| Question Home |
Position:Home>History> Our Timeline?Question: Our Timeline!? I'm having trouble trying to understand how the date worked in in the past!. Help try and explain this to me: So in B!.C times, their years counted down to zero and then they continued to count back up and that's where we are today!? And, was the year zero supposed to be related to jesus!? Is there a relationship between the year zero and jesus!? ThanksWww@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: In BC times people didn't count down to 0!. They had their own calenders, that started from different points in time!. The Romans for instance started with the mythological founding of Rome, which we have translated into about 753BCE, or BC!. So to the Romans, the year 1 AD wasn't year 1 AD, but the year 754 Ab Urba Condita (AUB)!. The Chinese, Egyptians, and others all had their own calenders!. Some countries simply dated things by what year of what king ruled the nation, making it even harder to figure out!. It wasn't until after 500 AD/CE that the idea of a calender starting from the supposed birth of Christ was offered up!. It took centuries more for it to spread!. But because it was a system that allowed different countries to use the same dates, without insult to national pride, it eventually caught on!. With the expansion of European colonialism, this is the calender that has become most commonly used!. Not because of religious belief, but simply because its easier to conduct business and political exchanges if everyone uses the same system!. Of course, this means that someone has had to go back and calculate all those dates in history that are recorded in other systems, and figure out what the dates were in our current system!. Be glad you're not the one having to do that! And someday, we may change our calenders again!. Perhaps in a few hundred years, they will decide that 1945AD will become the year 1 AE(Atomic era), or 1969 will become year 1 of SA (Space age)!. Or some other event in the future will be decided on as the starting point!.Www@QuestionHome@Com the old way of calculated time was B!.C!. as Before Christ!. it is now politically correct for C!.E!. as the Current Era and B!.C!.E as Before Current Era!. in B!.C!.E!. times they didn't work the dates in that way!. this is how current historians have categorized it so that it is easier to understand and a cohesive dating system!.Www@QuestionHome@Com It does seem odd!. What you have to do is remember that - B!.C = Before Christ: you are counting down to zero A!.D = After Death: you are counting forward from zeroWww@QuestionHome@Com AD-Ano Domini (In the year of our lord) after the year 0!. This is the same as CE- Common Era!. BC- Before Christ!. Same as BCE- Before Common Era!. Before year 0!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |