Era of Martyrs
The most important era—once widely used by the Eastern Churches, and still used by the Coptic Church—was the Era of Martyrs, also known as the Diocletian Era, whose first year began on August 29, 284.
Respectively to the Gregorian and Julian New Year's Days about three months later, the difference between the Era of Martyrs and the Anni Domini is 285 (= 15x19) years. This is because in AD 525, Dionysius Exiguus decided to add 15 Metonic cycles to the existing 13 Metonic cycles of the Diocletian Era (15x19 + 13x19 = 532) to obtain an entire 532-year medieval Easter cycle, whose first cycle ended with the year Era of Martyrs 247 (= 13x19) equal to year DXXXI. It is also because 532 is the product of the Metonic cycle of 19 years and the Solar cycle of 28 years.
Read more about this topic: Ethiopian Calendar, Eras
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