Chronogram

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A chronogram is a sentence or inscription in which specific letters, interpreted as numerals (such as Roman numerals), stand for a particular date when rearranged. The word, meaning "time writing", derives from the Greek words chronos (χρόνος "time") and gramma (γράμμα, "letter").

In the pure chronogram, each word contains a numeral; the natural chronogram shows all numerals in the correct numerical order, e.g. AMORE MATVRITAS = MMVI = 2006. Chronograms in

In the

Chronograms from the Roman Empire are reported but not confirmed. The earliest confirmed chronograms using Roman numerals were devised in the mid 14th century but retrospective chronograms which express earlier dates are known.^[2] Chronograms were particularly popular during the Renaissance, when chronograms were often used on tombstones and foundation stones to mark the date of the event being commemorated. They were popular during the Baroque as well. In 1711, Joseph Addison compared chronograms to "anagrams and acrostics".^[3] Examples include:

• My Day Closed Is in Immortality is a chronogram commemorating the death of Queen
  Elizabeth I of England
  . The capitals read MDCIII, which corresponds to 1603, the year of Elizabeth's death.
• ChrIstVs DuX ergo trIVMphVs ("Christ the Leader so a triumph"), on a coin struck by Gustavus Adolphus in 1627, gives MDCXVVVII or 1627.^[4] Although chronograms are relatively scarce on coins, many inscriptions on medals incorporate chronograms.^[5]
• In a work entitled Hugo Grotius his Sophompaneas, published in 1652, the date is indicated by the author's name: FranCIs GoLDsMIth. This gives MDCLII or 1652.
• An example of a short chronogram is on the monument commemorating the 1764 Massacre at Madéfalva in Transsylvania. The script Siculicidium (in Latin, meaning "murder of Székelys") written SICVLICIDIVM, gives exactly 1764.^[a] Only the beginning letter "S" is not used from the one-word chronogram.

Many lengthy examples of chronograms can be found in Germany and the countries that had been part of the

Modern (1993) stealth chronogram under the balcony of the Grand Ducal Palace, Luxembourg

Hebrew numerals

The great popularity of chronograms in Jewish tradition, and the extent to which they have been cultivated, may be explained by the fact that they are a variety of the Jewish mystical practice of Gematria.^[7]

The earliest chronogram in Jewish literature is one found in a Hebrew poem of the year 1205 by Al-Harizi, while the earliest Latin chronogram is dated five years later. According to Abraham Firkovich, Hebrew chronograms date back to 582; but the inscriptions cited by him are probably forgeries. In the thirteenth century chronograms are found in the epitaphs of German Jews (Lewysohn, "Nafshot Zaddikim", No. 14, of the year 1261; No. 16, of the year 1275).^[7]

In epitaphs

It is evident, therefore, that for a period of five hundred years chronograms occurred in the epitaphs of European Jews. Thus the dates of the epitaphs of the family of Asher ben Jehiel in the first half of the fourteenth century are indicated by chronograms (Almanzi, "Abne Zikkaron", pp. 4, 6, 9); and among sixty-eight Frankfort epitaphs of that century four chronograms have been preserved (Horowitz, "Inschriften... zu Frankfurt-am-Main", Nos. 8, 29, 36, 68). The German Jews seem to have possessed little skill in the composition of chronograms, there being only about twenty-five (and these very simple) in a total of some 6,000 inscriptions. In Bohemia and Poland, chronograms in epitaphs occur more frequently, and are often very clever; for example, the epitaph of the physician Menahem b. Asher Mazzerato, who died at Prague in 1680, reads as follows: איש צדיק ישר חכם וענו האלוף מהר״ר מנחם רופא מומחה (Lieben, "Gal 'Ed," p. 36); and the numerical value of the marked initial letters therein amounts to 440; i.e., 5440, the Jewish year in which Menahem died. The year of death of the associate rabbi of Prague, Zalman, who perished in the great fire of 1689 (=5449 Jewish era), is indicated by the words 'באש יצא מאת ד (bolded letters equal 448) (ib. No. 59).^[7]

In books

While the epitaphs, in addition to the chronograms, in many cases directly mention the dates, many manuscripts, and an even greater number of printed books, are dated simply by means of chronograms; authors, copyists, and

But even poets like I. L. Gordon and A. B. Lewensohn have a great weakness for the לפקים ("minor eras"), though employing them only in the super-scriptions to their poems.^[7]

See also

• Abjad numerals (Arabic chronograms)
• Gematria
• Isopsephy
• Epitaph
• Sator Square (a type of acrostic)
• Ancient Hindu methods of chronograms
• Memento mori
• Vicarius Filii Dei

Notes

References

External links

• Modern chronograms
• Chronograms at Bad Salzuflen
• Chronogram Explorer and Solver (Javascript)
• Chronogram → anno Website-program to calculate of the year from chronogram. (HTML/JavaScript; languages: hu:, en:, de:).