View source for Ab urbe condita

{{Short description|Ancient Roman calendar era}}
{{about|the year numbering system|the book|Ab urbe condita (Livy)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{titlelang|la}}
[[Image:Antoninianus-Pacatianus-1001-RIC 0006cf.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Antoninianus]] of [[Pacatian]], [[Roman usurper|usurper]] of Roman emperor [[Philip the Arab|Philip]] in 248. It reads ''ROMAE AETER[NAE] AN[NO] MIL[LESIMO] ET PRIMO'', 'To eternal Rome, in its one thousand and first year.']]
[[File:Anno ab urbe condita (medieval).png|thumb|''Anno ab urbe condita'', [[Rubrication|rubricated]] and with a decorated [[initial]], from the medieval ''[[Chronica sancti Pantaleonis|Chronicle of Saint Pantaleon]]'']]
'''''Ab urbe condita''''' ({{IPA|la|ab ˈʊrbɛ ˈkɔndɪtaː|lang}}; 'from the [[founding of Rome|founding of the City]]'), or '''{{lang|la|anno urbis conditae}}''' ({{IPA|la|ˈannoː ˈʊrbɪs ˈkɔndɪtae̯|lang}}; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as '''AUC''' or '''AVC''', expresses a date in years since [[753 BC|753&nbsp;BC]], the traditional founding of Rome.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of AB URBE CONDITA|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ab+urbe+condita|access-date=2021-07-13|website=merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of ANNO URBIS CONDITAE|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anno+urbis+conditae|access-date=2021-07-13|website=merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref> It is an expression used in antiquity and by [[Classicist|classical historians]] to refer to a given year in [[Ancient Rome]]. In reference to the traditional year of the foundation of Rome, the year [[1 BC|1&nbsp;BC]] would be written AUC&nbsp;753, whereas [[AD 1|AD&nbsp;1]] would be AUC&nbsp;754. The foundation of the [[Roman Empire]] in [[27 BC|27&nbsp;BC]] would be AUC&nbsp;727. The current year AD&nbsp;{{CURRENTYEAR}}  would be AUC&nbsp;{{sum|{{CURRENTYEAR}}|753}}.

Usage of the term was more common during the [[Renaissance]], when editors sometimes added AUC to Roman manuscripts they published, giving the false impression that the convention was commonly used in antiquity. In reality, the dominant method of identifying years in Roman times was to name the two [[Roman consul|consul]]s who held office that year.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Flower |first1=Harriet I. |title=The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107032248 |page=51}}</ref> In late antiquity, [[regnal years]] were also in use, as in [[Roman Egypt]] during the [[Diocletian era]] after [[293|AD 293]], and in the [[Byzantine Empire]] from AD 537, following a decree by [[Justinian]].

==Use==
{{see also|Founding of Rome#Chronological disagreements}}
Prior to the Roman state's adoption of the [[Varronian chronology]] – created by [[Titus Pomponius Atticus]] and [[Marcus Terentius Varro]] – there were many different dates posited for when the city was founded. This state of confusion required picking a canonical founding date for one to use an AUC date. The Varronian chronology, constructed from fragmentary sources and demonstrably about four years off of absolute events {{circa|340&nbsp;BC}},<ref>{{Cite book |last=Forsythe |first=Gary |title=A critical history of early Rome |date=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-94029-1 |location=Berkeley |oclc=70728478 |page=279 }}</ref> placed the founding of the city on 21 April 753&nbsp;BC. This date, likely arrived at by mechanical calculation but accepted with a variance of one year by the Augustan-era {{lang|la|[[fasti Capitolini]]}}, has become the traditional date.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cornell |first=Tim |title=The beginnings of Rome |date=1995 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-01596-0 |location=London |oclc=31515793 |page=73 }} Varro likely arrived at 753&nbsp;BC by counting seven generations of 35 years from his date for the founding of the republic in 509&nbsp;BC.</ref>

From the time of [[Claudius]] ({{Reigned|AD&nbsp;41|54}}) onward, this calculation superseded other contemporary calculations. Celebrating the anniversary of the city became part of imperial [[propaganda]]. Claudius was the first to hold magnificent celebrations in honor of the anniversary of the city, in AD&nbsp;47,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tacitus |first1=Cornelius |author1-link=Tacitus |editor1-last=Furneaux |editor1-first=Henry |editor1-link=Henry Furneaux |title=Annals XI|publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |page=17|edition=1907|quote=ludi saeculares octingentesimo post Romam conditam|lang=la}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Bilynskyj Dunning |first1=Susan |title=saeculum |url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-8233 |website=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.8233 |date=20 November 2017|isbn=978-0-19-938113-5 }}</ref> the eight hundredth year from the founding of the city.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hobler |first1=Francis |title=Records of Roman history, from Cnaeus Pompeius to Tiberius Constantinus, as exhibited on the Roman coins |date=1860 |publisher=[[John Bowyer Nichols]] |location=London |page=222}}</ref> [[Hadrian]], in AD&nbsp;121, and [[Antoninus Pius]], in AD&nbsp;147 and AD&nbsp;148, held similar celebrations respectively.

In AD 248, [[Philip the Arab]] celebrated Rome's first [[millennium]], together with [[Ludi saeculares]] for Rome's alleged tenth [[saeculum]]. Coins from his reign commemorate the celebrations. A coin by a contender for the imperial throne, [[Pacatianus]], explicitly states "[y]ear one thousand and first", which is an indication that the citizens of the empire had a sense of the beginning of a new era, a ''Sæculum Novum''.

==Calendar era==
{{See|Calendar era}}

The [[Anno Domini]] (AD) year numbering was developed by a monk named [[Dionysius Exiguus]] in Rome in {{auc|525|AD|main=greg|alinks=off}}, as a result of his work on calculating the date of Easter. Dionysius did not use the AUC convention, but instead based his calculations on the [[Diocletian era]]. This convention had been in use since AD&nbsp;293, the year of the [[tetrarchy]], as it became impractical to use regnal years of the current emperor.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thomas |first=J. David |date=January 1971 |title=On Dating by Regnal Years of Diocletian, Maximian and the Caesars |url=https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/10.1484/J.CDE.2.308234 |journal=Chronique d'Égypte |language=fr |volume=46 |issue=91 |pages=173–179 |doi=10.1484/J.CDE.2.308234 |issn=0009-6067|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In his Easter table, the year {{auc|532|AD|main=greg|alinks=off}} was equated with the 248th [[regnal year]] of [[Diocletian]]. The table counted the years starting from the presumed birth of Christ, rather than the accession of the emperor [[Diocletian]] on 20 November AD&nbsp;284 or, as stated by Dionysius: {{Lang|la|"sed magis elegimus ab incarnatione Domini nostri Jesu Christi annorum tempora praenotare"}} ("but rather we choose to name the times of the years from the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ").<ref>[[Jacques Paul Migne|Migne, Jacques-Paul]]. 1865. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=LcEYeL-4ZuEC&dq=%22in+hoc+tomo+LXVII&pg=PP10 Liber de Paschate]'' (''[[Patrologia Latina]]'' 67), p. 481, § XX, note f</ref> Blackburn and Holford-Strevens review interpretations of Dionysius which place the [[Incarnation (Christianity)|Incarnation]] in 2&nbsp;BC, 1&nbsp;BC, or AD&nbsp;1.<ref>Blackburn, B. & Holford-Strevens, L, ''The Oxford Companion to the Year'' (Oxford University Press, 2003 corrected reprinting, originally 1999), pp. 778–780.</ref>

The year AD&nbsp;1 corresponds to AUC 754, based on the epoch of [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]]. Thus:

{| class=wikitable
|-
! colspan=2 | Year
! colspan=1 rowspan=2 | Event
|-
! AUC !! BC/AD 
|-
| 1 || 753 BC || [[Founding of Rome]]
|-
| 244 || 510 BC || [[Overthrow of the Roman monarchy]]
|-
| 259 || 495 BC || Death in exile of King [[Lucius Tarquinius Superbus]]
|-
| 490 || 264 BC || [[Punic Wars]] 
|-
| 709 || 45 BC || First year of the [[Julian calendar]] 
|-
| 710 || 44 BC || The [[assassination of Julius Caesar]]
|-
| 727 || 27 BC || [[Augustus]] became the first [[Roman emperor]], starting the [[Principate]]
|-
| 753 || 1 BC || Astronomical Year 0
|-
| 754 || AD 1  || Approximate birth date of [[Jesus]], approximated by [[Dionysius Exiguus]] in AD 525 (AUC 1278)
|-
| 1000 || AD 247 || 1,000th Anniversary of the City of Rome
|-
| 1037 || AD 284 || [[Diocletian]] became Roman emperor, starting the [[Dominate]]
|-
| 1229 || AD 476 || [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire]] to the armies of [[Odoacer]]
|-
| 1246 || AD 493 || Establishment of the [[Ostrogothic Kingdom]]
|-
| 1306 || AD 553 || Italy under [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman control]]
|-
| 1507 || AD 754 || Foundation of the [[Papal States]]
|-
| 1553 || AD 800 || Creation of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]
|-
| 1824 || AD 1071 || Defeat of the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Romans]] at the [[Battle of Manzikert]]
|-
| 1957 || AD 1204 || Sack of [[Constantinople]] by the Crusaders
|-
| 2000 || AD 1247 || 2,000th Anniversary of the City of Rome
|-
| 2206 || AD 1453 || Fall of the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]]
|-
| 2336 || AD 1582 || First year of the [[Gregorian calendar]]
|-
| 2559 || AD 1806 || [[Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire]]
|-
| 2667–2671 || AD 1914–1918 || [[World War I]]
|-
| 2675 || AD 1922 || End of the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Sultanate]]
|-
| 2692–2698 || AD 1939–1945 || [[World War II]]
|-
| {{#expr:{{LASTYEAR}}+753}} || AD {{LASTYEAR}} || '''Last year'''
|-
| {{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}+753}} || AD {{CURRENTYEAR}} || '''Current year'''
|-
| {{#expr:{{NEXTYEAR}}+753}} || AD {{NEXTYEAR}} || '''Next year'''
|-
| 3000 || AD 2247 || 3,000th Anniversary of the City of Rome
|-
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Ancient Rome}}
* [[Calendar era]]
* [[History of Italy]]
* [[List of Latin phrases]]
* [[Roman calendar]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* {{wiktionary inline}}

{{Ancient Rome topics}}
{{Chronology}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:ab urbe condita}}
[[Category:1st-century BC establishments in the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:8th century BC in the Roman Kingdom]]
[[Category:Calendar eras]]
[[Category:Chronology]]
[[Category:Latin words and phrases]]
[[Category:Roman calendar]]
[[Category:Diocletian]]