Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!mtuxo!mtune!akguc!akgua!gatech!lll-lcc!csustan!smdev From: smdev@csustan.UUCP Newsgroups: net.misc Subject: Re: Counting years Message-ID: <140@csustan.UUCP> Date: Tue, 26-Aug-86 14:37:24 EDT Article-I.D.: csustan.140 Posted: Tue Aug 26 14:37:24 1986 Date-Received: Thu, 28-Aug-86 19:34:16 EDT References: <1408@tektools.UUCP> Reply-To: smdev@csustan.UUCP (Scott Hazen Mueller) Organization: City of Turlock Lines: 35 Keywords: Rome Mesopotamia Zero Summary: A few places In article <1408@tektools.UUCP> steves@tektools.UUCP (steve shellans) writes: >In western culture, we count years from the birth of Christ. >What event did people count from before that time? In preChristian Rome, years were numbered from the semimythical founding of the city of Rome by Romulus and Remus. I can't remember the actual Latin phrase, but I believe that it was something like "the year of the City" or some such. >In other cultures (today or ancient) what events did people >designate as year 0? First a minor nit: 0 is a recent invention; to date, no society that I know of counts from year zero. To the meat of your question, the custom in any number of societies in ancient Mesopotamia (the Tigris/Euphrates valley, in the middle of Iraq) was to count the years in terms of the length of the current king's reign. That is, if Bubblehead the first is king, and has been for 9 years, then the date is referred to as the ninth year of Bubblehead's reign. It makes it kind of difficult to correlate events over a long period of time if you lose a king. Since what we refer to as Western Civilization is traditionally con- sidered to have descended from the societies of Mesopotamia (Sumeria and Babylon are specific examples), it is likely that later (but still preRoman) civilizations (such as Phoenicia and Greece) used a similar method. >Steve Shellans >Tektronix, Beaverton OR >{decvax, ucbvax, wyvax, ihnp4}!tektronix!tektools!steves \scott -- Scott Hazen Mueller lll-crg.arpa!csustan!smdev City of Turlock work: (209) 668-5590 -or- 5628 901 South Walnut Avenue home: (209) 527-1203 Turlock, CA 95380