Sunday, September 23, 2012

Inclusive & Accession Year Reckoning



The AD/BC year numbering system wasn't created until the 6th century AD.  In ancient times, years were counted according to the reigns of kings e.g. the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar.  That system was called Regnal Year Reckoning.  There were two methods of recording regnal years:

(a)  accession-year reckoning:  Under that system, the accession year, most often a partial year, wasn’t included in a king’s regnal years.  For example, when a king died, an heir apparent became his successor.  Most often that occurred in the middle of a calendar year.  That partial year was treated as the new king's accession year and the next calendar year was counted as his first regnal year.

(b)  non-accession-year reckoning:  Under that system, the accession year, most often a partial year, was included in a king's regnal years and credited to him as a full year.  It was counted as the new king's first regnal year and the next calendar year as his second regnal year.  That system was loosely called inclusive reckoning.

Calendars also had an impact on reckoning systems and Judah had two calendars.  Judah’s civil calendar celebrated New Year’s on Tishri 1 while their sacred calendar celebrated New Year’s on Nisan 1.  Tishri 1 occurred in late September or early October on our modern Gregorian calendar.  Nisan 1 fell in late March or early April on the Gregorian calendar.  Hence Tishri 1 and Nisan 1 can be equated with October 1 and April 1 respectively.   

Daniel the prophet and chroniclers Ezra and Nehemiah all used accession-year reckoning based on Judah's civil calendar.  However, Jeremiah the prophet used accession-year reckoning based on Judah's sacred calendar.

Practical applications of the reckoning systems described above:

Gubara a.k.a. Darius the Mede captured Babylon without a battle on October 12, 539 BC on behalf of his benefactor Cyrus the Great.  On October 29, 539 BC, Cyrus entered the city’s gates and, with thunderous applause, its inhabitants acknowledged him as emperor.  That same day, Cyrus installed Darius as his client king.  That made Darius' accession year from October 29, 539 BC to October 1, 538 BC.  Hence, his first regnal year was from October 1, 538 BC to October 1, 537 BC according to accession-year reckoning based on Judah's civil calendar.  Chapter 9 of the book of Daniel began in the first regnal year of Darius the Mede who was made king of Babylon.  Ezra’s book also began in 538/537 BC, the first regnal year of Cyrus as Babylon's overlord, part of his role as emperor of the humongous Persian empire.      

(Speaking hypothetically, had Jeremiah chronicled Darius the Mede's reign, he would have used accession-year reckoning based on Judah’s sacred calendar.  That would have made Darius' accession year from October 29, 539 BC to April 1, 538 BC.  Hence, his first regnal year would have been from April 1, 538 BC to April 1, 537 BC.)

The reign of Darius the Great was a little more complicated.  I like the chronology presented by Yamauchi, author of “Persia and the Bible.”  Shortly before Cambyses' death, Gaumata the usurper began his revolt on March 11, 522 BC.  By mid-April, he was recognized as emperor in Babylonia and by July 1, he was recognized as emperor throughout the entire Persian Empire.  On September 29, his brief reign ended when he was slain by Darius the Great, who seized control of the Persian throne.

Like Gaumata, it took a few weeks before Darius was recognized as emperor.  He wasn’t the obvious heir and had to subdue those who challenged his claim to the throne.  His accession occurred in the Jewish year 522/521 BC, making 521/520 BC his first regnal year.  Ezra said that Zerubbabel’s temple was completed in the sixth regnal year of Darius the Great.  Using accession-year reckoning based on Judah's civil calendar, we arrive at 516/515 BC.  In fact, Yamauchi says the second temple was finished on March 12, 515 BC.

Artaxerxes accession occurred in the Jewish year 465/464 BC.  Consequently 464/463 BC was his first regnal year.  Artaxerxes' decree that sent Ezra to Jerusalem was proclaimed in his seventh regnal year.  That year was 458/457 BC according to accession-year reckoning based on Judah's civil calendar.

Nehemiah was sent to Judah to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem in the twentieth regnal year of Artaxerxes. Since Artaxerxes’ accession occurred in the Jewish year 465/464 BC, his 20th regnal year was 445/444 BC according to accession-year reckoning based on Judah's civil calendar.

Inclusive reckoning was the popular method of recording time when the Gospels were written.  Under that system, partial years and partial days were counted as complete years and complete days.  For example, the time between Christ’s death and resurrection was about forty hours.  He died at 3 PM on Good Friday and rose from the dead at dawn on Easter Sunday.  However, it was recorded as three days.  That’s because the part days on Friday and Sunday were counted as full days.

In his Gospel, Luke used inclusive reckoning to record the year of Christ’s baptism.  He was baptized in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar.  Tiberius' predecessor, Augustus, died on August 19, 14 AD.  Tiberius ascended the throne shortly thereafter.  By inclusive reckoning, the period from August 19 to December 31, 14 AD was credited to him as a full year and counted as his first regnal year.  Hence, his fifteenth regnal year was 28 AD, the calendar year when Jesus was baptized.

6 comments:

  1. It should be noted that the account of the events described in Ezra 4:1-5 is continued at Ezra 4:24. The events described in between took place during the reigns of Xerxes & Artaxerxes.

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  2. For the story of Cambyses, Gaumata, & Darius, click Persia on the sidebar.

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  3. Edwin R. Thiele is credited with unraveling the various reckoning systems. His work was refined by Leslie McFall to produce what is now called the Thiele/McFall system.

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  4. Cyrus ascended the Persian throne in 559 BC. He conquered Media and Lydia before his conquest of Babylon. When Ezra wrote "the first year of Cyrus king of Persia," he was referring to Cyrus' first regnal year as Babylon's overlord which coincided with Darius the Mede's first regnal year as Cyrus' client king.

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  5. Scriptural references: Daniel 5:31; 9:1; Ezra 1:1; 6:15; 7:6-9; Nehemiah 2:5-6; John 2:19-22; Matthew 12:40; 27:63; Luke 3:1

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  6. Accession-year reckoning is sometimes called postdating because under the accession-year system, a king lost time served at the beginning of his reign but was credited with time not served at the end of his reign.
    Non-accession-year reckoning is sometimes called antedating because under the non-accession-year system, a king was credited with time not served at the beginning of his reign but lost time served at the end of his reign.

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