What is chronology: definition. What does chronology study?

Every person feels the passage of time. Stars and planets move in the universe, the hands of the clock monotonously beat their rhythm, each of us slowly goes forward along the corridor of time. Realizing their dependence on it, people came up with many ways and systems of numbering, which help to order and calculate it. Various sciences, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and history, would hardly have been without such an exact science as chronology. Perhaps, so it is possible to say about dozens of other areas of research, in which scientists have advanced. So, what is the chronology and why did it come up? The definition of this word can be found below. In addition, by reading this article, you can better know what the chronology is studying, and understand what time calculation is better to trust, given the latest scientific discoveries.

What is chronology? Definition

Chronology (literally, the "science of time") is the direction of research, which is defined as the sequence of events in history. What does the chronology of the ages study as a science? She explains how time is measured. There is the concept of "mathematical (astronomical) chronology." Such a chronology is oriented first of all to changing the positions of celestial bodies. The astronomical chronology of the world studies the regularity of celestial phenomena, organizes them and organizes them. However, most often a chronology implies a sequence of historical events. The main object that chronology studies is time. However, what is it?

What is time?

As we said at the beginning, time inevitably affects all people, but can anyone fully understand what it is? Apparently not. Like the infinite space in the universe, time is hard to grasp by the mind. If time is compared with the river, then where does it begin? Where does this stream seek? One thing we know for sure: he always aspires only forward. Time is difficult to understand, but it is possible to measure and systematize events in the flow of time. Science chronology studies these properties. The flow of time can be compared with the movement of cars in a one-way flow. The speed of buses and cars can vary, but there is something that can not be influenced - this is the direction of movement. The past and the future have always captivated the minds of people, but the only thing that is in our power is the present. True, if you do not use it, then it goes to the past, and we can do nothing about it ...

What is the past and the future?

To understand what chronology is (the definition of which we gave above), it is necessary to understand what the past and the future are. The past is something that can not be influenced, it is history. As the water that the glass down from the sharp rocks and crashed to the ground, it is impossible to turn back, and time can not be reversed and cause flow in only one direction. The past is the main object that our science is exploring. She sets out in a certain order the events that have occurred, which, like an impression of the press, will never change their form. The future is very different from the past. It does not seek from us, but flies towards us, and this time parameter is inaccessible to the chronology until it becomes real.

How time was measured and measured

Historical chronology is impossible without starting points that help to measure time. In our time, the most common device for measuring time intervals is the clock. But you will agree that for a long time there have been huge time signs set by those who put everything to the beginning. Our planet, with a certain periodicity, revolves around its axis and around the star of our system - the Sun. Around each of the planets their satellites rotate, around ours is the Moon. All these celestial objects move with astonishing accuracy. The same can be said about the atoms of some elements. It turns out that the whole universe is a huge clock, in which billions of galaxies with billions of stars that like the huge gears measure the course of time. Before people came up with the science of time, a huge number of stars and planets invisibly measured its course.

Which chronology is correct?

By keeping track of time and systematizing past events, people make many mistakes. We can not go back in time and interview those who lived thousands or hundreds of years ago, so to make the right conclusions, it is necessary to conduct many studies and archaeological excavations. Thanks to the scientific approach, you can learn a lot of interesting things, but among historians and archaeologists there are often disputes about the sequence in which certain events took place and whence it should be counted. Let us consider two main points of view that are common to scientific researchers in this respect.

Chronology: the view of evolutionists

Scientists who adhere to the theory of evolution, suggest that life on the planet exists for more than 4.5 billion years, and a person is on Earth hundreds of thousands and even millions of years. Below is a list that clearly demonstrates the views of scientists that evolution is a science, not a theory.

• Prokaryotes (4 billion years ago).
• Organisms that could produce photosynthesis (3 billion years ago).
• Eukaryotes (2 billion years ago).
• Multicellular forms of life (1 billion years ago).
• Arthropods (570 million years ago).
• The first fish (about 490 million years ago).
• The first plants (more than 470 million years ago).
• The first insects (more than 400 million years ago).
• Amphibians (more than 350 million years ago).
• Reptiles (more than 300 million years ago).
• Mammals (more than 200 million years ago).
• Flying creatures (more than 150 million years ago).
• Extinction of terrestrial dinosaurs (more than 65 million years ago).
• Full evolution of man (more than 200 thousand years ago).
• Death of the last Neanderthal man (more than 25 thousand years ago). The name came from a valley in Germany, where they found the alleged remains of these monkeymen. This theory is recognized less and less by scientists because of the lack of significant archaeological finds, and the astronomer Fred Hoyle says that there is no evidence that the Neanderthal was below us in terms of development level.

Determination of the age of matter using radioactive analysis

However, the chronology of life is not recognized by many scientists because the use of the radioactive decay method has a huge error. The whole problem is that the speed with which radioactive carbon was formed in the past was not the same. Using this method, it is possible to determine exactly to what period of time this or that object found by archaeologists belongs, it is possible only up to two or three thousand years BC. E. Conclusions, which are obtained as a result of studies of the lower layers of soil, should not be trusted.

New Chronology (Biblical Chronology)

Recently, many scientists have appeared who agree with the view that humanity is only a few thousand years old. In the book The Fate of the Earth it is said that only six or seven thousand years ago a civilization arose that evolved in time to humanity. But the English researcher Malcolm Muggeridge says that compared to the views of evolutionists, what is written in Genesis (the first book of the Bible) sounds reasonably reasonable. Then he added that the ancient book tells of real historical figures and events that really happened. In his opinion, such a pursuit of a theory that is not based on facts, is conditioned by the usual recklessness of people and will undoubtedly surprise the next generation. The paleontological chronicle proves that all species appeared not for a long time, but suddenly, for a short period of time. In addition, all historical records made by people date back to the last several thousand years. In other words, no written document, rock engraving or anything else was found that would prove that people have lived on Earth for millions of years. It is interesting that biblical archeology fully confirms these scientific conclusions.

The basis for conducting such a chronology

What is the basis for the chronology of time, which is calculated in accordance with the above conclusions? In favor of the fact that the history of mankind is only a few thousand years old, and the fact that the biblical events really took place, we can give a lot of evidence. For example, you can compare the chronology with another science, which also has its roots deep in the past - with linguistics. Scientists who study the history of languages, argue that all the ancient languages were much more complex in structure than modern, and not vice versa. This refutes the theory about monkeymen who, supposedly, could not connect two words and gradually learned to speak. How could such a huge intellectual leap?

Fundamental dates

The chronology of events is based on the main fundamental dates. What are important historical dates? These are starting points, calendar events, the accuracy and reliability of which is beyond doubt. If we have such information, then we easily set the time for other events, which we read about on clay tablets, ostracones or in biblical scrolls. Let us consider an example of such a date. Let us take the destruction of Babylon by Mido-Persians led by Cyrus. Using the chronicle of Nabonidus, historians have found out that this event occurred on October 11, 539 BC. E. Or if you count on the Gregorian calendar, then October 5 of the same year. Using the mention in the Holy Scripture of this event, one can easily compare facts with secular history and pinpoint when other important events occurred in the Old Testament. Thus, you can determine the date of the Great Flood beginning or the appearance of the first people. Below is the chronology of mankind in accordance with the Bible.

Chronology in terms of Scripture

• 4026 BC. E. - Creation of the first people.
• 3096 BC. E. The death of Adam.
• 2970 BC. E. - the birth of Noah.
• 2370 BC. E. - Global flood.
• 2269 BC. E. - The construction of the Tower of Babel.
• 2018 BC. E. - the birth of Abraham.
• 1600 BC. E. - Egypt is gaining strength and becoming a world power.
• 1513 BC. E. - the exit of the Israelites from Egypt.
• 1107 BC. E. - the birth of David.
• 1037 BC. E. - the beginning of the reign of Solomon.
• 632 BC. E. - the seizure of the capital of Assyria, Nineveh.
• 607 BC. E. - the victorious campaign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar against Israel and the destruction of Jerusalem.
• 539 BC. E. - Capture of Babylon by Medes and Persians.
• 2 year BC. E. - the birth of Jesus Christ.
• Year 29 E. - the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ (lasted 3.5 years).
• 33 year no. E. The death of Christ.
• 41 year of age E. - the first Gospel of Matthew is written.
• 98 year of age E. - the writing of the Bible is completed.
• 1914 year E. - the beginning of the First World War, the change of the calendar system.

Many of the historical events cited are supported by modern history. Many archaeologists use the Bible as a good reference for excavations. Moreover, as we said earlier, comparison with the basic dates helps to check the accuracy of each of them. The study of this question makes it clear what chronology is. Determining which chronology is correct lies with the researcher - the person who studies history.

The use of abbreviations is before BC or BC. E.

Based on the list, which was given above, you can come to one more curious conclusion. If Jesus Christ was born in 2 BC. E., The use of abbreviations, which were so often used earlier, such as "R.H." And "before Christ", wrong. In addition, Christ could not have been born in the year 0, because such simply did not exist. After the end of 1 year BC. E., Immediately began 1 year AD. E. The fact that the abbreviation for "before the birth of Christ" does not correspond to the real date of the birth of Jesus became one of the reasons why it is no longer used. In addition, perhaps the abbreviations for the phrases "BC" and "our era" were considered more formal and scientific.

The role of the Julian and Gregorian calendars in chronology

People came up with a calendar for the convenience of counting time. Based on what people came up with such a numbering system? Calendars were usually based on natural phenomena, such as the movement of planets and the change of seasons. It turns out that we have only systematized the course of time, which long ago counted nature. For comparison, we give two calendar, invented by people - this is the Julian calendar, established by Julius Caesar, and the Gregorian calendar. The first was introduced in 46 BC. E. He was oriented to the Sun and replaced the lunar calendar. According to him, three years had 365 days, and every fourth - 366. The calendar was an achievement and was used for many centuries. The new chronology of Russia, Europe and America suited perfectly. Why was it abandoned? Over time, it became clear that this number system was also imperfect. According to the Julian calendar, the duration of his year for about 11 minutes was more sunny. The Julian calendar was no longer perceived as a "new chronology": Russ well suited him, but by the 16th century there had accumulated as many as ten extra days with which it was necessary to do something. In exchange for the Julian calendar, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar. According to this new number system, the account was moved for ten days ahead. In addition, the pundits decided that leap years would not be considered those centuries old, the number of hundreds in which is not divided by the number four.

Chronology as a science: but how does it concern us?

So, from this article we could see what chronology is. The definition and subject of the study of science were discussed at the very beginning of the article. We hope that our readers understand the meaning of the flow of time better and the ways in which it is measured. On the basis of sufficient evidence, we were able to see that the chronology proposed by the theory of evolution does not correspond to modern scientific discoveries. Reflecting on the statements of scientists, many now understand that our existence on this planet is not as long as it was thought before. In addition, our article helps to trace the history of the development of chronology as a science, the features of the formation and modification of the time account, the desire of people to continually improve the "flow of time". In turn, the facts examined convince us that such a book as the Bible is trustworthy, and the natural time counters - planets and stars - are more accurate than any invented by people. Does not chronology as a science prove that there is Someone who from the very beginning arranged everything so that we could count time? And are not we admired by the device itself and the incomprehensibility of time? Indeed, historical chronology is an interesting science, the study of which not only broadens our horizons, but also allows us to look beyond the veil of history.