Alternative Dating Systems?

SlyDessertFox

SlyDessertFox

So I've been looking into alternative dating systems that could be used in the western world in the modern day assuming the AD/BC dating system never gets used. The Seleukid Era calendar (Or Anno Graecorum), which corresponded to year one being in either 311-312, seemed to have been used in Syria up to 15th century by some. There's also of course the Olympiad dating system starting with the first Olympiad in 776, though as far as I know outside of use by ancient historians, it wasn't used.

I assume the Romans would catch on to using the AVC calendar eventually, though I'm more interested in on focusing on other dating systems.
 

Hollis Hurlbut

I'm surprised you didn't mention Ab urbe condita, which seems like the most plausible rival to the AD/BC system.

There's also the Anno Mundi system, based on the Biblical creation of the earth, whose variants include the Byzantine, Masonic, and Hebrew calendars.
 

WhatIsAUserName

For a surviving Rome (if that's what you're implying), why would there be any reason to adopt any "year one?" If Rome doesn't use the "consulship of x and y" system, maybe they could adopt a regnal calendar instead. China and Japan went for centuries without adopting a calendar with a fixed starting point. It's not a universal idea.
 

carlton_bach

Why would there need to be a unified dating system? Many cultures got along just fine using a variety of systems differing regionally or by purpose. The ancient world used eponymous and regnal years, plus various eras (Alexandrine era, Sullan era) along with Olympiads and the AUC, and that's just the Greco-Roman parts. China worked well with a combination of cyclical years, imperial eras and a long count. The idea that one culture must have one calendar is modern.
 

UncleDynamite

Maybe some ultranationalist American government sets 1776 as year 1?

Also, if the Chartists seize power in a British Revolution(very, very, long shot) I could see them setting 1215 as year 1.
 

Just a Rube

There's always the French Republican Calendar. Bonus points for having all the days having patronages for things like wax or pigs, and for being both needlessly complicated and drenched in blood.

And yeah, for a long time the default was "the Xth Year of the Reign of King Y", which could continue, or any alternate state could choose to set its foundation as Year 1. You even see a little of this today, where certain American legal documents (e.g. presidential proclamations) will be dated "in the year of our Lord X, and of the independence of the United States the Yth."

One could also imagine an Islam-wank where the Islamic Calendar was in more widespread use (such that when people just specify a year, it's assumed they're referring to AH rather than AD, in sort of a flip of today), but I'm not sure if that's what the OP is going for.
 
SlyDessertFox

SlyDessertFox

What about dating systems used for historical purposes? Such as how ancient historians would sometimes use the Olympiad to date events, or AVC.
 

Deleted member 70671

And i was here thinking it was dating as in love, as if you were asking how something like polyamory could have become widespread and popular. :p
I think a more influent Russia or *Russia would have more people using the julian calendar.
 

Brother Stormhammer

I'm not sure that 'regional' calenders are going to remain viable once international trade starts becoming significant. Eventually, frustrated accountants and shipping managers are going to rise up in revolt and start beating people with office implements until things get simplified. :D:D:D

As far as alternative 'start points', any candidate is going to have to be (or become) known more-or-less world wide, and be not only known, but considered significant...so I'll toss out a couple of off-the-wall ideas for consideration from the modern era:

Pre-Atomic/Post-Atomic, with the 'zero-date' being 16 July 1945 (the Trinity nuclear test),

Pre-Space/Post-Space, with 3 possible 'zero-dates': 4 October 1957 (Sputnik-1), 12 April 1961 (Vostok-1), or 20 July 1969 (Apollo 11).
 

Ashtagon

There is the actually used BP ("Before Present") system in carbon dating. "Present" is defined as 1st Jan 1950 by that system, so technically we are now 64 AP (After present). Or possibly it might be called Atomic Age or something similar.
 

fortyseven

Holocene Calendar

1- Agricultural Revolution
6001- Wheel invented
6901 1st Dynasty (Egypt) founded
8001 Horse domesticated
8995 Zhou Dynasty (China) founded
9248 Founding of Rome
9438 Buddha born
9997 Jesus born
10311 Edict of Milan
10570 Prophet Mohammed born
11066 Norman Invasion of England
11377-11453 Hundred Years War
11517 95 Theses
11776 US Declaration of Independence
11969 1st Moon Landing
12014 Sochi Olympics
 
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oshron

oshron

Pantsbucket said:
eHarmony is my favorite dating system.
Click to expand...
*rimshot*

more seriously, one (fictional) dating system i've taken a liking to lately is the "Phantom Time Hypothesis" combined with the more obscure "Hungarian Calendar". simply put, it's a conspiracy theory that the period from 614-911 AD (and 960-1160 in the Hungarian Calendar thing) are fabrications. obviously, it's a bunch'a bull, but it makes for an interesting dating system by subtracting 297 years (or 497 with the second). i've already used this for one of my writing projects (with a slight alteration by averaging the two periods), redating a country based on Late Imperial Russia to 1668 (from a base date of 1916).
 
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