46 BC

Millennium: 1st millennium BC
Centuries:
Decades:
Years:
46 BC in various calendars
Gregorian calendar46 BC
XLVI BC
Ab urbe condita708
Ancient Egypt eraXXXIII dynasty, 278
- PharaohCleopatra VII, 6
Ancient Greek era183rd Olympiad, year 3
Assyrian calendar4705
Balinese saka calendarN/A
Bengali calendar−638
Berber calendar905
Buddhist calendar499
Burmese calendar−683
Byzantine calendar5463–5464
Chinese calendar甲戌年 (Wood Dog)
2652 or 2445
    — to —
乙亥年 (Wood Pig)
2653 or 2446
Coptic calendar−329 – −328
Discordian calendar1121
Ethiopian calendar−53 – −52
Hebrew calendar3715–3716
Hindu calendars
 - Vikram Samvat11–12
 - Shaka SamvatN/A
 - Kali Yuga3055–3056
Holocene calendar9955
Iranian calendar667 BP – 666 BP
Islamic calendar688 BH – 686 BH
Javanese calendarN/A
Julian calendar46 BC
XLVI BC
Korean calendar2288
Minguo calendar1957 before ROC
民前1957年
Nanakshahi calendar−1513
Seleucid era266/267 AG
Thai solar calendar497–498
Tibetan calendar阳木狗年
(male Wood-Dog)
81 or −300 or −1072
    — to —
阴木猪年
(female Wood-Pig)
82 or −299 or −1071

Year 46 BC was the last year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caesar and Lepidus (or, less frequently, year 708 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 46 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

This year marks the change from the pre-Julian Roman calendar to the Julian calendar. The Romans had to periodically add a leap month every few years to keep the calendar year in sync with the solar year but had missed a few with the chaos of the civil wars of the late republic. Julius Caesar added Mercedonius (23 days) and two other intercalary months (33 and 34 days respectively) to the 355-day lunar year, to recalibrate the calendar in preparation for his calendar reform, which went into effect in 45 BC.[1][2][3] This year therefore had 445 days, and was nicknamed the annus confusionis ("year of confusion") and serves as the longest recorded calendar year in human history.[4] The actual planetary orbit-year remained the same.

  1. ^ "The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, by C. Suetonius Tranquillus;".
  2. ^ "No. 2364: The Longest Year in History".
  3. ^ "Why 46 BC Was The Longest Year Ever". August 26, 2020.
  4. ^ "Lecture 11: The Calendar".