No kidding. Jesus was a medieval man. There’s even mathematical proof, they say.
Russian mathematicians argue that the generally accepted dating of events in world history is a mess and that civilization is a lot younger than it is believed to be, so that, for example, Jesus Christ was born in A.D. 1152 and crucified in 1185, they claim.
"The chronology of all historical events that we have been using until now was compiled in the 16th and 17th centuries. The reason for the errors of the chronographers of those times was that they used incorrect methods in compiling their system of dating and consequently obtained the wrong timing of historical events," Academician Anatoly Fomenko told a news conference at the Interfax headquarters on Thursday.
Hat tip: CDI Russia Weekly. David Johnson, who runs this weekly email digest of around 20 news articles on Russia is considering closing it down. The email series has been running for many years now and David obviously spends a fair amount of time on its compilation. As we get to read the results of his labours for free, I completely understand why he would want to close it down and spend his time in other areas but I, for one, would be sad to see it go. It’s been a very valuable and educational resource to me.
{ 5 comments }
Alexei 03.18.05 at 11:13 am
Andy, don’t tell us you hadn’t heard of Fomenko before you read this on Johnson’s list. If you hadn’t, you lived in vain until this morning.
It’s sad to hear David Johnson is closing down the list. I can’t think of a better Anglophone window into the Russian media.
Lyndon 03.18.05 at 12:24 pm
I really hope that is just a rumor about Johnson’s Russia List being closed down - it is an incredibly useful aggregator of relevant stories on Russia. Even if it’s hard to imagine having time to read it every day, whenever I do have time and scroll through an issue, I always find something interesting and unexpected. Maybe we should encourage David to start a blog?
Mike Tyukanov 03.18.05 at 4:16 pm
Fomenko and Nosovski have been tell it for about 20 years. So it’s really old news.
Why Interfax has decided to run this story now is not clear — maybe because Kasparov is in the news now? Kasparov was (is?) a big fan of Fomenko theories.
Alexei 03.18.05 at 5:49 pm
Really, Mike? I can’t believe it, but then, Kasparov is a chess player and Fomenko’s a mathematician (I mean a real one), and both chess players and mathematicians are prone to crackpottery.
Mike Tyukanov 03.19.05 at 3:23 am
Yes, Kasparov is one of the most outspoken revisionists. You can read him in his own words here.
Another prominent Fomenkovist is Alexander Zinoviev of Yawning Heights fame.
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