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Anno Domini

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: General history

   Dionysius Exiguus invented Anno Domini years to date Easter.
   Dionysius Exiguus invented Anno Domini years to date Easter.

   Anno Domini (Latin: "In the year of (Our) Lord"), abbreviated as AD,
   defines an epoch based on the traditionally-reckoned year of the
   conception or birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Similarly, Before Christ
   (from the Ancient Greek " Christos" or "Anointed One", referring to
   Jesus), abbreviated as BC, is used in the English language to denote
   years before the start of this epoch. Some non-Christians use the
   abbreviations AD and BC without intending to acknowledge the Christian
   connotation. Some people prefer the alternatives ' CE' and 'BCE',
   arguing that they are more neutral terms (see below).

   The designation is used to number years in the Christian Era,
   conventionally used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars. More
   fully, years may be also specified as Anno Domini Nostri Iesu Christi
   ("In the Year of Our Lord Jesus Christ"). 'Anno Domini' dating was
   first calculated in 525 and began to be adopted in Western Europe
   during the eighth century.

   The numbering of years per the Christian era is currently dominant in
   many places around the world, in both commercial and scientific use.
   For decades, it has been the global standard, recognized by
   international institutions such as the United Nations and the Universal
   Postal Union. This is due to the prevalence of Christianity in the
   Western world, the great influence of the Western world on science,
   technology and commerce, as well as the fact that the solar Gregorian
   calendar has, for a long time, been considered to be astronomically
   correct.

   English copies Latin usage by placing the abbreviation before the year
   number for AD, but after the year number for BC; for example: 64 BC,
   but AD 2006.

History of Anno Domini

   Early Christians designated the year via a combination of consular
   dating, imperial regnal year dating, and Creation dating. Use of
   consular dating ended when the emperor Justinian I discontinued
   appointing consuls in the mid sixth century, requiring the use of
   imperial regnal dating shortly thereafter. The last consul nominated
   was Anicius Faustus Albinus Basilius in 541. The papacy was in regular
   contact throughout the Middle Ages with envoys of the Byzantine world,
   and had a clear idea — sudden deaths and deposals notwithstanding — of
   who was the Byzantine emperor at any one time.

   The Anno Domini system was developed by a monk named Dionysius Exiguus
   (born in Scythia Minor) in Rome in 525, as an outcome of his work on
   calculating the date of Easter. Dionysius, in his Easter table, equates
   the year AD 532 with the regnal year 248 of Emperor Diocletian; in his
   cover letter he equates the year AD 525 with the consulate of Probus
   Junior. "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" [emphasis added] (Blackburn
   & Holford-Strevens 2003, 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 mentioned by Blackburn &
   Holford-Strevens (2003, 778–779) are:
     * In modern times Incarnation is synonymous with 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
     * There were inaccuracies in the list of consuls
     * There were confused summations of emperors' regnal years

   Another calculation had been developed by the Alexandrian monk Annianus
   around the year AD 400, placing the Annunciation on March 25, AD 9
   (Julian) — eight to ten years after the date that Dionysius later
   calculated. This Era of Incarnation was dominant in the East during the
   early centuries of the Byzantine Empire, and is still used today in
   Ethiopia, accounting for the 8 or 7-year discrepancy between the
   Gregorian and the Ethiopian calendar.

   Byzantine chroniclers like Theophanes continued to date each year in
   their world chronicles on a different Judaeo-Christian basis — from the
   notional creation of the World as calculated by Christian scholars in
   the first five centuries of the Christian era. These eras, sometimes
   called Anno Mundi, "year of the world" (abbreviated AM), by modern
   scholars, had their own disagreements. No single Anno Mundi epoch was
   dominant. One popular formulation was that established by Eusebius of
   Caesarea, a historian at the time of Constantine I. The Latin
   translator Jerome helped popularize Eusebius's AM count in the West.

Accuracy

   "Although scholars generally believe that Christ was born some years
   before A.D. 1, the historical evidence is too sketchy to allow a
   definitive dating" (Doggett 1992, 579). According to the Gospel of
   Matthew (2:1,16) Herod the Great was alive when Jesus was born, and
   ordered the Massacre of the Innocents in response to his birth.
   Blackburn & Holford-Strevens fix Herod's death shortly before Passover
   in 4 BC (2003, 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; even historians who do not accept the Massacre
   accept birth under Herod as a tradition older than the written gospels
   (p. 776).

   The Gospel of Luke (1:5) states that John the Baptist was at least
   conceived, if not born, under Herod, and that Christ was conceived
   while John's mother was in the sixth month of her pregnancy (1:26).
   Luke's Gospel also states that Christ was born during the reign of
   Augustus and while Quirinius was the governor of Syria (2:1-2), .
   Blackburn and Holford-Strevens (2003, 770) indicate Quirinius'
   governorship of Syria began in AD 6, which is incompatible with
   conception in 4 BC, and say that "St. Luke raises greater
   difficulty....Most critics therefore discard Luke" (p. 776). Some
   scholars rely on John's Gospel to place Christ's birth in c.18 BC
   (Blackburn and Holford-Strevens 2003, 776).

Popularization

   The first historian or chronicler to use Anno Domini as his primary
   dating mechanism was Victor of Tonnenna, an African chronicler of the
   seventh century. A few generations later, the Anglo-Saxon historian
   Bede, who was familiar with the work of Dionysius, also used Anno
   Domini dating in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People,
   finished in 731. In this same history, he was the first to use the
   Latin equivalent of before Christ and established the standard for
   historians of no year zero, even though he used zero in his computus.
   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 ninth century, when in some
   places the Incarnation epoch was identified with Christ's conception,
   i.e. the Annunciation on 25 March" (Annunciation style) (Blackburn &
   Holford-Strevens 881).

   On the continent of Europe, Anno Domini was introduced as the era of
   choice of the Carolingian Renaissance by Alcuin. This endorsement by
   Charlemagne and his successors popularizing the usage of the epoch and
   spreading it throughout the Carolingian Empire ultimately lies at the
   core of the system's prevalence until present times.

   Outside the Carolingian Empire, Spain continued to date by the Era of
   the Caesars, or Spanish Era, well into the Middle Ages, which counted
   beginning with 38 BC. The Era of Martyrs, which numbered years from the
   accession of Diocletian in 284, who launched the last yet most severe
   persecution of Christians, prevailed in the East and is still used
   officially by the Coptic and used to be used by the Ethiopian church.
   Another system was to date from the crucifixion 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 the occasional
   medieval manuscript.

   Most Syriac manuscripts written at the end of the 19th century still
   gave the date in the end-note using the "year of the Greeks" (Anno
   Graecorum = Seleucid era).

   Even though Anno Domini was in widespread use by the ninth century,
   Before Christ (or its equivalent) did not become widespread until the
   late fifteenth century.

Other eras in official use

   Some other eras were in official use in modern times or are still in
   use in several countries alongside the current international Anno
   Domini era.

Asian national eras

     * The official Japanese system numbers years from the accession of
       the current emperor, regarding the calendar year during which the
       accession occurred as the first year. The current emperor is Heisei
       Akihito, whose reign began in 1989. Thus that year corresponds to
       Heisei 1 (平成元年, Heisei gannen^ ?, or "first year").
     * It is still very common in Taiwan to date events via the Republic
       of China era, whose first year is 1912. ( Microsoft 2006 confirms
       1912 date.)
     * North Korea uses a system that starts in 1912 (= Juche 1), the year
       of the birth of its founder Kim Il-Sung. The year 2004 was "Juche
       93". Juche means " autarchy, self-reliance".
     * In Thailand in 1888 King Chulalongkorn decreed a National Thai Era
       since founding of Bangkok on April 6,1782. In 1912 the New Year's
       Day was shifted to April 1. In 1941, the Prime Minister
       Phibunsongkhram decided to count the years since 543 BC. This is
       the so-called Thai solar calendar or Thailand Buddhist Era clearly
       relied on the western solar calendar. This is one of the versions
       of the Buddhist calendar.
     * In India, the traditional Saka era, using an epoch of AD 78 is the
       official calendar. However, the Gregorian calendar is the de facto
       calendar and is commonly used. Government documents usually display
       a dual date.

Religious eras

     * In Israel, the traditional Hebrew calendar, using an era dating
       from Creation, is the official calendar. However, the Gregorian
       calendar is the de facto calendar and is commonly used. Government
       documents usually display a dual date.
     * In the Islamic world, traditional Islamic dating according to the
       Anno Hegiræ (in the year of the hijra) or AH era remains in use to
       a varying extent, especially for religious purposes. The official
       Iranian calendar (used in Afghanistan as well as Iran) also dates
       from the hijra, but as it is a solar calendar its year numbering
       does not coincide with the religious calendar.
     * In Hinduism, the traditional Hindu calendar, using an epoch of 23rd
       January 3102 BC is the official calendar. it is also referred to as
       kali era.

European attempts

     * The French Revolution attempted to displace the Anno Domini system
       by instead dating from 22 September 1792 = 1 vendémiaire an I of
       the First French Republic. (see French Republican Calendar).
       Napoléon finally abolished the calendar effective 1 January 1806,
       the day after 10 nivôse an XIV.
     * Similarly, Czechoslovakia attempted to use a revolutionary
       calendar, but kept only the months in the end, accepting the use of
       the AD years.
     * The Italian Fascists used the standard system along with Roman
       numerals to denote the number of years since the establishment of
       the Fascist government in 1922. Therefore, 1934, for example, was
       Year XII. This era was abolished with the fall of fascism in Italy
       on July 25, 1943.

Synonyms

Common Era

   Anno Domini is sometimes referred to as the Common Era (C.E. or CE).
   This term is often preferred by those who desire a term unrelated to
   religious conceptions of time. 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." The People's Republic of China, founded in 1949, adopted
   Western years, calling that era gōngyuán, 公元, which literally means
   Common Era.

Anno Salutis

   Anno Salutis (often translated from Latin as in the year of salvation)
   is a dating style used up until the eighteenth century, which like Anno
   Domini dates years from the birth of Jesus. It can be explained in the
   context of Christian belief, where the birth of Jesus saved mankind
   from eternal damnation. It is often used in a more elaborate form such
   as Anno Nostrae Salutis (in the year of our salvation), Anno Salutis
   Humanae (in the year of the salvation of men), Anno Reparatae Salutis
   (in the year of accomplished salvation).

Numbering of years

   Historians do not use a year zero — AD 1 is the first year or epoch of
   the Anno Domini era, and 1 BC immediately precedes it as the first year
   before the epoch. This is a problem with some calculations; so in
   astronomical year numbering a zero is added, and the 'AD' and 'BC' are
   dropped. In keeping with 'standard decimal numbering', a negative sign
   '−' is added for earlier years, so counting down from year 2 would give
   2, 1, 0, −1, −2, and so on. This results in a one-year shift between
   the two systems (eg −1 equals 2 BC). However, civil usage still omits
   the idea of a year zero.

Earlier calendar epochs

   Anno Domini dating was not adopted in Western Europe until the eighth
   century. Like the other inhabitants of the Roman Empire, early
   Christians used one of several methods to indicate a specific year —
   and it was not uncommon for more than one to be used in the same
   document. This redundancy allows historians to construct parallel
   regnal lists for many kingdoms and polities by comparing chronicles
   from different regions, which include the same rulers.

Consular dating

   The earliest and most common practice was Roman and Greek ' consular'
   dating. This involved naming both consules ordinarii who had been
   appointed to this office on January 2 of the civil year. Sometimes one
   or both consuls might not be appointed until November or December of
   the previous year, and news of the appointment may not have reached
   parts of the Roman empire for several months into the current year;
   thus we find the occasional inscription where the year is defined as
   "after the consulate" of a pair of consuls.

Dating from the founding of Rome

   Another method of dating, rarely used, was to indicate the year anno
   urbis conditae, or "in the year of the founded city" (abbreviated AUC),
   where "the City" meant Rome. (It is often incorrectly given that AUC
   stands for ab urbe condita, which is the title of T. Livy's history of
   Rome.) Several epochs were in use by Roman historians. Modern
   historians usually adopt the epoch of Varro, which we place in 753 BC.

   About AD 400, the Iberian historian Orosius used the ab urbe condita
   era. Pope Boniface IV (about AD 600) may have been the first to use
   both the ab urbe condita era and the Anno Domini era (he put AD 607 =
   AUC 1360).

Regnal years of Roman emperors

   Another system that is less commonly found than thought was to use the
   regnal year of the Roman emperor. At first, Augustus would indicate the
   year of his rule by counting how many times he had held the office of
   consul, and how many times the Roman Senate had granted him Tribunican
   powers, carefully observing the fiction that his powers came from these
   offices granted to him, rather than from his own person or the many
   legions under his control. His successors followed his practice until
   the memory of the Roman Republic faded (late in the second century or
   early in the third century), when they openly began to use their regnal
   year.

Indiction cycles

   Another common system was to use the indiction cycle (15 indictions
   made up an agricultural tax cycle, an indiction being a year in
   duration). Documents and events began to be dated by the year of the
   cycle (e.g., "fifth indiction", "tenth indiction") in the fourth
   century, and was used long after the tax was no longer collected. This
   system was used in Gaul, in Egypt, and in most parts of Greece until
   the Islamic conquest, and in the Eastern Roman Empire until its
   conquest in 1453.

Other dating systems

   A great many local systems or eras were also important, for example the
   year from the foundation of one particular city, the regnal year of the
   neighboring Persian emperor, and eventually even the year of the
   reigning Caliph. The beginning of the numbered year also varied from
   place to place, and was not largely standardized in Europe (except
   England) as January 1 until the sixteenth century. The most important
   of these include the Seleucid era (in use until the eighth century),
   and the Spanish era (in use in official documents in Aragon, Valencia,
   and in Castile, into the fourteenth century. In 1422, Portugal became
   the last Western European country to adopt the Anno Domini era).

Note

    1. ^ Blackburn & Lolford-Strevens p. 782
    2. ^ The mean year of the Gregorian calendar is 365.2425 days. This
       approximated the mean tropical year, more than five millennia ago.
       The real (mean) tropical year is now very close to 365.2421875 days
       i.e. 27s/year shorter. However, relative to the vernal equinox
       year, important for the determination of the date of Christian
       Easter, the older Lilius definition of the year is and will be a
       very good value. The vernal equinox year and the mean tropical year
       have falsely been seen as identical, even by many erudite persons
       of the 20th century.

     * The approximation of the year in the old Persian calendar
       attributed to Omar Khayyám is 365.2424 days, which is very close to
       the vernal equinox year, but requires a 33-year cycle.
     * The definition of Milutin Milanković, used in the " revised Julian
       calendar", is 365.2422 days, which is very close to the mean
       tropical year, but uses unequal long-period cycles.
     * Despite common belief, AD does not represent After Death.

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