![]() ![]() Alternatively, events could be dated by giving the name of the holder of an annual office of state: something happened in the year when two named Romans were consuls, or when an elite Athenian was chief magistrate, and so on. In ancient Mesopotamia, years could be designated by an outstanding event of the preceding 12 months: something could be said to happen, for instance, in the year when king Naram-Sin reached the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates river, or when king Enlil-bani made for the god Ninurta three very large copper statues. ![]() For from earliest recorded history right up to the years after Alexander the Great’s conquests in the late 4th century BCE, historical time – the public and annual marking of the passage of years – could be measured only in three ways: by unique events, by annual offices, or by royal lifecycles. Now, imagine inhabiting a world without such a numbered timeline for ordering current events, memories and future hopes. As a child I used to line up my pennies by year of minting, and now I carefully note dates of publication in my scholarly articles. All of us are fluent with these years we, and most of the world, use them without thinking. We are confident that a century ago it was 1919, and in 1,000 years it will be 3019, if there is anyone left to name it. ![]()
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