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What if the ancient kingdoms were centuries younger than their own historians claimed?
In The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended, Isaac Newton turns his mind from gravity and light to the ancient past. He argues that Greece, Egypt and other nations stretch their histories too far back. His task is to bring their kings, generations and empires into a shorter, tighter sequence.
Newton tests royal lists against the Bible, Greek writers and the movement of the stars. He questions the years assigned to generations and uses astronomy to date the voyage of the Argonauts. At stake is how readers judge ancient records: which claims deserve trust, and what evidence can make them hold together?
What you’ll discover
- Ancient claims under scrutiny Follow Newton as he questions records written long after the events they describe.
- Kings and counted years See how assumptions about royal generations can stretch the whole timeline of an ancient kingdom.
- The stars as evidence Explore Newton's use of shifting star positions to investigate the voyage of the Argonauts.
- Egypt on a shorter timeline Watch Newton challenge the long spans that priests and later writers assign to Egypt.
- Empires brought into focus Trace his comparisons of biblical accounts, Herodotus and royal tables for Assyria, Babylon and Persia.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who love ancient history, the Bible lands, Egypt and Greece, and anyone curious how Newton turned from physics to the calendar of the early world.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Newton puts ancient dates on trial
- Poetry cannot settle the dates
- A reign is not a generation
- Two royal names become one anchor
- The sky offers an independent clock
- Migration carries arts into Europe
- Egyptian buildings help test royal lists
- The method outlasts the proposed dates
- Independent checks make a stronger chronology
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The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended
by Isaac Newton · 1728
Isaac Newton weighs kings' reigns and star maps to move the Argonauts three hundred years closer to us.
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In short
What if the age of Greek heroes, the voyage of the Argonauts and the siege of Troy, belongs three hundred years later than every ancient scholar said? Isaac Newton, the man of gravity and light, spent years on that question.
The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 55 min4 h 40 min fast, 7 h slow
- Length
- 83,900 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1728by Isaac Newton
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Greek history began in verse, not records
Newton starts with a claim about evidence. The Greeks wrote nothing in prose until the Persian conquest of Asia under Cyrus. Before that, every account of the past was mixed with poetic fancy, so no real chronology could exist.
Then Timaeus of Sicily, soon after Alexander died, lined up the Olympiads, kings, archons and priestesses so that they would agree. Eratosthenes and Apollodorus followed him. Newton says this lining up was done by guesswork, and it set the pattern for everything later.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1728
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Newton, Isaac. The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-chronology-of-ancient-kingdoms-amended.
Newton, I. (2026). The chronology of ancient kingdoms amended. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-chronology-of-ancient-kingdoms-amended (Original work published 1728)
Newton, Isaac. The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-chronology-of-ancient-kingdoms-amended.
@book{newton2026chronology,
author = {Newton, Isaac},
title = {The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-chronology-of-ancient-kingdoms-amended},
note = {First published 1728}
}
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What is The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended about?
It re-dates the early history of Greece, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Media and Persia. Newton argues that the standard Greek dates are far too old and builds a shorter timeline from the length of reigns, the stars, the calendar and Scripture.
Who was Sesostris in Newton's chronology?
Newton says Sesostris, the conquering king in Herodotus, is the same man as Sesac in the Bible, who came against Jerusalem under Rehoboam. He also links him with the names Osiris and Bacchus.
How does Newton use the stars to date the Argonauts?
He finds where the old Greek star sphere put the solstices and equinoxes, then measures how far they have slipped, about one degree each seventy-two years. Counting back from 1689, he reaches about forty-three years after Solomon.
The author
Isaac Newton
1643–1727 · English mathematician and physicist
Isaac Newton (1643–1727) was an English mathematician and physicist. He was born in Woolsthorpe, studied and taught at Cambridge, and later lived in London. He published Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy in 1687 and Opticks in 1704. His writings on chronology and biblical prophecy appeared after his death.
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