The Byzantine calendar, also "Creation Era of Constantinople," or "Era of the World" (Ancient Greek: Ἔτη Γενέσεως Κόσμου κατὰ Ῥωμαίους, also Ἔτος Κτίσεως Κόσμου or Ἔτος Κόσμου) was the calendar used by the Eastern Orthodox Church from c. 691 to 1728 in the Ecumenical Patriarchate. It was also the official calendar of the Byzantine Empire from 988 to 1453, and in Russia from c. 988 to 1700.
The calendar is based on the Julian calendar except that the year started on 1 September and the year number used an Anno Mundi epoch derived from the Septuagint version of the Bible. It placed the date of creation at 5509 years before the Incarnation, and was characterized by a certain tendency which had already been a tradition amongst Jews and early Christians to number the years from the foundation of the world. (Latin: Annus Mundi /‘Ab Origine Mundi’ (AM)). Its year one, the supposed date of creation, was September 1, 5509 BC to August 31, 5508 BC.
Read more about Byzantine Calendar: History, Accounts in Church Fathers, Accounts in Byzantine Authors, Criticism, Summary, Key Dates According To The Byzantine Era
Famous quotes containing the word calendar:
“To divide one’s life by years is of course to tumble into a trap set by our own arithmetic. The calendar consents to carry on its dull wall-existence by the arbitrary timetables we have drawn up in consultation with those permanent commuters, Earth and Sun. But we, unlike trees, need grow no annual rings.”
—Clifton Fadiman (b. 1904)