I. Archbishop Usher fixes the era of this expedition at about 1280 years
before Christ: Sir Isaac Newton, on the other hand, fixes it much later,
about 937 years before Christ. His opinion is grounded principally on a
supposition, that the Greek sphere was invented by two of the Argonauts,
who delineated the expedition under the name of Argo, one of the
constellations. And as the equinoctial colure passed through the middle of
Aries, when that sphere was constructed, he infers, by calculations of
their retrograde motion from their place then till the year A.D. 1690, that
the expedition took place in 937 before Christ. To this, however, there
seem to be insurmountable objections, which it is surprising did not occur
to this great man. The chief star in Argo is only 37 degrees from the south
pole; and the greatest part of the constellation is much nearer. The course
of the Argonauts from Greece to Colchis, necessarily lay between 39 and 45
degrees of north latitude. It will be evident to any person acquainted with
astronomy, that within these latitudes no star of the first magnitude, or
such as would attract observation, especially in those times, could be
visible. But, what is still more decisive against the whole of Sir Isaac
Newton's hypothesis, he takes for granted that the sphere was invented by
the Argonauts: if this indeed could be proved, it would be easy to fix the
era of the Argonautic expedition; but till such proof is given, all that
can be fairly inferred from an inspection of this sphere is, that it was
constructed 937 years before Christ.
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