Era of Martyrs

When Dionysius Exiguus continued those tables for an additional 95 years, he replaced the anno Diocletiani era with his anno Domini era because he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians. The anno Domini era became dominant in the Latin West but was not used in the Greek East until modern times.

The anno Diocletiani era was not the only one used by early Christians. Most Roman Christians, like the pagan Romans before them, designated their years by naming the two consuls who held office that year. The Romans also used the Ab urbe condita (AUC) era. Its name is Latin for "from the founding of the City (Rome)." However, the AUC era was hardly ever used outside historical treatises.

In the second and third centuries AD, some Eastern Christians used an era that began at the birth of Jesus. It was soon replaced by eras that began at Creation, called anno Mundi eras, which became the dominant method of numbering years in the East until modern times. Annianus of Alexandria, a monk who flourished at the beginning of the fifth century, placed the epoch of his world era on March 25, 5492 BC by counting back eleven 532-year paschal cycles from anno Diocletiani 77, itself four 19-year lunar cycles after anno Diocletiani 1. Regarded as a civil rather than a religious era, it began on the first day of the Alexandrian year, August 29, 5493 BC. This Alexandrian era was the preferred era used by Byzantine Christians such as Maximus the Confessor until the Byzantine era, having an epoch of September 1, 5509 BC, became dominant in the tenth century. Both eras used a version of dating Creation based on the Septuagint.

Christians in Spain used the aera Hispanica, dated from the full integration of Spain into the Roman Empire in 38 BC, from the fifth century AD well into the Middle Ages.

See also

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Category:Calendar eras Category:Chronology Category:Persecution of early Christians