What time is it? BCE and CE

What Time is It?

AN OVERVIEW OF
BC/AD AND BCE/CE

Why study BC/AD + BCE/CE?

BC/AD and BCE/CE help us place events in chronological order. It
also helps us compare different points in history and determine
the time between events.

BC is the same as BCE AD is the same as CE

BC: Before Christ
AD: Anno Domini (“year of the
lord”)

BCE: Before Common Era
CE: Common Era

Timeline is based around the birth
of Jesus Christ.

Timeline is secular (not based on
religion).

Current years are labeled AD.

We live in the Common Era (CE).

BC/AD

BCE/CE

THE RULES

●The year “ZERO” does not exist!

●BCE/BC: The higher the number, the earlier the event happened.
○Example: 1000 BCE happened BEFORE 500 BCE

●CE/AD: The higher the number, the later the event happened.
○Example: 2000 CE happened AFTER 1000 CE

●When discussing modern times in the Common Era, “CE” is
often assumed.
○Example: 2018 CE is simply written as 2018

SAMPLE TIMELINE

HOW TO DETERMINE AGE

Take the number of the older event (the larger
number) and SUBTRACT the more recent event
(the smaller number).

If both events are in BCE/BC...

Example: 545 BCE - 445 BCE = 100 Years

HOW TO DETERMINE AGE

Take the number of the more recent event (the
larger number) and SUBTRACT the older event
(the smaller number).

If both events are in CE/AD...

Example: 2010 - 1910 CE = 100 Years

HOW TO DETERMINE AGE

ADD the numbers together and SUBTRACT 1.

If the first event is in BCE/BC and the
second event is in CE/AD…

Example: 50 BCE + 50 CE - 1 = 99 Years

You do:

Classwork

Classwork:
What Time Is

It?

Practice
Activity