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.