In this strikingly handsome book, published in 1534, Paulus Constantinus Phrygio lays out human history on a horizontal line. Though Phrygio’s work expresses the forward movement of history, the relatively weak axis of years along the top of the page makes the actual dates of events hard to follow. Even such turning points as the Crucifixion and the fall of Jerusalem, seen in the last image, are hard to locate. These defects of layout may explain why Phrygio’s work was not reprinted. But its content may also have played a part. His lists of early dynasties come from the texts forged by Annius of Viterbo, and his work was received with skepticism by more learned scholars.