Ambrose Ussher [SEP] date of death
Ambrose Ussher
Ambrose Ussher (1582?–1629) was an Irish Protestant clergyman and scholar, a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin and rector in the Church of Ireland, known as a biblical translator.
Life.
Born in Dublin about 1582, he was third but second surviving son of Arland Ussher and his wife Margaret. James Ussher, archbishop of Armagh, was his elder brother. He is said to have been for a time at Cambridge. He graduated M.A. and was elected fellow of the recently established Trinity College,
, Greek, and Roman sources to fix the date of Amel-Marduk's enthronment at 562 BC (after Nebuchadnezzar's death), from which he was able to deduce a creation in 4004 BC.
In fixing the date of Jesus' birth, Ussher took account of an error perpetrated by Dionysius Exiguus, the founder of the Anno Domini numbering system. Ussher chose 5 BC as Christ's birth year because Josephus indicated that the death of Herod the Great occurred in 4 BC. Thus, for the Gospel of Matthew