[Redbook8:30-32][19901015:1017]{4,000
Years BC[E] – Commentary (1)}[15th October 1990]
.1017
The
diagram,* inevitably, had become over-full. But there are a few
possibly interesting points.
Where
a civilisation forms a single, reasonably ‘continuous’ thread
across 2 or more millennia – which is the case only for the
Egyptian, Chinese, and perhaps Greek cultures – there is a definite
tendency for historians to identify and name periods in a way which
displays shifts in context at[,] or within the permitted variation***
from[,] C points.
In
the case of Egypt, if one joins the 2 ‘intermediate’ periods onto
their predecessors in each case – which I think is permissible –
then in the whole c3072 year period, only 1 out of the 7 points of
change varies by more than 1/8th of its 512-year sub-period or 45o**
sector, from the appropriate 512C degree – and that one varies by
<1/4, and is 2500 years ago, at the limit of records.
China
does not start off so well (c2205bce) but comes progressively closer:
there seems to be a 256 year cycle, from 768bce, from which point
each of the 4 named shifts is within[,] or almost within (5 years at
most, where 1/8 = 32)[,] the limit.
The
Greek cycle is not nearly so precise: but there is a suggestion of 3
consecutive cycles of c1024 years each, meeting and overlapping (and
the first starting and the last finishing) at least partly in each
case within periods which are within the 1/8th permitted variation
(which for 1024 years = 128 years). # The early internal cultural
divisions of the 3rd
cycles, ie ‘Proto-geometric’ and ‘Geometric’, are not very
regular; but the boundaries of the later Archaic and Classical, and
the end of Hellenistic, are within 1/8th of the 256 year cycle, and
the Classical/Helenistic boundary is greater than ¼#* by 3 years.
*ref
[[Redbook8:28-29][19901015:1710]{Four
Thousand Years BC[E]}[15th October 1990],]
28-29 [–
last previous entry but one]
**[Inserted
in ms. Ms has 30o
inserted, which must presumably be a mistake for 45o
– a mistake which has been made before, more than once.]
***1/8th
****I
think
the (perhaps unsurprising) implication of this para [ie
section / ts entry – the ms paragraphs having been split for the
ts]
is that the more stable a state is, the closer it will tend to stick
to precise doubling cycle[s]; and, perhaps, the longer its ‘internal’
cycle periods will tend to be. {↓
But
see later [] – short periods are difficult to identify before
written records and accurate chronology}
#{This
is not quite as it appears after more research/study: see amended
chart ([[Redbook8:28-29][19901015:1710]{Four
Thousand Years BC[E]}[15th October 1990],]
p28-29)}
#*(64
years)
[continued]
[PostedBlogger21062022]
