Faulty Olympiad calendar caused 1 year error in redating Herod's death from 1 BC to 4 BC

In my previous blogs titled “Total solar eclipse before Augustus' death proves Herod the Great's death wasn't on 4 BC”, and "Midrash Rosh Hashana proves Herod the Great's death wasn't on 4 BC", I explained in great detail why I don’t support the revised date of 4 BC for Herod’s death. In this blog, I will be explaining now why I support the traditional date of 1 BC instead, and how the many fierce arguments against this unpopular opinion can all be answered with finality.

According to the famed 1st century AD historian Titus Flavius Josephus, Herod's death and elaborate funeral was preceded by a lunar eclipse and followed by Passover. I believe this lunar eclipse was the total lunar eclipse that happened on January 10, 1 BC which was visible in Israel at 04:05 AM Jerusalem time. At this time of the day in Jerusalem, the Sun’s altitude was still 33.37° below horizon, and this means that it was technically night time when the maximum eclipse of the Moon happened.

Now let us compare this total lunar eclipse with the partial lunar eclipse which occurred on March 13, 4 BC at 05:37 AM Jerusalem time, and which proponents of the 4 BC death for Herod believe was the correct eclipse instead. We can see that at this time of the day in Jerusalem, the Sun’s altitude was already only 4.79° below horizon, and this means that it was technically past civil dawn and almost sunrise already when this particular partial eclipse of the Moon happened.

However, according to Antiquities of the Jews — Book XVII, Chapter 6: 4, the eclipse of Herod that happened shortly before his death, occurred at night and not dawn or almost sunrise. So common sense tells us that the correct lunar eclipse for Herod was the one that occurred on 1 BC and not 4 BC. And this is one reason why I support the 1 BC date for Herod’s death rather than the 4 BC date by Emil Schürer.

Now Josephus tells us that there are two ways of reckoning the  length of time of Herod’s reign:

Antiquities of the Jews — Book XVII 8:1 When [Herod the Great] had done these things, he died, the fifth day after he had caused Antipater to be slain: having reigned since he had procured Antigonus to be slain thirty four years: but since he had been declared King by the Romans thirty seven.

In addition, Josephus also tells us that shortly before Herod had procured his rival king Antigonus to be slain, Jerusalem first suffered destruction under Herod’s command. And that according to him, this happened exactly 27 years to the day, after Pompey also destroyed Jerusalem in a strikingly similar catastrophic manner:

Antiquities of the Jews — Book XIV Chapter 16: 4. This destruction befel the city of Jerusalem when Marcus Agrippa and Caninius Gallus were consuls of Rome; on the hundred eighty and fifth olympiad; on the third month; on the solemnity of the fast. As if a periodical revolution of calamities had returned, since that which befell the Jews under Pompey. For the Jews were taken by him on the same day; and this was after twenty seven years time. So when Sosius had dedicated a crown of gold to God, he marched away from Jerusalem; and carried Antigonus with him, in bonds to Antony. But Herod was afraid lest Antigonus should be kept in prison [only] by Antony… Out of Herod’s fear of this it was, that he, by giving Antony a great deal of money, endeavoured to persuade him to have Antigonus slain.

Now the siege of Jerusalem which occurred during Pompey the Great's campaigns in the east, happened on 63 BC. Exactly 27 years after this date should be 36 BC. And therefore, 36 BC must be the year when the siege of Jerusalem by Herod the Great took place, and also the year when he procured his rival king Antigonus to be slain. There really should be no argument about that.

Thus, based on Josephus’ first reckoning of Herod’s reign, 36 BC was when he started to rule for 34 years. This 34 years reign of Herod ended on Nisan 1, 2 BC. And this is because I believe Herod died shortly before Nisan 1, 1 BC. And this means, Herod’s reign between after Nisan 1, 2 BC until his death before Nisan 1, 1 BC should all be ignored or discarded.

This is, if we follow the rules of counting a king’s reign based on the Midrash Rosh Hashana which I discussed in detail in my previous blog titled "Midrash Rosh Hashana prove Herod the Great's death wasn't on 4 BC".

Please note that the number of days between Nisan 1, 1 BC and Nisan 15, 1 BC, or Passover day, are too short to allow for all the events that happened after Herod died and before his funeral that preceded the day of Passover. Thus, my belief that Herod died shortly before Nisan 1, 1 BC, rather than on or after. But wait, there is more.

Josephus also said that there was a second way of reckoning the start of Herod’s reign. And that this second reckoning happened 3 years earlier than 36 BC, or on 39 BC, when Herod was declared King by the Romans. Now according to Josephus the start of Herod’s reign based on this second reckoning also happened to fall on the 184th olympiad under the consulships of Calvinus and Pollio:

Antiquities of the Jews — Book XIV Chapter 14: 5. And this was the principal instance of Antony’s affection for Herod, that he not only procured him a Kingdom which he did not expect…but that he procured it for him so suddenly, that he obtained what he did not expect, and departed out of Italy in so few days as seven in all... And thus did this man receive the Kingdom; having obtained it on the hundred eighty fourth olympiad; when Caius Domitius Calvinus was consul the second time; and Caius Asinius Pollio [the first time.]

Now there are 2 major problems here:

1. An Olympiad is a period of four years associated with the Olympic Games of the ancient Greeks, and the 184th Olympiad when calculated using 776 BC as the traditional start date of the 1st ever Olympiad, will cover the period of 44 BC upto 40 BC only.

2. The consulships of Calvinus and Pollio were dated by the Varronian chronology to occur on 40 BC.

Obviously none of these 2 calendar epochs points to 39 BC as the year when Herod was declared king by the Romans. So either 39 BC was 1 year too late, or the Olympiad dating and the Varronian chronology were both 1 year too early. Now which one is it?

Clearly I have 2 problems to resolve here, but for now let me resolve the 1st problem concerning the 184th Olympiad first. Is there evidence that shows the traditional date of 776 BC being the year of the first ever Olympiad is questionable?

Paul Christesen, on his essay titled “Whence 776? The Origin of the Date for the First Olympiad” has this to say on how Hippias arrived at the year 776 BC:

This essay explores the origin of the date of 776 bc for the first Olympiad. That date was established by Hippias of Elis c.400 bc when he compiled the first complete list of Olympic victors. Contrary to what one might expect, Hippias did not arrive at the date of 776 on the basis of written records pertaining to the Olympics or to Olympic victors. Instead, he calculated the date of the first Olympiad by associating that Olympiad with a famous Spartan lawgiver named Lycurgus, who was a member of one of the Spartan royal families and who was believed to have helped organize the Olympic Games. Hippias used a list of Spartan kings to determine the number of generations between his own time and that of Lycurgus. He then assigned a fixed number of years to each generation and ended up with a date for Lycurgus and hence the first Olympiad. The inaccuracies inherent in this approach mean that the date of 776 for the first Olympiad is at best an approximation.

Hippias’ combination of victor lists and calculations from 776 BC onwards enabled Greek historians to use the Olympiads as a calendar or a way of reckoning time. Eventually, Christian chroniclers continued to use this Greek system of dating as a way of synchronising biblical events with Greek and Roman history. One such chronicler was Eusebius of Caesarea.

The Chronicon or Chronicle was a work in two books written in Greek by Eusebius. It contained a world chronicle from Abraham until the 20th anniversary of Constantine the Great in 325 AD. Both books are mostly preserved in an Armenian translation. While Book 2 is entirely preserved in the Latin translation by St. Jerome.  Now two authors have this to say about the Armenian translation of Eusebius’ original Greek text:

Studies in Eusebian and Post-Eusebian Chronography By Richard W. Burgess, Witold Witakowski, page 25: The Armenian translation survives in two manuscripts… It is the only intact, uninterpolated version of the Canons [or Chronicon by Eusebius] we possess, but its structure has been completely reworked, it is chronologically corrupt (for instance, the Olympiads have all been shifted back one year …)

The attalus.org website contains detailed lists of events and sources for the history of the Hellenistic world and the Roman republic. Under the Eusebius Chronicle page of this website, we can see the following comment:

Scholars continue to debate how accurately the Armenian translation preserves the exact format of Eusebius' Greek text, especially in the Chronological Tables, where there are clear differences between the Armenian and St.Jerome. For instance, the Olympic dates differ by one year; the Armenian version sets the first Olympiad against year 1240, counting from Abraham, while in St.Jerome's version the first year of the first Olympiad is year 1241 from Abraham.

Because the traditional dating of the 184th Olympiad covers only the period from 44 BC upto 40 BC, with 39 BC, the year I believe Herod was declared king by the Romans not included, I take the position that is the same as that of St. Jerome. Namely, the correct year for the 1st ever Olympiad should be one year later on 775 BC instead of 776 BC.

So let us now calculate the 4 year period of the corrected 184th Olympiad using the revised year 775 BC as the start of the 1st Olympiad instead:

The 1st year of the 184th Olympiad = 775 BC - (184th Olympiad - 1) x 4 years period between Olympiads = 43 BC.

Thus, this time, the corrected 184th Olympiad actually covers the period from 43 BC upto 39 BC. And since 39 BC was the year I believe Herod was proclaimed king by the Romans, then Josephus was indeed right when he said that Herod’s first year as king based on this particular reckoning was during the 184th Olympiad.

The problem of using the traditional date 776 BC as the start of the first Olympiad can also be seen in the case of Herod’s siege and capture of Jerusalem, which as I already mentioned earlier took place on 36 BC:

Antiquities of the Jews — Book XIV Chapter 16: 4. This destruction befel the city of Jerusalem when Marcus Agrippa and Caninius Gallus were consuls of Rome; on the hundred eighty and fifth olympiad; on the third month; on the solemnity of the fast. As if a periodical revolution of calamities had returned, since that which befell the Jews under Pompey. For the Jews were taken by him on the same day; and this was after twenty seven years time.

According to Josephus, the destruction of Jerusalem under Herod took place on the third month of the 185th Olympiad. Now a typical Olympiad started with the holding of the games customarily on the first  full moon after the summer solstice.

And since there are exactly 3 months between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox, this means the third month of the Olympiad ends on the first full Moon after the autumn equinox.

The 1st year of the 185th Olympiad using the traditional date 776 BC as the start of the 1st Olympiad is calculated as follows:

1st year of the 185th Olympiad = 776 BC - (185th Olympiad - 1) x 4 years period between Olympiads = 40 BC.

Thus, the third month of the 1st year of the 185th Olympiad ends on the 1st full Moon after the autumn equinox of 40 BC.

While the third month of the 4th year of the 185th Olympiad ends on the 1st full Moon after the autumn equinox of 37 BC.

Now an Olympiad is a period of only four years, so as you can see, the third month of the Olympiad calendar on 36 BC, which was when Herod Captured Jerusalem, does not fit in this calculation of the 185th Olympiad which used 776 BC as the start of the 1st Olympiad.

But if we now use 775 BC instead of 776 BC, one can easily see that the third month of the 4th year of the 185th Olympiad should have ended on the 1st full Moon after the autumn equinox of 36 BC instead of 37 BC.

And this is what was necessary in order to harmonize Josephus’ statement that Jerusalem’s capture by Herod on 36 BC was during the 185th Olympiad and that it also happened exactly 27 years after Pompey’s capture of Jerusalem on 63 BC. Thus, this further validates my position that the traditional start of the 1st Olympiad, on 776 BC, was a year too early.

Now Josephus mentioned a solemn Jewish fast that was observed on the very day Jerusalem was captured on the third month of the 185th Olympiad. This third month of the Olympiad calendar, if you will still recall, ends on the 1st full Moon after the autumn equinox. What was this solemn fast of the Jews? The first Hebrew month that falls on autumn is the month of Tishri.

And this is the only Hebrew month when the 1st full Moon after the autumn equinox occurs, regardless if the previous year was a regular year like 2020 or a leap year like 2019.

Also, it is in the month of Tishri that Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, and considered to be the holiest day of the year in Judaism, is observed. Jewish people traditionally observe this holy day with an approximate 25 hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services.

Note that Yom Kippur is celebrated on Tishri 10, or five days before the first full Moon after the autumn equinox. This means that the fast of Yom Kippur falls within the third month of the Olympiad Calendar which ends at the first full Moon after the autumn equinox.

Thus, without a shadow of a doubt, Herod’s capture of Jerusalem occurred on the Day of Atonement of 36 BC, while Pompey’s capture of Jerusalem, which happened exactly 27 years earlier to the day, occurred on the Day of Atonement of 63 BC.

Now let me address and resolve the second major problem I mentioned a while ago that has to do with  the consulships of Calvinus and Pollio being dated by the Varronian chronology to occur on 40 BC, instead of 39 BC.

In my previous blog titled "Midrash Rosh Hashana proves Herod the Great's death wasn't on 4 BC" I discussed a similar problem. This problem has to do with dating Herod’s siege and capture of Jerusalem once again:

Wikipedia, Herod the Great, Biography: “After three years of conflict, Herod and the Romans finally captured Jerusalem and Herod sent Antigonus for execution to Marc Antony. Herod took the role as sole ruler of Judea and the title of basileus (or "king") for himself, ushering in the Herodian Dynasty and ending the Hasmonean Dynasty. Josephus reports this as being in the year of the consulship of Agrippa and Gallus (37 BCE), but also says that it was exactly 27 years after Jerusalem fell to Pompey, which would indicate 36 BCE… According to Josephus, Herod ruled for 37 years, 34 of them after capturing Jerusalem”.

We can see that in both cases, i.e., the consulships of Calvinus and Pollio being dated by the Varronian chronology to occur on 40 BC, and not 39 BC; and the consulships of Agrippa and Gallus being dated to occur on 37 BC, and not 36 BC; the Varronian chronology was consistently 1 year earlier than it should have been or otherwise expected. And this is because, in my opinion, the Varronian chronology was a victim of the erroneous decision of having the start of the 1st Olympiad happening on 776 BC instead of 775 BC.

Now why should the wrong choice for when the 1st Olympiad started affect the accuracy of the Varronian Chronology which sets the dates when the Roman Consuls have served? The answer is simple.

At the time the Varronian Chronology was created by Marcus Terentius Varro who lived during the 1st century BC, the calendar we now use which uses Anno Domini (or AD) and Before Christ (or BC) was not yet created by Dionysius Exiguus until the 6th century AD.

And the calendar epoch which Varro used to set corresponding dates to his list of Roman Consuls was the Olympiad calendar instead. Knowing this, it should be easy to see why a wrong date for the start of the Olympiad calendar that is 1 year too early, will likewise cause the dates of the Roman Consuls to be reckoned 1 year too early as well.

Now there is a 3 years difference between 4 BC, the year when Herod’s successors supposedly ascended their thrones, and 1 BC, the year I believe Herod died and Christ was born. So far I have only accounted for a 1 year difference to prove that Herod died on 1 BC and not 4 BC. I still have to account for a 2 years difference to prove that 1 BC is the correct year for Herod’s death. In my next video I will be discussing how this 2 years difference can be accounted for once and for all.