Antiquitas non fingo : Newton, the Moderns and the Science of Ancient History

In his posthumous The Chronology of the Ancient Kingdoms Amended (1728) Isaac Newton re‐dated a number of significant events in ancient history, most importantly the Argonautic expedition and the Fall of Troy. This article explores the eighteenth‐century reception of the Chronology as a text contiguous with Newton's previous works on natural philosophy. In particular, it will be argued that the Chronology was considered as proof that the moderns had made history into a scientific discipline based on principles like those delineated in Newton's Principia .