What does AD stand for?

If you have ever studied history, then you must have come across ‘BC’ and ‘AD’ next to the year number.

Did you or do you know what it stands for? We have the answer for you here.

What Does AD and BC Stand For?

While ‘BC’ stands for ‘Before Christ,' ‘AD’ stands for ‘Anno Domini.' The latter is Latin for ‘in the year of our lord.' In common use, BC and AD are used to count the year in time. In this system, Jesus Christ’s birth is used as the starting year of the current era.

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Who Invented This System?

It was in the Middle Ages, in the early sixth century that a monk by the name of Dionysius Exiguus came up with the BC/AD system for labeling years. He was commissioned by the Pope himself to find the correct date of Easter. Though his method of counting determined that Jesus Christ was born in the year AD 1, the son of God was actually born a few years earlier, in 4 BC to be precise.

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What Was Used Before Its Invention?

Before the BC and AD system of counting years was developed, years were identified by their relation to the then ruler. While this system worked well for the local records, the expanding influence of the Catholic Church which now sprawled over several different nations with their unique rulers rendered it impractical. The system also had an unpleasant propensity to recognize hated rulers in something as mundane as the date.

This is when Dionysius Exiguus set out to establish an entirely new system, which eliminated ambiguity and was acceptable in all parts of the world. The monk first considered basing years on Emperor Diocletian, who persecuted Christians about 250 years ago. However, he decided to determine the year of Christ’s birth, which he figured happened 525 years ago and rewrote the entire calendar based on that.

It wasn’t until the seventeenth century that BC came into popular use. You must have also come across the usage of CE and BCE. It was when the scientific and secular individuals refused to recognize a religious system, the numerical portion of it was kept, but BC was converted into BCE, meaning ‘Before Common Era’ and AD was converted into CE, meaning ‘Common Era.'

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So, that is what AD and BC stand for. Was the article any help? Tell us through your comments in the box below.