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In the modern liturgical Latin of the Vatican, dates are written European style: day.month.year. In the ancient, classical Latin, dates are written according to the number of days from an important day, and according to the number of years after the founding of the city. For example, October 5th is written as "a.d.iii.non.oct.a.u.c." The phrase "a.d.iii." means "ante diem tritum," or "three days before the nones."* The phrase "a.u.c." means "anno urbis condita," or "year of the founding of the city (of Rome)."

Rome was founded in 753 B.C. That date therefore is the first year, or year 1. The ancient Romans did not include the concept of zero in their mathematical systems.

*Each Roman month only has names for three days: the kalends of the 1st day, the nones of the 9th, and the ides of the 15th. In the rest of the month, the days are given numbers according to how far away they are from the particular day. So after the kalends, the numbers count the number of days before the nones. After the nones, the countdown is to the ides. After the ides, the countdown is to the kalends of the next month.

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16y ago

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