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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 Miletus… in the fourth year of the 48th Olympiad” [July 29, 588 BCE,] which anchor point confirms the one provided to us above by Phlegon.

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 (Rome solar time is 50 minutes ahead of UTC and Jerusalem solar time is 2 hours and 21 minutes ahead of UTC. Thus you must add this time to the hours given in NASA’s Phase of the Moon tables in order to know for instance where exactly there was a total solar eclipse in the sixth hour of the day! How likely is it that anyone observed the 33 A.D. solar eclipse in the sixth hour of the day? Where exactly must such an observer have had to been located in order to observe that particular event “at the sixth hour of the day?”) For a further analysis of NASA’s eclipse map, please press this link

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

 

 

Quoting Origen and Phlegon:

 

 

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.)

 

 

Quoting Josephus:

 

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|. [109] th=j ga\r e)p' )Akti/w| ma/xhj prosdokwme/nhj, h(\n e)pi\ th=j e(bdo/mhj kai\ o)gdohkosth=j pro\j tai=j e(kato\n o)lumpia/doj sune/bh gene/sqai, Kai=sar me\n )Antwni/w| peri\ tw=n o(/lwn e)/mellen a)gwniei=sqai pragma/twn, (Hrw/dhj de\ kai\ th=j xw/raj eu)botoume/nhj au)tw=| polu\n h)/dh xro/non kai\ proso/dwn kai\ duna/mewj eu(rhme/nwn, )Antwni/w| summaxi/an kate/lecen e)pimele/stata tai=j paraskeuai=j xrhsa/menoj.

 

(Flavius Josephus, Antiquitates Judaicae (ed. B. Niese,) Book XV:5:1)

 

 

 

Quoting Suetonius:

 

 

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 Antony alone for nearly twelve years, and finally by himself for forty-four.

100 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam]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 Rome."

 

(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 [Link to the English translation]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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