Ab urbe condita

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Antoninianus of Pacatian, usurper of Roman emperor Philip in 248. It reads ROMAE AETER[NAE] AN[NO] MIL[LESIMO] ET PRIMO, 'To eternal Rome, in its one thousand and first year.'
Anno ab urbe condita, rubricated and with a decorated initial, from the medieval Chronicle of Saint Pantaleon

Ab urbe condita (Latin:

classical historians to refer to a given year in Ancient Rome. In reference to the traditional year of the foundation of Rome, the year 1 BC would be written AUC 753, whereas AD 1 would be AUC 754. The foundation of the Roman Empire in 27 BC
would be AUC 727. The current year AD 2024 would be AUC 2777.

Usage of the term was more common during the

Justinian
.

Significance

Prior to the Roman state's adoption of the

Varronian chronology – created by Titus Pomponius Atticus and Marcus Terentius Varro – there were many different dates posited for when the city was founded. This state of confusion required, for one to use an AUC date, one to pick a date as canonical. The Varronian chronology, constructed from fragmentary sources and demonstrably about four years off of absolute events c. 340 BC,[4] placed the founding of the city on 21 April 753 BC. This date, likely arrived at by mechanical calculation but accepted by the Augustan-era fasti Capitolini, has become the traditional date.[5]

From the time of Claudius (r. AD 41–51) onward, this calculation superseded other contemporary calculations. Celebrating the anniversary of the city became part of imperial propaganda. Claudius was the first to hold magnificent celebrations in honor of the anniversary of the city, in AD 47,[6][7] the eight hundredth year from the founding of the city.[8] Hadrian, in AD 121, and Antoninus Pius, in AD 147 and AD 148, held similar celebrations respectively.

In AD 248,

Pacatianus
, explicitly states "[y]ear one thousand and first," which is an indication that the citizens of the empire had a sense of the beginning of a new era, a Sæculum Novum.

Calendar era

The

Diocletian era. This convention had been in use since AD 293, the year of the tetrarchy, as it became impractical to use regnal years of the current emperor.[9] In his Easter table, the year AD 532 (AUC 1285) was equated with the 248th regnal year of Diocletian. The table counted the years starting from the presumed birth of Christ, rather than the accession of the emperor Diocletian on 20 November AD 284 or, as stated by Dionysius: "sed magis elegimus ab incarnatione Domini nostri Jesu Christi annorum tempora praenotare" ("but rather we choose to name the times of the years from the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ").[10] Blackburn and Holford-Strevens review interpretations of Dionysius which place the Incarnation in 2 BC, 1 BC, or AD 1.[11]

The year AD 1 corresponds to AUC 754, based on the epoch of Varro. Thus:

AUC Year Event
1 753 BC
Foundation of the Kingdom of Rome
244 510 BC Overthrow of the Roman monarchy
259 495 BC Death in exile of King Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
490 264 BC Punic Wars
709 45 BC First year of the Julian calendar
710 44 BC The assassination of Julius Caesar
727 27 BC Augustus became the first Roman emperor, starting the Principate
753 1 BC Astronomical Year 0
754 AD 1 Approximate birth date of Jesus, approximated by Dionysius Exiguus in AD 525 (AUC 1278)
1000 AD 247 1,000th Anniversary of the City of Rome
1037 AD 284 Diocletian became Roman emperor, starting the Dominate
1229 AD 476 Fall of the Western Roman Empire to the armies of Odoacer
1246 AD 493 Establishment of the Ostrogothic Kingdom
1306 AD 553 Italy under Eastern Roman control
1507 AD 754 Foundation of the Papal States
1553 AD 800 Creation of the Holy Roman Empire
1824 AD 1071 Defeat of the Eastern Romans at the Battle of Manzikert
1957 AD 1204 Sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders
2000 AD 1247 2,000th Anniversary of the City of Rome
2206 AD 1453 Fall of the Eastern Roman Empire
2336 AD 1582 First year of the Gregorian calendar
2559 AD 1806 Abolition of the Holy Roman Empire
2667-2671 AD 1914-1918 World War I
2675 AD 1922 End of the Ottoman Sultanate
2692-2698 AD 1939-1945 World War II
2776 AD 2023 Last year
2777 AD 2024 Current year
2778 AD 2025 Next year

See also

References

  1. ^ "Definition of AB URBE CONDITA". merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Definition of ANNO URBIS CONDITAE". merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  3. .
  4. .
  5. OCLC 31515793. Varro likely arrived at 753 BC by counting seven generations of 35 years from his date for the founding of the republic in 509 BC.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link
    )
  6. ^ Tacitus, Cornelius. Furneaux, Henry (ed.). Annals XI (in Latin) (1907 ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 17. ludi saeculares octingentesimo post Romam conditam
  7. .
  8. ^ Hobler, Francis (1860). Records of Roman history, from Cnaeus Pompeius to Tiberius Constantinus, as exhibited on the Roman coins. London: John Bowyer Nichols. p. 222.
  9. ISSN 0009-6067
    .
  10. ^ Migne, Jacques-Paul. 1865. Liber de Paschate (Patrologia Latina 67), p. 481, § XX, note f
  11. ^ Blackburn, B. & Holford-Strevens, L, The Oxford Companion to the Year (Oxford University Press, 2003 corrected reprinting, originally 1999), pp. 778–780.

External links