisit. Ceterum urbe repetita hereditatem
adiit, dubitante matre, vitrico vero Marcio Philippo consulari multum
dissuadente. 3 Atque ab eo
tempore exercitibus comparatis primum cum M. Antonio M.que Lepido, deinde8
tantum cum Antonio per duodecim fere annos, novissime per quattuor et quadraginta solus rem p. tenuit.
100 Obiit in cubiculo eodem, quo pater Octavius, duobus Sextis, Pompeio et Appuleio,94
cons. XIIII. Kal.
Septemb. hora diei nona, septuagesimo et sexto aetatis anno,
diebus V et XXX minus.
(Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum, Divus
Augustus)
Cf. C.
Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum (ed. Maximilian Ihm)
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