The Age of the Gods

Chronological Tables

305 Chronological Tables In the present state of our knowledge, it is not possible to give a fixed and absolute chronology of the prehistoric cultures of europe or even of the earliest historical civilisations of the Near east. But although a prehistoric chronology may seem to be a contradiction in terms, it has considerable practical value as a standard of comparison to show the approximate contemporaneity and succession of the different cultures. This, however, is only the case with the relatively advanced cultures of the later neolithic and bronze periods, for it is impossible to estimate the duration of a really primitive culture like that of the south african Bushmen or of the food-gatherers and hunters of prehistoric europe by the scanty evidence of their tools and weapons. and this is even more impossible in the case of the cultures of palæolithic times, where our only guide is the succession of glacial phases and the raised beaches of ancient seas. The attempt to interpret this geological evidence in terms of years and thus to fix the duration of the palæolithic cultures has indeed often been made, but the scale is so vast and the element of uncertainty so great that the results remain almost as hypothetical as the sumerian calculation of the length of the dynasties that reigned before the flood. In comparison with these remote periods, the later neolithic and bronze age cultures are semi-historical, and though the element of uncertainty is still present, it is reduced to manageable dimensions. Wherever possible I have given a double series of dates so as to show the approximate limits of this uncertainty. The maximum figures represent the chronology generally accepted by Continental archæologists and are largely based on the work of the pioneer of prehistoric chronology, the late Professor Montelius, while the minimum dates are for the most part those given by Mr. gordon Childe in his Dawn of European Civilization. I have followed the same dual system in dealing with the early oriental civilisations, for, as it will be seen, the different systems of egyptian chronology differ in some cases even more widely than those of the writers on european prehistory. Nevertheless the objections to the higher chronology of Borchardt, and still more to that of sir flinders Petrie, are very great, while the “short chronology” of edward Meyer, which is accepted by so many egyptologists, also has the great advantage of being reconcilable with the Mesopotamian evidence. In the case of Mesopotamia, there is now a considerable measure of agreement between the different systems, and at least 306 The Age of the Gods from the age of sargon onwards the dates of the Mesopotamian dynasties may be regarded as fixed within the limits of little more than a century. Note on South Arabian Chronology [see pp. 84–86] The early chronology of the south arabian states rests on the data of the assyrian inscriptions. In 715 b.c. an inscription of sargon mentions the tribute of the sabæan It’i-amara, and in the last years of sennacharib, c. 685 b.c., Ka-ri-bi-ilu, king of the land saba’i, sends precious stones and incense as an offering for the Bit-akîtu. Professor hommel identifies these rulers with Jit’îamara Bajin and Kariba-ilu Watar, the two mukarribs of saba who conquered Ma’in and founded the sabæan power. on this assumption, the period of the kings of Ma’in must fall before the seventh century b.c., and we have the following chronology: Kings of Ma’in, c. 1300–700 b.c. Mukarribs of saba, c. 935–650 b.c. Kings of saba, c. 650–115 b.c. Kings of saba and dû Raidân, 115 b.c.–340 a.d. first conquest of south arabia by the abyssinian kings of arum, 340–375 a.d. The alternative synchronisms which hommel rejects would place the fall of Ma’in, either in 620, 800, or 890 b.c.; cf. Handbuch der Altarabischen Altert ümsbunde, ed. d.Nielsen, vol. i, Copenhagen (1927). The same work contains a full description of the organisation of the south arabian state and templecorporation by N.Rhodokanakis. Chronological Tables 307 table 1. the dynasties of mesopotamia and egypt Authorities 1. Mesopotamia s.Langdon, in Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. I, ed. 2, based on his edition of the chronological prism in: Oxford Editions of...