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Calendar era
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A calendar era is the year numbering system used by a calendar. For example, the Gregorian calendar numbers its years in the Western Christian era (the Coptic and Ethiopic churches have their own Christian eras, see below). The instant, date, or year from which time is marked is called the epoch of the era. There are many different calendar eras.
In antiquity, regnal years were counted from the ascension of a monarch.
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A calendar era is the year numbering system used by a calendar. For example, the Gregorian calendar numbers its years in the Western Christian era (the Coptic and Ethiopic churches have their own Christian eras, see below). The instant, date, or year from which time is marked is called the epoch of the era. There are many different calendar eras.
In antiquity, regnal years were counted from the ascension of a monarch. This makes the Chronology of the ancient Near East very difficult to reconstruct, based on disparate and scattered king lists, such as the Sumerian King List or the Babylonian Canon of Kings. In East Asia, reckoning by era names chosen by ruling monarchs remained current until the 20th century, except for Japan, where they are still used.
Ancient dating systems
Olympiad dating
Among the ancient Greeks, a common method for indicating the passage of years was based on the order of Olympic games, first held in 776 BC. The pan-Hellenic games provided the various independent city-states a mutually recognizable system of dates. The first Olympiad also marks the traditional beginning of Greek historical civilization and record-keeping, and it continues to be regarded as the end of Western prehistory and the beginning of its historical epoch.
This system was in use from the 4th century BC until the 3rd or 4th century AD.
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 4th 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. The rule for computing the indiction with his newly-invented years AD was stated by Dionysius Exiguus: add 3 and divide by 15; the remainder is the indiction, with 0 understood to be the fifteenth indiction. Thus 2001 was the ninth indiction.The beginning of the year varied.
Seleucid era
The Seleucid era, called the Era of Contracts by Jews, formerly used in much of the Middle East from the 4th century BC to the 6th century AD, uses the epoch 312 BC, the year when Seleucus I Nicator captured Babylon and began his reign over the Asian portions of Alexander the Great's empire. The Seleucid era appears in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Maccabees.
Ancient Rome
Consular dating
An early and common practice was Roman 'consular' dating. This involved naming both consules ordinarii who had taken up 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.
The use of consular dating ended in 541 when the emperor Justinian I discontinued appointing consuls. The last consul nominated was Anicius Faustus Albinus Basilius. Soon after, imperial regnal dating was adopted in its place.
Dating from the founding of Rome
Another method of dating, rarely used, was to indicate the year anno urbis conditae (Latin: "in the year of the founded city" (abbreviated AUC), where "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.
The system was introduced by Marcus Terentius Varro in the 1st century BC. The first day of its year was Founder's Day (April 21), although most modern historians assume that it coincides with the modern historical year (January 1 to December 31). It was rarely used in the Roman calendar and in the early Julian calendar — naming the two consuls that held office in a particular year was dominant. is the same as AUC ( + 753).
About AD 400, the Iberian historian Orosius used the AUC era. Pope Boniface IV (about AD 600) may have been the first to use both the AUC 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 2nd century or early in the 3rd century), when they openly began to use their regnal year.
Dating from the Roman conquest
Some regions of the Roman Empire dated their calendars from the date of Roman conquest, or the establishment of Roman rule.
The Spanish era counted the years from 38 BC, probably the date of a new tax imposed by the Roman Republic on the subdued population of Iberia. The date marked the establishment of Roman rule in Spain and was used in official documents in Portugal, Aragon, Valencia, and in Castile, into the 14th century.
Throughout the Roman and Byzantine periods, the Decapolis and other Hellenized cities of Syria and Palestine used the Pompeian era, counting dates from the Roman general Pompey's conquest of the region in 63 BC.
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.
Late Antiquity and Middle Ages
Most of the traditional calendar eras in use today were introduced at the time of transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages, roughly between the 6th and 10th centuries.
Christian era
- The Etos Kosmou of the Byzantine Calendar places Creation at the beginning of its year 1, namely 5509 BC. Its first known use occurred in the 7th century AD, although its precursors were developed about AD 400. The year 7517 of this era begins in September 2008.
- The Era of Martyrs or Era of Diocletian is reckoned from the beginning of the reign of Roman Emperor Diocletian; the first year of this era was 284/5. It was not the custom to use regnal years in Rome, but it was the custom in Roman Egypt, which the emperor ruled through a prefect (the king of Egypt). The year number changed on the first day of the Egyptian month Thoth (29 August three years out of four, 30 August the year before a Roman leap year.) Diocletian abolished the special status of Egypt, which thereafter followed the normal Roman calendar: consular years beginning on 1 January. This era was used in the Easter tables prepared in Alexandria long after the abdication of Diocletian, even though Diocletian was a notorious persecutor of Christians. The Era of Diocletian was retained by the Coptic Church and used for general purposes, but by 643 the name had been changed to Era of the Martyrs.
- The Incarnation Era is used by Ethiopia. Its epoch is 29 August 8 in the Julian calendar.
- The Armenian calendar has its era fixed at AD 552.
Dionysian "Common Era"
The era based on the Incarnation of Christ was introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in 525 and is in continued use with various reforms and derivations. The distinction between the Incarnation being the conception or the Nativity of Jesus was not drawn until the late ninth century. The beginning of the numbered year varied from place to place; when, in 1600, Scotland adopted January 1 as the date the year number changes, this was already normal in continental Europe. England adopted this practice in 1752.
- A.D. (or AD) — for the Latin Anno Domini, meaning "in the year of (our) Lord". This is the dominant or Western Christian Era; AD is used in the Gregorian calendar. Anno Salutis, meaning "in the year of salvation" is identical to this era. Originally intended to number years from the Incarnation of Jesus, in fact the calculation was a few years off. Traditionally, years preceding AD 1 are numbered using the BC era, avoiding zero or negative numbers. AD was also used in the medieval Julian calendar as well, but the first day of the year was either March 1, Easter, March 25, September 1, or December 25, not January 1. To distinguish between the Julian and Gregorian calendars, O.S. and N.S. were often added to the date, especially during the 17th and 18th centuries, when both calendars were in common use. Old Style (O.S.) was used for the Julian calendar and for years not beginning on January 1. New Style (N.S.) was used for the Gregorian calendar and for Julian calendar years beginning on January 1. Many countries switched to using January 1 as the start of the numbered year when switching from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, but others switched earlier or later.
- B.C. (or BC) — Before Christ. Used for years prior to AD 1, counting backwards so the year n BC is the year 1-n AD. Using these two calendar eras as historians use them means that there is no year 0 or negative year numbers.
- C.E. (or CE) — meaning "Common Era", equivalent to the Anno Domini era. This use is similar to that of the Era Vulgaris (or EV) used in the past. B.C.E. (or BCE) — meaning "Before the Common Era". Equivalent to B.C.
Dionysian-derived
Islamic
- A.H. (or AH) — for the Latinized Anno Hegirae, meaning "in the year of the Hijra", Prophet Muhammad's migration from Mecca to Medina in September 622, which occurred in its first year, used in the Islamic calendar. Since the Islamic calendar is a purely lunar calendar of about 354 days, its year count increases faster than that of solar and lunisolar calendars.
- A.H.S. (or AHS) is used by the Iranian calendar to denote the number of solar years since the Hijra. The year beginning at the vernal equinox equals the number of the Gregorian year beginning at the preceding January 1 minus 621.
Hindu
- Hindu calendar, counting from the start of the Kali Yuga, with its epoch on February 18 3102 BC Julian (January 23 3102 BC Gregorian), based on Aryabhata (6th century).
- Vikrama Samvat, 56-57 BC, introduced about the 12th century.
- S.E. or (SE) — for the Saka Era, used in some Hindu calendars and in the Indian national calendar, with an epoch near the vernal equinox of year 78 (its year 0); its usage spread to Southeast Asia before year 1000. This era is also used (together with the Gregorian calendar) in the Indian national calendar, the official civil calendar used in communiques issued by the Government of India.
Zoroastrian
- The Zoroastrian calendar used regnal years since the reform by Ardashir I, but after the fall of the Sassanid empire, the ascension of the last Sassanid ruler, Yazdegerd III of Persia, crowned 16 June 632, continued to be used as the reference year, abbreviated Y.Z. or "Yazdegerd era".
Jewish
- A.M. (or AM) — for the Latin Anno Mundi, meaning "in the year of the world", has its epoch in the year 3761 BC. This was first used to number the years of the modern Hebrew calendar in 1178 by Maimonides. Precursors with epochs one or two years later were used since the 3rd century, all based on the Seder Olam Rabba of the 2nd century. The year beginning in the northern autumn of 2000 was 5761 AM).
Modern
Political
- The Republican Era of the French Republican Calendar was dated from 22 September 1792, the day of the proclamation of the French First Republic. It was used in Revolutionary France from October 24, 1793 (on the Gregorian calendar) to December 31, 1805.
- The Positivist calendar of 1844 takes 1789 as its epoch.
- The Republican era is used by the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 1929, assigning year one to 1912, the first year of the republic. Coincidentally, this is the same as the Juche era used in North Korea, the year of the birth of its founder Kim Il-Sung.
- The Italian Fascists used 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.
- China traditionally reckoned by the regnal year of its emperors, see Chinese era name. Most Chinese do not assign numbers to the years of the Chinese calendar, but the few who do, like expatriate Chinese, use a continuous count of years from the reign of the legendary Yellow Emperor, using 2698 BC as year 1. Western writers begin this count at either 2637 BC or 2697 BC (see Chinese calendar). Thus, the Chinese years 4637, 4697, or 4698 began in early 2000.
- In Korea, from 1952 until 1961 years were numbered via Dangi years, where 2333 BC was regarded as the first such year.
- The Assyrian calendar, introduced in the 1950s, has its era fixed at 4750 BC.
- The Japanese calendar dates from the accession of the current Emperor of Japan. The current emperor took the throne in early 1989, which became Heisei 1, which was until then Showa 64 (for its first seven days).
Religious
- B.E. — for the Buddhist Era, introduced by Vajiravudh in 1912, which has an epoch (origin) of 544 BC. This year is called year 1 in Sri Lanka and Burma, but year 0 in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Thus the year 2500 B.E. occurred in 1956 in the former countries, but in 1957 in the latter. In Thailand in 1888 King Chulalongkorn decreed a National Thai Era, dating from the founding of Bangkok on April 6 1782. In 1912 New Year's Day was shifted to April 1. In 1941 Prime Minister Phibunsongkhram decided to count the years since 543 BC. This is the Thai solar calendar using the Thai Buddhist Era aligned to the western solar calendar.
- B.E. — The Bahá'í calendar dates from the year of the declaration of the Báb. Years are counted in the Bahá'í Era (BE), which starts its year 1 from March 21 1844.
Practical
- B.P. — for Before Present, specifically, the number of radiocarbon years before 1950.
- The Unix epoch is set at midnight of January 1 1970.
- The Julian day number counts days, not years, and has its era fixed at noon January 1 4713 BC in the proleptic Julian calendar. This equals November 24 4714 BC in the proleptic Gregorian calendar. From noon of this day to noon of the next day was day 0. Multiples of 7 are Mondays. Negative values can also be used. Apart from the choice of the zero point and name, this Julian day and Julian date are not related to the Julian calendar. It does not count years, so, strictly speaking, it has no era, but it does have an epoch. Today (noon-to-noon UTC) the value is .
See also
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