 |
What do B.C. and A.D. mean? |
Time & Numbers
B.C. and A.D. are two abbreviations you usually see following years: 1,000 B.C., 1620 A.D., 2010 A.D. Sometimes A.D. will come before the year: A.D. 400.
B.C. stands for “Before Christ.” Jesus Christ is the central figure of Christian religions. A.D. stands for the Latin term, “anno Domini” which means “in the year of the Lord.” This term also refers to Jesus Christ. 1 A.D. was thought to be the year that he was born. It was such an important and well-known event for Christians that it made sense as a starting point for a new calendar. Any year before 1 A.D. is considered B.C.
1 B.C. is the year immediately before 1 A.D. 2 B.C. is two years before 1 A.D. The year numbers keep getting larger as you count backwards in time, just like the A.D. numbers keep getting larger as we go forward. Right now it is 2009 A.D., and next year will be 2010 A.D.
B.C. stands for “Before Christ.” Jesus Christ is the central figure of Christian religions. A.D. stands for the Latin term, “anno Domini” which means “in the year of the Lord.” This term also refers to Jesus Christ. 1 A.D. was thought to be the year that he was born. It was such an important and well-known event for Christians that it made sense as a starting point for a new calendar. Any year before 1 A.D. is considered B.C.
1 B.C. is the year immediately before 1 A.D. 2 B.C. is two years before 1 A.D. The year numbers keep getting larger as you count backwards in time, just like the A.D. numbers keep getting larger as we go forward. Right now it is 2009 A.D., and next year will be 2010 A.D.
B.C.E and C.E.
Many people use the terms B.C.E and C.E. instead of B.C. and A.D.
C.E. can stand for “Christian Era” or “Common Era.” The “B” in “B.C.E” stands for “before.” Many people choose to use “Common Era” because it is not tied to a particular group of religions and can be used universally.
A riddle!
I remember my 10th Grade Biology teacher told this riddle one day in class:
A man goes into a coin shop and tells the woman who works there that he found a really rare coin. “It’s from the year 400 B.C.,” he says. The woman looks at the coin, and sure enough, it says “400 B.C.” She hands it back to him and says, “This is fake.”
How did the woman know the coin was fake?
Answer: People alive in 400 B.C. had no idea when 1 A.D. was going to happen. They couldn’t have known it was 400 B.C.