How did historians date time before Christ? Did they have to go back and affix dates after Jesus' birth?

Question

I know there was recorded history many years before Christ. How were those records dated? Did the people who wrote them put a date on them or was it just according to who was reigning at the time?

Answer 1

In Christ's time the Romans numbered their years anno urbis conditae, from the founding of the city [of Rome]. Christ was born circa 750 AUC. Other systems of reckoning were also used from time to time.

Answer 2

The birth of Christ served as a unifying event for dating historical events. Before that, anyway, historians tended to be attached to great people/empires. So yes, dates would have been attached to the reigns of leaders. The ancient Egyptians dated historical record by the Pharoah who currently ruled and those who previously ruled. This is why, it is more difficult to exactly place years, the older the event is in Egyptian history, even though the written record might be quite accurate,

Answer 3

Most cultures had their own calendars, all of them dating from some major event in that particular culture's history. There was no unified system. Also, how those calendars were calculated varied. Some were lunar, some were venal, and some were solar. Years were usually referenced by the ruling king or queen (in the twelfth year of the reign of Rameses XI or something like that.).

BTW, not everyone uses the "Christian calendar." The days, weeks, and months are widely agreed upon, but the year isn't. The Muslim calendar started in 622, the year of Muhammed's hijra.

When the calendar that the Western world uses today was compiled, dates were switched and in fact, at one point in 1582 10 days were lost from the calendar by order of Pope Gregory. People went to sleep one night and woke up 10 days later, without realizing it. Riots broke out; people were really angry about losing those days.

Time is mutable. Calendars are just our way of keeping order.

Answer 4

Dates depended on the historian's cultural origin. Many cultures used calendars deriving from some historic or mythical event. For instance, Jews used, and still use, a calendar dating from the supposed creation of the universe, according to which it is currently 5767. Romans used a calendar dating from the mythical founding of Rome, in which the Christian year I AD corresponded to year 754, In Egypt, China, and many other cultures, years were just measured by the year of the current ruler's reign.

Answer 5

Our current calendar is less than 500 years old. While Ceasar had created the Julian Calendar in about 46 A.D, Pope Gregory decreed the Julian Calendar in 1582.
Besides lining up years based upon an approximation of Christ's death, it lined up Easter, added leap years to keep things in order, it was implemented worldwide.
Many non-Catholic countries were reluctant to adopt the idea but it gradually caught on.
Russia adopted the calendar after their 1917 Revoulution and Greece followed in 1923 and China in 1928.
Alaska converted in 1867 when it changed from being a Russian colony to a U.S. possesion.

Answer 6

If Jesus lived (I'm not sure he existed) Pope Julian, who created the original Christian calendar, set Jesus' birth four years later than it supposedly really took place. So, Year 1 A.D. (anno domini) turns out to be somewhat arbitrary.

Each civilization had its own dating methods. Some used the year the current king was crowned, then reset the calendar when he died and a new king was crowned.

Jews occasionally still use their method, which numbers the years since what they assume was Creation Day. Their calendar is in the 5,000s now. I believe the Japanese still use their old calendar, which also is in the 5,000s.

The Christian calendar is now used world wide because the Europeans were such powerful colonizers and successfully spread their calendar around the world.

Answer 7

There were many ancient calendars. Some people counted time from a mythical event (for example, the Jewish calendar starts from creation of the world, which supposedly took place about 4000 BC); others reset the clock each time a new king (or a new dynasty) ascended to the throne (this is something the Japanese still do, although this traditional calendar peacefully co-exists with the European one)...

Answer 8

This was based on the dates of the ruler or dynasty before Christ. Many people mistakenly think that everyone is thinking of religion when using this dating system, but they are wrong. This dating system is used because in the years since Christ, the world has faced so many wars/regime changes/etc. that Churches were the only consistent method of recordkeeping...

Answer 9

initially, Jesus wasn't born in a million advert--it grew to become into in all likelihood approximately 5 BC--the guy who calculated the dates for the calendar, approximately 3 hundred years later, have been given his situations blended up. And no, they did no longer use B.C. The Jews used the calendar they use now, and the Romans counted years in accordance with who grew to become into the Emperor (ex--the Fourth 300 and sixty 5 days of the Reign of Caesar Augustus). i'm specific there have been as many distinctive strategies of counting time as there have been civilizations.

Answer 10

Prior to Jesus the Hebrew calender was used. Julius caesar invented the calender that you use. Most of the dates recorded in history are very wishy-washy and helter-skelter. Don't go by them to much.
The Romans used a lot of the same personal names and mixed up the dates just to coverup who Jesus actually was.