Search found 932 matches

by Taphoi
Mon Oct 14, 2019 8:29 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: The Date of Alexander's Birth
Replies: 55
Views: 444703

Re: The Date of Alexander's Birth

I found this debate very interesting. However I can't understand why we must keep on preserving the double calendar (Julian and Gregorian). Isn't much more easy to keep the Gergorian one and let go the Julian? Secondly, I agree that Plutarch's (or his source) date for Alexander's birth means the ki...
by Taphoi
Sun Oct 13, 2019 4:24 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: The Date of Alexander's Birth
Replies: 55
Views: 444703

Re: The Date of Alexander's Birth

Andrew, I see it the other way around: our understanding of the early Athenian and Macedonian calendars is fragmentary (remember the story about Alexander ordering a month intercalated before the Granicus?) and based on statements by writers who were not astronomical experts (eg. Plutarch saying &q...
by Taphoi
Sun Oct 13, 2019 4:12 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: The Date of Alexander's Birth
Replies: 55
Views: 444703

Re: The Date of Alexander's Birth

I did a couple of quick calculations and realised that the correction to the calculations of New Moons from NASA’s Lunar eclipses due to the eccentricity of the Lunar orbit (which I mentioned above) could in extreme circumstances be as much as a day (although it would only normally be hours.) Howeve...
by Taphoi
Sat Oct 12, 2019 10:18 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: The Date of Alexander's Birth
Replies: 55
Views: 444703

Re: The Date of Alexander's Birth

We are not really talking about Macedonian calculations. This is Timaeus of Tauromenium, possibly the greatest Greek chronologist. He invented the Olympiad dating system. He was based in Athens for a long while and he was famous for his fussiness. Cleitarchus was one of his followers and Plutarch us...
by Taphoi
Sat Oct 12, 2019 8:44 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: The Date of Alexander's Birth
Replies: 55
Views: 444703

Re: The Date of Alexander's Birth

MesoCalc says that the dates it gives are Gregorian dates. It looks as though MesoCalc is taking the viewpoint that a "Gregorian" calendar is one which uses our system of months and days and is Gregorian in its calculations from 1582 onwards when Pope Gregory introduced his changes and is...
by Taphoi
Sat Oct 12, 2019 6:41 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: The Date of Alexander's Birth
Replies: 55
Views: 444703

Re: The Date of Alexander's Birth

I would assume that Leo Dupuydt's death date of 11 June is also Gregorian. Edit: Jona criticizes Plutarch for giving the lunar date as 26 Boedromion, which implies that the Greek lunar month was two days out of sync with the moon (or a copyist has blundered ...) No. 11th June is a Julian date. It i...
by Taphoi
Sat Oct 12, 2019 6:00 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: The Date of Alexander's Birth
Replies: 55
Views: 444703

Re: The Date of Alexander's Birth

1st October is a Julian date whatever they say. You can do the math yourself (the people you are quoting are clearly confused). Below is the NASA record of the famous eclipse 11 days before Gaugamela. NASA uses Julian dates for ancient eclipses. They also use a year zero, so their years are one shor...
by Taphoi
Sat Oct 12, 2019 1:06 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: The Date of Alexander's Birth
Replies: 55
Views: 444703

Re: The Date of Alexander's Birth

If I were going to celebrate an anniversary, I would pick Gaugamela where he became king of the world on 1 October 331 BCE. If you want to celebrate the anniversary of Gaugamela/Arbela, it is on 26th September (Gregorian). If you want to celebrate Alexander's birthday, it is on 15th July (Gregorian...
by Taphoi
Sat Oct 12, 2019 12:42 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: The Date of Alexander's Birth
Replies: 55
Views: 444703

Re: The Date of Alexander's Birth

I am not disputing that Plutarch used multiple sources, but they included Cleitarchus (to a significant extent). There is specific evidence that Plutarch used Cleitarchus here. Hammond shows that he used a date derived from Timaeus and Timaeus was used by Cleitarchus (there are a couple of fragments...
by Taphoi
Sat Oct 12, 2019 12:38 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: The Date of Alexander's Birth
Replies: 55
Views: 444703

Re: The Date of Alexander's Birth

We do in a sense have the material in the first couple of books of Curtius. He is basically doing a Latin abridgement of Concerning Alexander by Cleitarchus of Alexandria, whereas Diodorus Siculus did a much more condensed epitome of Cleitarchus in his Book 17. So the first few chapters of Diodorus ...
by Taphoi
Thu Oct 10, 2019 1:01 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: The Date of Alexander's Birth
Replies: 55
Views: 444703

Re: The Date of Alexander's Birth

Hi Jeanne, NASA’s Table states that there was a Lunar Eclipse at 10:16 on 30th July 356BC (Julian Calendar and Universal Time). Greece is about 2 hours ahead of universal time, so that would be about midday there. Lunar Eclipses happen at Full Moon, by definition. There are 29.53 days between one Fu...
by Taphoi
Tue Oct 08, 2019 8:04 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: The Date of Alexander's Birth
Replies: 55
Views: 444703

Re: The Date of Alexander's Birth

It is not really muddled. It is just complicated. I will try to explain. 1) 6th Hecatombaeon means six days after the New Moon - that is the way Macedonians kicked off months. 2) NASA publishes a list of ancient Lunar eclipses which happen at Full Moon - exactly one half month from New Moon 3) There...
by Taphoi
Wed Apr 27, 2016 12:58 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: The Sphinxes Guarding the Lion Tomb Entrance at Amphipolis
Replies: 1585
Views: 542269

Re: The Sphinxes Guarding the Lion Tomb Entrance at Amphipolis

...You CAN NOT use that as PROOF that cremated remains INside the tomb are from a disturbed Classical grave! Are you using a different definition for the word "fact"? As a matter of record, I have not said that the possibility that the cremation fragments came from a classical cemetery ly...
by Taphoi
Tue Apr 26, 2016 1:43 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: The Sphinxes Guarding the Lion Tomb Entrance at Amphipolis
Replies: 1585
Views: 542269

Re: The Sphinxes Guarding the Lion Tomb Entrance at Amphipolis

Do not mix the Kastas area (few sq. km region) with the Kastas tumulus. That was explained earlier. There is no other Hellenistic tomb on Kastas tumulus discovered so far, except the one discovered in 2014. There is no single classical tomb found. There is no evidence for activity on classical time...
by Taphoi
Mon Apr 25, 2016 1:38 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: The Sphinxes Guarding the Lion Tomb Entrance at Amphipolis
Replies: 1585
Views: 542269

Re: The Sphinxes Guarding the Lion Tomb Entrance at Amphipolis

So you're guessing? Because that's not evidence for what you're claiming 'clearly' happened. And I suppose that too would be my point on there being 'issues' with some ideas. They're built on guesswork and assumptions which should have evidence to support them, but the evidence is (at least so far)...