Origin
of Year 0 and AD, BC
Counting
years according to our modern system was suggested by the monk Dionysius
Exiguus in the 6th century and more commonly adopted in the 9th
century.
Before
that, Christianity counted years by the reign of the Roman emperor,
or according to the biblically-calculated time since Adam, or Anno
Mundi (AM). The AM count was based upon biblical passages. In particular,
it used a 12 hour analogy, with Jesus appearing at the 11th hour.
Unfortunately, this calendar had the world coming to an end around
500 AD.
Dionysius
proposed an alternative calendar that set the year 0 to Christ's
incarnation upon the world based upon the history available to him,
and to the beginning of the age of Pisces (where new years began
with the sun in the constellation of Pisces). Pisces, the sign of
the fish, was linked to the first Christian symbol, ICHTHYS (i.e.,
fish in Latinised Greek). It also made the end of the age of Pisces
occur close to an auspicious alignment of the 5 major planets in
2003.
Explained here in
more detail
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