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Timeline of Numerical Traditions

When each tradition’s numerical practice is actually attested — with the dating basis stated, and contested datings marked as such.

Figure

When each tradition’s numerical practice is attested

Bars show the period over which a tradition’s numerical material is attested in surviving sources — not the antiquity the tradition claims for itself, and not a date of origin. A red bar means the dating itself is contested, not that the tradition is doubtful.

Emergence of numerical traditions Horizontal timeline showing the period of attested numerical practice for each tradition covered by Codex Numerica, from Sumerian sexagesimal mathematics to the Bahá’í Badíʿ calendar. The same information is given as a table below this figure. 3000 BCE 2500 BCE 2000 BCE 1500 BCE 1000 BCE 500 BCE 1 CE 500 CE 1000 CE 1500 CE 2000 CE Sumerian / Babylonian sexagesimal 3100 BCE – 100 BCE Egyptian mathematical texts 2600 BCE – 300 BCE Vedic corpus 1500 BCE – 500 BCE Zoroastrian Avesta 1200 BCE – 600 CE Hebrew Bible 1000 BCE – 100 BCE Yijing / I Ching 900 BCE – 200 BCE Pythagorean / Platonic 530 BCE – 300 BCE Jain Agamas 500 BCE – 500 CE Confucian classics 500 BCE – 100 CE Buddhist Pali Canon 450 BCE – 100 CE Maya Long Count 100 BCE – 900 CE New Testament / isopsephy 50 CE – 150 CE Sefer Yetzirah 200 CE – 600 CE Ge’ez / Ethiopian corpus 300 CE – 1400 CE Katapayadi in practice 500 CE – 1500 CE Quran and abjad 610 CE – 900 CE Kojiki / Nihon Shoki 712 CE – 720 CE Norse Eddic material 800 CE – 1300 CE Ifa divination corpus 800 CE – 1900 CE Aztec / Mexica calendar 1300 CE – 1521 CE Guru Granth Sahib 1469 CE – 1708 CE Bahá’í Badíʿ calendar 1844 CE – 1873 CE Confidence in the dating verified disputed

The figure is a static SVG: it needs no JavaScript, scales without blurring, and prints. The same data is tabulated below for screen readers and for anyone who wants the dating basis.

Data

Dating basis

Every range needs a reason. The last column gives it.

TraditionAttested rangeDatingBasis
Sumerian / Babylonian sexagesimal3100 BCE – 100 BCEverifiedAdministrative and mathematical tablets; sexagesimal place value from the Old Babylonian period
Egyptian mathematical texts2600 BCE – 300 BCEverifiedPyramid Texts from c. 2400 BC; Rhind Papyrus copied c. 1550 BC from an older original
Vedic corpus1500 BCE – 500 BCEverifiedRigveda composed in the later 2nd millennium BC; Śulba Sūtras give altar geometry
Zoroastrian Avesta1200 BCE – 600 CEdisputedOld Avestan Gathas are linguistically archaic but the dating range in scholarship is wide
Hebrew Bible1000 BCE – 100 BCEverifiedComposition spans the monarchic to Second Temple periods; Dead Sea Scrolls give the earliest manuscripts
Yijing / I Ching900 BCE – 200 BCEverifiedZhou Yi core in the early 1st millennium BC; Ten Wings commentaries later
Pythagorean / Platonic530 BCE – 300 BCEverifiedPythagorean tradition from the 6th century BC; Plato in the 4th
Jain Agamas500 BCE – 500 CEverifiedDoctrinal mathematics of infinity and combinatorics in the Agamic corpus
Confucian classics500 BCE – 100 CEverifiedFive Classics and Four Books, received recensions Han-period
Buddhist Pali Canon450 BCE – 100 CEverifiedOral transmission from the 5th century BC; committed to writing in the 1st century BC
Maya Long Count100 BCE – 900 CEverifiedEarliest Long Count inscriptions late 1st millennium BC; Classic Maya florescence
New Testament / isopsephy50 CE – 150 CEverifiedGreek NT composition; Revelation invites the isopsephic calculation explicitly
Sefer Yetzirah200 CE – 600 CEdisputedDating contested across a wide range; Hayman 2004 argues for the later end
Ge’ez / Ethiopian corpus300 CE – 1400 CEverifiedGe’ez alphanumerics from the Aksumite period; Kebra Nagast compiled 14th century
Katapayadi in practice500 CE – 1500 CEverifiedUsed in Indian astronomical and mathematical works for encoding constants
Quran and abjad610 CE – 900 CEverifiedQuranic text 7th century; abjad inherited from the older Semitic letter-numeral tradition
Kojiki / Nihon Shoki712 CE – 720 CEverifiedBoth chronicles dated precisely by their own colophons
Norse Eddic material800 CE – 1300 CEverifiedViking-age oral tradition; Poetic Edda and Prose Edda written down 13th century
Ifa divination corpus800 CE – 1900 CEdisputedOral corpus; its antiquity is inferred rather than documented, so the start is uncertain
Aztec / Mexica calendar1300 CE – 1521 CEverifiedAttested at contact; inherits the older Mesoamerican 260/365 system
Guru Granth Sahib1469 CE – 1708 CEverifiedFrom Guru Nanak to the standardised 1706 arrangement
Bahá’í Badíʿ calendar1844 CE – 1873 CEverifiedDesigned system with its own documented intent — the Báb’s declaration to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas
How to read it

What a timeline like this can and cannot show

Two traditions overlapping on this chart were contemporaries. That is all overlap means. It is not evidence of contact, and contact is not evidence of borrowing. The chart is useful for the opposite purpose: it makes impossible borrowings visible. A claim that a later tradition transmitted a numerical scheme to an earlier one can be dismissed on this figure alone.

Note also how much of the chart is manuscript date rather than composition date. The Norse Eddic material is a case in point: Viking-age content surviving in 13th-century manuscripts. Where the gap between practice and attestation is large, numerical arguments built on exact counts are correspondingly weaker, because the count belongs to the manuscript rather than to the tradition.

Related Reading

All Traditions

The full index — every tradition on this chart, in detail.

Ritual Calendars

How these traditions measured time, compared directly.

Testing the Patterns

Why chronology matters before any transmission claim.

Structural Dashboard

The canon-by-canon counts, with the editions that produce them.
Citation

Cite this page

Formatted references for this page. The evidence grade is part of the claim — when quoting a graded statement, carry the grade with it.