The facts relating to B.C. and A.D.
·
In 535 A.D. a monk named Dionysius Exiguous of
Scythia Minor introduced the A.D. system, counting the years since the birth of
Christ.
·
A.D. – anno domini – Latin meaning: in
the year of the Lord
·
1 as the year of Jesus Christ’s birth, but was
off in his estimation by a few years, which is why the best modern estimates
place Christ’s birth at 4 B.C.
·
2 centuries after B.C. events were indicated by Venerable
Bede of Northumbria, published in his book "Ecclesiastical History of the
English People" in 731.
·
Prior years were numbered to count backward to
indicate the number of years an event had occurred “before Christ” or “B.C.”
·
1 B.C. would come right before 1 A.D. as till
then there was not concept of 0 which was introduced by an Indian scholar
Brahmagupta. The idea would not spread to medieval Christian Europe, however,
until the 11th to 13th centuries.
·
The popularity of the system took hype in the
ninth century after the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne adopted the system
throughout the Europe enlisting the events of government.
·
Later in 16th century, this system
was implicit in the Georgian Calendar which later became the international
system in 1988 regarding to the release of ISO 8601 by International Standard
Organization.
Rational for using C.E. for A.D.
1.
This shows the sensitivity to those who use the
same year number as that which originated with Christians, but who are not themselves
Christian.
2.
The label "Anno Domini" being arguable
inaccurate, since scholars general believe that Christ was born some years
before 1 A.D. and that the historical evidence is too sketchy to allow for
definitive dating.
good work
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