Anno Domini facts for kids
Anno Domini (Latin : "In the year of (our) Lord"), shortened as AD or A.D., is used to refer to the years after the birth of Jesus. AD is also a shortening for Christian Era.
Similarly, Before Christ, shortened as BC or B.C., is used in the English language to refer to all years before the start of the time period Anno Domini. Traditionally, English follows Latin usage by placing the "AD" abbreviation before the year number, though it is also found after the year. In contrast, "BC" is always placed after the year number (for example: AD 70, but 70 BC).
In the AD year numbering system, whether applied to the Julian or Gregorian calendars, AD 1 is immediately preceded by 1 BC, with nothing in between them (there was no year zero). There are debates as to whether a new decade, century, or millennium begins on a year ending in zero or one.
This dating system was meant to signal the year of Christ's birth, but modern scholarship has decided Jesus was actually born a few years earlier.
History
The system for working out the years was invented by Dionysius Exiguus in about AD 525. He fixed the point Anno Domini, which is used to number the years of both the Gregorian calendar and the Julian calendar. He used it to identify the several Easters in his Easter table. He did not use it to date any historical event. When he devised his table, Julian calendar years were identified by naming the consuls who held office that year — he himself stated that the "present year" was "the consulship of Probus Junior [Flavius Probus]", which he also stated was 525 years "since the incarnation [conception] of our Lord Jesus Christ". How he arrived at that number is unknown. He invented a new system of numbering years to replace the Diocletian years that had been used in an old Easter table because he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians.
The Anno Domini era became dominant in Western Europe only after it was used by the Venerable Bede to date the events in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731. The French emperor Charlemagne made it popular in mainland Europe. Some parts of Europe did not use the Anno Domini system until the 15th century. For example, Portugal used a different system called the Spanish era until 1422.
Images for kids
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Statue of Charlemagne by Agostino Cornacchini (1725), at St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. Charlemagne promoted the usage of the Anno Domini epoch throughout the Carolingian Empire.
See also
In Spanish: Anno Domini para niños
