C.e.

[Merrie]

I don't know if this is a silly question, but I've seen the letters C.E. with dates instead of A.D.
I was just wondering what C.E. meant, I know A.D. is anno domini, referring to the death of Christ etc. etc. Just curious, if anyone has some insight I'd appreciate it. :)

[Earth Walker]

Originally posted by Merrie
I don't know if this is a silly question, but I've seen the letters C.E. with dates instead of A.D.
I was just wondering what C.E. meant, I know A.D. is anno domini, referring to the death of Christ etc. etc. Just curious, if anyone has some insight I'd appreciate it. :)

Common Era.
Also BCE--Before Common Era

[Merrie]

Thank you muchly, Mystique!
Not to bug, but does anyone know how that works? When did the common era start?

[Earth Walker]

Originally posted by Merrie
Thank you muchly, Mystique!
Not to bug, but does anyone know how that works? When did the common era start?

The common era began with the onset of patriarchal religions;
Judaism, Christianity, etc.


To believe what you see is to be deceived.
**********************************
Reject all illusions of social harmony.

[sylphanie]

Well, common era and anno domini are the same. That is, 1991 AD and 1991 CE are the exact same year. Its mostly just to be more inclusive, because anno domini really just applies to those who believe Jesus was actually the Christ.

Judaism was around for a long, long time before the common era began, though, so I'm not sure its fair to say that the common era marks its beginnings. There were other patriarchal religions around at the time and before, too, so its not as if one day patriarchy just arrived. :)

~Sylph

[Methanespirit]

The current reckoning of our calendar is supposedly based on the birth date of Christ Jesus (which is not on Dec. 25th, but according to the gospel of Luke, was durign the Feast of Trumpets occuring in late September or early October.). However, it is known that the year of His birth also contained a partile (very rare) Jupiter/Saturn (eclipse) conjunction, which is what the Magi saw in the eastern sky. anouncing His birth. (Astrologically, any Jupiter/Saturn configuration indicates a sacrfice). Jupiter/ Saturn conjunctions occur about every 19.67 years. Regressing this back in time allows His birth at 8 BCE or 11AD. Since the times related in the gospels do not give any evidence of natural (astronomcial) phenomena for an accurate dating, (except for political changes in Israel) the current calendar system was originally set up many years hence. Therefore, it is probably not correct in actual year counting. Some astronomical scholars place Jesus' birth at 4 BC while others state the 8 BC is more accurate. But whatever the case, the current year reckoning is behind schedule, in that this should be, using Christ's birth as a criteria, about 2005 or 2009 AD. Personally, I prefer the latter for the Astrological reasons already stated.