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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 the famous and 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 we show here is a modern
reproduction of Dionysius Exiguus’ famous Paschal table:
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Dionysius Exiguus’ Paschal Table |
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This Paschal table contains 8 columns; its columns C, E, and
F have a period of 19 years. |
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A = Julian
calendar year of the Christian Era, B = indiction
number (not really relevant), C = epact = lunar age on
22 March, D = concurrent = weekday number of
24 March (Sunday originally being the first day of the week), E = year
number (not really relevant), F = Julian calendar date of
the Paschal full moon, G = Julian calendar date of Paschal
Sunday, and H = lunar age on Paschal Sunday. |
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|
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
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, 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. In the new book in question Dionysius
Exiguus’ Paschal table covers pages 112‑114, Beda Venerabilis’ Easter
table pages 115‑129.
We observe that the 19-year periodic sequence of year 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 20
of the new book in question, seems to 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 Egyptians (their day,
although reckoned from sunrise to sunrise, consisted of 24 hours) and the
ancient Babylonians (their hour consisted of 60 minutes, their minute of
60 seconds), the former to Dionysius Exiguus, who on his turn owed the
perfection of his Paschal table to the third century Alexandrian computists who invented the Metonic structure of the (19‑year) 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 2023‑2025