The Annals of the World

Annals of the World is a literary masterpiece. It was originally published in Latin in the mid seventeenth century, and subsequently in English. This version is the most recent English translation (2003), for which I am grateful since my Latin is wholly inadequate for the task. The tome chronicles the history of the world from Creation to the death of Christ. This modern work was edited by Larry and Marion Pierce and the particular edition I reference is beautifully bound and thoroughly annotated. It also comes with a CD having many extras including depicted chronologies, bible synopses, and a historical summary of Egyptian and Olympic history,among other things. The text is also supported by several useful appendices including a bibliography, various calendars, time-line reconstructions, maps, a detailed index by paragraph (paragraphs are numbered in the text), and a defense of a young earth. This last point is worth elaboration. James Ussher famously, and to much modern derision, calculated the creation of the earth as occurring on September 21, 4004 B.C (using the modern Gregorian Calendar). This appears to be too young -- modern civilization is generally regarded as beginning about 10,000 B.C., the age of Homo sapiens as occurring circa 200,000 B.C., and the age of the earth as roughly 4.5 billion B.C. The debate about the age of the earth is a very ancient one, with certain Greek philosophers arguing that the earth is infinitely old and others arguing that it had a definite beginning. With the discovery of cosmic background radiation the scientific consensus has now embraced a Big Bang view of cosmology demanding a definite starting point for the universe and subsequent earth. Although the Big Bang has only been recently accepted, philosophically, an infinitely old universe was ruled out from ancient times with (what I believe to be a sound) philosophical argument that if the earth were infinitely old, no amount of time would be sufficient to arrive at "now." Curiously, before the advent of Darwin's evolutionary theory in the mid nineteenth century, the general scientific consensus was in general accord with Ussher's calculations. Since then, scientists (including Christians among them) have largely embraced an old earth, though others have consistently held to a young earth of 10,000 years or less. With respect to the former, supposed gaps in genealogy are used to reconcile Biblical and secular creation dates -- an argument I find unpersuasive. Regardless, Ussher's history is quite accurate in its chronicle of historically recorded events -- the thrust of this 960 page volume. Ussher was a first rate scholar, historian, and intellectual, and his work was monumental and influential. For that reason, he is worth reading and recommended as an asset to any organized library.

First of all, this is the best history book I've ever read. It's also the only one that includes Biblical events in the order that they happened. It doesn't replace God's Word, but it's excellent at putting the dates and events in perspective. Everything in it is referenced, cited, or otherwise quoted. For something written in 1650, it's really timeless, as history doesn't change that much. Ussher takes the position that God created everything in seven days - literal days - and even calculates the precise first date of Creation. Now, whether that's an accurate date or not, I don't know, but it's fascinating nevertheless. From that point forward, he chronicles history based on time periods and events given in the Bible and by other historians, including both Biblical and extra-Biblical events on the same timeline. Ultimately, whether you're a historian, a Bible-buff, or simply someone interested in Biblical history, this book is worth it one-hundred percent. If nothing else, this will reveal things in the Bible that you probably didn't know about - like the fact that Jephthah, one of Israel's judges, sacrificed his daughter as a result of a rash vow he made; or that God cursed King Jehoram, a wicked king of Judah, so that his bowels would fall out and he would then die. I cannot rate the physical book, as I have the Kindle version, which seems to work well. Aside from some occasional font size errors, it's great, but hard to flip to references and such. This book will give you a new respect for the Bible and hopefully make you want to read it much more!

I read this History by Bishop Ussher because it was recommended by Sir Isaac Newton in his Historical work where he took the pains to correct some of the ancient writers like Herodotus, Menethos, and others. After 5 years starting during Covid of 2020, I finished, January 4 2026. If you want to get a good overview of ancient history, you have to start with this work. The Other work along with this, that I would recommend would be “ Ancient History of the World by Wise Baurer “. But this work could be all you need! History seems to work in the cycles written in this Master Piece of a work. The Modern World makes a lot more sense when we see it through the eyes of the Ancients. King Solomon said it best “What has been shall be again”. FINIS

This is amazing.

This book has supplemented my historical studies. As an archbisop of course Ussher would certainly have Biblical perspective but it is not solely written that way. Ussher uses many non-biblical references in his compilation. He took great care and poured a lot of his life into this to give people in his era and beyond a snapshot of what he saw and believed in at the time of his life and before. Because he is attempting to frame an answer to a divine question do not expect that all will agree with him. The creation of The World has been a subject of study and debate for thousands of years. Great care was taken to date events as accurately as possible. Considering it was written in 1650 (and the limited resources Ussher had) I am amazed at the accuracy. Ussher took great care to minimize editorializing and most of the editorializing that goes on is that of the authors of the cited works. If you want a chronological recording of history gathered in one book you could do far worse than this. This is not a book for light reading. If you a looking for a light pleasant read this is not your book. But if you are a student of history and appreciate the efforts of a dedicated scholar to record events as faithfully as he could determine you will find this book most appealing. This is a treasured book in my library and it is one I give to special friends.

First off I have to say that I absolutely love the look of this book. It has a very solid feel to it, with the full 900+ pages perfectly smooth on the sides with the golden edges. The very weight of it makes it very satisfying to hold even when it is closed. Now for the inside: James Ussher gives a purely historic account of both biblical and extra-biblical events. While the first 60 or so pages are largely from Genesis and Exodus(save a few entries concerning Egyptian Pharaohs) later on it goes way in depth concerning figures such as Alexander the Great, using source documents that I will probably never have the opportunity read directly(especially since many of them no longer exist, apparently being burned up in a fire long ago). The book is organized by year, and it can be difficult if you are looking for events concerning individual nations--it can jump back and forth at times. However, it goes into much greater detail than many other history books will. It is unquestionable that Ussher was one of the most learned men of his day, or even of all time, when it comes to history, including biblical history. The book also includes a detailed bibliography(of which the editor of this newly translated edition confirmed and updated the information for as many as he could) as well as several appendices, with one that gives a detailed account on how Ussher came to his famous date of 4004 BC as the date of creation. I don't use "must-have" to describe many books, but this book is definitely a "must-have" for any pastor, theologian, historian, creationist, or anyone else who wishes to know how the biblical history lines up with the rest of the world.

If you want to have a very realistic idea of the timeframe when any event recorded in the Bible happened, then you must have Annals of the World in your personal library. This is a great book for Bible students, scholars, or Bible teachers. The hard copy version includes a CD for you to have the information at your fingertips. The author, James Ussher (1581 - 1656) was an Irish theologian that researched on the seasonal equinoxes back in time, taking into consideration the ancient's calendars, and his work is a world class classic. Previous to Usher, scientists Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) and Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727) did a similar exercise, arriving to the same conclusion that Usher did. Usher followed also the biblical record arriving to the conclusion that the earth was created on the night preceeding October 23, 4004 BC. We may think that arriving to this kind of detail it is an exageration, but at least this framework will give you a well-rounded idea of when every story in the Bible did happen. Usher's dating has a great reputation compared with geological and other scientific discoveries in XIX and XX century. Both edition (soft cover and hard cover) are the same information, but if you need the CD, it is included in the hard cover that brings also a nice box to protect the book.

Most modern history books represent history from the lens of politics. We bypass enormous sums of information and are told that that information can't all be taught in one book so items are cherrypicked for us... then we are to take on faith that the things that happen between the dots, if we knew them, would corroborate the narrative we are to accept today. But the problem is the narrative we are given today excludes the Bible and any historian who corroborated its events. It's like baking a cake where the only ingredient left in it is flour and butter... and people are told that's what is called cake. Of COURSE they think Christians are idiots for liking nothing but the equivalent of mushy flour fairytales. The History they are given is wretchedly EDITED. This grand author spent his life putting all of those bits and pieces, all of those historians and their work into one spot, referenced it all, put them in chronological order and made this fantastic book... then it was BURIED so as not to see the light of day until it was translated into modern English and referenced and checked which took YEARS. FOR SHAME on the Academic Community! It is utter dishonesty to rip out an enormous part of history and proclaim a cobbled together string of dates and muzzle any other view! Yet we are allowed to speak of what aliens must be like with a straight face when there is zero evidence of any. I am over the moon at the people who worked so hard to present this again, so people can decide for themselves and read historians accounts that were kept from them for their entire public education. We no longer have to digest what amounts to a cut and pasted magazine of sensationalism put together with the duct tape of generalizations about entire people groups and events, based on solely on the desire to erase the Bible from the History of the World. BRAVO!