If BC means Before Christ what did they call it when it was BC?

Question

If BC means Before Christ, and i was to travel back in time to 1800 BC, what would the date be if people haven't herd of Christ yet as its before his time.. so therefore why would they call it Before Christ unless they knew Christ was coming, and if thats the case why aren't we calling this time we are in now BC if so many religious persons believe god will visit us once again.

Answer 1

It would have depended on where you resided (which country):
SEE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_calendars#Archaic_calendars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_calendars
~~

Answer 2

BC stands for Before Christ in the Gregorian calendar, but the designation BC/AD didn't exist until hundreds of years after Christ's death (and resurrection, if you believe in that.) The use of BC and AD was first recorded in about 525 AD and didn't come into widespread use until the 700s. Before that, they used other calendars. The Romans often dated calendars from the founding of Rome, for example, the Greeks measured time by the Olympic games, and the Jewish calendar (still in use) dates from a scholar's calculation of the beginning of the world, etc.

Answer 3

Time Before Christ

Answer 4

BC does not stand for Before Christ. The Actual acronym is BCE or Before Common Era.

Answer 5

There are many systems for dating. Many people in the past and present know nothing about Jesus. Today is 5/18/4705 on the Chinese calendar, for example. Jews have their own calendar, since they don't recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Romans dated thing from the founding of their city. The Greeks had Olympiads. japanes may date things in the year of the current emperor, and other groups have done the same thing.

Answer 6

AUC = ab urbe condita (from the founded city) i.e. from the founding of Rome. But even Rome wasn't founded in 1800 BC. The Egyptians counted the regnal years of the Pharaohs.

But even today everyone doesn't use BC or AD dates. From Muslims to Japanese people have other year systems. The Muslims count from the Hijra of Muhammad, but the Japanese count the regnal years of their emperors.

Answer 7

Most regions and cultures had their own calendars. Some are still in use, but the dominance of the christian power structure made their calendar the most widely used. As a result, the western world has adopted it almost exclusively. And the rest of the world has at least kept track of it to simplify their dealings with westerners.

Answer 8

They didn't call it anything, there was no calendar. A little later, during the times right before Christ (supposedly) they didn't keep track of the years, but they did keep track of the days and months with the Gregorian calendar (the one we use now).

Answer 9

Among the ancient Greeks, a common method for indicating the passage of years was based on the order of Olympic games,
Another method of dating, rarely used, was to indicate the year anno urbis conditae, or "in the year of the founded city"
Time in years was also kept by marking against the year any certain emperor took reign.
They would count like the forteenth year of the pharoh X 's reign.

Answer 10

The Gregorian calendar (the one we use today) hadn't been invented yet, so the ancients used other means of counting the years. For instance this is year 5767 on the Hebrew calendar.

Answer 11

There was no calendar before Christ, so they didn't actually call it anything. Like now, we call this A.D. because it's after Christ but would it be B.E. if some Messiah called Eric arrived in the future? They weren't psychic!
Lorna