|
This webpage is part of www.alexandriancomputus.net, which supports the new book on
early Alexandrian Paschal reckoning [Jan Zuidhoek (2023) Reconstructing
Alexandrian Lunar Cycles (on the basis of Espenak’s
Six Millennium Catalog of Phases of the Moon):
Zwolle]. This webpage displays Dionysius Exiguus’ famous Paschal table, the
extremely important end result of the development of the Alexandrian computus treated in this new book, which is available via this website. |
Dionysius Exiguus’ Paschal Table
The table shown here is a modern
reproduction of Dionysius Exiguus’ famous Paschal table:
|
Dionysius
Exiguus’ Paschal Table |
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This Paschal table has 8 columns: A = Julian calendar year of the
Christian Era, B = indiction, C = epact =
lunar age on 22 March, D = concurrent = weekday number of 24 March
(Sunday of old being the first day of the week), E = initial number, F =
Julian calendar date of the Paschal full moon, G = Julian calendar date of
Paschal Sunday, and H = lunar age on Paschal Sunday. Its columns C, E,
and F have a period of 19 years. |
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|
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
|
532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 |
10 11 12 13 14 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 |
11 22 3 14 25 6 17 28 9 20 1 12 23 4 15 26 7 18 |
4 5 6 7 2 3 4 5 7 1 2 3 5 6 7 1 3 4 5 |
17 18 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 |
5 April 25 March 13 April 2 April 22 March 10 April 30 March 18 April 7 April 27 March 15 April 4 April 24 March 12 April 1 April 21 March 9 April 29 March 17 April |
11 April 27 March 16 April 8 April 23 March 12 April 4 April 24 April 8 April 31 March 20 April 5 April 27 March 16 April 8 April 24 March 12 April 4 April 24 April |
20 16 17 20 15 16 19 20 15 18 19 15 17 18 21 17 17 20 21 |
|
551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 |
14 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 1 2 |
11 22 3 14 25 6 17 28 9 20 1 12 23 4 15 26 7 18 |
6 1 2 3 4 6 7 1 2 4 5 6 7 2 3 4 5 7 1 |
17 18 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 |
5 April 25 March 13 April 2 April 22 March 10 April 30 March 18 April 7 April 27 March 15 April 4 April 24 March 12 April 1 April 21 March 9 April 29 March 17 April |
9 April 31 March 20 April 5 April 28 March 16 April 1 April 21 April 13 April 28 March 17 April 9 April 25 March 13 April 5 April 28 March 10 April 1 April 21 April |
18 20 21 17 20 20 16 17 20 15 16 19 15 15 18 21 15 17 18 |
|
570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 |
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 |
11 22 3 14 25 6 17 28 9 20 1 12 23 4 15 26 7 18 |
2 3 5 6 7 1 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 6 7 1 2 4 |
17 18 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 |
5 April 25 March 13 April 2 April 22 March 10 April 30 March 18 April 7 April 27 March 15 April 4 April 24 March 12 April 1 April 21 March 9 April 29 March 17 April |
6 April 29 March 17 April 9 April 25 March 14 April 5 April 25 April 10 April 2 April 21 April 6 April 29 March 18 April 2 April 25 March 14 April 30 March 18 April |
15 18 18 21 17 18 20 21 17 20 20 16 19 20 15 18 19 15 15 |
|
589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 |
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 |
11 22 3 14 25 6 17 28 9 20 1 12 23 4 15 26 7 18 |
5 6 7 2 3 4 5 7 1 2 3 5 6 7 1 3 4 5 6 |
17 18 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 |
5 April 25 March 13 April 2 April 22 March 10 April 30 March 18 April 7 April 27 March 15 April 4 April 24 March 12 April 1 April 21 March 9 April 29 March 17 April |
10 April 26 March 15 April 6 April 29 March 11 April 3 April 22 April 14 April 30 March 19 April 10 April 26 March 15 April 7 April 22 March 11 April 3 April 23 April |
19 15 16 18 21 15 18 18 21 17 18 20 16 17 20 15 16 19 20 |
|
608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 |
11 12 13 14 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 |
11 22 3 14 25 6 17 28 9 20 1 12 23 4 15 26 7 18 |
1 2 3 4 6 7 1 2 4 5 6 7 2 3 4 5 7 1 2 |
17 18 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 |
5 April 25 March 13 April 2 April 22 March 10 April 30 March 18 April 7 April 27 March 15 April 4 April 24 March 12 April 1 April 21 March 9 April 29 March 17 April |
7 April 30 March 19 April 4 April 26 March 15 April 31 March 20 April 11 April 3 April 16 April 8 April 30 March 19 April 4 April 27 March 15 April 31 March 20 April |
16 19 20 16 18 19 15 16 18 21 15 18 20 21 17 20 20 16 17 |
Dionysius
Exiguus was a Scythian monk and scholar who worked from
about AD 500 to AD 544 in Rome. His famous Paschal table is extremely
important because it is the absolutely unique writing by means of which the
basic structure of our era, which is the Common Era, i.e. the Christian Era, in
particular its year AD 1, exactly and definitively has been defined. From Dionysius
Exiguus’ Paschal table two centuries later an almost equally important but more
extensive Easter table was derived, which was published in AD 725 by the
English monk and great scholar Beda Venerabilis (i.e.
Bede the Venerable). It is only from the year AD 1582 on that from the
latter Paschal table an astronomically more realistic method for determining
Gregorian calendar dates of Easter would be developed.
Dionysius Exiguus composed his famous
Paschal table of 95 years, covering the years AD 532‑626, in AD 525. It is thanks to the 19‑year periodicity of its columns C, E, and F that
this Paschal table could easily be extended, however no further than until
AD 4 (because of the first great calendar reform) on one side and no
further than until AD 1582 (because of the second great calendar reform)
on the other. Its most famous extension is Beda Venerabilis’
Easter table of 532 years, covering the years AD 532‑1063.
We observe that the 19-year periodic sequence of initial numbers
contained in the fifth column (E) of Dionysius Exiguus’ Paschal table does not
refer to the classical Alexandrian lunar cycle contained in its sixth column
(F) but, according to Table 19
of the most recent version of the author’s new book Reconstructing Alexandrian
Lunar Cycles, does refer to the Festal Index lunar cycle as well as to
Anatolius’ lunar cycle.
The fifteen centuries old fundamental concept Christian
Era can be regarded as the macrostructure, the modern fundamental concept Universal
Time as the microstructure of our modern chronological system. We owe the
latter to the ancient Babylonians (their day, consisting of 24 hours of 60
minutes of 60 seconds, but reckoned from sunset to sunset, dates from about
2000 BC) and the ancient Romans (their civil day, reckoned from midnight to
midnight, dates from the first century BC), the former to Dionysius Exiguus,
who on his turn owed the perfection of his Paschal table to the third century
Alexandrian computists (among them Anatolius) who
invented the Metonic structure underlying the lunar cycle (i.e. periodic
sequence of Julian or Alexandrian calendar dates of the Paschal full moon of
consecutive years of the Christian Era) contained in its sixth column (F) which
underlies the sequence of Paschal dates contained in its seventh column (G). It
is these two fundamental concepts, Christian Era and Universal
Time, which together form the backbone of our modern chronological system.
© Jan Zuidhoek 2023‑2026
(updated 1‑11‑2026)