How can AD & BC = CE & BCE?
Each abbreviation above is a dating notation. CE stands for “Common Era” or sometimes “Current Era”. AD is an abbreviation for “Anno Domini” which is Latin and means “the year of the Lord” in the English language. Both measure the number of years since the approximate birthday of Jesus Christ of Nazareth a little over two thousand years ago. CE and AD have the same value. That is 1 CE = 1 AD, and 2011 CE = 2011 AD. The Latin terms, “ante vero incarnationis dominicae tempus” (“the time before the Lord's true incarnation”), are equivalent to the English terms “before Christ” (BC). The terms “common” / “Current” simply indicates that it is based on the most frequently used calendar system: the Gregorian calendar which was named for Pope Gregory XIII and instituted in 1582.
BCE stands for “Before the common era.” BC means “Before Christ”. Both measure the number of years before the approximate birthday of Jesus Christ. Like AD and CE given years in BC and BCE have identical values.
The division between BC/BCE and AD/CE is not based on religious considerations as one might expect however, and though the AD & BC dating notations were established in 525, there appears to be no agreement on the origin of CE/BCE notations.
Yet another thing to keep in mind: there is no year “0” in terms of the modern calendar. In other words 1 BC is followed by 1 AD. The absence of a year 0 leads to some confusion but it also lends a certain amount of common sense. When using this system, the year 10 is the tenth year of the calendar (not eleventh if zero was counted as a year). The year 11 is the first year of the second decade, and so on. In spite of this rule, years ending in 0, rather than 1, are commonly perceived as marking the beginning of a new decade, century, or millennium. So the year 1900 is considered the first year if the 20th century and the year 2000 is considered the first year of the 21st century.
Did you ever wonder if the early Romans for example, really counted there years backwards or not, during the BC Era? Well the simple answer is NO. The prevailing method (one of several) that the Romans used to recognize a year for dating purposes was to name it after the two consuls (the 2 chief magistrates who were elected annually to govern) who took office in a given year. For example if Bob and Bill were elected as the two Roman Consuls in the year that Julius Caesar was assassinated, then that date would be recorded as occurring in year of Bob and Bill … not 44 BC… This particular system was abolished in 888 AD by Leo VI (some called him “the Wise”). He was an “East Roman” or Byzantium Emperor who replaced that dating system with an even more confusing system. It should be noted here that the “BC, AD” dating system was actually developed as early as 525 by a Christian Monk named Dionysisus Exiguus who was often called “Dennis the Small” because they say he was very humble. “Dennis” devised this dating system while computing the Easter Festival dates for the Church, but this system was not typically used until after the year 800; even after that, several other systems (including the one designed by Leo the Wise) were commonly used throughout Europe . Most Roman citizens designated their years by naming the two consuls who held office for that year as is described above. The early Romans also at times used the “Ab urbe condita” (AUC) dating system. Which is Latin for: "from the founding of the City”, referencing of course the city of Rome
So now you know!
Sources ...
I thought "CE/BCE" was a good idea until I read a text and couldn't tell "8CE" from "BCE" likewise 108CE from 10BCE.
ReplyDeleteI then realised it was a stupid system. It becomes even more ridiculous, it became even more ridiculous when I discovered that the modern system of leap years started in 1AD and of course, the date of Christos birth is unknown and unlikely to be 1AD. So, 1BC really means "before calendar" in the sense that there wasn't a standardised dating system before.
Then I look at all the names we use for days. They are all religious, several months are named after Roman gods, and the more I look the more pathetic this dating system becomes.
And to be honest, with so many texts already written with BC AD, whatever anyone thinks we are always going to have this dating system so, like the days of the week ... let's just live with it ... afterall it was the Christians who invented the Calendar so let's respect their efforts.