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Question: What was the calendar used before the traditional AD/BC one was invented!?
like before the time of jesus, what did they use to record years, etc!.Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
They counted years as we do now, and the Roman calendar predates Jesus!.

BC was not used because obviously they didn't know at the time they would be counting down to his birth!. AD was used some years after (only devised in 525 AD and adopted in western Europe from sometime around 700AD)

Before this, years would have been compared to known events in history eg "the fifth year of the reign of King xxxx"

I prefer BCE and CE (common era) since it is silly to date things compared to the life of a fictional person

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The current calendar is derived from the 'Gregorian' calendar, named after Pope Gregory!. Prior to that, I think it was the 'Julian' calendar, named after Julius Caesar!.

Both calendars are flawed, in that they can't handle the imperfect annual cycle!. That's why we have leap years!.

<<<< ADDITIONAL INFORMATION >>>>

http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Julian_cale!.!.!.

http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Gregorian_c!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The Romans added two months July(Julius Caesar) and August(Augustus Caesar) That's why the months do not number right

September(Septem=7) is the 9th month October(Octo=8) is the 10th month November(Novo=9) is really the 11th month and December(Decem=10) is really the 12th month!.I believe every civilizaion had its own calender until trade and commerce made it necessary to have a standardized one!. I think we are using the Gregorian one set forth by Pope Gregory!. You need a better source than me and I encourage you to look it up!.!.!.!.Here is a thought January was named after the god Janus!.!.wanna know why!.!.he had two faces one facing forward(the new year) and one facing backward looking into the old year,,Mars, the god of war shows up in March!.

Regards,
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local times were used and sun movements but nothing properly constructed!.As far as l know,only AD was considered as a time source as before christ was a dark nothing and only God created worthwhile time after his birth,So it was only much later did we find AD as a useful tool to measure BC!.but one came after the other by accidentWww@QuestionHome@Com

It depends entirely on the culture in question!. The Romans counted from the mythical foundation of the city (ab urbe condita, what to us is 753 BC)!. The Athenians kept track based off of who the archon was at the time!. In most modern texts on Greek history dates are always given xxx/yyy BC!. This is because the rule of an archon lasted for a year starting sometime in the late summer, so when something is said to have happened in the year of a particular archon it could have occured in one of two years as we count them!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

Agriculture timing was used as a way to track the timings in a day!. For mappinning out time in advance, I don't think any culture besides the Mayas who have done this, and with more accuracy than our current calendar!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

Well, the Romans used AOC (from the foundation of the city-from memory 753 BC!.
Jews use from the flight from Egypt, I think, & I don't know about the Chinese!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I'm not sure, but they changed it because the guy who made AD/BC calculated wrong!. It's BCE (before common era) and CE(common era) BCE takes place of BCWww@QuestionHome@Com

i don t think they had oneWww@QuestionHome@Com