In the 1650s, an Anglican bishop named James Ussher published his Annals of the World that was first published in Latin and was more than 1,600 pages. This book was the first book of world history. Ussher places the history of the world starting from the Garden of Eden as October 23rd, 4004 BC, making it only a little over 6,000 years ago. But, of course, we know that human presence goes back much farther than that. For example, the first civilized village (that we know of so far) was about 30,000 years ago, dated by modern methods such as carbon dating, et cetera. Ussher’s history covers up to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. His date of October 23rd was determined upon the fact that most peoples of ancient times, especially the Jews, started their calendar at harvest time. Ussher concluded there must be good reason for this, so he chose the first Sunday following autumnal equinox. But today, the autumnal equinox is September 21st, because of historical calendar changes and calculations to make the years come out correctly. Nevertheless it is interesting reading, and what makes the book extra special is that it is the first time in has been printed in English, translated from Latin. Previously only scholars were able to read and enjoy the book and now it can be enjoyed by everyone, thanks to Master Books publishing. Ussher’s history provides questions that many may even ask today and those that have become known is because this was the reference book by scholars and historians in writing their history books in English and other languages, translated from Latin:
(1) Why was Julius Caesar kidnapped in 75 BC?
(2) Why did Alexander the Great burn his ships in 326 BC?
(3) What really happened when the sun “went backward” as a sign to Hezekiah?
(4) What does secular history say about the darkness at the Crucifixion?
Ussher traveled throughout Europe, gathering information from the actual historical documents; many of which have been lost in history, destroyed since the time of his research. About 15% of the test is from the Bible with sources and Ussher’s history is considered a masterpiece and a literary classic. It was highly regarded during his lifetime and his timeline was used in the margins of the King James Version of the Bible that continued to be printed through the 18th, 19th and on into the 20th century.
While the “beginning” date of the Garden of Eden, or the advent or beginning of humanity began, there are other important historical accounts that reveal the world as the way it was from that time on. The entire text has been updated from 17th-century English to present day language in a five-year project conducted and commissioned by Master Books. It contains many human-interest stories from the original historical documents collected by Ussher, so it is not just another history book. This book, in its original form, has not been accessible to the public for over 300 years. When you purchase the book, it includes a CD of Ussher’s Chronology of the World, complete with colored charts, graphs, timelines and more. There are over 10,000 footnotes from the original text that have been updated to references from works in the Loeb Classical Library by Harvard Press. There are over 2,500 citations from the Bible and the Apocrypha and the original citations have been cross checked with the latest text of reputable scholars.
Ussher was a remarkable person who went to college at the age of 13 and received his master’s degree at the age of 18. He was an expert in Semitic languages, to include Latin. He became famous before he died, and when he did, was buried in Westminster Abbey becoming world renown as the most famous historian in history.
The book is available through World Net Daily and made with Smyth sewn, gold-gilded edges, foil embossing on front, back, and spine and its cover belongs in the style of classic literary works. It includes 8 appendixes and will be a beautiful and enlightening addition to anyone’s personal library. It is fully indexed and the paragraphs are numbered for the convenience of researchers.
You can also get the books through Amazon at a cheaper price, with CD included, and not with any promotional addition of three issues of World Net Daily magazine, for those not interested in that. Most of the books I promote are linked to Amazon, who sells new and used books at a reasonable price, often less than others.
