What were the years named before Jesus' birth called?

A.U.C., although as the article explains it was a designation rarely used by the Romans themselves. Apparently they identified years by naming them after the consuls (high-ranking politicians) that held office that year.

N.B. This is only one method of many. This broader article explains some of them.

they also marked the time from the founding of the Republic. but the calendar was a mess, Julius Caesar adjusted the calendar in what we now call 46 BC. and 46 BC was the longest year ever, because Julius was recalibrating the start to match the seasons.

This question is kind of Euro-centric. There are other calendars in use, all around the world. We all use the same one now, because of globalization. It’s hard to build your economy when you can’t agree on what year it is. That doesn’t mean older calendars don’t exist.

The Aztecs had a very famous calendar. I believe there is a Jewish calendar. If you’ve ever heard of Chinese New Year, it’s not on January 1st because it uses a different calendar. The Japanese have calendars that start with year one, every time they get a new emperor.

Basically, the calendar based on Jesus is called the Gregorian Calendar and it was implemented by the Pope in 1582. It’s mathematically based on seasons and has all sorts of crazy tricks like leap years to keep it accurate. Most of the other calendars are lunar calendars (based on the cycles of the moon), including the one that the Gregorian one is based on.

It happens to be 5771 under the Jewish calendar, so if the Western calendar is accurate, Jesus was born in 3761. Year One was marked by the Creation,