ERA

(A word of doubtful derivation.) In Chronology, the term aera,as now;understood, is the period that has elapsed from some fixed point of time, or epoch, called the commencement of the aera — Thus the Christian aera began at the birth of Christ, the Mohammedan asra at the flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina, the aera of Diocletian at the coronation of that emperor, .; and the period of the occurrence of any event is ascertained by reckoning from one or other of these epochs. When, for example, it is said that Queen Victoria ascended the throne of Great Britain in 1837, it means that this event took place in the 1837th year of the Christian aera, or of that aera which began with the birth of Christ. It is plain from the above statement that the period of time selected for an aera, or point whence to begin the computation of time, is nece arily arbitrary; and different nations have adopted different periods coincident with some important event in their civil or religious history. Some have adapted the year of the creation of the world, and this, were its date well ascertained, would be one of the best that could be selected. But the sacred writings are not explicit on this point, and there are great discre  [s. 29]