6 Things You May Not Know About the Gregorian Calendar

If you were living in England or one of the American colonies 260 years ago, this date—September 13, 1752—didn’t exist. Neither did the 10 days preceding it. Instead, you would have gone to bed on the evening of September 2 and woken up on the morning of September 14. Eleven days had been effectively skipped over as part of the parliamentary measure that implemented the Gregorian calendar, aligning Britain and its overseas possessions with the rest of Western Europe. In most of the world today, people continue to track their days, months and years using the centuries-old system, so chances are you’re intimately familiar with its workings. Still, there are a few things about the Gregorian calendar that might come as a surprise.

1. The original goal of the Gregorian calendar was to change the date of Easter.In 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII introduced his Gregorian calendar, Europe adhered to the Julian calendar, first implemented by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. Since the Roman emperor’s system miscalculated the length of the solar year by 11 minutes, the calendar had since fallen out of sync with the seasons. This concerned Gregory because it meant that Easter, traditionally observed on March 21, fell further away from the spring equinox with each passing year.2. Leap years don’t really occur every four years in the Gregorian calendar.The Julian calendar included an extra day in February every four years. But Aloysus Lilius, the Italian scientist who developed the system Pope Gregory would unveil in 1582, realized that the addition of so many days made the calendar slightly too long. He devised a variation that adds leap days in years divisible by four, unless the year is also divisible by 100. If the year is also divisible by 400, a leap day is added regardless. While this formula may sound confusing, it did resolve the lag created by Caesar’s earlier scheme—almost.3. The Gregorian calendar differs from the solar year by 26 seconds per year.Despite Lilius’ ingenious method for syncing the calendar with the seasons, his system is still off by 26 seconds. As a result, in the years since Gregory introduced his calendar in 1582, a discrepancy of several hours has arisen. By the year 4909, the Gregorian calendar will be a full day ahead of the solar year.4. Some Protestants viewed the Gregorian calendar as a Catholic plot.Though Pope Gregory’s papal bull reforming the calendar had no power beyond the Catholic Church, Catholic countries—including Spain, Portugal and Italy—swiftly adopted the new system for their civil affairs. European Protestants, however, largely rejected the change because of its ties to the papacy, fearing it was an attempt to silence their movement. It wasn’t until 1700 that Protestant Germany switched over, and England held out until 1752. Orthodox countries clung to the Julian calendar until even later, and their national churches have never embraced Gregory’s reforms.

5. Britain’s adoption of the Gregorian calendar sparked riots and protest—maybe.According to some accounts, English citizens did not react kindly after an act of Parliament advanced the calendar overnight from September 2 to September 14, 1752. Rioters supposedly took to the streets, demanding that the government “give us our 11 days.” However, most historians now believe that these protests never occurred or were greatly exaggerated. On the other side of the Atlantic, meanwhile, Benjamin Franklin welcomed the change, writing, “It is pleasant for an old man to be able to go to bed on September 2, and not have to get up until September 14.”6. Before the Gregorian calendar’s adoption, the English new year began on March 25, or Lady Day.Julius Caesar’s calendar reform of 46 B.C. instituted January 1 as the first of the year. During the Middle Ages, however, European countries replaced it with days that carried greater religious significance, such as December 25 (the anniversary of Jesus’ birth) and March 25 (the Feast of the Annunciation). The latter, known as Lady Day because it celebrates the Virgin Mary, marked the beginning of the year in Britain until January 1, 1752.

Calendar Origins - Where did Calendars Begin?Ultimately, all calendars began with people recording time by using natural cycles: days, lunar cycles (months), and solar cycles (years).

The year is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds long or 365.242199 days.

The time between full moons is 29.53 days.

Various peoples have attempted to organize these cycles into calendars to keep track of time and to be able to predict future events of importance to them, such as the annual Nile flood in ancient Egypt.

The main problem is that these natural cycles do not divide evenly. So a month measured by the moon doesn't equal an even number of days, and a solar year is not equal to a certain number of moon cycles (months or "moon"ths).

Early people could either try to stay in sync with the moon, perhaps making months alternating combinations of 29 and 30 days, with special rules to resync occasionally with a solar year by adding leap months (such as the Jewish or Chinese calendar) or abandon lunar cycles and concentrate on the solar year (such as the Ancient Egyptian calendar of 12 same-sized months).

If syncing a calendar with lunar cycles is most important, we call it a lunar calendar. If syncing a calendar with the solar year, a solar calendar, and if trying to meet both needs, a lunisolar calendar (such as the Ancient Roman calendar).

 

Roman Calendar - Why 28 days in February?

We owe the modern calendar's differing number of days each month to the Romans. The early Roman calendar consisted of 12 months beginning in March like this (later January became the start of the year):

Month LengthMartius 31Aprilis 29Maius 31Iunius 29Quintilis 31Sextilis 29September 29October 31November 29December 29Ianuarius 29Februarius 28Februarius (leap years) 23Intercalaris (leap years) 27/28

The early Romans attempted to syncronize the months with the first crescent moon following a new moon resulting in some months of 29 days and some of more.

Every other year, February was shortened and a leap month (Intercalaris) was added in an attempt to realign lunar cycles with the solar calendar. The lengths of the years in a four year cycle of this lunisolar calendar were 355, 377, 355, and 378 days. This added up to 4 days too many to stay in sync with the solar year.

Julian CalendarEventually Julius Caesar asked an astronomer, Sosigenes of Alexandria, Egypt, to devise a better calendar. What resulted is called the Julian Calendar. He abandoned aligning the months with lunar cycles, and adopted months of 30 or 31 days length, keeping February at 28 days. He introduced an extra day in February in leap years. Sound familiar?

Julius Caesar re-named the 5th month after himself. His successor, Augustus Caesar, re-named the 6th month after himself.

The first day of each month was called Kalendae, or calends. Debts were due on this day, so books to track payments were called calendarium (account book) from which we get our modern day calendar.

How does one count years?

In about AD 523, the papal chancellor, Bonifatius, asked a monk by the name of Dionysius Exiguus to devise a way to implement the rules from the Council of Nicaea (the so-called “Alexandrine Rules”) for general use.

This is a page from an Egyptian Christian calendar. The Coptic church still uses the Diocletian era (a.k.a the Era of Martyrs). In the top right corner, two Arabic numbers can be seen:

 = 2007 (after Christ).  = 1723 (after Diocletian).

Dionysius Exiguus (in English known as Denis the Little) was a monk from Scythia, he was a canon in the Roman Curia, and his assignment was to prepare calculations of the dates of Easter. At that time it was customary to count years since the reign of emperor Diocletian; but in his calculations Dionysius chose to number the years since the birth of Christ, rather than honour the persecutor Diocletian.

Dionysius (wrongly) fixed Jesus’ birth with respect to Diocletian’s reign in such a manner that it falls on 25 December 753 AUC (ab urbe condita, i.e. since the founding of Rome), thus making the current era start with AD 1 on 1 January 754 AUC.

How Dionysius established the year of Christ’s birth is not known (see belowfor a couple of theories). Jesus was born under the reign of King Herod the Great, who died in 750 AUC, which means that Jesus could have been born no later than that year. Dionysius’ calculations were disputed at a very early stage.

When people started dating years before 754 AUC using the term “Before Christ”, they let the year 1 BC immediately precede AD 1 with no intervening year zero.

A document dated 2 April 883.

Click on the image for more information.

Note, however, that astronomers frequently use another way of numbering the years BC. Instead of 1 BC they use 0, instead of 2 BC they use -1, instead of 3 BC they use -2, etc.

The earliest uses of BC dating are found in the works of the Venerable Bede (673-735).

In this section I have used AD 1 = 754 AUC. This is the most likely equivalence between the two systems. However, some authorities state that AD 1 = 753 AUC or 755 AUC. This confusion is not a modern one, it appears that even the Romans were in some doubt about how to count the years since the founding of Rome.

How did Dionysius date Christ’s birth?There are quite a few theories about this. And many of the theories are presented as if they were indisputable historical fact.

Here are two theories that I personally consider likely:

According to the Gospel of Luke (3:1 & 3:23) Jesus was “about thirty years old” shortly after “the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar”. Tiberius became emperor in AD 14. If you combine these numbers you reach a birthyear for Jesus that is strikingly close to the beginning of our year reckoning. This may have been the basis for Dionysius’ calculations.

Dionysius’ original task was to calculate an Easter table. In the Julian calendar, the dates for Easter repeat every 532 years. The first year in Dionysius’ Easter tables is AD 532. Is it a coincidence that the number 532 appears twice here? Or did Dionysius perhaps fix Jesus’ birthyear so that his own Easter tables would start exactly at the beginning of the second Easter cycle after Jesus’ birth?

Was Jesus born in the year 0?No.

There are two reasons for this:

There is no year 0. Jesus was born before 4 BC.

The concept of a year “zero” is a modern myth (but a very popular one). In our calendar, AD 1 follows immediately after 1 BC with no intervening year zero. So a person who was born in 10 BC and died in AD 10, would have died at the age of 19, not 20.

Furthermore, as described above, our year reckoning was established by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century. Dionysius let the year AD 1 start one week after what he believed to be Jesus’ birthday. But Dionysius’ calculations were wrong. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus was born under the reign of King Herod the Great, who died in 4 BC. It is likely that Jesus was actually born around 7 BC. The date of his birth is unknown; it may or may not be 25 December.

When did the 3rd millennium start?The first millennium started in AD 1, so the millennia are counted in this manner:

1st millennium: 1-1000

2nd millennium: 1001-2000

3rd millennium: 2001-3000

Thus, the 3rd millennium and, similarly, the 21st century started on 1 Jan 2001.

This is the cause of some heated debate, especially since some dictionaries and encyclopaedias say that a century starts in years that end in 00. Furthermore, the change 1999/2000 is obviously much more spectacular than the change 2000/2001.

Let me propose a few compromises:

Any 100-year period is a century. Therefore the period from 23 June 2004 to 22 June 2104 is a century. So please feel free to celebrate the start of a century any day you like!

Although the 20th century started in 1901, the 1900s started in 1900. Similarly, the 21st century started in 2001, but the 2000s started in 2000.

What do AD, BC, CE, and BCE stand for?Years before the birth of Christ are in English traditionally identified using the abbreviation BC (“Before Christ”).

Years after the birth of Christ are traditionally identified using the Latin abbreviation AD (“Anno Domini”, that is, “In the Year of the Lord”).

Some people, who want to avoid the reference to Christ that is implied in these terms, prefer the abbreviations BCE (“Before the Common Era” or “Before the Christian Era”) and CE (“Common Era” or “Christian Era”).

Anno DominiFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"AD" redirects here. For other uses of "Anno Domini", see Anno Domini (disambiguation). For other uses of "AD", see AD (disambiguation).

Dionysius Exiguus inventedAnno Domini years to date Easter.

Anno Domini inscription at a cathedral in Carinthia, Austria.

The terms anno Domini[1][2][3] (AD or A.D.) and before Christ[4][5][6][7] (BC or B.C.) are used to label or number years in the Julian andGregorian calendars. The term anno Domini is Medieval Latin, which means in the year of the Lord[8] but is often translated as in the year of our Lord.[9][10]:782 It is occasionally set out more fully as anno Domini nostri Iesu (or Jesu) Christi ("in the year of Our Lord Jesus Christ").

This calendar era is based on the traditionally reckoned year of the conception or birth of Jesus of Nazareth, with AD counting years from the start of this epoch, and BC denoting years before the start of the era. There is no year zero in this scheme, so the year AD 1 immediately follows the year 1 BC. This dating system was devised in 525, but was not widely used until after 800.[11]

The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. For decades, it has been the unofficial global standard, adopted in the pragmatic interests of international communication, transportation, and commercial integration, and recognized by international institutions such as the United Nations and the Universal Postal Union.[12][self-published source]

Traditionally, English followed Latin usage by placing the "AD" abbreviation before the year number.[13] However, BC is placed after the year number (for example: AD 2015, but 68 BC), which also preserves syntactic order. The abbreviation is also widely used after the number of acentury or millennium, as in "fourth century AD" or "second millennium AD" (although conservative usage formerly rejected such expressions).[14] Because BC is the English abbreviation for Before Christ, it is sometimes incorrectly concluded that AD means After Death, i.e. after the death of

Jesus. However, this would mean that the ~33 years commonly associated with the life of Jesus would not be included in either of the BC and the AD time scales.[15]

Terminology that is viewed by some as being more neutral and inclusive of non-Christian people is to call this the Current, or Common Era (abbreviated as CE or C.E.), with the preceding years referred to as Before the Common, Christian, or Current Era (BCE or B.C.E.).Astronomical year numbering and ISO 8601 avoid words or abbreviations related to Christianity, but use the same numbers for AD years.

Contents  [hide] 

1 Historyo 1.1 Popularizationo 1.2 Change of year

2 Historical birth date of Jesus 3 Other eras 4 CE and BCE 5 No year zero 6 Proposed reforms 7 See also 8 Notes and references 9 External links

History[edit]

The Anno Domini dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus to enumerate the years in his Easter table. His system was to replace the Diocletian era that had been used in an old Easter table because he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians.[16] The last year of the old table, Diocletian 247, was immediately followed by the first year of his table, AD 532. When he devised his table, Julian calendar years were identified by naming the consuls who held office that year—he himself stated that the "present year" was "the consulship of Probus Junior", which was 525 years "since the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ". [17] Thus Dionysius implied that Jesus' Incarnation occurred 525 years earlier, without stating the specific year during which his birth or conception occurred. "However, nowhere in his exposition of his table does Dionysius relate his epoch to any other dating system, whether consulate, Olympiad, year of the world, or regnal year of Augustus; much less does he explain or justify the underlying date."[18]:778

Blackburn & Holford-Strevens briefly present arguments for 2 BC, 1 BC, or AD 1 as the year Dionysius intended for the Nativity or Incarnation. Among the sources of confusion are:[18]:778–9

In modern times, Incarnation is synonymous with the conception, but some ancient writers, such as Bede, considered Incarnation to be synonymous with the Nativity

The civil, or consular year began on 1 January but the Diocletian year began on 29 August (30 August in the year before a Julian leap year).

There were inaccuracies in the list of consuls There were confused summations of emperors' regnal years

Two major theories are that Dionysius based his calculation on the Gospel of Luke, which states that Jesus was "about thirty years old" shortly after "the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar", and hence subtracted thirty years from that date, or that Dionysius counted back 532 years (the period during which the dates of Alexandrian Easter repeat) from the first year of his new table. [19]

It has also been speculated by Georges Declercq[20] that Dionysius' desire to replace Diocletian years with a calendar based on the incarnation of Christ was to prevent people from believing the imminent end of the world. At the time, it was believed by some that the Resurrection and end of the world would occur 500 years after the birth of Jesus. The old Anno Mundi calendar theoretically commenced with the creation of the world based on information in the Old Testament. It was believed that, based on the Anno Mundicalendar, Jesus was born in the year 5500 (or 5500 years after the world was created) with the year 6000 of the Anno Mundi calendar marking the end of the world.[21][22] Anno Mundi 6000 (approximately AD 500) was thus equated with the resurrection and the end of the world[23] but this date had already passed in the time of Dionysius.

Popularization[edit]The Anglo-Saxon historian the Venerable Bede, who was familiar with the work of Dionysius Exiguus, used Anno Domini dating in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731. In this same history, he also used another Latin term, ante vero incarnationis dominicae tempus anno sexagesimo ("in fact in the 60th year before the time of the Lord's incarnation"), equivalent to the English "before Christ", to identify years before the first year of this era. [24] Both Dionysius and Bede regarded Anno Domini as beginning at the incarnation of Jesus, but "the distinction between Incarnation and Nativity was not drawn until the late 9th century, when in some places the Incarnation epoch was identified with Christ's conception, i.e., the Annunciation on March 25" (Annunciation style).[18]:881

Statue of Charlemagne by Agostino Cornacchini (1725), at St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican, Italy. Charlemagne

promoted the usage of the Anno Domini epoch throughout the Carolingian Empire

On the continent of Europe, Anno Domini was introduced as the era of choice of the Carolingian Renaissance by Alcuin. Its endorsement by Emperor Charlemagne and his successors popularizing the use of the epoch and spreading it throughout the Carolingian Empireultimately lies at the core of the system's prevalence. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, popes continued to date documents according to regnal years for some time, but usage of AD gradually became more common in Roman Catholic countries from the 11th to the 14th centuries.[25] In 1422, Portugal became the last Western European country to switch to the system begun by Dionysius.[26] Eastern Orthodox  countries only began to adopt AD instead of the Byzantine calendar in 1700 when Russia did so, with others adopting it in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Even though Anno Domini was in widespread use by the 9th century, Before Christ (or its equivalent) did not become common until much later. Bede used the expression "anno igitur ante

incarnationem Dominicam" (so in the year before the Incarnation of the Lord) twice. "Anno an xpi nativitate" (in the year before the birth of Christ) is found in 1474 in a work by a German monk.[27] In 1627, the FrenchJesuit theologian Denis Pétau (Dionysius Petavius in Latin), with his work De doctrina temporum, popularized the usage ante Christum(Latin for "Before Christ") to mark years prior to AD.[28][29][30]

Change of year[edit]When the reckoning from Jesus' incarnation started replacing the previous dating systems in western Europe, different people chose different Christian feast days to begin the year: Christmas, Annunciation, or Easter. Thus, depending on the time and place, the year number changed on different days in the year, which created slightly different styles in chronology: [31]

From 25 March 753 AUC (today in 1 BC), i.e. notionally from the incarnation of Jesus. That first "Annunciation style" appeared inArles at the end of the 9th century, then spread to Burgundy and northern Italy. It was not commonly used and was called calculus pisanus since it was adopted in Pisa and survived there till 1750.

From 25 December 753 AUC (today in 1 BC), i.e. notionally from the birth of Jesus. It was called "Nativity style" and had been spread by the Venerable Bede together with the Anno Domini in the early Middle Ages. That reckoning of the Year of Grace from Christmas was used in France, England and most of western Europe (except Spain) until the 12th century (when it was replaced by Annunciation style), and in Germany until the second quarter of the 13th century.

From 25 March 754 AUC (today in AD 1). That second "Annunciation style" may have originated in Fleury Abbey in the early 11th century, but it was spread by the Cistercians. Florence adopted that style in opposition to that of Pisa, so it got the name of calculus florentinus. It soon spread in France and also in England where it became common in the late 12th century and lasted until 1752.

From Easter, starting in 754 AUC (AD 1). That mos gallicanus (French custom) bound to a moveable feast was introduced in France by king Philip Augustus (1165–1180–1223), maybe to establish a new style in the provinces reconquered from England. However, it never spread beyond the ruling élite.

With these various styles, the same day could, in some cases, be dated in 1099, 1100 or 1101.

Historical birth date of Jesus[edit]See also: Nativity of Jesus and Chronology of Jesus

Most scholars [32] concede the year of the birth of Jesus to be around 6–4 BC,[33][34][35][36] though some widen the range to 7–2 BC,[37][38][39] but there is no definitive dating.[40]

According to Matthew 2:1 [41]  King Herod the Great was alive when Jesus was born, and Matthew 2:16,[42] says Herod ordered the Massacre of the Innocents in response to Jesus' birth. Blackburn and Holford-Strevens fix King Herod's death shortly before Passover in 4 BC,[18]:770 and say that those who accept the story of the Massacre of the Innocents sometimes associate the star that led the Biblical Magi with the planetary conjunction of 15 September 7 BC or Halley's comet of 12 BC (less likely since comets were usually considered bad omens); even historians who do not accept the Massacre accept the birth under Herod as a tradition that is older than the written gospels.[18]:776

The Gospel of Luke states that Jesus was conceived during the reign of Herod the Great[Luke 1:5-

38] (i.e., before 4 BC) while also stating that Jesus was born when Cyrenius (or Quirinius) was the governor of Syria and carried out the census of the Roman provinces of Syria and Iudaea.[Luke 2:1-

3] The Jewish historian Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews (ca. AD 93), indicates that Cyrenius/Quirinius' governorship of Syria began in AD 6, and that the census occurred sometime between AD 6–7,[43] which is incompatible with a conception prior to 4 BC. On this

point, Blackburn and Holford-Strevens state that "St. Luke raises greater difficulty ... Most critics therefore discard Luke".

The Gospel of Luke also states that Jesus was "about thirty years old" [Luke 3:23] during the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar [Luke 3:1]. Tiberius began his reign as Caesar in September of AD 14. The 15th year of his reign would then be AD 28 or 29. If Jesus was born in 5 or 4 BC, that would put the start of Jesus' ministry around age 32 to 34. Most scholars do not see this as a contradiction of Luke's claim that Jesus was "about thirty years old". Some scholars rely on John 8:57:[44] "thou art not yet fifty years old", making the earliest possible year for Jesus's birth c. 18 BC.[45]:776

Other eras[edit]Further information: Calendar era

During the first six centuries of what would come to be known as the Christian era, European countries used various systems to count years. Systems in use included consular dating, imperial regnal year dating, and Creation dating.

Although the last non-imperial consul, Basilius, was appointed in 541 by Emperor Justinian I, later emperors through Constans II (641–668) were appointed consuls on the first 1 January after their accession. All of these emperors, except Justinian, used imperial post-consular years for the years of their reign, along with their regnal years.[46] Long unused, this practice was not formally abolished until Novell XCIV of the law code of Leo VI did so in 888.

Another calculation had been developed by the Alexandrian monk Annianus around the year AD 400, placing the Annunciation on 25 March AD 9 (Julian)—eight to ten years after the date that Dionysius was to imply. Although this incarnation was popular during the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire, years numbered from it, an Era of Incarnation, were exclusively used and are yet used, in Ethiopia. This accounts for the seven- or eight-year discrepancy between the Gregorian and Ethiopian calendars. Byzantine chroniclers like Maximus the Confessor, George Syncellus, and Theophanes dated their years from Annianus' creation of the world. This era, called Anno Mundi, "year of the world" (abbreviated AM), by modern scholars, began its first year on 25 March 5492 BC. Later Byzantine chroniclers used Anno Mundi years from 1 September 5509 BC, the Byzantine Era. No single Anno Mundi epoch was dominant throughout the Christian world. Eusebius of Caesarea in his Chronicle used an era beginning with the birth of Abraham, dated in 2016 BC (AD 1 = 2017 Anno Abrahami).[47]

Spain and Portugal continued to date by the Era of the Caesars or Spanish Era, which began counting from 38 BC, well into the Middle Ages. In 1422, Portugal became the last Catholic country to adopt the Anno Domini system.[25]

The Era of Martyrs, which numbered years from the accession of Diocletian in 284, who launched the last yet most severe persecution of Christians, was used by the Church of Alexandria and is still used, officially, by the Coptic Orthodox and Coptic Catholic churches. It was also used by the Ethiopian church. Another system was to date from thecrucifixion of Jesus Christ, which as early as Hippolytus and Tertullian was believed to have occurred in the consulate of the Gemini (AD 29), which appears in some medievalmanuscripts.

CE and BCE[edit]Main article: Common Era

Alternative names for the Anno Domini era include vulgaris aerae (found 1615 in Latin),[48] "Vulgar Era" (in English, as early as 1635),[49] "Christian Era" (in English, in 1652),[50]"Common Era" (in English, 1708),[51] and "Current Era".[52] Since 1856,[53] the alternative abbreviations CE and BCE, (sometimes written C.E. and B.C.E.) are sometimes used in place of AD and BC.

The "Common/Christian/Current Era" ("CE") terminology is often preferred by those who desire a term that does not explicitly use religious titles.[54][55] For example, Cunningham and Starr (1998) write that "B.C.E./C.E. …do not presuppose faith in Christ and hence are more appropriate for interfaith dialog than the conventional B.C./A.D."[56]Upon its foundation, the Republic of China adopted the Minguo Era, but used the Western calendar for international purposes. The translated term was 西元 ("xī yuán", "Western Era"). Later, in 1949, the People's Republic of China adopted 公元 (gōngyuán, "Common Era") for all purposes domestic and foreign.

No year zero[edit]Further information: 0 (year), Astronomical year numbering and Millennium

In the AD year numbering system, whether applied to the Julian or Gregorian calendars, AD 1 is preceded by 1 BC. There is no year "0" between them. Because of this, most experts agree that a new century begins in a year with the last digits being "01" (1801, 1901, 2001); new millennia likewise began in 1001 and 2001. A common misconception is that centuries and millennia begin when the trailing digits are zeroes (1800, 1900, 2000, etc.);[11] moreover, this convention was widely used to celebrate the new millennium in the year 2000. For computational reasons, astronomical year numbering and the ISO 8601 standard designate years so that AD 1 = year 1, 1 BC = year 0, 2 BC = year −1, etc.[57] In common use, ancient dates are expressed in the Julian calendar, but ISO 8601 uses the Gregorian calendar and astronomers may use a variety of time scales depending on the application. Thus dates using the year 0 or negative years may require further investigation before being converted to BC or AD.

Proposed reforms[edit]

The following are proposed reforms of the Gregorian calendar:

Human Era International Fixed Calendar  (also called the International Perpetual calendar) Leap week calendars

Common-Civil-Calendar-and-Time Pax Calendar Symmetry454

World Calendar World Season Calendar

Notes and references[edit]

Notes

1. Jump up^ The word "anno" is often capitalized, but this is considered incorrect by many authorities and either not mentioned in major dictionaries or only listed as an alternative. Wikipedia's manual of style also prescribes lowercase.

2. Jump up^ http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/anno-domini3. Jump up^ https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=anno%20Domini4. Jump up^ The word "before" is often capitalized, but this is considered incorrect by many authorities

and either not mentioned in major dictionaries or only listed as an alternative. Wikipedia's manual of style also prescribes lowercase.

5. Jump up^ http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/bc6. Jump up^ https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=before%20Christ

7. Jump up^ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bc8. Jump up^ "Anno Domini". Merriam Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. 2003.

Retrieved2011-10-04. Etymology: Medieval Latin, in the year of the Lord9. Jump up^ "Online Etymology Dictionary". Retrieved 2011-10-04.10. Jump up^ Blackburn & Holford-Strevens 2003, p. 782 "since AD stands for anno Domini, 'in the year

of (Our) Lord'".11. ^ Jump up to:a b Teresi, Dick (July 1997). "Zero". The Atlantic.12. Jump up^ Eastman, Allan. "A Month of Sundays". Date and Time. Archived from the original on

2010-05-06. Retrieved 2010-05-04.13. Jump up^ This convention comes from grammatical usage. Anno 500 means "in the year 500";anno

domini 500 means "in the year 500 of Our Lord". Just as "500 in the year" is not good English syntax, neither is 500 AD; whereas "AD 500" preserves syntactic order when translated (Chicago Manual of Style 2010, pp. 476–7; Goldstein 2007, p. 6).

14. Jump up^ Chicago Manual of Style, 1993, p. 304.15. Jump up^ Donald P. Ryan, (2000), 15.16. Jump up^ Blackburn & Holford-Strevens 2003, 76717. Jump up^ Nineteen year cycle of Dionysius Introduction and First Argumentum.18. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Blackburn & Holford-Strevens 200319. Jump up^ Tøndering, Claus, The Calendar FAQ: Counting years20. Jump up^ Declercq, Georges, "Anno Domini. The Origins of the Christian Era" Turnhout, Belgium,

200021. Jump up^ Wallraff, Martin: Julius Africanus und die Christliche Weltchronik. Walter de Gruyter, 200622. Jump up^ Mosshammer, Alden A.: The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era. Oxford

University Press, 2009, p. 254, p. 270, p. 32823. Jump up^ Declercq, Georges: Anno Domini. The Origins of the Christian Era. Turnhout Belgium.

200024. Jump up^ Bede 731, Book 1, Chapter 2, first sentence.25. ^ Jump up to:a b Gerard, 190826. Jump up^ "General Chronology". New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol III. Robert Appleton

Company, New York. 1908. Retrieved 2011-10-25.27. Jump up^ Werner Rolevinck in Fasciculus temporum (1474) used Anno an xpi nativitatem (in the ...

(th) year before the birth of Christ) for all years between creation and Jesus. "xpi" is theGreek χρι in Latin letters, which is an abbreviation for Christi. This phrase appears upside down in the centre of recto folios (right hand pages). From Jesus to Pope Sixtus IV he usually used Anno Christi or its abbreviated form Anno xpi (on verso folios—left hand pages). He used Anno mundi alongside all of these terms for all years.

28. Jump up^ Steel, Duncan (2000). Marking time: the epic quest to invent the perfect calendar. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-471-29827-4. Retrieved 2010-06-01.

29. Jump up^ Hunt, Lynn Avery (2008). Measuring time, making history. p. 33. ISBN 978-963-9776-14-2. Retrieved 2010-06-01.

30. Jump up^ Petau, Denis (1758). search for "ante Christum" in a 1748 reprint of a 1633 abridgement entitled Rationarium temporum by Denis Petau. Retrieved 2010-06-01.

31. Jump up^ C.R. Cheney, A Handbook of Dates, for students of British history, Cambridge University Press, 1945–2000, pp. 8–14.

32. Jump up^ Dunn, James DG (2003). "Jesus Remembered". Eerdmans Publishing. p. 324.33. Jump up^ Paul L. Maier "The Date of the Nativity and Chronology of Jesus" in Chronos, kairos,

Christos: nativity and chronological studies by Jerry Vardaman, Edwin M. Yamauchi, 1989,ISBN 0-931464-50-1, pp. 113–129

34. Jump up^ New Testament History by Richard L. Niswonger, 1992, ISBN 0-310-31201-9, pp. 121–124

35. Jump up^ The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament byAndreas J. Köstenberger, L. Scott Kellum 2009 ISBN 978-0-8054-4365-3. p. 114

36. Jump up^ Christianity and the Roman Empire: background texts by Ralph Martin Novak, 2001,ISBN 1-56338-347-0, pp. 302–303

37. Jump up^ Some of the historians and Biblical scholars who place the birth and death of Jesus within this range include D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris. An Introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992, 54, 56

38. Jump up^ Michael Grant, Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels, Scribner's, 1977, p. 71.39. Jump up^ Ben Witherington III, "Primary Sources," Christian History 17 (1998) No. 3:12–20.40. Jump up^ Doggett 1992, p579: "Although scholars generally believe that Christ was born some years

before AD 1, the historical evidence is too sketchy to allow a definitive dating".41. Jump up^ Matthew 2:142. Jump up^ Matthew 2:1643. Jump up^ Flavius Josephus. The Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapters 1–2. Josephus indicates

that the census under Cyrenius (i.e., Quirinius) occurred in the 37th year after Octavian's (i.e., Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus') victory over Marc Antony at Actium, which secular historical records date to 2 September 31 BC. Therefore 31 BC + 37 years = AD 6–7.

44. Jump up^ John 8:5745. Jump up^ Blackburn & Holford-Strevens 2003, p. 776 "Most critics therefor discard Luke; some have

rehabilitated John, who seems to imply that Jesus was born c. 18 BC."46. Jump up^ Roger S. Bagnall and Klaas A. Worp, Chronological Systems of Byzantine Egypt, Leiden,

Brill, 2004.47. Jump up^ Alfred von Gutschmid, Kleine Schriften, F. Ruehl, Leipzig, 1889, p.433.48. Jump up^ Johannes Kepler (1615). Joannis Keppleri Eclogae chronicae: ex epistolis doctissimorum

aliquot virorum & suis mutuis, quibus examinantur tempora nobilissima: 1. Herodis Herodiadumque, 2. baptismi & ministerii Christi annorum non plus 2 1/4, 3. passionis, mortis et resurrectionis Dn. N. Iesu Christi, anno aerae nostrae vulgaris 31. non, ut vulgo 33., 4. belli Iudaici, quo funerata fuit cum Ierosolymis & Templo Synagoga Iudaica, sublatumque Vetus Testamentum. Inter alia & commentarius in locum Epiphanii obscurissimum de cyclo veteri Iudaeorum. (in Latin). Francofurti : Tampach. Retrieved2011-05-18. anno aerae nostrae vulgaris

49. Jump up^ Kepler, Johann; Vlacq, Adriaan (1635). Ephemerides of the Celestiall Motions, for the Yeers of the Vulgar Era 1633... Retrieved 2011-05-18.

50. Jump up^ Sliter, Robert (1652). A celestiall glasse, or, Ephemeris for the year of the Christian era 1652 being the bissextile or leap-year: contayning the lunations, planetary motions, configurations & ecclipses for this present year ...  : with many other things very delightfull and necessary for most sorts of men: calculated exactly and composed for ... Rochester. London: Printed for the Company of Stationers.

51. Jump up^ The History of the Works of the Learned 10. London: Printed for H. Rhodes. January 1708. p. 513. Retrieved 2011-05-18.

52. Jump up^ BBC Team (8 February 2005). "History of Judaism 63BCE–1086CE". BBC Religion & Ethics. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 2011-05-13. Retrieved 2011-05-18. Year 1: CE – What is nowadays called the 'Current Era' traditionally begins with the birth of a Jewish teacher called Jesus. His followers came to believe he was the promised Messiah and later split away from Judaism to found Christianity

53. Jump up^ Raphall, Morris Jacob (1856). Post-Biblical History of The Jews. Moss & Brother.Archived from the original on 2011-05-11. Retrieved 2011-05-18. The term common eradoes not appear in this book; the term Christian era [lowercase] does appear a number of times. Nowhere in the book is the abbreviation explained or expanded directly.

54. Jump up^ Robinson, B.A. (20 April 2009). "Justification of the use of "CE" & "BCE" to identify dates. Trends". ReligiousTolerance.org.

55. Jump up^ William Safire (17 August 1997). "On Language: B.C./A.D. or B.C.E./C.E.?". The New York Times Magazine.

56. Jump up^ Cunningham, ed. by Philip A. (2004). Pondering the Passion  : what's at stake for Christians and Jews?. Lanham, Md. [u.a.]: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 193. ISBN 978-0742532182.

57. Jump up^ To convert from a year BC to astronomical year numbering, reduce the absolute value of the year by 1, and prefix it with a negative sign (unless the result is zero). For years AD, omit the AD and prefix the number with a plus sign (plus sign is optional if it is clear from the context that the year is after the year 0). [Doggett, 1992, p. 579]

References

Abate, Frank R(ed.) (1997). Oxford Pocket Dictionary and Thesaurus (American ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513097-9.

Goldstein, Norm, ed. (2007). Associated Press Style Book. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-00489-X. Bede. (731). Historiam ecclesiasticam gentis Anglorum. Accessed 2007-12-07. Chicago Manual of Style (2nd ed.). University of Chicago. 1993. ISBN 0-226-10389-7. Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.). University of Chicago. 2010. ISBN 0-226-10420-6. Blackburn, Bonnie; Holford-Strevens, Leofranc (2003). The Oxford companion to the Year: An exploration

of calendar customs and time-reckoning. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-214231-3.Corrected reprinting of original 1999 edition.

Cunningham, Philip A; Starr, Arthur F (1998). Sharing Shalom: A Process for Local Interfaith Dialogue Between Christians and Jews. Paulist Press. ISBN 0-8091-3835-2.

Declercq, Georges (2000). Anno Domini: The origins of the Christian era. Turnhout: Brepols. ISBN 2-503-51050-7. (despite beginning with 2, it is English)

Declercq, G. "Dionysius Exiguus and the Introduction of the Christian Era". Sacris Erudiri 41 (2002): 165–246. An annotated version of part of Anno Domini.

Doggett. (1992). "Calendars" (Ch. 12), in P. Kenneth Seidelmann (Ed.) Explanatory supplement to the astronomical almanac. Sausalito, CA: University Science Books. ISBN 0-935702-68-7.

Gerard, J. (1908). "General Chronology". In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 2008-07-16 from New Advent:http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03738a.htm

Richards, E. G. (2000). Mapping Time. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-286205-7. Riggs, John (January 2003). "Whatever happened to B.C. and A.D., and why?". United Church News.

Retrieved 2005-12-19. Ryan, Donald P. (2000). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Biblical Mysteries. Alpha Books. p. 15. ISBN 0-02-

863831-X.

Anno MundiFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Jewish gravestone using the Year After Creation[1] (Anno Mundi) chronology

Anno Mundi (Latin for "in the year of the world"; Hebrew: לבריאת העולם, "from the creation of the world"), abbreviated as AM or A.M., orYear After Creation,[1] is a calendar era based on the biblical accounts of the creation of the world and subsequent history. While numerous efforts have been made to determine the biblical date of Creation, yielding varying results, two in particular have establishedepochs for significant calendars, including one that is still in use today.

The Hebrew calendar epoch is based on twelfth-century Rabbinic estimates for the year of creation which are calculated from data obtained in the Hebrew Masoretic text.[2] This calendar is used within Jewish communities for religious and other purposes. The calendar's epoch, corresponding to the calculated date of the world's creation, is equivalent to sunset on the Julian proleptic calendardate 6 October 3761 BC.[3] (In the Hebrew calendar, the day begins at sunset.) The new year begins

at Rosh Hashanah (roughly in September); year AM 5775 began at sunset on 24 September 2014 (Gregorian).

The Byzantine calendar, used for over 1000 years in the Byzantine Empire and many Christian Orthodox countries and Eastern Orthodox Churches, based its epoch on seventh-century (or earlier) calculations from data found in the Septuagint text, an early Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible that was made by Alexandrian Jews and adopted by Christians.[4] That calendar is actually the Julian calendar itself, except for the eastern-derived epoch of year counting in place of the western AD/BC epoch, and a different new year's date, 1 September. It proposed that the creation occurred 5509 years before the Incarnation,[5] so its epoch is equivalent to 1 September 5509 BC on the Julian proleptic calendar.

While differences in Biblical interpretation or in calculation methodology can produce some differences in the creation date, most results fall relatively close to one of these two dominant models. The primary reason for the disparity seems to lie in which underlying Biblical text is chosen (roughly 5500 BC based on the Greek Septuagint text, about 3750 BC based on the Hebrew Masoretic text). Most of the 1,732-year difference resides in numerical discrepancies in the genealogies of the two versions of the Book of Genesis. Patriarchs from Adam to Terah, the father of Abraham, are said to be older by as much as 100 years or more when they begat their named son in the Greek Septuagint[6][7]than they were in the Latin Vulgate (Genesis 5; Genesis 11) or the Hebrew Tanakh (Gen 5; Gen 11). The net difference between the two major genealogies of Genesisis 1466 years (ignoring the "second year after the flood" ambiguity), 85% of the total difference. (See Dating creation.)

Contents  [hide] 

1 Jewish tradition 2 Greek tradition

o 2.1 Earliest Christian chronologyo 2.2 Alexandrian erao 2.3 Chronicon Paschaleo 2.4 Adoption of Byzantine era

3 Roman tradition 4 Muslim tradition 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 8 Further reading

Jewish tradition[edit]

During the Talmudic era, from the 1st to the 10th centuries AD, the center of Jewish world was in the Middle East, primarily in the Talmudic Academies of Iraq and the Land of Israel. Jews in these regions used Seleucid Era dating (also known as the "Anno Graecorum (AG)" or the "Era of Contracts") as the primary method for calculating the calendar year.[8] For example, the writings of Josephus and the Books of the Maccabees used Seleucid Era dating exclusively, and the Talmud tractate Avodah Zarah states:

Rav Aha b. Jacob then put this question: How do we know that our Era [of Documents] is connected with the Kingdom of Greece at all? Why not say that it is reckoned from the Exodus from Egypt, omitting the first thousand years and giving the years of the next thousand? In that case, the document is really post-dated!

Said Rav Nahman: In the Diaspora the Greek Era alone is used. He [the questioner] thought that Rav Nahman wanted to dispose of him anyhow, but when he went and studied it thoroughly he found that it is indeed taught [in a Baraita]: In the Diaspora the Greek Era alone is used.[9]

Occasionally in Talmudic writings, reference was made to other starting points for eras, such as Destruction Era dating,[10] being the number of years since the 70 ADdestruction of the Second Temple, and the number of years since the Creation year based on the calculation in the Seder Olam Rabbah of Rabbi Jose ben Halafta in about 160 AD.[11] By his calculation, based on the Masoretic Text, Adam and Eve were created on 1st of Tishrei (Rosh Hashanah Day 1) in 3761 BC,[12][13][14] later confirmed by the Muslim chronologist al-Biruni as 3448 years before the Seleucid era.[15] An example is the c. 8th-century AD Baraita of Samuel.

In the 8th and 9th centuries AD, the center of Jewish life moved from Babylonia to Europe, so calculations from the Seleucid era "became meaningless".[8] From the 11th century, anno mundi dating became dominant throughout most of the world's Jewish communities, replacing the Seleucid dating system.[8][16] The new system reached its definitive form in 1178 AD when Maimonides completed the Mishneh Torah. In the section Sanctification of the Moon (11.16), he wrote of his choice of Epoch, from which calculations of all dates should be made, as "the third day of Nisan in this present year ... which is the year 4938 of the creation of the world" (March 22, 1178 AD).[17] He included all the rules for the calculated calendar epoch and their scriptural basis, including the modern epochal year in his work, and establishing the final formal usage of theanno mundi era.

Today, the rules detailed in Maimonides' calendrical code are those generally used by Jewish communities throughout the world. The first day of creation is established as the 25th of Elul AM 0, on which God created existence, time, matter, darkness and light out of void.[13][14] On the sixth day of creation (which corresponds to Rosh Hashanah day 1), God created Adam and Eve, identified in the Hebrew calendar as the 1st of Tishrei.[12] It is this date that fixes the Hebrew calendar's AM epoch: 1 Tishrei AM 1, also known as Sunday/Monday, 6/7 October 3761 BC (Julian) or Sunday/Monday, 6/7 September -3760 (Gregorian).[18][19] Though Rosh Hashanah may not fall on a Sunday, 1 Tishrei AM 1 is Monday, like the later day of its Julian or Gregorian conversion. Monday simply begins at sunset in the Hebrew calendar, earlier than on the Julian or Gregorian.

Greek tradition[edit]

The inscription over the Bevis Marks Synagogue, City of London, gives a year in Anno Mundi (5461) and Anno

Domini (1701).

The Septuagint was the most scholarly non-Hebrew version of the Old Testament available to early Christians. Many converts already spoke Greek, and it was readily adopted as the preferred vernacular-language rendering for the eastern Roman Empire. The later Latin translation called the Vulgate, an interpretative translation from the later Masoretic Text (a Jewish revision and consolidation of earlier Hebrew texts), replaced it in the west after its completion by St. Jerome c. 405, Latin being the most common vernacular language in those regions.

Earliest Christian chronology[edit]The earliest extant Christian writings on the age of the world according to the biblical chronology were therefore based on the Septuagint, due to its early availability. They can be found in the Apology to Autolycus (Apologia ad Autolycum) by Theophilus (AD 115-181), the sixth bishop of Antioch,[20] and the Five Books of Chronology by Julius Africanus (AD 200-245).[21]

Theophilus presents a detailed chronology "from the foundation of the world" to emperor Marcus Aurelius.[22] His chronology begins with the biblical first man Adam through to emperor Marcus Aurelius, in whose reign Theophilus lived. The chronology puts the creation of the world at about 5529 BC: "All the years from the creation of the world amount to a total of 5,698 years."[23] No mention of Jesus of Nazareth is made in his chronology. Seraphim Rose corrected the date to about 5530 BC, to recognise that there is no year 0 inChristian era dating.[24]

Dr. Ben Zion Wacholder points out that the writings of the Church Fathers on this subject are of vital significance (even though he disagrees with their chronological system based on the authenticity of the Septuagint, as compared to that of the Hebrew text), in that through the Christian chronographers a window to the earlier Hellenistic biblical chronographers[note 1] is preserved:

An immense intellectual effort was expended during the Hellenistic period by both Jews and pagans to date creation, the flood, exodus, building of the Temple... In the course of their studies, men such as Tatian of Antioch (flourished in 180), Clement of Alexandria (died before 215), Hippolytus of Rome (died in 235), Julius Africanus of Jerusalem (died after 240), Eusebius of Caesarea in Palestine (260-340), and Pseudo-Justin frequently quoted their predecessors, the Graeco-Jewish biblical chronographers of the Hellenistic period, thereby allowing discernment of more distant scholarship.[25]

The Chronicon of Eusebius (early 4th century) and Jerome (c. 380, Constantinople) dated Creation to 5199 BC.[26][27] Earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology for Christmas Day used this date,[28] as did the Irish Annals of the Four Masters.[29]

Alexandrian era[edit]The Alexandrian era, developed in AD 412, was the precursor to the Byzantine era. After the initial attempts by Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria and others, the Alexandrian computation of the date of creation was worked out to be 25 March 5493 BC.[30]

The Alexandrian monk Panodoros reckoned 5904 years from Adam to the year AD 412. His years began with 29 August, corresponding to the First of Thoth, or the Egyptiannew year.[31] Annianos of Alexandria however, preferred the Annunciation style as New Year's Day, 25 March, and shifted the Panodoros era by about six months, to begin on 25 March. This created the Alexandrian era, whose first day was the first day of the proleptic[note 2] Alexandrian civil year in progress, 29 August 5493 BC, with the ecclesiastical year beginning on 25 March 5493 BC.

This system presents in a masterly sort of way the mystical coincidence of the three main dates of the world's history: the beginning of Creation, the Incarnation, and theResurrection of Christ. All these events happened, according to the Alexandrian

chronology, on the 25th of March; furthermore, the first two events were separated by the period of exactly 5500 years; the first and the third one occurred on Sunday — the sacred day of the beginning of the Creation and its renovation through Christ. [32]

Dionysius of Alexandria had earlier emphatically quoted mystical justifications for the choice of 25 March as the start of the year:

March 25 was considered to be the anniversary of Creation itself. It was the first day of the year in the medieval Julian calendar and the nominal vernal equinox (it had been the actual equinox at the time when the Julian calendar was originally designed). Considering that Christ was conceived at that date turned March 25 into the Feast of theAnnunciation which had to be followed, nine months later, by the celebration of the birth of Christ, Christmas, on December 25.

The Alexandrian Era of 25 March 5493 BC was adopted by church fathers such as Maximus the Confessor and Theophanes the Confessor, as well as chroniclers such asGeorge Syncellus. Its striking mysticism made it popular in Byzantium especially in monastic circles. However this masterpiece of Christian symbolism had two serious weak points: historical inaccuracy surrounding the date of Resurrection as determined by its Easter computus,[note 3] and its contradiction to the chronology of the Gospel of St Johnregarding the date of the Crucifixion on Friday after the Passover.[32]

Chronicon Paschale[edit]A new variant of the World Era was suggested in the Chronicon Paschale, a valuable Byzantine universal chronicle of the world, composed about the year 630 AD by some representative of the Antiochian scholarly tradition.[32] It dates the creation of Adam to 21 March 5507 BC.

For its influence on Greek Christian chronology, and also because of its wide scope, the "Chronicon Paschale" takes its place beside Eusebius, and the chronicle of the monkGeorgius Syncellus [33]  which was so important in the Middle Ages; but in respect of form it is inferior to these works.[34]

Adoption of Byzantine era[edit]The Byzantine Anno Mundi era was the official calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church from c. AD 691 to 1728 in the Ecumenical Patriarchate. By the late 10th century theByzantine era, which had become fixed at 1 September 5509 BC since at least the mid-7th century (differing by 16 years from the Alexandrian date, and 2 years from theChronicon Paschale), had become the widely accepted calendar by Chalcedonian Christianity. The Byzantine era was used as the civil calendar by the Byzantine Empire from AD 988 to 1453, and by Russia from c. AD 988 to 1700.

The computation was derived from the Septuagint version of the Bible, and placed the date of creation at 5509 years before the Incarnation, which was later taken to mean 5509 BC when conversions to the Christian era were desired. With a new year date of September 1, which coincides with the beginning of the Orthodox liturgical year, its epoch became 1 September 5509 BC (Julian), and year 1 AM thus lasted until 31 August 5508 BC. The "year of creation" was generally expressed in Greek in the Byzantine calendar as "Etos Kosmou", literally "year of the universe".

Roman tradition[edit]

Western Christianity never fully adopted an Anno Mundi epoch system, and did not at first produce chronologies based on the Vulgate that were in contrast to the eastern calculations from the Septuagint. Since the Vulgate was not completed until only a few

years before the sack of Rome by the Goths, there was little time for such developments before the political upheavals that followed in the west. Whatever the reasons, the west eventually came to rely instead on the independently developed Anno Domini (AD) epoch system. AM dating did continue to be of interest for liturgical reasons, however, since it was of direct relevance to the calculation of the Nativity of Jesus (5197-5199 AM) and the Passion of Christ (5228-5231 AM). For example, Bede in his World-Chronicle (Chapter 66 of his De Temporum Ratione, On the Reckoning of Time), dated all events using an epoch he derived from the Vulgate which set the birth of Christ as 3952 AM.[35][36][37] In his Letter to Plegwin, Bede explained the difference between the two epochs.[38]

Muslim tradition[edit]

The Islamic world never adopted an Anno Mundi epoch system. Instead, year 1 of the Islamic calendar begins on July 16, AD 622, the start of the Hijra.[39] Year numbers in the Islamic calendar are marked "AH", for anno Hegirae, meaning "in the year of the Hijra".[40]

See also[edit]

Anno Lucis Byzantine calendar Chronology of the Bible Dating Creation Epoch (reference date) Hebrew calendar Young Earth creationism James Ussher

Notes[edit]

1. Jump up^ Eratosthenes of Cyrene (275-194 BC) represented contemporary Alexandrian scholarship; Eupolemus, a Palestinian Jew and a friend of Judah Maccabee, writing in 158 BC, is said to have been the first historian who synchronized Greek history in accordance with the theory of the Mosaic origin of culture. By the time of the 1st century BC, a world chronicle had synchronized Jewish and Greek history and had gained international circulation: Alexander Polyhistor (flourishing in 85-35 BC); Varro (116-27 BC); Ptolemy priest of Mendes (50 BC), who is cited by Tatian(Oratio ad Graecos, 38); Apion (1st century AD); Thrasyllus (before AD 36); and Thallus (1st century AD) - all cited chronicles which had incorporated the dates of the Noachite flood and the exodus. (Dr. Ben Zion Wacholder. "Biblical Chronology in the Hellenistic World Chronicles". in The Harvard Theological Review, Vol.61, No.3 (July 1968), pp.451–452.)

2. Jump up^ A calendar obtained by extension earlier in time than its invention or implementation is called the proleptic version of the calendar.

3. Jump up^ In the commonly used 19‐year Easter moon cycle, there was no year when the Passover (the first spring full moon, Nisan 14) would coincide with Friday and the traditional date of the Passion, 25 March; according to Alexandrian system the date would have to have been Anno Mundi 5533 = 42(!)AD.

References[edit]

1. ^ Jump up to:a b Benjaminson, Chani. "How old was Moses when The Torah was given at Mount Sinai". Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center. Retrieved 15 February 2013.

2. Jump up^ Gen 53. Jump up^ Dershowitz, Nachum; Reingold, Edward M. (1997), Calendrical

Calculations (1st ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 11, ISBN 0-521-56474-34. Jump up^ "Septuagint, Genesis". Ecmarsh.com. Retrieved 2013-08-24.5. Jump up^ (in relation to the traditional western calculation for that year - the one that

established the year count for the western calendars)6. Jump up^ "Septuagint GENESIS - 5". The Greek Old Testament (Septuagint). Elpenor.

Retrieved 15 February 2013.7. Jump up^ "Septuagint GENESIS - 11". The Greek Old Testament (Septuagint).

Elpenor. Retrieved 15 February 2013.8. ^ Jump up to:a b c Chronology of the Old Testament, Dr. Floyd Nolen Jones "When the

center of Jewish life moved from Babylonia to Europe during the 8th and 9th centuries AD, calculations from the Seleucid era became meaningless. Over those centuries, it was replaced by that of the anno mundi era of the Seder Olam. From the 11th century, anno mundi dating became dominant throughout most of the world's Jewish communities."

9. Jump up^ Atenebris Adsole. "Avodah Zarah, tractate 10". Halakhah.com. Retrieved 2013-08-24.

10. Jump up^ Avodah Zarah, tractate 9 Footnote: "The Eras in use among Jews in Talmudic Times are: (a) ERA OF CONTRACTS [H] dating from the year 380 before the Destruction of the Second Temple (312-1 BC) when, at the Battle of Gaza, Seleucus Nicator, one of the followers of Alexander the Great, gained dominion over Palestine. It is also termed Seleucid or Greek Era [H]. Its designation as Alexandrian Era connecting it with Alexander the Great (Maim. Yad, Gerushin 1, 27) is an anachronism, since Alexander died in 323 BC — eleven years before this Era began (v. E. Mahler, Handbuch der judischen Chronologie, p. 145). This Era, which is first mentioned in Mac. I, 10, and was used by notaries or scribes for dating all civil contracts, was generally in vogue in eastern countries till the 16th cent, and was employed even in the 19th cent, among the Jews of Yemen, in South Arabia (Eben Saphir, Lyck, 1866, p. 62b). (b) THE ERA OF THE DESTRUCTION (of the Second Temple) [H] the year 1 of which corresponds to 381 of the Seleucid Era, and 69-70 of the Christian Era. This Era was mainly employed by the Rabbis and was in use in Palestine for several centuries, and even in the later Middle Ages documents were dated by it. One of the recently discovered Genizah documents bears the date 13 Tammuz 987 after the Destruction of the Temple — i.e. 917 C.E. — (Op. cit. p. 152, also Marmorstein ZDMG, Vol. VI, p. 640). The difference between the two Eras as far as the tens and units are concerned is thus 20. If therefore a Tanna, say in the year 156 Era of Dest. (225 C.E.), while remembering, naturally, the century, is uncertain about the tens and units, he should ask the notary what year it is according to his — Seleucid — era. He will get the answer 536 (156 + 380), on adding 20 to which he would get 556, the last two figures giving him the year [1] 56 of the Era of Destruction."

11. Jump up^ p.107, Kantor12. ^ Jump up to:a b "Birthday of Adam & Eve (3760 BC)". Jewish History. Chabad-Lubavitch

Media Center. Retrieved 15 February 2013.13. ^ Jump up to:a b "Creation (3761 BC)". Jewish History. Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center.

Retrieved15 February 2013.14. ^ Jump up to:a b "To find the corresponding Jewish year for any year on the Gregorian

calendar, add 3760 to the Gregorian number, if it is before Rosh Hashanah. After Rosh Hashanah, add 3761. " "The Jewish year". About the Jewish Calendar. Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center. Retrieved 15 February 2013.

15. Jump up^ See The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries.16. Jump up^ The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era, Alden A.

Mosshammer. Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-08-24.17. Jump up^ [1]

18. Jump up^ Tauber, adapted by Yanki. "The Man in man". High Holidays Rosh Hashanah Study Essays. Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center. Retrieved 15 February 2013.

19. Jump up^ Dershowitz, Nachum; Reingold, Edward M. (1997), Calendrical Calculations (1st ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 87, ISBN 0-521-56474-3

20. Jump up^ Theophilus of Antioch. Theophilus of Antioch to Autolycus. Book III. Chap XXIV (Chronology from Adam) - Chap. XXVIII (Leading Chronological Epochs).

21. Jump up^ Julius Africanus. Extant Writings III. The Extant Fragments of the Five Books of the Chronography of Julius Africanus.

22. Jump up^ Theophilus, Apologia ad Autolycum, Book III Chapters 24-2723. Jump up^ Theophilus, Apologia ad Autolycum, Book III Chapters 2824. Jump up^ Fr. Seraphim Rose. Genesis, Creation and Early Man: The Orthodox

Christian Vision. St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Platina, California, 2000. ISBN 978-1-887904-02-5. p.236.

25. Jump up^ Dr. Ben Zion Wacholder. "Biblical Chronology in the Hellenistic World Chronicles". inThe Harvard Theological Review, Vol.61, No.3 (Jul., 1968), pp.451–452.

26. Jump up^ The Penn Commentary on Piers Plowman by Andrew Galloway page 6927. Jump up^ Fourth Century (see 327 Eusebius of Caesarea). Archived 2009-10-25.28. Jump up^   Howlett, J.A. (1908). "Biblical Chronology". Catholic Encyclopedia 3. New

York: Robert Appleton Company.29. Jump up^ from 5194 AM in the Annals at CELT — University College Cork's Corpus of

Electronic Texts project has the full text of the annals online, both in the original Irish and in O'Donovan's translation

30. Jump up^ Elias J Bickerman (1980). Chronology of the Ancient World (Aspects of Greek & Roman Life) (2nd sub ed.). Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univ. Press. p. 73. ISBN 0-8014-1282-X.

31. Jump up^ Rev. Philip Schaff (1819–1893), Ed. "Era." Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. New Edition, 13 Vols., 1908-14. Vol. 4, pp.163.

32. ^ Jump up to:a b c Pavel Kuzenkov (Moscow). "How old is the World? The Byzantine era κατα Ρωμαίους and its rivals". 21st International Congress of Byzantine Studies, London 2006. pp.2–4.

33. Jump up^ George Synkellos. The Chronography of George Synkellos: a Byzantine Chronicle of Universal History from the Creation. Transl. Prof. Dr. William Adler & Paul Tuffin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

34. Jump up^ Van der Essen, L. "Chronicon Paschale". In The Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent). New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908.

35. Jump up^ Landes, Richard (1995). Relics, Apocalypse, and the Deceits of History. Cambridge: Harvard UP. p. 291.

36. Jump up^ Wallis, Faith (1999). Bede: The Reckoning of Time. Liverpool: Liverpool UP. pp. 3–4; 157–237; 239; 358. ISBN 0-85323-693-3.

37. Jump up^ Duncan, Edwin (1999). Fears of the Apocalypse: The Anglo-Saxons and the Coming of the First Millennium. Religion & Literature 31 (1). pp. 15–23; 23 n.6.

38. Jump up^ Wallis, Faith (1999). Bede: The Reckoning of Time. Liverpool: Liverpool UP. pp. 407–412. ISBN 0-85323-693-3.

39. Jump up^ Trawicky, Bernard (2000). Anniversaries and Holidays. American Library Association. p. 232. ISBN 0838906958.

40. Jump up^ S.O.M.A. (2010). Soma's Dictionary of Latin Quotations, Maxims and Phrases. Trafford Publishing. p. 71. ISBN 1425144977.

Who invented the B.C./A.D. system, and when?  

  

Dionysus Exiguus, in the Sixth Century (A.D.) 

In the sixth century (A.D.), this monk and scholar was asked by the Pope to work out when Jesus Christ was born, so that a calendar or dating system could be introduced which placed events according to the number of years they occurred either before or after the birth of Christ. This system came to be used in Christendom, instead of using the founding of Rome (753 B.C.) as the reference point, or "year zero."

In Russia, until 1700 A.D., the Orthodox Church counted from the supposed creation of the world (then thought to be about 4000 B.C). In non-Christian countries, other calendars were (and are) used, again, often based on religious events. Calendars did not have to be based on religious events. During the French Revolution, it was decided to bring in the Revolutionary calendar, with "year zero", dating from the start of the revolution in 1789. A few years later the French returned to using B.C. and A.D.

Dionysus made 2 mistakes; firstly, he got the date of Christ’s birth wrong by 4 years- it is now thought that Christ was born no later than 4 B.C., and secondly, he didn’t include a year for the first year of Christ’s life- there should really have been a "year zero", between 1 B.C. and 1 A.D.

The Catholic Calendar

B.C. and A.D. PageUpdated 2003 MAR 15

Why do we use B.C. and A.D. in our calendar? What do they mean?

First, some definitions are needed.A.U.C.

is the representation used by the Romans for identifying years. A.U.C. is an abbreviation for ab urbe condita, which means "from the founding of the city", the city being Rome. The year 1 A.U.C. is the same as the year 753 B.C., The year 1 B.C. is the same as the year 753 A.U.C., and the year 1 A.D. is the same as the year 754 A.U.C..

B.C.is the representation used by English-speaking Christians for identifying years. B.C. is an abbreviation for "before Christ". Lately, as non-Christian countries have started using the Gregorian Calendar, The abbreviation B.C.E. has been used in place of B.C., to avoid any religious implications. B.C.E. is an abbreviation for "before the common era". For the purposes of this discussion, B.C.will be used.

B.C. years were never called B.C. years at the time. It is solely a common reference for years prior to the period known as A.D.. So, when calculating whether dates B.C. are leap years, the equivalent year A.U.C. will be used.

A.D.is the representation used by Christians for identifying years. A.D. is an abbreviation for Anno Domini, which is Latin for "in the year of our Lord". This system counts the year Christ was born as the year 1 A.D. Jesus turned 1 in the year 2 A.D., and so forth. A.D. does not mean After Death, referring again to Christ. This common misconception leads to confusion about how to number the years when Christ was alive.

Lately, as non-Christian countries have started using the Gregorian Calendar, The abbreviation C.E. has been used in place of A.D., to avoid any religious implications. C.E. is an abbreviation for "of the common era". Because both A.D. and C.E. use inclusive language, there is no year 0. So the sequence of years is ..., 2 B.C., 1 B.C., 1 A.D., 2 A.D., ... or ..., 2 B.C.E., 1 B.C.E., 1 C.E., 2 C.E., .... For the purposes of this discussion, A.D. will be used.

Now for the explanation:

In order to specify a date, there needs to be a common point of reference between the person specifying the date and the person receiving the information. Without a common reference point, the recipient of the date has no way of relating the date to his or her personal "now". Traditionally, there have been five methods used, each with shortcomings and advantages.

1) Now - The first and most commonly used reference point is the current day and time. This is used in everyday conversation between two people, as in "I started working here three years ago." This method works very well for conversation, since the reference point is very well defined for both individuals. The major shortcoming of this method is that it doesn't translate well into any form of permanent record. For example, the sentence "I started working at XYZ company three years ago." written down only has meaning if the time the page was written can somehow be connected to the reader's "now".

2) Shared Personal Event - Second, if both people are from the same local area or family, using a major local or family event is a common practice. For example, the phrase "the year Uncle Arthur's barn burned down" will probably have meaning for anyone living in the town where Uncle Arthur had a barn and for anyone related to Uncle Arthur. The shortcoming of this method is that the recipient of the information is limited to the small group of people who know of the event. After a relatively short time, historically speaking, the number of people for whom the event has meaning decreases to zero, unless the date of the event itself can be related to the recipient's "now".

3) Regency - Basically an extension of the Shared Personal Event, this third method uses the start of a leader's rule. The person may be a king, queen, emperor, pope, or other type of leader. This method works best when the position is normally taken for life, since over time there should be fewer names to remember than when the position changes regularly, as for a prime minister or president. One advantage of this system is that the leaders from different countries or positions can usually be cross-referenced with one another. Another advantage is that the length of reign and gap between reigns is usually well documented. These advantages allow for a relatively well-defined time line against which other events can be dated. However, these advantages can be erased if a government is overthrown and records of the previous regime are destroyed. The time line can also be muddied by multiple claims to the same title, or by multiple people sharing the position. The biggest disadvantage of this system is that the date the leader took the position must be known by some method. The Israelites used this system using the house of David all the way back to Adam. The ancient Egyptians used this system relative to the pharoahs, and the Chinese with the emperors. The Roman Catholic church used popes for reference. This method loses effectiveness once the position ceases to exist, or knowledge of the position diminishes.

4) "Global" Event - Another extension of the Shared Personal Event, this fourth method uses some major event that is widely known and shared by a large number of people. An example of this is Rome'sA.U.C., defined above. When the Roman Empire

extended over the entire known western world, the entire region could share this method. Local scholars could map the reigns of local leaders to the corresponding date A.U.C., and the dates could be understood by anyone in the empire. This method loses effectiveness once knowledge of the event diminishes or otherwise has no connection to the recipient's "now".

5) Absolute Time - In theory, this fifth method would be best. Essentially, a date is identified in relation to the beginning of time. In current practice, this is very difficult, since the current estimated beginning of time is at least 4.5 billion years ago. The first difficulty is that the actual number of years since the beginning of time isn't known. Picking an arbitrary date like 4,567,890,123 B.C. will only work until science better isolates the beginning of time, then it will have to be adjusted, and will only be a "best guess" approximation, anyway. Besides, can you imagine having to write something like "March 16, 4,567,892,006" on a check.

Absolute Time is most popular in cultures based on a creationist viewpoint. With a defined starting point, it is easy to calculate any date. Many cultures have successfully used Absolute Time calendars, although each uses a different starting date.

Before discussing how the Anno Domini method of reckoning came into existence, there needs to be a discussion about Easter in the early years of the church.

In 325 A.D., the Council of Nicea was convened to standardize some of the important canons of Christianity. One issue addressed was the date of Easter. This was actually quite a crisis for the early church. By the time of the Council of Nicea, two different methods were used to determine when to celebrate Easter.

According to the Jewish (Semitic) calendar, Jesus was crucified on the 15 th day in the month of Nisan, and resurrected on the 17th day of Nisan. This is simple enough, except that the Semitic calendar has either 12 or 13 months. At the time, there was no formula for deciding whether a year had an extra month or not. Each year, the Jewish Sanhedrin decided if it were needed.

In the eastern churches, where the Semitic calendar was more well known, it was decided that Easter should be celebrated on the 17 th day of Nisan, regardless of where it fell on the Roman (Julian) calendar.

In the western churches, the Julian calendar was widely used. Sundays on the Julian calendar were commemorations of the resurrection. Because of the importance of Sundays, the first Sunday after the 14thday of Nisan was Easter.

At the Council of Nicea, three issues were raised as problems with Easter. First, the idea that Christians had to rely on a decision of the Jewish Sanhedrin for celebrating the most important Christian holy day was difficult to bear or justify. Second, there was only one Savior and only one Resurrection, so it logically followed that there can only be one correct day each year for celebrating the anniversary of the Resurrection. Third, even if two dates could be justified logically, it was not proper for some Christians to be fasting on the same day that others were celebrating, and vice versa.

However, simply deciding that all churches celebrate Easter on the same day did not resolve the problem. Different formulæ, different assumptions, and a minor offset in the date of the full moon all combined to cause the eastern and western churches celebrate Easter separately 6 years out of the next 18. Another attempt was made at the Synod of Sardica in 343 A.D., but the compromise broke down after a few years.

The situation was not resolved until the emperor Theodosius the Great re-established peace in the church. In 387 A.D., the dates of Easter differed by five weeks. Theodosius, following the Roman (western) calendar, asked Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, to explain the differences in the eastern calendar. Theophilus produced a list of dates for Easter for the Alexandrian church. Theophilus' nephew, Cyril of Alexandria demonstrated that the eastern calculations were more accurate than the western figures, and released a table of the dates of Easter from 436 A.D. to 531 A.D. Keep those dates in mind, because they play a part in the institution of the A.D. dating system.

The earliest Christians used several systems. The local Now and Shared Personal Events were often used in sermons and correspondence. For long term records, a different method needed to be used. The Semitic calendar was often used in the area around Judea, since it was a common calendar in the area, many of the new Christians were former Jews, and date of the Christian church's most holy day, Easter, was based on the Semitic calendar. Also, Because the various Christian churches were all part of the Roman Empire, A.U.C. reckoning was often used (a "Global" Event). Sometimes, however, the date was given relative to a Roman emperor's reign (a Regency), since the emperor ruled in all of the regions where there were churches. In regions like Judea, the date would alternately be given based on the local Roman governor or prefect (again, a Regency). In fact, it wasn't unusual to find a date given relative to more than one person.

An idea which started in the early third century A.D. eventually developed into a widely popular yearly numbering system called A.M. which is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase Anno Mundi (in the year of the world). In this system, as recognized in

the early church, Adam was created in the year 1 A.M. and Christ lived sometime around the year 5500 A.M. (the exact reckoning varied within a few years). A central point of the original A.M. system was that the Ressurection of the Dead would occur on the year 6000 A.M.