In the fall of 1725, a French translation appeared of a short chronologicalwork, composed by an Englishman about a decade earlier. Following a briefintroduction, the work consisted mainly of an extensive list of dates forkey historical events. These included important episodes in the history ofthe Jewish people, such as the ascendancy to the throne of King David in1059 bce, the building of the Temple under his son Solomon (1015 BCE), andthe invasion of Syria and Judea by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar (606BCE). In between were listed pivotal events in world history, such as theArgonautic expedition (937 BCE), the fall of Troy (904 BCE), the building ofRome (627 BCE), and the conquest of the Persian empire by Alexander theGreat (332 BCE). Remarkably, these dates differed significantly fromestablished scholarly consensus. For example, Dionysius Petavius(1583-1652), the renowned French theologian and historian, had arrived at1226 bce for the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts and 1184 bce for the fallof Troy, putting these events almost three centuries earlier. The Parispublisher Guillaume Cavelier appended to the translation a critical analysisof the chronology presented and the methods the author had used to arrive athis dates, from the hand of the renowned scholar Nicolas Fréret.According to Fréret, everything was ‘tres curieux’,and, moreover, entirely wrong. The author had misunderstood – ormisinterpreted – several ancient sources, his calculations were off,and so were his conclusions.

That author was Isaac Newton, and the appearance of a work of chronology fromthe hands of England's greatest natural philosopher must havesurprised many of his contemporaries. After all, apart from a handful ofpeople close to him and the circle around Cavelier and Fréret, hardlyanyone knew about Newton's chronological studies. The ‘ShortChronicle’, translated and published as Abregé de laChronologie de M. le Chevalier Isaac Newton, had been a summaryof his studies, written for Princess Caroline in 1717 at the instigation ofthe Italian Father Antonio Conti. Conti had made Newton'sacquaintance the year before and was impressed with his understanding ofancient history. Afterwards, Newton was less impressed with Conti'sunderstanding of friendship, suspecting it was he who had supplied theFrench with a copy of his work.