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The Oera Linda Book timeline (as the book tells it)
The book counts its years from the sinking of Atland, which it also calls Aldland. Hiddo’s letter fixes that zero point. He dates his copy “in the three thousand four hundred and forty-ninth year after Atland was submerged,” and adds “according to the Christian reckoning, the year 1256” on page 3 of Sandbach’s translation. Subtracting 1256 from 3449 gives 2193 BC. Ottema prints that subtraction in a footnote to the Frisian text. In his Introduction, on page xi, he also links this zero point to the sunken island in Plato’s Timaeus. A year marked “computed” is not written in the narrative. It is 2193 minus the book’s count of years after Atland, the same rule Ottema uses in his footnotes. Because there is no year zero, any computed year can be off by one.
| Year | What the book says | Written by |
|---|---|---|
| Year 0 2193 BC, computed | “Aldland, called by the seafaring people, Atland, disappeared” (Sandbach page 71). Fires and floods go on for three years. | Adela’s book |
| Year 101 2092 BC, computed | “One hundred and one years after the submersion of Aldland a people came out of the East” (page 73): the Magyars and the Finns. Eighty years later they invade, and Wodin, Teunis and Inka lead the defence (page 75). Ottema’s footnote: “2193–101 is 2092 before Christ”. | Adela’s book, Waraburgt inscription |
| Year 193 2000 BC, computed | Teunis reaches “the Phœnician coast, one hundred and ninety-three years after Atland was submerged,” and founds Thyrhisburgt (page 83). Inka sails on and is not heard of again (page 81). | Adela’s book, Waraburgt inscription |
| Year 563 1630 BC, computed | Min-erva, called Nyhellenia, presides at Walhallagara (page 87). The text itself says “that is, 1600 years before Christ.” Ottema’s footnote: “2193–563 is 1630 years before Christ”. | Adela’s book, Walhallagara inscription |
| Year 1005 1188 BC, computed | Ulysses, “a king of the Jonischen Islands,” brings jewels from Troy to Texland, then stays for years with Kalip at Walhallagara (pages 105 to 107). | Adela’s book, Fryasburgt inscription |
| Year 1602 591 BC, computed | “How our Denmark was lost to us 1602 years after the submersion of Atland” (page 111). Two years later the Magy steals the lamp of Texland (page 113). | Adela’s book |
| Year 1866, computed 327 BC, from Ottema | Alexander comes down the Indus when “we had been settled 12 times 100 and twice 12 years in the Five Waters” (page 165). Liudgert sails “alone with Nearchus” (page 167). | Liudgert’s diary, copied by Frethorik |
| Year 1888 305 BC, computed | Storms, ice and floods wreck the citadels, and only Fryasburgt survives. “This happened 1888 years after the submersion of Atland” (page 161). | Frethorik |
| Year 1890 303 BC, in the text | “Two years after Gosa had become the mother (303 B.C.)” Friso arrives with the returning Geertmen (page 163). | Frethorik |
| Year 3449 AD 1256, in the text | Hiddo copies the wet books “on foreign paper” and dates the copy (page 3). The whole count rests on this date. | Hiddo over de Linda |
Several people in the book have no year. Minno, the sea-king who “gave laws to the Cretans,” is undated, and Ottema identifies him with Minos. Jon sails with Min-erva, so he belongs to her lifetime, but the text gives no year. Geert’s move to the Punjab has no year either. Ottema dates it to 1551 BC by counting back 1,224 years from Alexander. Konerêd, Beeden and Rika write after Friso without giving a year. The last writer describes Askar, “the fourth king after Friso,” whom Ottema dates from Furmerius to about 70 BC to AD 11. Liko’s letter is dated AD 803. Ottema’s Introduction follows the manuscript from 1820 to Cornelis over de Linden, who received it from his aunt in August 1848.
Two of the book’s dates do not add up. The Min-erva passage says 563 years after the sinking is 1600 BC, but 2193 minus 563 is 1630 BC, and Ottema’s own footnote prints 1630. The Hellenia passage counts 1,600 years back to the sinking from a writing dated 593 BC, about 35 years before Ottema dates Adela’s book.
Mainstream scholars date the manuscript, its paper and its ink to the 19th century.
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