Laurentius Suslyga
Laurentius Suslyga | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Died | |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Known for | the first to suggest that Christ was actually born in 4 BC, not AD 1 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | history, chronology |
| Institutions | University of Graz, Austria |
Laurence Suslyga (Polish: Wawrzyniec Suslyga) was a 17th century Polish historian and chronologist. He was the first historian to claim that Jesus Christ was in fact born around 4 BC, not in AD 1, as the Christian era would imply. Suslyga was thus questioning the Anno Domini chronology introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in AD 525 [1][2]. Suslyga published this theory in a 1605 tract called Theoremata de anno ortus et mortis Domini, deque universa Jesu Christi in carne oeconomia at the University of Graz [3]. This tract was in turn used by Kepler to bolster Kepler's theory that the Star of Bethlehem was in fact a great conjunction of the three planets: Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. According to Kepler's calculations, this conjunction occurred around 4 BC, which fits in with Suslyga's reckoning [4].