AD and BC
Sometimes we see years written like:
2000 AD
550 BC
What do they mean?
 |
AD is AFTER Jesus was born |
 |
BC is BEFORE Jesus was born |
AD comes from Latin Anno Domini meaning "In the year of Our Lord"
BC comes from Before Christ
Years Before and After
So 550 BC means 550 years before Jesus was born
And 2000 AD almost means 2000 years after Jesus was born ...
... except AD started at 1, not 0
So, 2 AD is actually 1 year after Jesus was born
And 2000 AD is actually 1999 years after Jesus was born.
But we don't really know WHEN Jesus was born!
Many historians think Jesus was born 4 years earlier (4 BC), but it WAS thought to be exactly at 1 AD.
A monk named Dionysius Exiguus calculated his own present year to be 525 AD
And if you continue counting years from then you get our current year number.
So, AD is now just a "year number" (every New Year we add 1), and it only roughly equals how many years ago that Jesus Christ was born.
To find the time between 10 BC and 10 AD, you might think it is 20 years (10 + 10), but it is actually only 19 years because we skip year zero!
"2000 AD" or "AD 2000"
Should "AD" be written before or after the number?
It WAS common to write it before (the standard was to put "AD" before the year and "BC" after), but now many people put "AD" after the year number. So you decide!
What's CE and BCE?
They are recent terms that mean the same as AD and BC:
They are often used to avoid religious wording, but the year numbers stay the same.
CE means "Common Era" and is the same as AD
Example: 2018 CE is 2018 AD
BCE means "Before Common Era" and is the same as BC
Example: 500 BCE is 500 BC
Other Calendars
There are other ways of saying what year it is!
Example, Muslims have dates that relate to Muhammad's emigration from Mecca to Medina called the Hijra, and so they use AH dates.
The year 2024 AD is about 1445 AH, but the years start on different days and AH years are shorter!