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Numbering Years
Non-Christians often use the term CE in place of AD. CE refers to “Common Era” or “Christian Era.” They mark the era preceding the Common Era as BCE, which can either mean “Before the Common Era,” or “Before the Christian Era.” Since years are marked from a set point known as 1 (there is no year 0), 3500BC was about 5500 years ago. There are ten years in a decade, one hundred years in a century, and 1000 years in a millenium. This is considered the twenty-first century of the Common Era. On December 31, 1999, many people celebrated the coming of the new millenium, but the millenium did not end until December 31, 2000. This is because the calendar we use does not have a year called 0. |
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In ancient calendars, years were generally numbered according to the year of a ruler's reign, for example, the third year of Hammurabi’s rule. About AD525, a monk named Dionysius suggested that years be counted from the birth of Christ. Today we live in 2006, which is sometimes written AD2006. AD refers to the term anno Domini, or “the year of the Lord.” The years before the birth of Christ are numbered backward from his birth. The year before AD1 was 1BC, or one year “before Christ.” When referring to dates before the birth of Christ, the higher the number the earlier the year.