View source for Anno Mundi

{{short description|Calendar era based on the biblical account of creation}}
{{title language|la}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
[[File:Bevis Marks Synagogue P6110036.JPG|thumb|The inscription over the [[Bevis Marks Synagogue]], City of London, gives a year in Anno Mundi (5461) and [[Julian calendar]] (1701) notations.]]<!-- yes, Julian calendar because it was another 50 years before England adopted the Gregorian calendar -->
{{Infobox calendar date today}}
'''{{lang|la|Anno Mundi}}''' (from [[Latin]] 'in the year of the world'; {{langx|he|לבריאת העולם|Livryat haOlam|lit=to the creation of the world}}), abbreviated as '''AM''' or '''A.M.''', or '''Year After Creation''',<ref name=YearAfterCreationChronology /> is a  [[calendar era]] based on biblical accounts of the [[Genesis creation narrative|creation of the world]] and subsequent history. Two such calendar eras of notable use are:

* Since the [[Middle Ages]], the [[Hebrew calendar]] has been based on [[rabbinic]] calculations of the year of creation from the Hebrew [[Masoretic Text]] of the Bible. This calendar is used within Jewish communities for religious purposes and is one of two official calendars in Israel. In the Hebrew calendar, the day begins at sunset. The calendar's epoch, corresponding to the calculated date of the world's creation, is equivalent to sunset on the [[Julian proleptic calendar]] date 6 October 3761 BCE.<ref>{{citation|last1=Dershowitz|first1=Nachum|title=Calendrical Calculations|page=11|year=1997|edition=1st|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-56474-3|last2=Reingold|first2=Edward M.|author1-link=Nachum Dershowitz|author2-link=Edward M. Reingold|title-link=Calendrical Calculations}}</ref> The new year begins at [[Rosh Hashanah]], in [[Tishrei]]. {{lang|la|Anno mundi}} 5785 (meaning the 5,785th year since the creation of the world) began at sunset on October 3, 2024, according to the [[Gregorian calendar]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Hebrew Date Converter|url=https://www.hebcal.com/converter?hd=1&hm=Tishrei&hy=5785&h2g=1|access-date=November 11, 2024|website=hebcal.com}}</ref>
*The [[Byzantine calendar|Creation Era of Constantinople]] was observed by Christian communities within the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] as part of the [[Byzantine Calendar]] and retained by [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]] until 1728. 

While both eras reputedly begin with the creation of the world, their disparity in epoch lies in the biblical texts chosen to infer a year of creation. According to the Septuagint, the Earth seems to have been created roughly around 5500 BCE, and about 3760 BCE based on the Hebrew Masoretic text. Most of the 1,732-year difference resides in numerical discrepancies in the genealogies of the two versions of the [[Book of Genesis]]. Patriarchs from Adam to [[Terah]], the father of [[Abraham]], are said to be older by 100 years or more when they begat their named son in the Septuagint<ref name="LXX5">{{cite web|title=Septuagint Genesis – 5|url=http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/physis/septuagint-genesis/5.asp|work=The Greek Old Testament (Septuagint)|publisher=Elpenor|access-date=February 15, 2013}}</ref><ref name="LXX11">{{cite web|title=Septuagint Genesis – 11|url=http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/physis/septuagint-genesis/11.asp|work=The Greek Old Testament (Septuagint)|publisher=Elpenor|access-date=February 15, 2013}}</ref> than they were in the Latin [[Vulgate]],<ref>{{bibleref|Genesis|5|4}}; {{bibleref|Genesis|11|4}}</ref> or the Hebrew [[Tanakh]].<ref>{{bibleref|Gen|5|JPS}}; {{bibleref|Gen|11|JPS}}</ref> The net difference between the two major [[genealogies of Genesis]] is 1,466 years (ignoring the "second year after [[Genesis flood narrative|the flood]]" ambiguity), 85% of the total difference. (See [[Dating creation]].){{or inline|date=December 2021}}

There are also discrepancies between methods of dating based on the text of the Bible vs. modern academic dating of landmark events used to calibrate year counts, such as the destruction of the [[Solomon's Temple|First Temple]]—see [[Missing years (Jewish calendar)]].

==Jewish tradition==
{{see| Hebrew calendar}}
During the Talmudic era, from the 1st to the 10th centuries [[Common Era|CE]] (38th–48th centuries AM), the center of the Jewish world was in the Middle East, primarily in the [[Talmudic Academies in Babylonia]] and [[Talmudic Academies in Syria Palaestina|Syria Palaestina]]. Jews in these regions used [[Seleucid Era]] dating (also known as the "Anno Graecorum (AG)" or the "Era of Contracts") as the primary method for calculating the calendar year.<ref name=Jones2005>{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Dr. Floyd Nolen |title=Chronology of the Old Testament|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AvVPlyYjX7YC&pg=PA295|year=2005|publisher=New Leaf|isbn=978-1-61458-210-6|pages=295–}}</ref> For example, the writings of [[Josephus]] and the [[Books of the Maccabees]] used Seleucid Era dating exclusively, and the [[Talmud]] tractate [[Avodah Zarah]] states:
{{blockquote|[[Rav]] [[Aha b. Jacob]] then put this question: How do we know that our Era [of Documents] is connected with the Kingdom of Greece at all? Why not say that it is reckoned from the Exodus from Egypt, omitting the first thousand years and giving the years of the next thousand? In that case, the document is really post-dated!

Said [[Rav Nachman|Rav Nahman]]: In the Diaspora the Greek Era alone is used. He [the questioner] thought that Rav Nahman wanted to dispose of him anyhow, but when he went and studied it thoroughly he found that it is indeed taught [in a [[Baraita]]]: In the Diaspora the Greek Era alone is used.<ref>{{cite web|author=Atenebris Adsole |url=http://www.halakhah.com/zarah/zarah_10.html |title=Avodah Zarah, tractate 10 |publisher=Halakhah.com |access-date=2013-08-24}}</ref>}}

===Other epochs: 3760 BCE===
Occasionally in Talmudic writings, reference was made to other starting points for eras, such as Destruction Era dating,{{efn|name=Avodah Zarah}} being the number of years since the 70 CE [[Siege of Jerusalem (70)|destruction of the Second Temple]], and the number of years since the [[dating Creation|Creation year]] based on the calculation in the [[Seder Olam Rabbah]].{{sfn|Kantor|1993|p= 107}} By his calculation, based on the [[Masoretic Text]], [[Adam]] and [[Eve]] were created on 1st of Tishrei ([[Rosh Hashanah]] Day 1) in 3760 [[Before Common Era|BCE]],<ref name=BirthdayAdamEve>{{cite web|title=Birthday of Adam & Eve (3760 BCE) |url=http://www.chabad.org/calendar/view/day_cdo/aid/150485/jewish/Adam-Eve.htm |work=Jewish History |publisher=Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center |access-date=February 15, 2013}}</ref><ref name=Creation>{{cite web |title=Creation (3761 BCE) |url=http://www.chabad.org/calendar/view/day_cdo/aid/156820/jewish/Creation.htm |work=Jewish History |publisher=Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center |access-date=February 15, 2013}}</ref><ref name=JewishYear>"To find the corresponding Jewish year for any year on the Gregorian calendar, add 3760 to the Gregorian number, if it is before Rosh Hashanah. After Rosh Hashanah, add 3761. " {{cite web|title=The Jewish year|url=http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/526875/jewish/The-Jewish-Year.htm|work=About the Jewish Calendar|publisher=Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center|access-date=February 15, 2013}}</ref> later confirmed by the Muslim chronologist [[al-Biruni]] as 3,448 years before the [[Seleucid era]].<ref>See ''[[The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries]]''.</ref> An example is the {{circa|8th-century CE}} [[Baraita of Samuel]].

In the 8th and 9th centuries CE the center of Jewish life moved from Babylonia to Europe, so calculations from the Seleucid era "became meaningless".<ref name=Jones2005 /> From the 11th century, ''anno mundi'' dating became dominant throughout most of the world's Jewish communities, replacing the Seleucid dating system.<ref name=Jones2005 /><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0umDqPOf2L8C&pg=PA87 |title=The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era, Alden A. Mosshammer |date= October 16, 2008|isbn=9780191562365 |access-date=2013-08-24|last1=Mosshammer |first1=Alden A. |publisher=OUP Oxford }}</ref> The new system reached its definitive form in 1178 when [[Maimonides]] completed the ''[[Mishneh Torah]]''. In the section ''Sanctification of the Moon'' (11.16), he wrote of his choice of Epoch, from which calculations of all dates should be made, as "the third day of Nisan in this present year ... which is the year 4938 of the creation of the world" (March 22, 1178).<ref>Solomon Gandz, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3622160 Date of Composition of Maimonides Code], ''Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research'', 17 (1947–1948), pp. 1–7.</ref> He included all the rules for the calculated calendar epoch and their scriptural basis, including the modern epochal year in his work, and establishing the final formal usage of the ''anno mundi'' era.

The first year of the Jewish calendar, Anno Mundi 1 (AM 1), began about one year before creation, so that year is also called the Year of emptiness.
{{efn|Based upon the ''Seder Olam Rabbah''; a minority opinion places Creation on 25 Adar AM 1, six months earlier, or six months after the modern epoch.}} The first five days of Jewish creation week occupy the last five days of AM 1, Elul 25–29. The sixth day of creation, when [[Adam]] and [[Eve]] were created, is the first day of AM 2, [[Rosh Hashanah]] (1 Tishrei). Its associated [[molad]] Adam (molad VaYaD) occurred on Day 6 (yom Vav) at 14 (Yud Daled) hours (and 0 parts). A year earlier, the first day of AM 1, Rosh Hashanah (1 Tishrei), is associated with ''[[molad tohu#Anno Mundi|molad tohu]]'' (new moon of chaos), so named because it occurred before creation when everything was still chaotic—it is also translated as the new moon of nothing. This is also called molad BaHaRaD, because it occurred on Day 2 (yom Beis), 5 (Hei) hours, 204 (Reish Daled) parts (11:11:20&nbsp;pm<ref>In Jerusalem local time – 8:50:23.1 [[UTC]]</ref>). Because this is just before midnight when the Western day begins, but after 6&nbsp;pm when the Jewish calendrical day begins (equivalent to the next tabular day with the same daylight period), its Julian calendar date is 6–7 October 3761 BCE (Gregorian: 6–7 September 3761 BCE or −3760).<ref>{{cite web | url=http://strangeside.com/calendar-when-does-it-start/ | title=Calendar — when does it start | website=strangeside.com | access-date=October 23, 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.tondering.dk/claus/cal/hebrew.php | title=The Hebrew Calendar | last=Tøndering | first=Claus | date=2014 | website=www.tondering.dk | access-date=October 23, 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://hebrewcalendar.tripod.com/luachmail.html#029 | title=Is Creation at AM 1 or AM 2? | last=Landau | first=Remy | date=February 16, 2005 | website=hebrewcalendar.tripod.com | access-date=October 23, 2015 }}</ref>

In Hebrew, Anno Mundi years are labeled "in the year of the world" ({{lang|he|לבריאת העולם}}), while in English they are abbreviated ''AM'' or ''A.M.''. Occasionally, ''Anno Mundi'' is styled as ''Anno Hebraico (AH)'',<ref>{{Chicago 16th |at=9.34|title=Eras}}</ref> though this is subject to confusion with notation for the Islamic [[Hijri year]]. The Jewish Anno Mundi count is sometimes referred to as the "Hebrew era", to distinguish it from other systems such as the [[Byzantine calendar]] (which uses a different calculation of the year since creation.

Thus, adding 3760 before [[Rosh Hashanah]] or 3761 after to a [[Julian calendar]] year number starting from 1 CE will yield the Hebrew year. For earlier years there may be a discrepancy; ''see [[Missing years (Jewish calendar)]]''.

==Greek tradition==
[[File:Rotunda Yard Thessaloniki 05 Jew Tomb remains.JPG|thumb|A Jewish [[gravestone]] using the Year After Creation (Anno Mundi) chronology, found just outside the [[Arch of Galerius and Rotunda|Rotunda]] of [[Thessaloniki]]<ref name=YearAfterCreationChronology>{{cite web|last=Benjaminson|first=Chanii|title=How old was Moses when The Torah was given at Mount Sinai|url=http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/476253/jewish/How-old-was-Moses-when-the-Torah-was-given.htm|publisher=Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center|access-date=February 15, 2013}}</ref>]]
The [[Septuagint]]  was the most scholarly non-Hebrew version of the [[Old Testament]] available to [[early Christian]]s. Many converts already spoke Greek, and it was readily adopted as the preferred vernacular-language rendering for the eastern Roman Empire. The later Latin translation called the [[Vulgate]], an [[Christology|interpretative]] translation from Hebrew and other Greek sources, replaced it in the west after its completion by [[Jerome|St. Jerome]] {{circa|405}}, Latin being the most common vernacular language in those regions.

===Earliest Christian chronology===
The earliest extant Christian writings on the age of the world according to the biblical chronology were therefore based on the Septuagint, due to its early availability. They can be found in the ''Apology to Autolycus'' (''Apologia ad Autolycum'') by [[Theophilus of Antioch|Theophilus]] (AD 115–181), the sixth bishop of Antioch,<ref name="theophilus">[[Theophilus of Antioch]]. ''Theophilus of Antioch to Autolycus.'' Book III. Chapters [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.iv.ii.iii.xxiv.html XXIV] (Adam—Samuel), [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.iv.ii.iii.xxv.html XXV] (Saul—Cyrus), [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.iv.ii.iii.xxvii.html XXVII] (Cyrus—M. Aurelius Verus), [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.iv.ii.iii.xxviii.html Chap. XXVIII] (Adam—M. Aurelius Verus).</ref> and the ''Five Books of Chronology'' by [[Sextus Julius Africanus]] (AD 200–245).<ref>[[Sextus Julius Africanus]]. ''Extant Writings III. The Extant Fragments of the Five Books of the Chronography of Julius Africanus.'' Chapters [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf06/Page_131.html III—VII], [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf06/Page_132.html XI—XII], [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf06.v.v.xiii.html XIII], [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf06/Page_134.html XIV—XV], [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf06.v.v.xvi.html XVI], [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf06.v.v.xvii.html XVII], [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf06.v.v.xviii.html XVIII].</ref>

Theophilus presents a detailed chronology "from the foundation of the world" to emperor Marcus Aurelius.<ref name="theophilus"/> His chronology begins with the biblical first man [[Adam]] through to emperor [[Marcus Aurelius]], in whose reign Theophilus lived. The chronology puts the creation of the world at about 5529 BCE: "All the years from the creation of the world amount to a total of 5,698 years."<ref name="theophilus"/> No mention of Jesus is made in his chronology.

Dr. Ben Zion Wacholder points out that the writings of the [[Church Fathers]] on this subject are of vital significance (even though he disagrees with their chronological system based on the authenticity of the [[Septuagint]], as compared to that of the [[Masoretic Text|Hebrew text]]), in that through the Christian chronographers a window to the earlier Hellenistic biblical chronographers{{efn|name=Eratosthenes}} is preserved:

{{blockquote|An immense intellectual effort was expended during the [[Hellenistic period]] by both Jews and [[Paganism|pagans]] to date [[Genesis creation myth|creation]], [[Flood (mythology)#Biblical deluge|the flood]], [[The Exodus|exodus]], [[Solomon's Temple|building of the Temple]]&nbsp;... In the course of their studies, men such as [[Tatian|Tatian of Antioch]] (flourished in 180), [[Clement of Alexandria]] (died before 215), [[Hippolytus of Rome]] (died in 235), [[Sextus Julius Africanus]] of Jerusalem (died after 240), [[Eusebius of Caesarea]] in Palestine (260–340), and [[Pseudo-Justin]] frequently quoted their predecessors, the Graeco-Jewish biblical chronographers of the Hellenistic period, thereby allowing discernment of more distant scholarship.<ref>Dr. Ben Zion Wacholder. "Biblical Chronology in the Hellenistic World Chronicles". ''The Harvard Theological Review'', Vol.61, No.3 (Jul., 1968), pp. 451–452.</ref>}}

The [[Chronicon (Eusebius)|Chronicon of Eusebius]] (early 4th century) and [[Chronicon (Jerome)|Jerome]] (c. 380, [[Constantinople]]) dated creation to 5199 BCE.<ref name=Barney2006>{{cite book|last=Barney|first=Stephen A. |title=The Penn Commentary on Piers Plowman, Volume 5: C Passus 20–22; B Passus 18–20|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sKsC-txuJIEC&pg=PA69|year=2006|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=0-8122-3921-0|pages=69–}}</ref><ref>[http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/7224/Rick/chron4.htm Fourth Century] (see ''327 Eusebius of Caesarea''). [https://web.archive.org/web/20091020085419/http://geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/7224/Rick/chron4.htm Archived] October 25, 2009.</ref> Earlier editions of the [[Roman Martyrology]] for Christmas Day used this date,<ref>{{Cite CE1913|wstitle=Biblical Chronology | last=Howlett | first=J. A. |volume=3}}</ref> as did the Irish [[Annals of the Four Masters]].<ref>[http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100005A/text025.html from AM 5194 in the Annals at CELT] — [[University College Cork]]'s ''Corpus of Electronic Texts'' project has the full text of the annals online, both in the original Irish and in O'Donovan's translation</ref>

===Alexandrian era===
{{redirect|Alexandrian era|the period of Alexander the Great and his successors|Hellenistic period}}
The Alexandrian era was conceived and calculated in AD 412. After the initial attempts of [[Hippolytus of Rome|Hippolytus]], [[Clement of Alexandria]], and others the Alexandrian computation of the date of creation was calculated to be 25 March 5493 BCE.<ref>{{cite book|author=Elias J Bickerman|title=Chronology of the Ancient World (Aspects of Greek & Roman Life)|year=1980|publisher=Cornell Univ. Press|location=Ithaca, N.Y.|isbn=0-8014-1282-X|edition=2nd sub|page=[https://archive.org/details/chronologyofanci00bick/page/73 73]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/chronologyofanci00bick/page/73}}</ref>

The Alexandrian monk [[Panodorus of Alexandria|Panodorus]] reckoned 5,904 years from Adam to AD 412. His years began on August 29, which corresponded to the [[Thout|First of Thoth]], the first day of the [[Egyptian calendar]].<ref>Rev. Philip Schaff (1819–1893), ed. "Era". ''[[Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge]]''. New Edition, 13 Vols., 1908–14. [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc04/Page_163.html Vol. 4, page 163].</ref> [[Annianus of Alexandria]], however, preferred the Annunciation style for New Year's Day, i.e., March 25, and shifted Panodorus' era by circa six months to begin on March 25. This created the Alexandrian era, whose first day was the first day of the proleptic{{efn|A calendar obtained by extension earlier in time than its invention or implementation; it is denominated the "proleptic" version of the calendar.}} Alexandrian civil year in progress, 29 August 5493 BCE, with the ecclesiastical year beginning on 25 March 5493 BCE.

{{blockquote|This system presents in a masterly sort of way the mystical coincidence of the three main dates of the world's history: the beginning of Creation, the [[Incarnation (Christianity)|Incarnation]], and the [[Resurrection of Jesus|Resurrection]] of [[Jesus Christ|Christ]]. All these events happened, according to the Alexandrian chronology, on the 25th of March; furthermore, the first two events were separated by the period of exactly 5500 years; the first and the third one occurred on Sunday – the sacred day of the beginning of the Creation and its renovation through Christ.<ref name="KUZENKOV-2">Pavel Kuzenkov (Moscow). "[http://www.wra1th.plus.com/byzcong/comms/Kuzenkov_paper.pdf How old is the World? The Byzantine era κατα Ρωμαίους and its rivals]" ({{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715093926/http://www.wra1th.plus.com/byzcong/comms/Kuzenkov_paper.pdf |date=July 15, 2011 }}) ''21st International Congress of Byzantine Studies'', London, 2006, pages 2–4.</ref>}}

[[Pope Dionysius of Alexandria|Dionysius of Alexandria]] had earlier emphatically quoted mystical justifications for the choice of March 25 as the beginning of the year:
{{blockquote|25 March was considered to be the anniversary of Creation itself. It was the first day of the year in the medieval [[Julian calendar]] and the nominal vernal equinox (it had been the actual equinox at the time when the Julian calendar was originally designed). Considering that Christ was conceived at that date turned March 25 into the Feast of the [[Annunciation]] which had to be followed, nine months later, by the celebration of the [[Nativity of Christ|birth of Christ]], Christmas, on 25 December.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}}}

Church fathers such as [[Maximus the Confessor]] and [[Theophanes the Confessor]], and chroniclers such as [[George Syncellus]] adopted the ''Alexandrian Era'' of 25 March 5493 BCE. Its striking mysticism made it popular in Byzantium, especially in monasteries. However, this masterpiece of Christian symbolism had two grave problems, namely historical inaccuracy regarding the date of the [[Resurrection of Jesus|Resurrection]] as determined by its Easter [[w:Computus|computus]],{{efn|name=computus1}} and its incompatibility with the [[Gospel]] of [[John the Apostle|Saint John]] regarding the date of the [[Crucifixion of Jesus|Crucifixion]] on the Friday after Passover.<ref name="KUZENKOV-2"/>

===''Chronicon Paschale''===
A new variant of the ''World Era'' was suggested in the ''[[Chronicon Paschale]]'', a valuable Byzantine universal chronicle of the world, composed {{Circa|AD 630|lk=no}} by some representative of the Antiochian scholarly tradition.<ref name="KUZENKOV-2"/> It dates the creation of [[Adam]] to 21 March 5507 BCE.

For its influence on Greek Christian chronology, and also because of its wide scope, the ''Chronicon Paschale'' takes its place beside [[Eusebius of Caesarea|Eusebius]], and the chronicle of the monk [[George Syncellus|Georgius Syncellus]]<ref>[[George Syncellus|George Synkellos]]. ''The Chronography of George Synkellos: a Byzantine Chronicle of Universal History from the Creation''. Transl. Prof. Dr. William Adler & Paul Tuffin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.</ref> which was so important in the Middle Ages; but in respect of form it is inferior to these works.<ref>{{cite CE1913|last=Van der Essen|first= Léon|wstitle= Chronicon Paschale|volume=3}}</ref>

===Byzantine era===
The Creation Era of Constantinople or [[Byzantine era]] of the world was the official era of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] from {{Circa|AD 691|lk=no}} to 1728 in the [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople|Ecumenical Patriarchate]]. By the late 10th century the era, which had become fixed at 1 September 5509 BC since at least the mid-7th century (differing by 16 years from the Alexandrian date, and by 2 years from the ''[[Chronicon Paschale]]''), had become widely accepted by [[Chalcedonian Christianity]]. The Byzantine era was used as part of the civil calendar of the [[Byzantine Empire]] from AD 988 to 1453, and by [[Russian Orthodox Church|Russia]] from c. AD 988 to 1699.<ref>{{cite book |title=Полное собрание законов Российской империи. Том III |trans-title=Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire. Volume III. |page=682  |entry=Ukase No. 1735 |entry-url=https://viewer.rsl.ru/ru/rsl01003821638?page=682&rotate=0&theme=white |date=December 10, 1699 }}</ref>{{better source|reason=This citation is valid for the Decree ("[[Ukase]]") of Peter the Great, by which Russia moved to the AD notation. However it does not say anything about when Russia adopted the Byzantine era.|date=June 2023}} Its computation was derived from the [[Septuagint]] [[Bible|Biblical]] translation and placed the date of creation at September 1, 5,509 years before the [[Anno Domini|Christian Era]]. September 1 remains the first day of the Orthodox liturgical year. The "year of creation" was generally expressed in Greek as ''Etos Kosmou'', literally "year of the universe."

It is now rarely used save for in [[Eastern Orthodox]] [[Eastern Christian monasticism|monasteries]], for example, on [[Mount Athos]] in Greece<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mt-athos-a-visit-to-the-holy-mountain/ |title=Mt. Athos: A visit to the Holy Mountain |work=[[CBS News]] |date=April 21, 2011 |page=4 |access-date=January 2, 2012}}</ref> and [[Mar Saba]] monastery in the [[West Bank]]. [[Ethiopia]] (where a branch of the [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Orthodox church]] is the largest religion of the country) also uses [[Time in Ethiopia|this type of timing]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-01-30/if-you-have-meeting-ethiopia-you-better-double-check-time|title=If you have a meeting in Ethiopia, you'd better double check the time|work=Public Radio International|access-date=2018-03-13|language=en-US}}</ref>

===Western Church===
[[File:Ballybough Cemetery gate lodge 2020 03.jpg|thumb|Inscription in [[Ballybough Cemetery]], Ireland, indicating Anno Mundi 5618 (AD 1857)]]
Western Christianity never fully adopted an Anno Mundi epoch system, and did not at first produce chronologies based on the Vulgate that were in contrast to the Eastern calculations from the Septuagint. Since the Vulgate was not completed until only a few years before the [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire#408–410; the end of effective regular field armies, starvation in Italy, sack of Rome|sack of Rome]] by the Goths, there was little time for such developments before the political upheavals that followed in the West. Whatever the reasons, the West eventually came to rely instead on the independently developed [[Anno Domini]] (AD) epoch system. AM dating did continue to be of interest for liturgical reasons; however, since it was of direct relevance to the [[date of birth of Jesus]] (AM 5197–5199) and the [[Passion of Christ]] (AM 5228–5231). For example, [[Bede]] in his World-Chronicle (Chapter 66 of his ''[[De Temporum Ratione]]'', On the Reckoning of Time), dated all events using an epoch he derived from the Vulgate which set the birth of Christ as AM 3952.<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Landes
  | first = Richard
  | author-link = Richard Landes
  | title = Relics, Apocalypse, and the Deceits of History
  | publisher = Harvard UP
  | year = 1995
  | location = Cambridge
  | page = 291}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
  | last = Wallis
  | first = Faith
  | title = Bede: The Reckoning of Time 
  | publisher = Liverpool UP
  | year = 1999
  | location = Liverpool
  | pages = 3–4; 157–237; 239; 358
  | isbn = 0-85323-693-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
  | last = Duncan
  | first = Edwin
  | title = Fears of the Apocalypse: The Anglo-Saxons and the Coming of the First Millennium
  | journal = Religion & Literature
  | volume = 31
  | issue = 1
  | pages = 15–23; 23 n.6
  | year = 1999}}
</ref>  In his ''Letter to Plegwin'', Bede explained the difference between the two epochs.<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Wallis
  | first = Faith
  | title = Bede: The Reckoning of Time 
  | publisher = Liverpool UP
  | year = 1999
  | location = Liverpool
  | pages = 407–412
  | isbn = 0-85323-693-3}}</ref>

==See also==
* {{anli|Anno Lucis}}
* [[Chronology of the Bible]]
* {{anli|Common Era}}, non-sectarian notation
* {{anli|Dating creation}}
* {{anli|Epoch (reference date)}}
* {{anli|Scottish Rite}}, uses AM dating in its rituals
* ''[[Tyr (album)|Tyr]]'', a music album by heavy metal band [[Black Sabbath]]: the opening track is called "Anno Mundi"

== References ==
===Notes===
{{notelist|refs=

{{efn|name=Eratosthenes|[[Eratosthenes|Eratosthenes of Cyrene ]] (275–194 BCE) represented contemporary Alexandrian scholarship; [[Eupolemus]], a Palestinian Jew and a friend of [[Judas Maccabeus|Judah Maccabee]], writing in 158 BCE, is said to have been the first historian who synchronized Greek history in accordance with the theory of the Mosaic origin of culture. By the time of the 1st century BCE, a world chronicle had synchronized Jewish and Greek history and had gained international circulation: [[Alexander Polyhistor]] (flourishing in 85–35 BCE); [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]] (116–27 BCE); Ptolemy priest of Mendes (50 BCE), who is cited by [[Tatian]] (''Oratio ad Graecos'', 38); [[Apion]] (1st century AD); [[Thrasyllus of Mendes|Thrasyllus]] (before AD 36); and [[Thallus (historian)|Thallus]] (1st century AD) – all cited chronicles which had incorporated the dates of the [[Noachite]] flood and the exodus. (Dr. Ben Zion Wacholder. "Biblical Chronology in the Hellenistic World Chronicles". in ''The Harvard Theological Review'', Vol.61, No.3 (July 1968), pp. 451–452.}}

{{efn|name=Avodah Zarah|[http://www.halakhah.com/zarah/zarah_9.html Avodah Zarah, tractate 9] Footnote: "The Eras in use among Jews in Talmudic Times are: (a) ERA OF CONTRACTS [H] dating from the year 380 before the Destruction of the Second Temple (312–1 BCE) when, at the Battle of Gaza, Seleucus Nicator, one of the followers of Alexander the Great, gained dominion over Palestine. It is also termed Seleucid or Greek Era [H]. Its designation as Alexandrian Era connecting it with Alexander the Great (Maim. Yad, Gerushin 1, 27) is an anachronism, since Alexander died in 323 BCE – eleven years before this Era began (v. E. Mahler, Handbuch der judischen Chronologie, p. 145). This Era, which is first mentioned in Mac. I, 10, and was used by notaries or scribes for dating all civil contracts, was generally in vogue in eastern countries till the 16th cent, and was employed even in the 19th cent, among the Jews of Yemen, in South Arabia (Eben Saphir, Lyck, 1866, p. 62b). (b) THE ERA OF THE DESTRUCTION (of the Second Temple) [H] the year 1 of which corresponds to 381 of the Seleucid Era, and 69–70 of the Christian Era. This Era was mainly employed by the Rabbis and was in use in Palestine for several centuries, and even in the later Middle Ages documents were dated by it. One of the recently discovered Genizah documents bears the date 13 Tammuz 987 after the Destruction of the Temple – i.e. 917 C.E. — (Op. cit. p. 152, also Marmorstein ZDMG, Vol. VI, p. 640). The difference between the two Eras as far as the tens and units are concerned is thus 20. If therefore a Tanna, say in the year 156 Era of Dest. (225 C.E.), while remembering, naturally, the century, is uncertain about the tens and units, he should ask the notary what year it is according to his – Seleucid – era. He will get the answer 536 (156 + 380), on adding 20 to which he would get 556, the last two figures giving him the year [1] 56 of the Era of Destruction."}}

{{efn|name=computus1|In the commonly used 19‐year Easter moon cycle, there was no year when the Passover (the first spring full moon, Nisan 14) would coincide with Friday and the traditional date of the Passion, March 25; according to Alexandrian system the date would have to have been Anno Mundi 5533 <nowiki>=</nowiki> 42(!)AD.}}

}}

===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book|first=Mattis|last=Kantor|title=The Jewish time line encyclopedia: a year-by-year history from Creation to present|publisher=Jason Aronson|location=Northvale, N.J.|date=1993|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1SD_AQAAQBA}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
{{refend}}

{{Chronology}}
{{Calendars}}

[[Category:Byzantine calendar]]
[[Category:Calendar eras]]
[[Category:Hebrew calendar]]
[[Category:Latin words and phrases]]
[[Category:Genesis creation narrative]]