B.C, A.D, C.E, B.C.E, What Do They All Mean?!


     

    Welcome Back! Hopefully, you have already read my Introduction post on this Blog. If not, I strongly suggest reading that and then coming back to this one. With that being said, let's begin our topic for the day!
    Before we start actually learning about history, we must understand what the dates of important events in history mean. When you're in school reading those big historic textbooks(I know we all love them so much) you probably saw a number like 389 or 73 and after it is two or three letters like A.D or B.C.E so the full date would look like 79 A.D or 645 B.C. Today, I will talk about what these terms mean and how they came to be.

How The System Came to Be

    Before the B.C/A.D system was invented, the system that was in use was called the Diocletian System. It was a Roman calendar and named after the 51st Roman emperor. However, in the Easter Tables(for more information on them scroll to the bottom of the post!) a Christian monk named Dionysius Exiguus introduced a brand new system; the A.D system. Dionysius created this Christian system to replace the Diocletian System and get rid of the memory of Diocletian since he persecuted so many Christians.

B.C/B.C.E

    The term B.C means "Before Christ" what this means is literally in the term. When you see "B.C" automatically think that the date is talking about an event that happened before Jesus Christ was born.  Let's go through an example. The unification of ancient Egypt happened around 3100 B.C. Knowing that B.C means "Before Christ" 3100 B.C means 3,100 years before Christ was born, Egypt was unified. Let's move now to B.C.E, B.C.E is used exactly like B.C except it means "Before the Common Era." Why is it called that? Well as you have probably noticed by now, these dates revolve greatly around Christianity and Jesus Christ a very important figure in the religion. Recently however, many have started using "Before the Common Era" to remain religiously neutral.

A.D/C.E

    Contrary to popular belief, A.D means Anno Domini in Latin or "The Year of Our Lord" in English.  However, many people think it means "After Death"(If you thought this it's ok! even my 6th-grade teacher did). It can be quite confusing because it would seem that because B.C means "Before Christ" A.D means "After death". This is not the case!!  A.D signifies the birth of Jesus and all the years following. So right now it is 2020 A.D and 1 A.D would be the first year of the calendar. Once again, C.E is the same as A.D and means "Common Era" but just like B.C.E, it is used to be more religiously neutral. 
    Hey! I hope you learned a few things or found something interesting from this post and if you did and you want to learn more please follow. Also, if you find anything to be incorrect or confusing don't be shy to comment and let me know. Have a blessed and safe day and I'll see you on the next post!

- The History Buff




This was my resource on not just Easter Tables but how the A.D system came to be as well:

Keeping Time: The Origin of B.C and A.D https://www.livescience.com/45510-anno-domini.html








Comments

  1. Budgeting hacksDecember 23, 2020 at 7:02 AM

    I finally get the difference now if I can remember the difference between
    less than and greater than signs ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. CandymanDecember 23, 2020 at 1:18 PM

    Really cleared some stuff that was a bit confusing to me. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

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