Common Era

Era names equivalent to AD/BC Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are conventions used in the Gregorian or Julian calendar to specify whether the year is before or after the epoch. They correspond exactly to Anno Domini (AD) and Before Christ (BC): "2026 CE" is the same year as "AD 2026", as are "400 BCE" and "400 BC". BCE/CE are used to avoid religious associations by not referring to Jesus as Dominus ('Lord'). History Anno Domini Around the year 525, the Christian monk Dionysius Exiguus devised the principle of taking the moment that he believed to be the date of the incarnation of Jesus to be the point from which years are numbered (the epoch) of the Christian ecclesiastical calendar. Dionysius labeled the column of the table in which he introduced the new era as "Anni Domini Nostri Jesu Christi" ('the years of our Lord Jesus Christ'). He did this to replace the Era of the Martyrs system (then used for some Easter tables) because he did not wish to continue the memory of the tyrant who persecuted Christians. This way of numbering years became more widespread in Europe, with Bede using it in England in 731. Bede also introduced the practice of dating years before 1 ba