How Did People Know Their Age Before Birth Certificates?

Описание: Quick question: how old are you? You answered in a second. For most of human history, most people couldn't.

Before birth certificates, people counted their lives by kings, floods and falling stars. Assyria named every year after an official picked by lot. In Manipur, King Kiyamba named each year after a person who carried the kingdom's suffering. The Lakota painted one picture for every winter. Roman tombstones said "plus or minus." Medieval heirs had to call a jury of neighbours to prove they were 21, and Old Tom Parr claimed to be 152.

⏱️ Chapters
0:00 How old are you, really?
0:30 Every kingdom counted differently
0:45 Mesopotamia's named years
1:00 Assyria's year-men
1:30 Egypt resets the count
1:45 Rome, Dionysius and "AD"
2:30 Manipur's year-bearers (Cheithaba)
3:15 Lakota winter counts
4:00 Birthdays were for kings
4:45 "Plus or minus" on Roman tombstones
5:15 Age heaping
5:30 Proving you're 21 in medieval England
6:30 The parish register
6:45 Old Tom Parr, aged 152?
7:15 Birth registration arrives
7:30 Korean age
7:45 Everyone born on January 1st
8:00 India's June 1st birthdays
8:15 Close enough

📚 Sources
• Assyrian limmu eponym lists – Livius; Encyclopedia.com, "Reckoning Time"
• Dionysius Exiguus and Anno Domini; Bede, Ecclesiastical History (731)
• Cheitharol Kumbaba and the Cheithaba system – Parratt, The Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur (2005)
• Lakota winter counts – Smithsonian; Minneapolis Institute of Art
• Origen, Commentary on Matthew 10.22
• Roman epitaph ages – Pflaumer, TU Dortmund
• Age heaping – US Census Bureau (2023)
• Medieval proofs of age – Mapping the Medieval Countryside; British History Online
• Thomas Parr – Westminster Abbey
• England & Wales civil registration (1837) – General Register Office
• Korean age abolished (2023) – NPR
• January 1 birthdays – AFP; Smithsonian

💬 Do you know your grandparents' real birthdays? Tell me in the comments, and which everyday problem we should travel back in time for next.

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