# On 22 October, 4004 BC, God created the heavens and earth... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2001, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-22-october-4004-bc-god-created-the-heavens-and-earth/76971 "2001-08-19T02:47:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-22-october-4004-bc-god-created-the-heavens-and-earth/76971/1 "2001-08-19T02:47:48Z")
So I’m reading the new (September 2001) issue of _National Geographic_, and there’s a rather fascinating article about how scientists use various methods to find out how old things are. Somewhere within the article they trot out the old “calculation” by James Ussher in the 17th Century that “God created the Earth in 4004 B.C. - on October 22, to be precise.” (This is on page 92, if you’re playing along at home.) How did Ussher calculate 4004 BC, and how did he nail it down to 22 October? ---
**Author:** ![jaimest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jaimest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaimest)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-22-october-4004-bc-god-created-the-heavens-and-earth/76971/2 "2001-08-19T02:52:40Z")
Since the Gregorian calender has been adjusted since the 17th Century, would that date now be October 12? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-22-october-4004-bc-god-created-the-heavens-and-earth/76971/3 "2001-08-19T02:57:58Z")
[http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/ussher.htm](http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/ussher.htm) Knock yourself out ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-22-october-4004-bc-god-created-the-heavens-and-earth/76971/4 "2001-08-19T03:05:22Z")
Ten minutes! On a Saturday night! Awesome! Thanks **samclem**! ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-22-october-4004-bc-god-created-the-heavens-and-earth/76971/5 "2001-08-19T03:15:33Z")
I {{{shudder}}} to think what that says about my life. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-22-october-4004-bc-god-created-the-heavens-and-earth/76971/6 "2001-08-19T10:25:39Z")
Basically, he took the number of years since Christ’s supposed birth (he was off by a few years, it seems), then he added up the ages of the Patriarchs mentioned in the Bible. In short, he was making a very fancy-sounding guess. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-22-october-4004-bc-god-created-the-heavens-and-earth/76971/7 "2001-08-19T11:25:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > **Basically, he took the number of years since Christ’s supposed birth (he was off by a few years, it seems), then he added up the ages of the Patriarchs mentioned in the Bible.** That is a popular misconception, as the link samclem provided makes clear. Even more importantly, the start of the current millennium occurred in 1997. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-22-october-4004-bc-god-created-the-heavens-and-earth/76971/8 "2001-08-19T11:53:18Z")
[And I thought the current age would end in 1998!](http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:FWDkUMmxfU0:www.ishipress.com/666.htm) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-22-october-4004-bc-god-created-the-heavens-and-earth/76971/9 "2001-08-19T12:10:31Z")
derleth That page is pretty funny. Just before it exposes the world wide web as the mark of the beast, it points out that pi = 3.1415926536 . . . . can be interpreted as 666 in many ways–unfortunately, that last 6 is an error.