this post was submitted on 21 May 2024
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[–] GreatTitEnthusiast@mander.xyz 115 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Took me a second

They wouldn't call the year 59 bc in 59 bc

[–] Unbeelievable@beehaw.org 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They would probably not speak Modern English either.

[–] RGB3x3@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Okay, honest question: what did they call it then, if anything?

Because it's not like they planned on counting down to the future "messiah's" birthday.

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 40 points 1 year ago (3 children)

You have to look at non-Christian calendars.

It was 2275 in Korea.

It was 265 of the 33rd dynasty in Egypt.

It was 2 of the 180th Olympiad in Greece.

More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/59_BC

[–] Holzkohlen@feddit.de 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Damn, so Korea went back in time? Or what are they on now? Did they hit 40K yet? Do they count in dog years? Do they inflate their numbers so it sounds cooler? Have the halfed it, when they split the country in half? I demand answers Korea!

[–] SomethingBurger@jlai.lu 7 points 1 year ago

North Korea is at 113; they use their own calendar.

[–] EddoWagt@feddit.nl 7 points 1 year ago

I now realise that I know absolutely nothing of Korean history

I like the Chinese version best

辛酉年 (Metal Rooster) 2639 or 2432

[–] maculata@aussie.zone -3 points 1 year ago

None of them matter. They’re just funny jibber-jabber.

[–] charonn0@startrek.website 31 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The Romans named their years after who was elected Consul that year. There were two Consuls, so you'd say "in the consulship of Jones and Smith". 59BC was Julius Caesar and some other guy. The other guy was so unimportant that Romans joked by calling it the consulship of "Julius and Caesar".

[–] positiveWHAT@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Humour like that makes ancient people so much more relatable.

[–] TwanHE@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

Some humour transcends lifetimes, we were carving dicks into walls before the first century.

[–] Justas@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 year ago

"Three men, a greek, a roman and a celt each get an island.

The greek writes a book about flora and fauna of his island.

The roman, realising that the island does not need to be conquered, builds a house, a road to the shore and a statue to himself.

The celt starts a fight."

[–] Rinox@feddit.it 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

In more official settings they would also use the year "ab Urbe condita", meaning "since the City's founding" (city being Rome).

59BC should be around 694 aUc if my numbers are right.

[–] StaySquared@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Depends on who's calendar... haha

[–] StaySquared@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Same.. took me a moment. Then I realized in 59 B.C. it was like year 700 to them at that time (not literally 700.. just throwing a random number).

[–] Jolteon@lemmy.zip 40 points 1 year ago (9 children)

So, what would somebody say the year was if they were asked at that point?

[–] Toes@ani.social 98 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A universal calendar hasn't been established yet so it would depend on where you are.

For example today in 59 BC under the Athenian calendar would be 17 of Thargelion, Ol.180.1

[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

But that's a conversion that everyone knows anyways.

[–] perviouslyiner@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Consulship of Caesar and Bibulus - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/59_BC lists some options of how it would be called in various places

[–] mrmule@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In Egypt they would say the 8th year of Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator

[–] maculata@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No they wouldn’t. They would say something similar BUT IN OLDE WORLDY EGYPTIAN.

[–] roguetrick@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

59 BC is actually pretty close to coptic I'd bet for spoken language (though officially it wouldn't be called coptic with consistent Greek script until the third century). At least in the sense that vulgar Latin was close to Italian.

[–] maculata@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah but Mrmule was talking at us in English, see?

[–] runeko@programming.dev 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Pretty sure they would respond, "Get away from me, demon! Stop talking in tongues!"

[–] Jolteon@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm pretty sure the concept of somebody speaking another language from you existed back then.

[–] runeko@programming.dev 10 points 1 year ago

Get away from me, demon! Stop talking in tongues!

[–] ironhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wikipedia says 695 Ab urbe condita.

[–] mkwt@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In the Roman empire it was also common to identify years by the names of the two consuls, because the consuls served one year terms.

Consuls continued to be elected through most of the empire period.

[–] GroteStreet@aussie.zone 13 points 1 year ago

The system would also work in the UK the past few years.

[–] azi@mander.xyz 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
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[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 31 points 1 year ago (3 children)

How do we know they mean BC as in "Before Christ" and not BC as in "Before Cambrian?"

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because they're speaking modern English.

Except that person is a time traveler, so they would be speaking modern English regardless

[–] nexguy@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Before he was famous or before he was infamous? 🤔

[–] zaphod@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

"Before" implies something hasn't happened yet, therefore if they know it's before "something" they must be a time traveller from some after C, whatever the C might be.

[–] niktemadur@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Or else, you didn't travel anywhere (anywhen?) and the first guy you bumped into is a wise-ass.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If he gave you the year 113 would you know that was our current year?

[–] Toes@ani.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Only if they gave you the full date, otherwise it could potentially be a lot of things still.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As in saying “Juche 113”?

I don’t think common people announce it that way

[–] Toes@ani.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, I'm not too familiar with the intricacies of that. I just did anthropology as an elective.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

North Korea counts years since the birth of Kim il Sung (their first leader/the revolutionary who stood up against Japanese occupation)