Dating the Apocalypse using Computational Astronomical Methods

Emil Kelevedzhiev
Institute of Mathematics and Informatics,
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences,
Sofia, Bulgaria
e-mail: keleved@math.bas.bg

In searching for the date when a book of Bible was written, we must consider both internal and external evidences.

• By internal, we mean, evidence contained within the book.
• An attempt to interpret some of the fantastic pictures, described in the book of Revelation (Apocalypse) as an observation of the night stellar sky.
• In the Middle Ages astronomy the constellations and planets were traditionally pictured as symbols, which are now preserved in astrology.

On the figure: A part of a stellar map from the book by Stanislai de Lubiebietski "Theatrum cometicum", 1681.

•   Comparing of sentences from the 27-th book of the New Testament ``Apocalypse'' or ``Revelation of saint John'' with Medieval astronomical maps:

After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven ... a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. [Rev 4:1-2]

•   "heaven" as "stellar sky"
•   In almost every medieval stellar map we may see the "A person sat on the Throne''. He (She) is usually pictured as Cassiopeia. In the book of Apocalypse this figure is identified with Jesus Christ. In the map by Radini Tedeshi, A.D. 1514, is painted a throne, and Cassiopeia crucified over it. This is very similar to the crucifix of the Jesus Christ.

And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. [Rev. 4:4]

And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

And the first beast was like a lion, and the second second beast like like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. [Rev. 4:6-7]

•   Constellations of the zodiac: Leo, Taurus, Sagitarius and neighbouring Pegasus.
  

On the figure: Sky chariots, representing the Sun, Moon and planets. From the book by Ioanne Tesnierio "Opus Matematicum octolibrum", 1562.

•  Jupiter in Sagittarius:

And I Saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him; and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. [Rev. 6:2]

•   Mars in Aries:

And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. [Rev. 6:4]

•   Mercury in Libra:

... a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. [Rev. 6:5]

•   Saturn in Scorpius:

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him... [Rev. 6:8]

•   Sun in Virgo:

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a women clothed with the sun,... [Rev. 12:1]

Dating according to the computations made by Morozov (presented in the book Novaja Hronologija Grecii. Antichnost' v srednevekov'e [New Chronology of Greece. The Ancient Word in the Middle Ages] by Fomenko):

A. D. 395; A. D. 632; A. D. 1249; A. D. 1486.

Our computational experiment:

A computer program written in Turbo Pascal using data and formulas from the book Methods of Astrodynamics by P. Escobal and also http://aa.usno.navy.mil/aa; http://www.download.com for Astronomy Lab, v.2.03.

We accept the following 3 pairs:

Mars in Aries;  Jupiter in Sagitarius;  Saturn in Scorpius:

Then the program computed the following dates in the interval from 1998 downto 300 B.C.:

16.8        1723;      11.4 - 12.3 1545;
18.8 - 19.7 1486;      8. 5 - 18.4 1368;
7.1 1250 - 28.12 1249;
3. 6 - 4.5    751;     3. 3 - 22.1  633;
4. 8 - 25.6   -43;     19.6 - 20.5 -103;
30.3 - 28.2  -221;     6. 8 - 27.6 -280;