How were the B.C years ordered?

Question

As the years went up (Ex. 123 B.C to 124 B.C) were they considered to go up like we say 2001 2002, or did they countdown untill christ (2002, 2001)was born and died?

Answer 1

B.C. (or B.C.E.) years go down as one move ahead in time. So someone born in 50 B.C. would have been older than someone born in 30 B.C.

Here are a few web pages that discuss B.C. and A.D. (also known as C.E.)

"Historians do not use a year zero — AD 1 is the first year or epoch of the Anno Domini era, and 1 BC immediately precedes it as the first year before the epoch. This is a problem with some calculations; so in astronomical year numbering a zero is added, and the 'AD' and 'BC' are dropped. In keeping with 'standard decimal numbering', a negative sign '−' is added for earlier years, so counting down from year 2 would give 2, 1, 0, −1, −2, and so on. This results in a one-year shift between the two systems (eg −1 equals 2 BC). However, civil usage still omits the idea of a year zero."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Christ#Numbering_of_years

Some other sites:

http://www.steveheller.com/zerobase.htm

http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/52475.html

Answer 2

As many others have said, a number of cultures or political entitites in the ancient world had their own calendars, based on either lunar or solar cycles and tied either to a semi-historic event in the far distant past or to the reign of kings or other officials.

There was not a "countdown" to the birth and death of Christ because no one knew that he was coming or when he would arrive. Rather, the Jews believed in the coming of a messiah who would allow them to reclaim their independence - in most view points, a military leader, but had no idea when said messiah would arrive.

Answer 3

BC and AD were invented in the 4th century AD by Little Dennis (Dionysus Exiguous). Before that the Romans measured years by the name of the consul of Rome for that year. Other civilisations had other starting points and end points. I think the Jewish calendar starts with the year of the escape from Egypt. The Muslim calendar starts from the birth (or maybe death??) of Mohammed.

Answer 4

I am not exactly sure what you are asking, but on a timeline the year 124BC was earlier than the years 123BC, unlike the way we count now where 123AD is earlier than 124AD. We do this because at one time we didn't know how old the Earth was, so we started counting back from the year one, because somewhere somehow someone messed up and thought the year one was the beginning and they were wrong.

Answer 5

Same as AD but going the other way.