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Anno Mundi (from Latin 'in the year of the world'; ), abbreviated as AM or A.M., or Year After Creation, is a calendar era based on biblical accounts of the creation of the world and subsequent history. Two such calendar eras of notable use are:
While both eras reputedly begin with the creation of the world, their disparity in epoch lies in the biblical texts chosen to infer a year of creation. According to the Septuagint, the Earth seems to have been created roughly around 5500 BCE, and about 3760 BCE based on the Hebrew Masoretic text. Most of the 1,732-year difference resides in numerical discrepancies in the genealogies of the two versions of the Book of Genesis. Patriarchs from Adam to Terah, the father of Abraham, are said to be older by 100 years or more when they begat their named son in the Septuagint than they were in the Latin Vulgate,; or the Hebrew Tanakh.; The net difference between the two major genealogies of Genesis is 1,466 years (ignoring the "second year after the flood" ambiguity), 85% of the total difference. (See Dating creation.)
There are also discrepancies between methods of dating based on the text of the Bible vs. modern academic dating of landmark events used to calibrate year counts, such as the destruction of the First Temple—see Missing years (Jewish calendar).
In the 8th and 9th centuries CE the center of Jewish life moved from Babylonia to Europe, so calculations from the Seleucid era "became meaningless". From the 11th century, anno mundi dating became dominant throughout most of the world's Jewish communities, replacing the Seleucid dating system. The new system reached its definitive form in 1178 when Maimonides completed the Mishneh Torah. In the section Sanctification of the Moon (11.16), he wrote of his choice of Epoch, from which calculations of all dates should be made, as "the third day of Nisan in this present year ... which is the year 4938 of the creation of the world" (March 22, 1178).Solomon Gandz, Date of Composition of Maimonides Code, Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, 17 (1947–1948), pp. 1–7. He included all the rules for the calculated calendar epoch and their scriptural basis, including the modern epochal year in his work, and establishing the final formal usage of the anno mundi era.
The first year of the Jewish calendar, Anno Mundi 1 (AM 1), began about one year before creation, so that year is also called the Year of emptiness.
The first five days of Jewish creation week occupy the last five days of AM 1, Elul 25–29. The sixth day of creation, when [[Adam]] and [[Eve]] were created, is the first day of AM 2, [[Rosh Hashanah]] (1 Tishrei). Its associated [[molad]] Adam (molad VaYaD) occurred on Day 6 (yom Vav) at 14 (Yud Daled) hours (and 0 parts). A year earlier, the first day of AM 1, Rosh Hashanah (1 Tishrei), is associated with ''molad tohu'' (new moon of chaos), so named because it occurred before creation when everything was still chaotic—it is also translated as the new moon of nothing. This is also called molad BaHaRaD, because it occurred on Day 2 (yom Beis), 5 (Hei) hours, 204 (Reish Daled) parts (11:11:20 pmIn Jerusalem local time – 8:50:23.1 [[UTC]]). Because this is just before midnight when the Western day begins, but after 6 pm when the Jewish calendrical day begins (equivalent to the next tabular day with the same daylight period), its Julian calendar date is 6–7 October 3761 BCE (Gregorian: 6–7 September 3761 BCE or −3760).
In Hebrew, Anno Mundi years are labeled "in the year of the world" (לבריאת העולם), while in English they are abbreviated AM or A.M.. Occasionally, Anno Mundi is styled as Anno Hebraico (AH), though this is subject to confusion with notation for the Islamic Hijri year. The Jewish Anno Mundi count is sometimes referred to as the "Hebrew era", to distinguish it from other systems such as the Byzantine calendar (which uses a different calculation of the year since creation.
Thus, adding 3760 before Rosh Hashanah or 3761 after to a Julian calendar year number starting from 1 CE will yield the Hebrew year. For earlier years there may be a discrepancy; see Missing years (Jewish calendar).
Theophilus presents a detailed chronology "from the foundation of the world" to emperor Marcus Aurelius. His chronology begins with the biblical first man Adam through to emperor Marcus Aurelius, in whose reign Theophilus lived. The chronology puts the creation of the world at about 5529 BCE: "All the years from the creation of the world amount to a total of 5,698 years." No mention of Jesus is made in his chronology.
Dr. Ben Zion Wacholder points out that the writings of the Church Fathers on this subject are of vital significance (even though he disagrees with their chronological system based on the authenticity of the Septuagint, as compared to that of the Masoretic Text), in that through the Christian chronographers a window to the earlier Hellenistic biblical chronographers is preserved:
The Chronicon of Eusebius (early 4th century) and Jerome (c. 380, Constantinople) dated creation to 5199 BCE. Fourth Century (see 327 Eusebius of Caesarea). Archived October 25, 2009. Earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology for Christmas Day used this date, as did the Irish Annals of the Four Masters. from AM 5194 in the Annals at CELT — University College Cork's Corpus of Electronic Texts project has the full text of the annals online, both in the original Irish and in O'Donovan's translation
The Alexandrian monk Panodorus reckoned 5,904 years from Adam to AD 412. His years began on August 29, which corresponded to the Thout, the first day of the Egyptian calendar.Rev. Philip Schaff (1819–1893), ed. "Era". Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. New Edition, 13 Vols., 1908–14. Vol. 4, page 163. Annianus of Alexandria, however, preferred the Annunciation style for New Year's Day, i.e., March 25, and shifted Panodorus' era by circa six months to begin on March 25. This created the Alexandrian era, whose first day was the first day of the proleptic Alexandrian civil year in progress, 29 August 5493 BCE, with the ecclesiastical year beginning on 25 March 5493 BCE.
Dionysius of Alexandria had earlier emphatically quoted mystical justifications for the choice of March 25 as the beginning of the year:
Church fathers such as Maximus the Confessor and Theophanes the Confessor, and chroniclers such as George Syncellus adopted the Alexandrian Era of 25 March 5493 BCE. Its striking mysticism made it popular in Byzantium, especially in monasteries. However, this masterpiece of Christian symbolism had two grave problems, namely historical inaccuracy regarding the date of the Resurrection as determined by its Easter , and its incompatibility with the Gospel of Saint John regarding the date of the Crucifixion on the Friday after Passover.
For its influence on Greek Christian chronology, and also because of its wide scope, the Chronicon Paschale takes its place beside Eusebius, and the chronicle of the monk George SyncellusGeorge Syncellus. The Chronography of George Synkellos: a Byzantine Chronicle of Universal History from the Creation. Transl. Prof. Dr. William Adler & Paul Tuffin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. which was so important in the Middle Ages; but in respect of form it is inferior to these works.
It is now rarely used save for in Eastern Orthodox monasteries, for example, on Mount Athos in Greece and Mar Saba monastery in the West Bank. Ethiopia (where a branch of the Orthodox church is the largest religion of the country) also uses this type of timing.
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