Laurentius Suslyga
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Laurentius Suslyga or Laurence Suslyga (Polish: ''Wawrzyniec Susliga'' or ''Susłyga'') (1570–1640), was a Polish
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
, chronologist, and an author of
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
visual poetry Literary theorists have identified visual poetry as a development of concrete poetry but with the characteristics of intermedia in which non-representational language and visual elements predominate. Differentiation from concrete poetry As the l ...
. He was the first person to claim that Jesus Christ was born in or before 4 BC, not in AD 1 or in 1 BC, as the Christian era would imply. Suslyga was thus questioning the
Anno Domini The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", ...
chronology introduced by
Dionysius Exiguus Dionysius Exiguus (Latin for "Dionysius the Humble", Greek: Διονύσιος; – ) was a 6th-century Eastern Roman monk born in Scythia Minor. He was a member of a community of Scythian monks concentrated in Tomis (present day Constanța, ...
in AD 525. Suslyga presented this theory in his 1605 doctoral thesis entitled ''Theoremata de anno ortus et mortis Domini, deque universa Jesu Christi in carne oeconomia'' at the
University of Graz The University of Graz (german: link=no, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, ), located in Graz, Austria, is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria. History The unive ...
. Among other arguments, Suslyga's treatise included the following: Herod's son,
Philip the Tetrarch Philip the Tetrarch (c. 26 BCE. - 34 CE), sometimes called Herod Philip II by modern writers (see "Naming convention"), son of Herod the Great and his fifth wife, Cleopatra of Jerusalem, ruled over the northeast part of his father's kingdom be ...
, renamed a city (
Bethsaida Bethsaida (; from gr, Βηθσαϊδά from Hebrew/Aramaic ''beth-tsaida'', lit. " house of hunting" from the Hebrew root ; ar, بيت صيدا), also known as Julias, is a place mentioned in the New Testament. Julias lay in an administrative d ...
) after Augustus's biological daughter,
Julia Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e.g ...
. Since she had been exiled from Rome by Augustus in 2 BC, Suslyga assumed that Philip must have renamed the city prior to that date, and Herod must have died prior to Philip's becoming a ruler, which pushes the Massacre of the Innocents at least 3, if not more, years before AD 1. Dionysius Exiguus' chronology did need to be questioned; his chronology did not even match the point of view of the early Christians. The
Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...
generally believed that Jesus was born either in the 41st or 42nd year of the reign of Augustus (consulship, principate, etc.), that is in 3 or 2 BC. Suslyga's work was used by
Kepler Johannes Kepler (; ; 27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws o ...
to bolster the astronomer's theory that the
Star of Bethlehem The Star of Bethlehem, or Christmas Star, appears in the nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew chapter 2 where "wise men from the East" (Magi) are inspired by the star to travel to Jerusalem. There, they meet King Herod of Judea, and ask him: ...
was perhaps a new star which may have appeared during or following the
great conjunction A great conjunction is a conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, when the two planets appear closest together in the sky. Great conjunctions occur approximately every 20 years when Jupiter "overtakes" Saturn in its orbit. They are named ...
of Jupiter and Saturn in 7 BC (later joined by Mars in 6 BC). In AD 1604, Kepler had witnessed the appearance of a
nova A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...
in the region between the two planets during a similar Jupiter / Saturn great conjunction. He suggested that perhaps a new star, a miraculous "stella nova," had possibly been associated with the conjunctions in 7/6 BC, as had happened in AD 1604. According to the biblical account, the wise men indicated that Christ's birth happened within a year or two of the appearance of the star. Kepler's scenario seemed to offer a logical explanation concerning the star of Bethlehem, while lending astronomical support to Suslyga's chronological ideas. Suslyga's ideas about the renaming of
Bethsaida Bethsaida (; from gr, Βηθσαϊδά from Hebrew/Aramaic ''beth-tsaida'', lit. " house of hunting" from the Hebrew root ; ar, بيت صيدا), also known as Julias, is a place mentioned in the New Testament. Julias lay in an administrative d ...
have also been challenged. Frederick M. Strickert and others have pointed out that the identity of Augustus’ daughter in
Flavius Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
' texts about the renaming of Bethsaida (''Antiquities of the Jews'' 18.2.1, ''The Wars of the Jews'' 2.9.1) is not beyond dispute. It was assumed by Suslyga and many other scholars in recent centuries that Josephus was referring to
Julia the Elder Julia the Elder (30 October 39 BC – AD 14), known to her contemporaries as Julia Caesaris filia or Julia Augusti filia (Classical Latin: IVLIA•CAESARIS•FILIA or IVLIA•AVGVSTI•FILIA), was the daughter and only biological child of August ...
, the biological daughter of the emperor Augustus, concerning the renaming of Bethsaida as Julias. However, through his will, Augustus also officially adopted his wife Livia into the Julian family as his daughter, and gave her a new name, Julia. It is by her name Julia that Josephus always made reference to Livia, the emperor’s wife, even in his descriptions of events before Augustus’ death and deification in AD 14. The Roman historian
Velleius Paterculus Marcus Velleius Paterculus (; c. 19 BC – c. AD 31) was a Roman historian, soldier and senator. His Roman history, written in a highly rhetorical style, covered the period from the end of the Trojan War to AD 30, but is most useful for the per ...
(c. 19 BC - c. AD 31) confirms that Livia was known as Augustus’ daughter: “Take for example Livia. She, the daughter of the brave and noble Drusus Claudianus, most eminent of Roman women in birth, in sincerity, and in beauty, she, whom we later saw as the wife of Augustus, and as his priestess and daughter after his deification.” Many scholars now believe that Philip renamed Bethsaida as Julias in honor of Livia (Julia) following her death in AD 29. This would also explain why the name Julias persisted for generations. Otherwise the name would have probably disappeared not long after the disgrace of Julia the Elder.
Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...
uses the name Julias for Bethsaida in about AD 77 and
Claudius Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...
, the geographer, uses it in the second century AD.Ptolemy, ''Geographia'' 5.16.4 Identifying Julias with Livia, instead of Julia the Elder, essentially renders invalid one of Suslyga’s main arguments for a 4 BC date of the death of Herod the Great.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suslyga, Laurentius 17th-century Polish Jesuits 1570 births 1640 deaths