Chapter XIII: Section I: Ages and Epochs of the World

The whole period from the Creation to the birth of Christ, whatever may be considered as its real extent, is generally divided by chronologers into six subordinate periods, called _Ages_. The _first_, which is reckoned from the Creation to the Deluge, is called the _Antediluvian_ age; the _second_, from the Deluge to the Call of Abraham, the _Postdiluvian_ age; the _third_, from the Call of Abraham to the Exode of the Israelites from Egypt, the _Patriarchal_ age; the _fourth_, from the Exode of the Israelites to the foundation of Solomon’s Temple, the _Critarchal_ (or, _judge-ruling_) age; the _fifth_, from the foundation to the destruction of Solomon’s Temple, the _Monarchal_ age; the _sixth_, from the destruction of Solomon’s Temple to the birth of Christ, the _Hierarchal_ age. We have, for the sake of distinctness and brevity, given to the last four ages, names derived from the four different states of the Hebrew Polity, namely, the governments of the _Patriarchs_, the _Judges_, the _Kings_, and the _High Priests_; the government of the latter terminating in Judea becoming a Roman province.

Besides the great epochs which limit the six ages of the world, there are many intermediate eras of very considerable importance in the settlement of disputes both in chronology and history, sacred as well as profane. Thus: in the _first_ age, we have, the fall of Adam, the births and deaths of the Patriarchs, and the translation of Enoch; in the _second_, the confusion of tongues, the foundation of Babel and Nineveh, and the eras of the Calyougham of the Hindoos, and the Chinese emperor Yao; in the _third_, the destruction of Sodom, the migration of the Hebrew Patriarchs into Egypt, and the foundation of the Greek kingdoms of Sicyon and Argos; in the _fourth_, the servitudes of the Israelites in Canaan, the foundation of Athens and Jerusalem, and the destruction of Troy; in the _fifth_, the eras of the Olympiads and Nabonassar, the foundation of Rome, and the captivities of Israel and Judah; in the _sixth_, the return of the Jews from captivity, the destruction of Babylon, the death of Alexander the Great, and the eras of the Seleucidæ and the Cæsars.