44. Making a case

The Grand Saros Canon, Almagest, and Ch'un-ch'iu bear out a timeline reaching back to the 8th century BC. So does the Babylonian chronology stitched together by historians.

Some researchers are chary of the Late Babylonian calendar and have misgivings about extending the time line beyond 400 BC. But Ptolemy certainly believed absolute dating was viable back to the 8th century BC. Ditto for the Hellenistic Babylonians who produced the Grand Saros and the Chinese of the 1st century AD who chiseled the Ch'un-ch'iu into large stone slabs.