A request on dates - please use AD/BC as unit suffixes

[panairjdde]

Strange how the Christians lived for several millennia using Roman, Greek and Norse gods, but the PC crowd can't suffer one Judaeo-Christian one!

Do you think the answer might lie in the fact that the Pagan religion has been dead for centuries while Christianity is alive and kicking?

No I wouldn't think so. Because at the time it was common practise to root out many signs of non-Christian religions. So one could expect that the names of days and months would also be altered. Yet they weren't.

As far as I know the "PC crowd" lives now, and now the Pagan religions have been dead for centuries, while Christianity is still alive...

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Strange how the Christians lived for several millennia using Roman, Greek and Norse gods, but the PC crowd can't suffer one Judaeo-Christian one!

Do you think the answer might lie in the fact that the Pagan religion has been dead for centuries while Christianity is alive and kicking?

Christianity as we know it is just a combination of a lot of other religions from Greek, to Roman, to Hebrew, to Norse and e.g. Mithraism. E.g. when is the "sabbath"? It's not on Saturday - but on Sunday, the day of rest in Rome. When in Xmas day? On the 25th December - the day that was the solstice in Rome before they altered the calendar. Much of what we call "Christianity" is "pagan".

But the same is true of  Judaism - had you ever wondered why they worship in a Synagogue - from the Greek word meaning "assembly" - the answer is that by the time of the 1st Century, most people in Palestine spoke Greek and did so in their religious meetings. Palestine was very Greek, so much so that they incorporated a lot of Greek ideas into what is now called judaism.

So, the modern idea of a pure, authentic original "jewish religion" is like so many religions, very much a reinvention ... if you then look at this original "jewish" religion there were multiple gods, sacrifices ... it clearly took ideas from places like Canaan & as I said Greece... and it was basically what we would call "pagan" ... but even the modernisation of the religion with a single god was Egyptian in origin ... although Alexander also popularised it!!

I don't understand how this is relevant to our discussion

[Abel Roldao Santos]

The only european language were part of the name of week days are not old gods is the Portuguese !
St Martin of Braga changed that in the V th century :
Monday - Segunda -feira
Terça-feira
Quarta-feira
Quinta-feira
Friday - Sexta-feira

[Flavivs Aetivs]

The Journal of Late Antiquity requires usue of CE/BCE.

And yeah I think CE/BCE is just as arbitrary and stupid as AD/BC, but I grew up with AD/BC so that's what I use and the PC police can go jump in a cactus garden.

[ValentinianVictrix]

I am afraid anyone claiming that Pagan religion is dead and has been for centuries is unfortunately misinformed. It was driven underground but never fully eradicated. There has been a massive resurgence in Pagan beliefs, to the extent that the worship of Odin is now an officially recognised religion in at least one Scandinavian country.

[Crispianus]

I am afraid anyone claiming that Pagan religion is dead and has been for centuries is unfortunately misinformed. It was driven underground but never fully eradicated. There has been a massive resurgence in Pagan beliefs, to the extent that the worship of Odin is now an officially recognised religion in at least one Scandinavian country.

Always did prefer Valhalla....

Gods Teeth, it should APC/BPC..... After/ before Politically Corrected.....

[Dan D'Silva]

Well, this thread has me convinced.

I'm switching to CE dates from now on

[Alanus]

CE?? In what year did the Common Era begin?
Was it AD1 ?

[Dan D'Silva]

"Common Era"?  I thought it stood for Confuse Everyone.

(at least the college freshmen...)

[D B Campbell]

Edward Luttwak was using BCE/CE back in the 70s in The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire.

Without wishing to join the debate, I must just point out that Luttwak used B.C. / A.D. in his 1976 book. (You must have the trendy "corrected" reprint of 2016.   )

[Nathan Ross]

Luttwak used B.C. / A.D. in his 1976 book. (You must have the trendy "corrected" reprint of 2016.   )

Goodness, I didn't know that Luttwak had been 'corrected'! (or not in that sense, anyway...)

Did the author himself decide on the change, do you know? It seems an odd gesture - the vast majority of recent books (even ones by trendy academics from the USA!) seem to use BC/AD without a qualm.

[D B Campbell]

Goodness, I didn't know that Luttwak had been 'corrected'! (or not in that sense, anyway...)

Original 1976 hardback and 1979 paperback (note subtitle):
   

New "fortieth anniversary" edition (note "corrected" subtitle):
   

[Atrebates Man]

Where did this trendy BC/AD nonsense come from?

All correct thinkers should know that this is the 1,541st year of the reign of the glorious  Emperor Romulus Augustus!

[XorX]

CE?? In what year did the Common Era begin?
Was it AD1 ?

in AD0 as every well-informed scholar should know!!

[Alanus]

Excuse me, Jurgen. I consider myself reasonably well-informed. There is no AD0 or 0BC, both start with a 1, aka "1" or "one." 

[ValentinianVictrix]

It is bizarre that year one AD starts on 01/01/00 and ends on 31/12/01!