4 ms·

The year -539? Is this the year 540 BC or the year 539 BC?

• bqmjjx0kac 3y ago
  TIL that 1 BC is succeeded by 1 AD. There is no 0 AD. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_zero https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_zero
  • Joker_vD 3y ago
    Well, yes, it's sign-magnitude, so the options are to either have no zeroth year at all (like we actually do), or have two of them (..., -1 BC, 0 BC, 0 AD, 1 AD, ...).
    • eigenket 3y ago
      Why would you not just have 0AD be the same year as 0BC, just like with real number where 0 = -0?
• pixodaros 3y ago
  Astronomers, who are one of the groups very interested in Late Babylonia, use astronomical year numbering with a year 0 to make the math easier, but Amelie Kurt gives the date of the fall of Babylon as October 539 BC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_year_numbering https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_year_numbering