A.D. & B.C.

[Daniel Krispin]

The thing is, as Hadriel has so astutely pointed out, there was a Christ in the Chrono world, and it was most certainly not Crono (I, for one, fail to see the connection. So he gave his life for his friends. Big deal. That's no different than a hundred thousand other such people throughout all of history. Say, for example, the one guy in the 1500s that, when the enemy encircled his company with spears, he charged them, and drove as many of them into him as he could, so that the others could escape. But that doesn't make him a Christ-like figure, does it? People see the self-sacrifice, and think that is all that Christ did. Well, unless Crono actually took the sins of all the world upon himself and, through his death, destroyed and made atonement for them, he has no similarity to Christ.) Anyway, Hadriel has said before that the doors to the cathedral (which itself is a uniquely Christian building) has crosses on its wall in the ending. Now, a cross is an ancient thing, but it is a symbol of death and suffering. To be used on such a holy place requires the crucifixion, and thus can Anno Domini and Before Christ be used.

Now, there are those that would maintain that it is since the founding of Guardia. But could it not be that the two years roughly coincide? Or, more likely, that people simply forgot the exact year of founding, and for simplicity made it coincide with that of Christ's birth (itself a mistake, since Christ was born in 4BC, I think - the one who measured the years made a mistake.) It's happened time and again. Rome was said to have existed from 753BC, I think it is, but realistically, there were settlements on the Palantine Hill in the 800s BC, and only myth dictates that year as the founding of Rome. Likewise with Guardia: after 1000 years, the exact year is almost irrelevant. Thus when at the fair they say it's 1000 years old... it might not be historically accurate, but it follows whatever legend there is concerning the founding. The point is, though, many people seem to use that measuring system, and it strikes me that the founding of Guardia is not universially monumental enough to be in such widespread use.

As for the system changing... well, if it is not the founding of Guardia, then Porre needn't change it. In the west, I think it has only changed a few times in 'recent' years (ie. since Rome). They measured since the rise of Rome until a relatively late time, then after went with since the birth of Jesus.

[Legend of the Past]

El Nido is a colony of Porre, they should use it then.

Not in Another World, it isn't.

In the Dead Sea, go to the computer with Lithosphere Report 27. Norris seemes to say AD quite a few times, and dosen't show any signs of objection to it.

[Chrono'99]

Okay then, maybe whatever happened during the founding of Guardia was also important to Porre, so they kept the calendar.

[Salvadeiro]

The Gregorian Calendar was a modernized version of the original Roman Calendar.  When Rome conquered lands, they began to adjust to this.  Spain and Portugal, France, Northern Italy, Greece and other countries, later, in the 15th century, discovered new lands,  Bringing their customs to these lands, they continued the use of this calendar.  Portugal, which spread to the Far East FIRST, granted its colonies this calendar.  And that is why today, many countries use the Gregorian Calendar.

[Daniel Krispin]

The Gregorian Calendar was a modernized version of the original Roman Calendar.  When Rome conquered lands, they began to adjust to this.  Spain and Portugal, France, Northern Italy, Greece and other countries, later, in the 15th century, discovered new lands,  Bringing their customs to these lands, they continued the use of this calendar.  Portugal, which spread to the Far East FIRST, granted its colonies this calendar.  And that is why today, many countries use the Gregorian Calendar.

True, but the calendar does not have much bearing on the system by which years are counted. Our months are certainly based on the old Roman (September for the 'seventh' month, October the 'eighth', November the 'ninth', and December the 'tenth', before those two Julius Caesar and Caesar Agustus decided to have their own months and mess it up. Oh, and January after Janus, too.) Anyway, I think the world 'calendar' was misused, and it should have been 'system of years'. No-one has disproven me yet, either.

[Salvadeiro]

True it wasn't about calendar, it was about years.

[jotabe1789]

It wouldn't be necessary that they had a Christ. Crono's planet might just have their own cross-based religion. Look at Zelda's games. Obviously there aren't "christians" there, but the the cross, along hyrule's history, appears, and becomes an important religious symbol.
Also, even though it has the name of "cathedral" it isn't actually a "christian cathedral" since the plant is not a latin cross.

An interesting question, though, would be: what happened to this religion? why did they lose the cathedral they have in the most important kingdom of the world?

[V_Translanka]

Yeah, many cultures around the world use crosses and forms of crosses that do not signify Christ in any real way. The swastika for example traces its beginnings to a simple cross.

[jotabe1789]

yeah. Right now i am in Kyoto, and in the city map, they symbolize shinto temples (i think) with swasticas.

[Criosphinx]

I was goin' to say nothin' but.... i don't really understand what u gusy want to know ... but... well HAHAHAHA(what am i sayin' ?!) well i'm from Brazil ..so we speak a kind of portuguese .... you will find like Portuguese(Brazil) but ! ... here we say Antes de Cristo A.C.(Before Christ, B.C.) and Depois de Cristo D.C.(After Christ, A.C.) .... that's all ... hahahaha

[Hadriel]

It wouldn't be necessary that they had a Christ. Crono's planet might just have their own cross-based religion. Look at Zelda's games. Obviously there aren't "christians" there, but the the cross, along hyrule's history, appears, and becomes an important religious symbol.
Also, even though it has the name of "cathedral" it isn't actually a "christian cathedral" since the plant is not a latin cross.

An interesting question, though, would be: what happened to this religion? why did they lose the cathedral they have in the most important kingdom of the world?

It's necessary that they have some Christ-like religious figure on Crono's Earth.  I mentioned Zakarum earlier; if bona fide Christianity isn't present on Crono's Earth, something like Zakarum would have to be there to take its place.  The problem with saying a cross can signify anything is the type of cross depicted; it's clearly very gothic in design.

As for Zelda, it isn't exactly a priori that there is no Christianity therein.  In fact, it's quite the opposite.  First, the games repeatedly state through etymological dissection that Hyrule is here on Earth, though at an indeterminate time period.  The Ocarina of Time manga states that Hyrule itself is a planet, but this has been repeatedly debunked by higher sources of Zelda canon (i.e. the Nintendo-published game guidebooks and the games themselves.)  If one takes a literal view of Hylian history, the original two Zelda games can take place no earlier than the early 300s A.D., the date of the Edict of Milan which converted Christianity into the Roman national religion, and likely took place several hundred years later after Christianity had the opportunity to proselytize the various nations of the world; this is obvious due to Link's original shield.  The only problem with that is the large amount of hyperbole present in Hylian chronology; it's called the Legend of Zelda, not the Complete Accurate History Textbook of Zelda, which would suck anyway.  In some ways, the Triforce itself is a Christian clone religion, even though that sigil was drawn from Shintoism; it draws upon many of the same a priori assumptions about the universe (e.g. God created it, there are definite lines of good and evil).  That doesn't even go into the copious amount of symbolism drawn from the Abrahamic faiths.  Beside Link's shield, there is a cross in Zelda II designed to reveal invisible enemies.  If one wants to seek an alternative route than items and dismiss them as gameplay mechanics, the Flood depicted in The Wind Waker is an obvious reference to the Biblical Great Flood, and the presence of three Creators refers to the Christian concept of the Trinity, though some have said it can also refer to the three highest Hindu gods, Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu.  However, the latter is unlikely, seeing as Hyrule is repeatedly cast in a distinctly European medieval fantasy setting similar to that of the Arthurian legend and complete with many of the hallmarks of epics of the Western tradition; a special sword, the protagonist's uncertain origin, a definite villain, a "journey to the underworld," and a massive, climactic final battle.  Oh, and the special effects.  You can't really have an epic without the FX.  The Fire Temple music and the Mirror Shield's crest in the original version of Ocarina are also noteworthy; both originate from Islam.  In version 1.01 of the game, Nintendo changed the music for fear of both lawsuits and actual physical harm, even though Ocarina was released in November of 1998, almost three years before the attacks on the World Trade Center.  In the OOT Master Quest released for GameCube, they replaced the Mirror Shield's sigil, as well; this was of course released well after 9/11.  One might even accuse the Zelda mythos of being unnecessarily Christian; Ganondorf Dragmire was originally a desert-dweller, and perceived his quest for the Triforce to be for the aid of his people, no matter how many people he had to kill.  If something like the Triforce doesn't sound like Osama bin Laden's wet dream, nothing does.  The only truly Eastern concept in Zelda is the balance required to wield the True Force; balance is a key concept of Buddhism and Taoism, and also the root for much of the Jedi mythology.  In fact, the only games more rife with Western theology than Zelda that I know of are the Diablo and Halo series, and both of those are produced by Western companies, Blizzard and Bungie.  Blizzard in particular seems fond of those motifs; no one can honestly say that Warcraft doesn't rip off (or I guess pay homage to) Tolkien.  Xenogears seemingly goes out of its way to bash said theology, so that doesn't exactly count.

In short, the fact is that some form of Christianity is present in Chrono, for one reason or another.  Most likely, the reason is atmospheric credibility; the game is obviously not intended to evangelize.  One could even say that, like in Xenogears, it's there to be bashed; if Lavos doesn't qualify as blasphemy by Western religious standards, nothing does.

[Daniel Krispin]

In short, the fact is that some form of Christianity is present in Chrono, for one reason or another.  Most likely, the reason is atmospheric credibility; the game is obviously not intended to evangelize.  One could even say that, like in Xenogears, it's there to be bashed; if Lavos doesn't qualify as blasphemy by Western religious standards, nothing does.

Blasphemy? How so? He may still be seen as an echo of the Deceiver and Accuser, you know. There are references to war in heaven, with the Accuser being cast to the earth. Perhaps Lavos is this, then: the devil cast into the world, like Melkor was to Tolkien. And even so, he sets himself up as a god, which I think is one of the primary attributes constituting a dark lord.

Now, I agree with Hadriel on this matter. The Cross as it is shown is plainly the sort upon which people were crucified, thus - unless one wishes to invent a parallel story, to which I would call up Occam's Razor - Christ did exist in that world.

[jotabe1789]

Well, right now i remember an important ancient religion whose symbol was a cross: the monotheistic adoration to Aton (the Sun) that the egyptian Pharaoh (the heretic pharaoh lol) Akhen-Aton tried to impose. It was the cross of life: it existed as a powerful religious symbol before, but the monotheists made it their central symbol.

[Daniel Krispin]

Well, right now i remember an important ancient religion whose symbol was a cross: the monotheistic adoration to Aton (the Sun) that the egyptian Pharaoh (the heretic pharaoh lol) Akhen-Aton tried to impose. It was the cross of life: it existed as a powerful religious symbol before, but the monotheists made it their central symbol.

I was under the impression that the symbol of life was an ankh, which is only a semi-cross. And as far as the central symbol, would that not have been simply the sun-disc? Akhenaten was not heretical, though, because as Pharaoh he had the last say in religious matters: he ordered a new capital to be built at Amarna, and it was done. Of course, his death reversed matters - his young son Tutankhamun was easily influenced by the disgruntled priests - but I think he saw it as worth a try. It didn't help foreign relations, though. He spent so much time developing his religion, his allies the Mittani were fully overcome by the Hittites, who would later become a major rival to Egypt, culminating in the grand battle at Qadesh. As a side note, another ruler that attempted to bring forward a monotheistic religion was Nabonius, son of famed Nebuchadrezzar, who was king of the Babylonian empire in the early half of the 500s BC. He attempted to bring about the worship of the moon-god Sin, but I suppose his plans never went anywhere: the Medes and Persians of Darius the Great invaded, and down fell Babylon the great.

But this aside, the Cross as its used, and in that form, is still a unique symbol. Aside from Christianity, it is a symbol of suffering and death. To have it used in such a way on a church would take some great event (or perhaps Guardia is just a cult of death-worshippers?) Moreover, a few other factors, such as the existance of Latin, tie together to make the historical events surrounding AD/BC not unlikely.

[DeweyisOverrated]

There's actually somewhat of a movement among... um... well I guess its starting with historians mostly.  But its to change the reilgious implications of Bc/AD to  BCE/CE, which is "Before Common Era" and "Common Era".

And I believe BC/AD was used just to show somewhat of a parallel to our own time, to keep it familiar to us.