Prompt Cast
The History and Evolution of Year Counting
TLDR The Roman system of counting years was confusing and based on the names of consuls, while the Christian calendar convention of counting years based on the life of Jesus was created in the year 525. The lack of a year 0 in our calendaring system and the use of CE (common era) as an alternative to AD (Anno Domini) have further complicated the dating system.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
Why do we count years starting from year 1 and what did civilizations do before that?
02:08
The Roman system of counting years was confusing and based on the names of consuls, but their calendar, the Julian calendar, was effective and solar-based.
03:39
The Christian calendar convention of counting years based on the life of Jesus, known as Anno Domini, was created by a monk named Dionysus Exegus in the year 525, but it took centuries for the system to become widely adopted.
05:11
Dionysus Exegus likely got the date of Jesus' birth wrong, as most scholars believe it was around 4-6 BC, and the lack of a year 0 in our calendaring system makes calculating dates before year 1 tricky.
06:54
The use of CE (common era) as an alternative to AD (Anno Domini) dates back to Johannes Kepler and was originally used to separate the church calendar from regal years, and it is now commonly used by many people.
08:31
The Holocene calendar, abbreviated HE, offers a simple solution to the CE AD debate by adding 10,000 to the current year or putting a one in front of it.
10:09
The Holocene calendar, while unlikely to catch on, offers a simple and logical solution to the problems of the current calendar system.
