Re: Country Related: Christmas

At 5:57 pm +0100 28/12/98, Lars Henrik Mathiesen wrote:
>   Date:         Thu, 24 Dec 1998 15:48:51 +0000
>   From: "Raymond A. Brown" <raybrown@...>
>
>   I doubt whether consuls, eponymous or otherwise, meant much to the
>   RomanoBrits.  My understanding is that the dated years by Emperor's reigns,
>   e.g. the 4th year of Hadrian etc.  Tho I guess officialdom might well have
>   used consular names as well.
>
>As I understand it, the thing that changed at Jan. 1 was the consuls,
>and thence the designation of the year. Do we know if the Romans, or
>the RomanoBrits, went from dating their letters 3rd year of Hadrian to
>dating them 4th year of Hadrian on Jan. 1? They might have used the
>anniversary of Hadrian's becoming Emperor.
A good question - I simply don't know.  I'd guess there were different
practices, but the Roman civil service would use the same system as the
imperial city itself.

Ray.