What Is Year 1 of History? Comparing Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Conventions

Human beings tend to imagine themselves as appearing in the midst of a greater history that is already in progress. In order to tell this story, the historian’s task is to connect the events experienced by each generation with things that have happened in the past. But where should the historian begin this history? What is the subject of its first chapter? And, can prequels be added later? The three, so-called “Abrahamic” faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—evolved three different answers. 

A monk and reputable Christian scholar known as Dionysius Exiguus (“the Humble”) who lived in what is now Romania is credited with being the first to use the year of Jesus’s birth as “year one,” to which all other years and, thus, the events within them, would be be relativized.

Historians are in general agreement that Dionysius calculated the year of Jesus’s birth incorrectly, and that Jesus was likely born four or more years before the year 1 BC. That is, Jesus Christ was born four years … “before Christ!” In part to forestall the resulting confusion stemming from this inaccuracy, the sixteenth-century German astronomer Johannes Kepler’s notation of BCE and CE has become increasingly popular in historical writing today. 

Jewish Convention: Creation Marks Year One

Anyone can see the logic of designating history’s first year as the year of the world’s creation. But if historians struggle to agree on the year of Christ’s birth, coming to consensus on the day the world was born appears hopeless. 

Within traditional, religious Judaism, however, there is consensus. The world was created on, as one might expect, day one of year one, on the first day of that year’s first month (though some rabbis thought that it was in the seventh month, when Jews celebrate the New Year today). In order to makes sense of what that means in more familiar terms, it can be explained that the world was created on October 7th, 3761 BCE. Needless to say, this date is not agreed-upon even by most religious Jews today, let alone by the wider public. The attractiveness, however, of establishing history’s timeline on an event of objectively universal importance is not easily denied, despite its elusiveness.    

According to received Islamic tradition, Muhammad’s migration from his home in Mecca to Yathrib (later renamed Medina in his honor), occurred in the year 622 CE. For Muslims, this event marked the point when adherents to early Islam were set apart decisively as a community from their contemporaries, becoming irreversibly the movement that has continued to grow ever since. Umar, the second leader of the Muslims after Muhammad’s death, introduced this migration as year one into the Muslim imagination of history.

When writing in English or other Western languages, Muslim historians abbreviate the Latin word for “year”—anno—and the transliteration of the Arabic word for “migration”—hijrah—as “AH,” meaning, “Year of the Migration.” As with the use of BC and AD, Muslim writers use an abbreviation of English, “BH,” for “Before Hijrah” for the years preceding it. 

How Does the Bible Date Events? 

Within the Bible, the timing of events is often calculated based on their relative proximity, measured according to years, months, etc., to other events deemed unforgettable. Among these are the reigns of kings and governors, Israel’s Exodus from Egypt, conquests, and building projects such as Solomon’s construction of the Temple. 

The challenge with selecting any event as history’s hinge is that it is not always possible to predict whether or not the event will be sufficiently corroborated in the future for it to serve as such. The Exodus, for example, loomed large in ancient Israelite memory, and could therefore serve as a reliable anchor point for ancient Israel’s timeline. But historians today disagree not only about when the Exodus occurred, but even about whether it is likely to have occurred at all since there is no tangible, conclusive archaeological evidence for it.

In Buddhist convention, year one is when the Buddha died. Year one of “Buddhist Era,” abbreviated BE, traditionally corresponds to 543 BCE. 

Using events of national interest, such as the establishment of a new regime or system of government, is another method of establishing year one. However, the use of events usually categorized as religious—such as the birth of Christ or Muhammad’s Hijrah—has yielded the most success cross-culturally and internationally due in part to these events’ meanings’ ability to transcend political and geographic borders. Attempts to establish year one according to events that are militarily, nationally, or imperially important have not tended to produce a lasting legacy.