2006-08-31 04:16:36 · 9 answers · asked by andy R 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
During the republican period the Romans had two different ways of dating years. The first was to date events by referance to the mythical year of the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus. The second was to refer to years acording to who the consuls had been. During the imperial period another system came into use, and years were dated according to which year in the reign of a given emperor they were. This system existed alongside the other two, never entirely suplanting it. After the collapse of the Roman empire in the west a universal dating system was needed that was equally aplicable to all the disperate states of EUrope, and so the christian callender was established by the pope, although, this callender had allready been used in various ecclesiastical settings for some time. Some states still dated years according to their leader's reigns, but the Julian callendar in its current state became dominant.
2006-09-03 06:06:34 · answer #1 · answered by PADSTAR 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
AD wasn't devised until about 400 AD, it didn't become widespread until the 1400s, and people didn't start counting backwards (BC) until the 1700s. Jesus, incidentally, was born AT LEAST 4 BC, that being the year in which Herod the Great died.
The Roman dates, from the founding of the city (AUC - ab urbe condita) were used by historians, not ordinary people, who used the years of consuls, eg "When Sulla and Manlius were consuls", and after that, the years of the emperor's reign. Incidentally, I think the 753 BC date was only standardised about the time of Julius Causar.
2006-09-01 13:57:39 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They used a 12 month calendar but each month was equal so it got totally out of synch with the seasons. They counted years from the origin of the city - according to legend that was 753BC. They also used the year of the rule of a particular consul (Republic) or Emperor (Empire) in the same way Britain did until early modern age.
2006-08-31 15:16:53 · answer #3 · answered by andigee2006 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
By emperor, actually. Fifth year of so-and-so's reign and all that. Or, for things that you didn't want that way, from the founding of Rome. I'm not sure if they would have said "658 A.F." (after founding), or what, but that's how they counted. Either by the year of the current Emperors' reign, or from the founding of Rome itself.
Which is actually what we use today. Before and after the birth of Christ. Though, they've recently changed it to "B.C.E", or Before Common Era, so as to be politically correct. And, if you really want to get down to it, our calendar is four years off. The man who made the calendar we use today, made it by counting the years of the Emperor's of Rome, because this was some 300 years after his death. The one problem is, he forgot the first four years of Augustus, because Augustus was called by another name during that period. So we're four years behind! Hey, it's 2010!
2006-08-31 13:23:18 · answer #4 · answered by graytrees 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
A lot of anciet civilizations had a basic lunar or solar calendar. Look at this listing provided by Wikipedia for more details.
I think the Babylonian or Egyptian calendars would serve as good examples.
The Egyptian is a unique calendar by itself. Worth doing more research on. It sounds interesting.
2006-08-31 11:22:28 · answer #5 · answered by "Marian" the Librarian 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Julian Calendar
2006-08-31 11:19:38 · answer #6 · answered by Lance R 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the calender wasn't invenetd then they just went by the planets and the sun moon and stars
2006-08-31 11:39:22 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Chocalate advent calenders!!!
2006-08-31 11:26:12 · answer #8 · answered by Simmo 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Take a look
2006-08-31 11:25:33 · answer #9 · answered by johnslat 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋