Historical chronology, as you know, is divided into two periods. At the beginning there was a time that contemporaries call the stage BC. It ends with the onset of the first year. At this time, our era began, which continues to this day. And although today, when calling the year, people do not say "BC. E.", Nevertheless, this is implied.
First calendars
The process of human evolution has created the need to streamline dates and times. The ancient farmer needed to know as precisely as possible what time it was best for him to sow the seeds, and the nomad breeder - when to move to other territories in order to manage to provide his cattle with feed.
So the very first calendars began to appear. And they were based on observations of celestial bodies and nature. Different peoples also had temporary calendars that differed from each other. For example, the Romans kept their chronology from the day of the founding of Rome - from 753 BC, while the Egyptians - from the first moment of the reign of each of the dynasties of the pharaohs. Many religions created their own calendars. For example, in Islam, a new era begins with the year the Prophet Muhammad was born.
Julian and Gregorian calendars
In 45 BC, Guy Julius Caesar founded his calendar. In it, the year began on the first of January and lasted twelve months. This calendar was called Julian.
The one we use today was introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory the Twelfth. He managed to eliminate some significant inaccuracies accumulated from the first Ecumenical Council. At that time, they were as much as ten days. The difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars is increasing by about a day for every century, and today is already thirteen days.
Chronology always plays a big role in history. After all, it is important to imagine in what period of time a significant event in the life of mankind occurred, whether it was the creation of the first tools or the beginning of the Hundred Years War. A story without dates is said to be like math without numbers.
Religious form of chronology
Since the beginning of our era is calculated from the year that is considered the birth date of Jesus, the religious version often uses the corresponding record: from the Nativity of Christ to him. Until now, there are no completely accurate historical data about when life appeared on our planet. And only based on religious and historical artifacts, scientists can draw conclusions about when this or that event roughly happened. In this case, BC are indicated in chronological order.
Zero year
The mention of the section between the time before and after Christmas is associated with the calculation in the astronomical record made according to the numbers of integers on the coordinate axis. It is not customary to use the zero year in either religious or secular notations. But it is very common in astronomical records and in ISO 8601 - an international standard issued by an organization such as the International Organization for Standardization. It describes the format of dates and times and provides recommendations for their use in an international context.
Countdown
The concept of “BC” gained its popularity in the chronology after its use by the Honorable Beda, a Benedictine monk. He wrote about him in one of his treatises. And already starting from 731, the calculation of time was divided into two periods: BC and after it. Gradually, almost all countries in Western Europe began to switch to this calendar. The most recent of these was Portugal. It happened on August 22, 1422. Until January 1, 1700, Russia used the chronological calculus of the Constantinople era. The Christian era “from the creation of the world” was adopted as a starting point in it. By and large, the basis of many eras was the relationship between the "days of the creation of the world" and the entire duration of its existence. And the Constantinople was created under Constance, and the chronology of it was carried out from September 1, 5509 BC. However, since this emperor was not a “consistent Christian,” his name, and at the same time his compiled countdown, are reluctantly mentioned.
Prehistoric and historical era
History is a prehistoric and historical era. The first of them begins with the appearance of the first person, and ends when writing appeared. The prehistoric era is divided into several time periods. The basis of their classification are archaeological finds. These materials, from which people BC made tools, the period when they used them, formed the basis for the reconstruction of not only the time frame, but also the names of the stages of the prehistoric era.
The historical era consists of the periods of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, as well as the New and Modern times. In different countries, they came at different times, so scientists are not able to determine their exact time frame.
The beginning of our era
It is well known that a new era at the very beginning was not calculated by a continuous countdown of years, for example, from the first year to, say, the current one. Her chronology began much later, with the date of the birth of Christ. It is believed that the first Roman monk named her Dionysius the Small in the sixth century, that is, more than five hundred years after the dated event. To get the result, Dionysius first counted the date of the Resurrection of Christ, based on church tradition that the Son of God was crucified in the thirty-first year of life.
The date of his Resurrection, according to the Roman monk, is March 25, 5539 according to the calendar of years “from Adam,” and, therefore, became the year of the Nativity of Christ, 5508, by the Byzantine era. I must say that the calculations of Dionysius until the fifteenth century were doubted in the West. In Byzantium itself they were never recognized as canonical.
History BC
From the seventh to the third millennium BC, there was a Neolithic era on the planet - the period of the transition of the appropriating form of economy, namely hunting and gathering, to producing - agriculture and cattle breeding. At this time, weaving, grinding of stone tools and pottery appeared.
The end of the fourth - the beginning of the first millennium BC: the Bronze Age reigns on the planet. Metal and bronze weapons are spreading, nomadic herders appear. The Bronze Age was replaced by the Iron. At this time, the first and second dynasties ruled in Egypt, uniting the country into a single centralized state.
In the years 2850-2450 BC. e. began the economic boom of Sumerian civilization. From 2800 to 1100 rises the Aegean, or the culture of Ancient Greece. Almost at the same time, Indian civilization arose in the Indus Valley, and the kingdom of Troy was at its highest peak.
Around 1190 BC e. the powerful Hittite power collapsed. After almost four decades, the king of Elam conquered Babylonia, and his power flourished.
In the years 1126-1105 BC. e. the reign of the Babylonian sovereign Nebuchadnezzar came. In 331, the first state was formed in the Caucasus. In 327 BC e. was the Indian company of Alexander the Great. A lot of events took place during this period, including the revolt of slaves in Sicily, the Allied War, the Mithridates War, the campaign of Mark Anthony against the Parthians, the reign of Emperor Augustus.
And finally, between the eighth and fourth years BC, Christ was born.
New Chronology
Different peoples have always had a different concept of reckoning. Each state solved this problem independently, while being guided by both religious and political motives. And only by the nineteenth century did all Christian states establish a single reference point, which is still used today under the name "our era." The calendar of the ancient Mayans, the Byzantine era, the Hebrew chronology, Chinese - they all had their date of creation of the world.
For example, the Japanese calendar began in 660 BC and was updated after each death of the emperor. The Buddhist era will soon enter the year 2484, and the Hindi calendar in 2080. The Aztecs updated their chronology once every 1454, after the death and rebirth of the Sun. Therefore, if their civilization did not die, for them today would be only 546 years of a new era ...
Ancient world map
BC travelers were also interested in the world and made drawings of their routes. They transferred them to tree bark, sand or papyrus. The first world map appeared many millennia before the new era. Rock paintings became one of the first images. While people were scouting the Earth, they became especially interested in ancient maps of past eras. Some of them represent our planet as a huge island washed by the ocean, on others you can already see the outlines of the continents.
Babylonian map
The very first map created BC was a small clay tablet found in Mesopotamia. It dates from the end of the eighth - the beginning of the seventh century before our reckoning and is the only one that came to us from the Babylonians. The land on it is surrounded by seas called “salt water”. Beyond the water are triangles, obviously indicating mountains of distant lands.
On this map the state of Urartu (modern Armenia), Assyria (Iraq), Elam (Iran) and Babylon itself are indicated, in the middle of which the Euphrates flows.
Eratosthenes Map
Even the ancient Greeks represented the Earth as a sphere and quite gracefully argued for it. Pythagoras, for example, said that everything is harmonious in nature, and the most perfect form in it is the ball in the form of which our planet exists. The first map, compiled taking into account this image of the Earth, belongs to Eratosthenes. He lived in the third century BC in Cyrene. It is believed that this scientist, who headed the Library of Alexandria, coined the term “geography”. It was he who, for the first time before our era, drew the world on parallels and meridians and called them "walking alongside" or "midday" lines. The world of Eratosthenes was one island that was washed by the North from above and the Atlantic Ocean from below. It was divided into Europe, Ariana and Arabia, India and Scythia. In the south was Taproban - the current Ceylon.
At the same time, it seemed to Eratosthenes that on the other hemisphere there were “antipodes,” which were impossible to reach. After all, people then, including the ancient Greeks, thought that the equator was so hot that the sea was boiling there, and all living things were burned up. And on the contrary, the poles are very cold, and not a single person survives there.
Ptolemy Map
For several centuries, another map of the world was considered the main one. It was compiled by the ancient Greek scholar Claudius Ptolemy. Created about one hundred and fifty years BC, it was part of the eight-volume "Guide to Geography."
At Ptolemy, Asia occupied space from the North Pole to the equator, displacing the Pacific Ocean, while Africa smoothly flowed into terra incognita, occupying the entire South Pole. In the north of Scythia there was a mythical Hyperborea, and nothing was said about America or Australia. Thanks to this map, Columbus began to get to India, while sailing to the west. And even after the discovery of America, they continued to use the map from Ptolemy for some time.