What is the third century B.C?

Question

I find it confusing when historians date something as __ century B.C. Because the smaller the number, the more recent, is for example the first century B.C The year B.C, or way back?

Answer 1

3rd century BC would be any year between 201 and 300 BC.

1st century BC is 1 - 100
2nd century BC is 101 - 200

Answer 2

A.D. means Anno Domini (the year of the Lord). B.C. means Before Christ.

2007 A.D. is 2007 years after the death of Jesus.
200 B.C. is 200 years before.
If you go further back in time, the numbers get larger. For example, 1000 B.C. is longer ago than 200 B.C., more years before Christ.

Answer 3

Just think of it as a negative number, like -18. The further back on the time line you go, with the beginning of the Christian Era as 0 then before that would be the negative side. 18 B.C. would be like -18

Answer 4

The larger the number the farthur back it was, so the 3rd century BC is farthur back in history than the 2nd.

Answer 5

The BC is Before Christian era so 1BC is 1 year before Christ, 5 BC is 5 years before & 100 BC is 100 years before Christ .
Not everyone uses this calendar (the Chinese don't, they use the Buddhist era calendar) but the Western world uses the BC (before Christ) and AD After his Death for marking the years.