Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!bellcore!whuxcc!lcuxlm!akgua!gatech!lll-lcc!csustan!smdev From: smdev@csustan.UUCP Newsgroups: net.misc Subject: Re: Counting years Message-ID: <142@csustan.UUCP> Date: Wed, 27-Aug-86 12:16:41 EDT Article-I.D.: csustan.142 Posted: Wed Aug 27 12:16:41 1986 Date-Received: Fri, 29-Aug-86 06:08:06 EDT References: <1408@tektools.UUCP> <6018@fortune.UUCP> Reply-To: smdev@csustan.UUCP (Scott Hazen Mueller) Organization: City of Turlock Lines: 47 Keywords: Lunar Solar Calendar Years Religion Summary: Lunar vs. Solar In article <6018@fortune.UUCP> stirling@fortune.UUCP (Patrick stirling) writes: >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? > >I think Christianity was the first 'mass religion', ie the first to spread >over significant portions of the world. Before that I would guess that the >largest religion was Judaism Judaism, to the best of my knowledge, has _never_ been a major religion in terms of numbers (which is what I take the word "largest" to mean in the above). The Jewish calendar is an obscure little thing (with a year currently in the 5-or-6 thousands) based on lunar cycles. Certain holidays, such as Passover and, by definition, Easter (the first Sunday after the first night of Passover) are based on this lunar calendar and therefore tend to wander over the more common solar-based calendar in everyday use. >The Romans dated years from the 'crowning' of each Emperor. The Roman calendar is not based on kings; others are, but the Roman calendar is based on when the city of Rome (urbs aeternis, the Eternal City) was founded. This makes sense - if you expect your city to last forever, why not count based on its founding. >Islam was founded by Mohammed around 750AD, and they have their own calendar, >now in the 1300's. No argument here, but I would like to note that the Islamic calendar is also a lunar based calendar. Some years are twelve months long, others are thirteen months; it's all phase-of-the-moon-dependent. >>Is this topic of interest to anyone else? Obviously... Also, if anyone out there lives someplace where they don't/didn't use the so-called "Common Era" (or "Christian Era") and would like to comment based on experience, I'm sure we're all interested in hearing from you. >patrick >{ihnp4, hplabs, amdcad, ucbvax!dual}!fortune!stirling \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