It is my understanding that the Torah wasn’t used until 500 BC, and I wondered how, who, and why things were called BC. Did the Aisian people etc. use the same amout of years?
Monavis
BC = Before Christ. Nothing to do with the Torah. Muslims base their dating off the Hegira. Romans used AUC - Anno Urbe Conditae - and other societies past and present used and continue to use other dating systems.
The whole BC / AD system was fixed by Dionysus Exiguus. Wiki article here.
Briefly, a 6th century monk began using the system to compute when Easter would arrive. Very different systems were in use in the various cultures of Europe, Asia Minor, the Mideast, Asia and the Americas, prior, during, and after. It didn’t really catch on, as far as wikipedia is concerned, until Venerable Bede really needed to merge traditional British myth/legend/fact/story* with Biblical myth/legend/fact/story*.
*Pick whichever one you want, I’m not looking for an argument.
[EDIT] Heh, I’m too slow with the wikipedia searches.
The most common dating system in antiquity (and for some time after) was dating by the rule of kings, etc. e.g. “in Nth year of the reign of King/Emperor/Caesar X such-and-such happened”
Most contemporary records describe events this way, and modern(-ish) historians convert these in AD/BC for the benefit of modern readers.
Everything you ever could possibly want to ask about the calendar: Introduction
Are these ancient coins I have with the date 136 B.C. stamped on them authentic?
Nope. They were actually created in 24 B.C. and backdated to make them more valuable.
Herod The Great died in 4 BC so if we accept the emphasis which the Gospels place on his role in the Nativity then Christ’s birth would not have been any later.
Thanks for your help and sites.
A couple of Cecil’s columns.
My calender differs from that of Denis the Short in having a year 0 between 1BC and 1AD. Thus for me, this millenium began on Jan. 1, 2000. Much simpler that way.
But then you have to subtract 1 from all BC dates, e.g., for you Christ was born in 3 BC. Very confusing.
But then, by your calendar, it’s still only 2008.
Come on, come on, one or the other, not both. 
There are various regional Hindu calendars, none of which are really in use anymore. Parts of the oldest ones (the lunisolar bits) date back to the 12th century BC.
There is a modern “Indian National Calendar” which is used alongside the Gregorian calendar in India, based on the ancient Shalivahana calendar, which counts from 78 AD.