When did we start counting? After the fall of rome? Religious experts themselves say that know one really knows when Christ was born. I know that
there was a man in about the 600's who put this time line together. Can anyone tell me who he is?
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I can't tell you who that man was but the link below gives the history of the calenders used this millenium by the christian world
bennyhills.fortunecity.com...
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are you talking about the gregorian calender? and is the guy you are talking about Pope Gregory XIII ? the gregorian calanender is a revision of the
Julian Calendar.
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People have always had calendars... they go back to the earliest writings. Governments and kings rely on calendars to record their deeds -- all
organized societies have them.
The Roman system had been in place for as long as the Romans were around -- about 700 BC or earlier. The Egyptians had calendars and king lists
dating way before that.
The common people had no dates until after the 1500's. Before that, it was "in the spring of the 8th year of the reign of King Edward Longshanks"
and only the Church and rulers had any idea of a year.
Most calendars date to a founding of a country or a major city or a reported deity's birth.
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This may prove to be a very useful link for answering questions regarding these two calendar systems.
Link - www.dome-igm.com...
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The Romans counted from the date of the foundation of Rome (and while the account of events at that time is plainly somewhat fabulous) I'm aware of
no evidence that the calendar they used was in error -certainly after say, 400 BC.
If the events in the Bible are demonstrably true the timing of Christ's birth is pretty plainly 4 BC: largely based on known dates of Emperors and
Herod.
(The Greeks tended to count in terms of Olympic Games, incidentally)
In fact, there was a good level of awareness of the date in the first millennium (the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle constantly refers to it, and there was a
fair hubbub in 999 AD as the first millennium approached.
Obviously, literacy was not widespread; but I'd suspect that most people knew the year and knew the Church calendar prettty well.
Also, it's fair to assume that the average person had far greater knowledge of stars and other celestial phenomena than is the case now: their lives
depended on the seasons. Evidence for this is abundant from Hesiod c800 BC to Chaucer -14th Century AD.
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