PROBLEMS RELATED TO THE BEGINNING OF THE PROPHETIC PERIODS / 23 higher proportion of the months being a day off because of the difference in longitude between Babylon and Jerusalem; and of course a discrepancy of a month would occur whenever the Jews inserted the extra month at a different time from the Babylonian calendar.38
The documented Babylonian dates for Tishri 1 from 600 B.C. to 400 B.C. in years cyclically corresponding to 457 B.C. are: 590 B.C. 10/21 (Documented Addar II, in 590, P.D.B.C. pp 4-5, 28) 571 B.C. 10/21 (Documented Addar II, in 571, P.D.B.C. pp 4-5, 28) 552 B.C. 10/21 (Documented Addar II, in 552, P. D.B.C. pp 4, 7, 28) 533 B.C. 09/20 514 B.C. not documented 495 B.C. NOT DOCUMENTED 476 B.C. 09/21 457 B.C. not documented 438 B.C. not documented 419 B.C. 09/21 400 B.C. 09/20 39 After this time the Babylonian calendar achieved regularity and all the subsequent cyclic dates fall in September. Documented dates from the Jewish colony of Elephantine in the 5th century B.C. for years cyclically corresponding to 457 B.C. seem to be lacking: 457 B.C. not documented 40
?
438 B.C.
10/20
419 B.C.
not documented
400 B.C. not documented As may be seen, there are documented dates attesting to Tishri in October in years cyclically corresponding to 457 B.C., that is, 590, 571, 552, and probably 438 B.C. So, it cannot be affirmed that the date equivalent to Tishri 1 in 457 B.C. ________________ 38.SDABC, Vol. 5, 256. 39. Years: 590 B.C. (PDBC, 5, 28); 571 B.C. (Ibid.); 552 B.C. (Ibid); 533 B.C. (Ibid., 7, 29); 476 B.C. (Ibid., 8, 31); 419 B.C. (Ibid., 9, 33); 400 B.C. (Ibid.). 40. Papirus Kraeling 3; Horn, The Chronology of Ezra 7, 145.
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