New Mel Gibson Christ movie

[Crispvs]

Even if he had had the use of 'zero' I doubt that Dionysius would have used it in his dating system. The Anno Domini dating system is not one of simple numbering (ie: number 1, number 2, number 3 etc) but instead uses regnal years as its method of dating as was traditional when referring to points in the reigns of emperors and magistrates.<br>
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Anno domini 1 is the first year of the Lord (note the Latin possessive). No zero is required. Attempts to say that AD1 would be achieved only at the conclusion of 'Year 0' misunderstand the fact that the dating system sees years as complete units, unlike our similar but different method of counting birthdays. Therefore last year became 2003 on 1/1/03 rather than 31/12/03 and 2004 is already underway.<br>
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As a way of noting a person's years in a position, regnal numbering makes more sense than simple numbering starting with zero. A reign must necessarily start in its first year and this, naturally, is followed by the second year and so on. In another example, my first year at university was 1989, even though the exact completion of that accademic cycle came in 1990. Because 1989 was my first year, 1990 was necessarily my second. I did not have a nothing year, just as I do not believe that there was an unrecorded year between Augustus' twenty seventh year of settlement with the Roman people and his twenty eighth year (or the 23rd and 24th for that matter).<br>
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Crispvs <p></p><i></i>