Counting years before Christ

[immtbiker]

My daughter was doing a report on Pythagoreus, and it said he was born 569 B.C., and died 500 B.C.
Now, I know they didn't count backwards in years because they never knew Christ was going to be born, and the Romans changed the calendar to A.D.
So, how did they count the years, and how many days were in a year B.C.

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker My daughter was doing a report on Pythagoreus, and it said he was born 569 B.C., and died 500 B.C. Now, I know they didn't count backwards in years because they never knew Christ was going to be born, and the Romans changed the calendar to A.D. So, how did they count the years, and how many days were in a year B.C.

http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~snlrc/encyclop...ncalendar.html


argh! it involves math - my head just exploded!

 

[Bunnyears]

Having studied the history of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, let me assure you that of all the calendar systems around, the one used by the ancient Greeks was one of the most confusting!

The first thing you have to realize is that each of the many city states had their own system of dating things, but their calendars were similar to ours in that they relied both on the sun and moon for a system of dating (our month's derive from the lunar calendar while our year is from the amount of time needed for the earth to complete a revolution around the sun).

One of the ways that the Greeks were able to coordinate dating systems was by the Olympics, which occurred every four years. The Olympiads were counted, so by calculating how a local date fell in relation to an olympiad, you could get a good idea of the dating systems of each of the city-states.

Here's a website which you can use to confuse yourself a little more:

http://www.polysyllabic.com/Greek.html

 

[jefemeister]

To further add to the confusion, there's a years BC can be measured as both "calibrated" and "uncalibrated." This has something to do with radiocarbon dating. I'm not sure if it has an effect or not until before a few 1000 years BC though. Taken from: this site:

What is the difference between calibrated and uncalibrated dates?
Dates in radiocarbon years are quoted using the lower case letters bp (before present). Present is taken as 1950 AD. To allow for some imprecision in their measurement, a margin of error of plus or minus a certain number of years is quoted. For example, if a date is given as 10,000 +/- 150 bp, this means there is a 66.6% chance that its age lies between 9,850 and 10,150 radiocarbon years. A radiocarbon date calibrated to calendar years is given with the upper case letter BP or BC, without the +/- to indicate standard deviation.

 

[immtbiker]

Thanks for the info...it is tough to digest, right after dinner

 

[wallijonn]

IM,

I would think that they counted years from a reign of a governour.

Notice how http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0840659.html puts it at circa 582–circa 507 B.C. Others say 500BC.

Here's one Greek timeline: http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/greeks.html

Thosed dates are "pre-dated" by Astrological events (like comets, eclipses, etrc), Natural Disasters (volcanic eruptions, floods, earthquakes, etc), then Wars, then Reigns, then public events, like Olympics and weddings of the aristrocracy, then other prominent personages, priests, scientists, mathematicians, poets, artists, etc. Most of these we know of only because of the writings left. Then we try to work it all backwards to form a common convention of understanding. It's been only in the last 100 years that we have correlated carbon dating to actual events.

Here's another time line: http://www.hope.edu/academic/ids/171/timeline.htm
and another: http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0001198.html

 

[immtbiker]

So many different approaches, not an exact science. When it was 589 B.C. and a new chariot was coming out in March, was it considered a '88 model, or did they wait around until the next natural disaster.

On a serious note, last year certainly would have marked a change in the timeline, with the need for another Ark to be built, so to speak.

 

[Wmcmanus]

I met a chick tonight who was born in the year 1256 BC. Man does she look old! But someone said she was just 26. I couldn't believe it.

 

[immtbiker]

You always did go for older women. They are helpless, and don't mind if you are ugly (not that I'm saying you are). It would be hard to find an Island girl from that era in the Caymans, because I don't think the volcano exploded yet! Happy 502nd anniversary K-Mon.

 

[jefemeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus I met a chick tonight who was born in the year 1256 BC. Man does she look old! But someone said she was just 26. I couldn't believe it.

Thanks, I really needed that right now just coming from the bar myself.

I only mention the whole calibrated/uncalibrated thing because I just started reading "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The fates of Human Socities" and the author goes into some discussion about how confusing dating (years that is, but girls are funny too: see above comment about the bar) can be. But of course radiocarbon is probably only used when you go back to times before written history really existed.

 

[Bill Ward]

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker You always did go for older women. They are helpless, and don't mind if you are ugly (not that I'm saying you are). It would be hard to find an Island girl from that era in the Caymans, because I don't think the volcano exploded yet! Happy 502nd anniversary K-Mon.

See Benjamin Franklin's advice on older women.

BW

 

[immtbiker]

Wow... Ben took life so seriously. He should have been an inventor.

EDIT: Hey, that was my 1000 post...and I wasted it on unenchanting banter.

 

[jefemeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker Wow... Ben took life so seriously. He should have been an inventor. EDIT: Hey, that was my 1000 post...and I wasted it on unenchanting banter.

Geez. I never looked at your post count. I always just assumed you were in the multi-thousand post category. I guess it's quality not quantity huh?

 

[immtbiker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefemeister Geez. I never looked at your post count. I always just assumed you were in the multi-thousand post category. I guess it's quality not quantity huh?

That and having 2 kids. But I do try hard to post quality posts (except the Ben Franklin post)...am I saying the word "post" a lot?

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Ward See Benjamin Franklin's advice on older women. BW

Nice reference, Bill. Well worth the read.

Congrats on your 1,000th post, Aaron. You do, indeed, maintain the habit of posting only after reflection.