1. The Greek and the Biblical chronology

14. The mediaeval war in Greece of 1374-1387 a.d. as the “ancient” Peloponnesian War

14.1. The three eclipses described by Thucydides

“The Peloponnesian War began in 431 b.c.; it had raged for 27 years. The entire Hellenistic world had been involved in warfare, with no part of Hellas left unperturbed” ([766], page 154). The primary foes had been the “ancient” Athens and Sparta. As we shall observe below, the original of this war must have been the famous mediaeval war in Greece of 1374-1387 a.d. that ended in the demise of the Catalan state on the territory of Greece. The duration of this mediaeval war equals 13 years.

A shift of 1810 years moves the “ancient” years 431-404 a.d. into the Middle Ages; the datings transform accordingly to 1379-1406 a.d. This interval is sufficiently close to the war of 1374-1387 a.d. The duration of the “ancient” war differs from that of its mediaeval counterpart – however, one should bear in mind that the coverage of the Peloponnesian war’s various stages differs in volume to a great extent. The matter is that the work of Thucydides only covers the alleged years 431-411 b.c., or a mere twenty years of the entire Peloponnesian War ([923]). His volume is nevertheless considered to be the key historical tractate to relate this war; we “know substantially less” about its final stage – the alleged years 411-404 B. C ([258], page 270). Therefore, we only know enough about the first 20 years of the Peloponnesian War, which makes its duration closer to that of the mediaeval war (20 and 13 years, respectively).

As we already pointed out in chron1, Chapter 1, Thucydides described a most remarkable triad of eclipses that took place during the war in the Mediterranean region. This triad can be dated astronomically. We learn that there are only two precise astronomical solutions that correspond to this triad on the entire historical interval between 900 b.c. and 1700 a.d. – no more. One of them was found by N. A. Morozov for the XII century a.d. ([544]); the other – for the XI century a.d. by the author of the present book in his study of the problem. The astronomical solutions in question are as follows:

• 
  1st solution: 1039 a.d., 1046 a.d. and 1057 a.d.
  
• 
  2nd solution: 1133 a.d., 1140 a.d. and 1151 a.d.
  

There are no other precise solutions on the entire time interval that we have under study here, including the “Scaligerian b.c. antiquity”. Actually, the introduction of such terms as “Scaligerian antiquity”, or the erroneous transplantation of real mediaeval Greece onto a faraway b.c. fragment of the consensual chronological scale, is necessary to differentiate between this phantom epoch and the “real antiquity”, or the mediaeval epoch of the XI-XV century a.d. This is where the real (albeit misdated) historical events can be found.

Let us return to Thucydides. If the mediaeval war of 1374-1387 a.d. had indeed served as the original of the “ancient” Peloponnesian War, one should obviously expect one of the astronomical solutions for the Thucydidean triad to fall into this interval. However, we are in for a disappointment here, since both solutions lie well outside the epoch of the XIV century: one of them in the XI century, and the other in the XII. Why would this happen? According to our primary statistical results as related in Chron1, Chapter 6, the “contemporary history textbook” is a collation of several layers kept apart by several chronological shifts. These shifts result from moving the original backwards on the chronological scale:

• 
  by 333 or 360 years (the Roman-Byzantine shift),
  
• 
  by 1000 or 1053 years (the Roman shift),
  
• 
  and by 1778/1800/1810 years (the Graeco-Biblical shift).
  

This is to say, every event that we encounter in the Scaligerian textbook may really be a sum of several real events separated from each other by the abovementioned time intervals. Apparently, the Thucydidean History contains at least two layers of real events, the first one containing the description of the XI/XII century eclipse triad, and the second relating the events of the XIV century war – thus, the mediaeval Thucydides could have included two chronicles into his History, providing us with layered renditions of the events contained therein.

Should this prove true, these two chronicles are to differ from each other by one of the values listed above. Let us verify this. The eclipse of 1039 a.d. is described by Thucydides as one that took place in the first year of the war ([923]). The first year of the real XIV century war falls on 1374 a.d. The difference between 1039 and 1374 equals 335 years, which is basically equivalent to the value of the Roman/Byzantine shift (333 or 360 years). Everything becomes clear: the work of Thucydides is of a layered nature, as well as the “contemporary history textbook”. Let us now continue with a sequential comparison of the “ancient” events with their mediaeval counterparts over a gap of 1810 years.

14.2. The congress in Greece. The beginning of the war

70a. The Navarrans and the Athenians. The convocation of the Congress in the XIV century a.d.

1. 
   The Navarrans and the Athenians comprise the primary pair of foes in the war of the XIV century a.d. ([195], page 259 ff.)
   
2. 
   The XIV century war in Greece was preceded by the convocation of a great congress that each and every province of the country had sent its delegates to ([195], pages 258-259).
   

70b. “Ancient” Greece. Sparta and Athens. The convocation of the Peloponnesian Council.

1. 
   The parties whose interests collide and result in the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War are Sparta and Athens ([258], page 267).
   
2. 
   The Peloponnesian War was preceded by arrangements of a diplomatic nature manifest as the convocation of delegates representing the so-called Peloponnesian Union. The congress took place in the alleged year 432 b.c. ([258], page 279). A shift of 1810 years transforms the “ancient” dating of 432 b.c. into 1378 a.d., which is close enough to 1373 – the year when the mediaeval Congress took place.
   

71a. The war supervenes the Congress by about a year. The civil discord in XIV century Greece broke out a year after the congress, more or less – in 1374 a.d. ([195], page 259).

71b. The “ancient” Greece. The war also takes a year to flare up. The Peloponnesian War (which had also been civil by nature) broke out in the alleged year 431 a.d., following the Congress by one year ([258], pages 279-280).

72a. Details concerning the Congress of 1373 a.d. Here are some rather interesting details that we learn of the mediaeval Congress dating to 1373 a.d.

“A new Crusade was being prepared in the West at that time… Gregory XI… had hoped to unite all the rulers with an interest in Oriental affairs into a league. He had therefore called upon the Emperor of Constantinople as well as Philip II von Tarent, the nominal Latin ruler, the representatives of maritime republics such as Venice and Genoa, the Knights of Rhodes, the Vicar of the Athenian Duchy, kings of Cyprus, Venice and Sicily to a congress that was to take place in Thebes. He had also addressed Nerio Acciaiuoli, the hypothec owner and chatelaine of Corinth” ([195], page 258).

“Thebe had never seen such a multitude of envoys within her walls, even in the days of Epaminondas, as now when this congregation was concerned with the defence against the horrible menace of the terrifying Turks who were now referred to as ‘the New Teucers’, or ‘Persians’” ([195], pages 258-259. Gregorovius proceeds to cite a long list of states and regions represented at the Congress.

“This congregation of Latin rulers of the Greek peninsula as well as the islands can be perceived as the last embers of the decaying Frankish rule… the situation in Greece began to resemble the one we remember from the antiquity [sic! - A. F.], when Hellas had split up into many smaller states that were mutually hostile” ([195], page 259).

72b. “Ancient” Greece. Details concerning the Congress of the alleged year 432 b.c. Below we cite references to several curious facts concerning the “ancient” congress of the alleged year 432 b.c.

“The decision upon the matter of war was de facto reached at the Spartan Congress in July-August 432, when the arbitrary rule of Athens was condemned by a number of allies; the Corinthian delegates have been the most vehement in this respect. This made the Spartan Apella consider Athens guilty of breaking a covenant of thirty years. Shortly afterwards, the Lacedaemonians gathered an assembly of delegates from all across the Peloponnesian Union in order to reach an official decision. Since most states were voting in favour of war, it became inevitable. The assembly defined the contingent of individual allies” ([258], page 279).

73a. The Corinthians inchoate the war of the XIV century a.d. The casus belli for the mediaeval war was given by the Corinthians: “those who fled Corinth found sanctuary in the lands belonging to the Catalans” ([195], page 259).

73b. “Ancient” Greece. Corinth as the initiator of the Peloponnesian War. As we can see from the work of Thucydides, the Corinthians played a special role in the instigation of the conflict: “the Corinthian delegates have been the most vehement” ([258], page 279).

74a. In the XIV century a.d. Peloponnesus begins military action against Athens. In 1374 Nerio, the ruler of Corinth, invades Megara upon the above pretext. A long and hard war begins ([195], page 259). Thus, it is Peloponnesus vs. Athens. The Corinthian Principality is the strongest Peloponnesian power of the epoch.

74b. “Ancient” Greece. Peloponnesus begins a war against Athens. In the alleged year 431 b.c. the Spartans, who headed the Peloponnesian Union, attack Athens ([258], page 283).

We shall be referring to the Peloponnesians below, in full accordance with what the Scaligerian history calls them. The famous war between Athens and Peloponnesus breaks out. We see the same scenario as in the Middle Ages – Peloponnesus acts as the instigator of war and invades Athens. A shift of 1810 years transforms the “ancient” year 431 a.d. into 1379 a.d., which is very close to 1374 a.d.

75a. The defeat of Athens in the XIV century a.d. Athens are put to complete rout in the war of the XIV century a.d. ([195], page 280).

75b. “Ancient” Greece. Athens defeated. The Athenians were all but wiped out as a result of the Peloponnesian War. “The Athenian slave-trading democracy was crushed, and Archaea destroyed completely” ([258], page 343).

76a. In the XIV century the Navarrans invaded Attica first.

1. 
   At the beginning of the war, in 1377-1378 a.d., the troops of the Navarrans invade Attica and conquer it ([195], page 265). The primary initiator of the war, the Corinthian ruler Nerio, acts as an ally of the Navarrans who invade the Duchy of Athens, which is still under Catalan rule at this point.
   
2. 
   Therefore, the alignment of forces is as follows: the Navarrans invade mediaeval Athens together with Nerio, acting as the “doubles” of the “ancient” Spartans.
   

76b. “Ancient” Greece. At the beginning of the war the Peloponnesians invade Attica.

1. 
   When the Peloponnesian War begins (in the alleged year 431 b.c.), it is the Peloponnesian troops that invade Attica ([258], page 283).
   
2. 
   We thus observe a similar scenario of the Peloponnesians invading the “ancient” city of Athens.
   

77a. Successful resistance of Athens at the beginning of the XIV century war. The first stage of the war that took place in the XIV century a.d. Athens furnished adequate military resistance in the battle with Nerio and the Navarrans. Moreover, in 1380 a.d. the Navarrans were forced to leave Attica. “The Athenian stronghold proved stronger than either Thebes or Livadia” ([195], page 266). The siege of Athens attempted by the Navarrans proved a failure.

77b. “Ancient” Greece. Athens stood the initial onslaught out. The first period of the Peloponnesian War sees Athenians defending themselves against the Peloponnesians quite successfully, therefore the initial stage of the war was void of success for the Peloponnesians. “Athens remained out of the foe’s reach, as it had before” ([258], page 287).