[Sca-cooks] No year zero [was Plat]

[Marian Walke]

Lonnie D. Harvel wrote:

> lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:
> 
>> there was no year 0 - just 1 BCE and 1 CE
>>
> In an attempt to explain to a friend why the year 2000 was the end of 
> the millennium and not the beginning of a new one, I pointed out that 
> there was no year 0. She asked me why. 

One of the problems with the numbering system is that Christians 
who invented Anno Domini used the same format then in common use 
for the reign of kings: In the first year of the reign of 
Augustus or Nero or whomever.  The term BC didn't occur to them. 
  That didn't come into use until invented by an English monk 
around 800, and may be why "Before Christ" is English, while 
"Anno Domini" is Latin.  Using CE and BCE came into use later, 
though I'm not sure exactly when.  Is this a 20th C practice, or 
did it start earlier?  Does anyone out there know?

--Old Marian