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Well, the Romans also kept track of the years since the founding of Rome -- ab urbe condita (AUC). Writers in antiquity used the years AUC; that wasn't a modern

Well, the Romans also kept track of the years since the founding of Rome -- ab urbe condita (AUC). Writers in antiquity used the years AUC; that wasn't a modern invention.

skissane 5y ago
It is true that writers in antiquity used AUC. However, it was only used infrequently – primarily when celebrations were held to mark the city of Rome's anniversary, as part of imperial propaganda, and also in historical writings. In everyday use, naming years by consuls was more common (especially in the West), and by the regnal years of the emperors (especially in the East and in later periods). After the reign of Diocletian, use of his regnal numbers were continued–in part because he introduced a system of having four emperors simultaneously (two senior and two junior). Even though that system only lasted 30 years (at the end of which Constantine became the sole emperor), the use of year numbering from Diocletian's reign stuck in the East – anno Diocletiani, or as Christians came to call it, anno martyrum (since Diocletian started the last major Roman campaign of persecution of Christianity). The Diocletian era was most popular in the East; in the West it was known, but less used. The monk Dionysius Exiguus proposed anno Domini as a replacement for anno Diocletiani. It became the standard in the West, but less so in the East. The Coptic Orthodox Church continues to use the Diocletian era to this day. Greeks (and also, through Greek influence, many Slavs) preferred to number years from the estimated creation date of the world (similar in principle to how contemporary Judaism does it), but using two different estimated dates of creation – hence the Alexandrian era and the Byzantine era. It is only in recent centuries that Greeks and Slavs have standardised on anno Domini. Use of AUC was actually far more popular in the West in the Renaissance than it ever was in antiquity. It helped produce a false impression that it was more significant in Roman history than it ever was.
philwelch 5y ago
I neurotically checked the Wikipedia article on AUC and I got the impression that at least the term "AUC" was mostly a Renaissance invention, so I tried to hedge against that. Apparently classicists would actually add "AUC" to Roman manuscripts as they transcribed them.

Well, the Romans also kept track of the years since the founding of Rome -- ab urbe condita (AUC). Writers in antiquity used the years AUC; that wasn't a modern invention.

skissane 5y ago

It is true that writers in antiquity used AUC. However, it was only used infrequently – primarily when celebrations were held to mark the city of Rome's anniversary, as part of imperial propaganda, and also in historical writings. In everyday use, naming years by consuls was more common (especially in the West), and by the regnal years of the emperors (especially in the East and in later periods). After the reign of Diocletian, use of his regnal numbers were continued–in part because he introduced a system of having four emperors simultaneously (two senior and two junior). Even though that system only lasted 30 years (at the end of which Constantine became the sole emperor), the use of year numbering from Diocletian's reign stuck in the East – anno Diocletiani, or as Christians came to call it, anno martyrum (since Diocletian started the last major Roman campaign of persecution of Christianity). The Diocletian era was most popular in the East; in the West it was known, but less used. The monk Dionysius Exiguus proposed anno Domini as a replacement for anno Diocletiani. It became the standard in the West, but less so in the East. The Coptic Orthodox Church continues to use the Diocletian era to this day. Greeks (and also, through Greek influence, many Slavs) preferred to number years from the estimated creation date of the world (similar in principle to how contemporary Judaism does it), but using two different estimated dates of creation – hence the Alexandrian era and the Byzantine era. It is only in recent centuries that Greeks and Slavs have standardised on anno Domini. Use of AUC was actually far more popular in the West in the Renaissance than it ever was in antiquity. It helped produce a false impression that it was more significant in Roman history than it ever was.

philwelch 5y ago

I neurotically checked the Wikipedia article on AUC and I got the impression that at least the term "AUC" was mostly a Renaissance invention, so I tried to hedge against that. Apparently classicists would actually add "AUC" to Roman manuscripts as they transcribed them.