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''Ab urbe condita'' (related with '''Anno urbis conditae''': AUC or a.u.c.) is Latin for "from The Founding of the city"Literally translated as "From the city having been founded." (of Rome ), supposed to have happened in 753 BC. It was used to identify the Roman year by only a few Roman historians. Modern historians use it much more frequently than the Romans themselves did. The dominant method of identifying Roman years was to name the two Consul s who held office that year. Before the advent of the modern critical edition of historical Roman works, AUC was indiscriminately added to them by earlier editors, making it appear more widely used than it actually was. The regnal year of the emperor was also used to identify years, especially in the Byzantine Empire after Justinian required its use in 537. SIGNIFICANCE to celebrate ''Saeculum Novum''.]] From emperor Claudius onwards, Varro's calculation (see below) superseded other contemporary calculations.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 city's anniversary, in 47 AD, eight hundred years after the supposed founding of the city. In 147/8 Antoninus Pius held similar celebrations, and in 248 Philip The Arab celebrated Rome's first Millennium , together with Ludi Saeculares for Rome 's alleged tenth Saeculum . Coin s from his reign commemorate the celebrations. A coin by a contender for the imperial throne, Pacatianus , explicitly states '1001', which is an indication that the citizens of the Empire had a sense of the beginning of a new era, a ''Saeculum Novum''. When the Roman Empire turned Christian in the following century, this imagery came to be used in a more Metaphysical sense. CALCULATION BY VARRO The traditional date for the founding of Rome of April 21 , 753 BC was initiated by Varro . Varro may have used the consular list with its mistakes, and called the year of the first consuls "245 ''ab urbe condita''", accepting the 244-year interval from Dionysius Of Halicarnassus for the kings after the foundation of Rome. The correctness of Varro's calculation has not been proved scientifically but is still used worldwide. ALTERNATIVE CALCULATIONS According to Velleius Paterculus (VIII, 5) The foundation of Rome took place 437 years after the capture of Troy (1182 BC), It took place shortly before an Eclipse of the Sun that was observed at Rome on June 25 , 745 BC and had a magnitude of 50.3%. Its beginning occurred at 16:38, its middle at 17:28, and its end at 18:16. However, according to Lucius Tarrutius of Firmum (''Lives'' of Romulus, Numa Pompilius and Camillus), Florus (Book I, I), Cicero (''The Republic'' VI, 22: ''Scipio's Dream''), Dio (Dion) Cassius and Dionysius of Halicarnassus (L. 2). Dio in his ''Roman History'' (Book I) confirms our data by telling that Romulus was in his 18th year of age when he had founded Rome. Therefore, three eclipse records prove that Romulus reigned from 746 BC to 709 BC, and Rome was founded in 745 BC. , ''The Histories'' (III, 22. 1-2) tells that 28 years after the expulsion of the last Roman king (or, in the 28th year, we believe), Xerxes crossed over to Greece , and that event is fixed to 478 BC by two Solar Eclipse s. According to all these, the a.u.c. system should be handled accordingly, with due precaution. Thus, 2006 C.E. is A.U.C. 2759, or AUC MMDCCLIX. SEE ALSO FOOTNOTES |
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