The Romans usually referred to their year at this stage by the name of the Consuls who were in office. The majority of that year would have been known as the year of Caesar and Pallus, as Lucius Caesar was the First Consul and [Lucius Aemilius Paullus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Aemilius_Paullus_(consul_1) was second consul.

754 AUC, or 754 years after the founding of the city of Rome. The use of AUC eclipsed the consular measurement during Imperial times as a sort of propaganda measure and as a means of further establishing Rome as the center of the empire.

After the fall of the Western Empire, the Eastern emperors started to use the years of their reign (ex: Justinian year 8 or somesuch,) instead. AUC does still persist in some circles up into modern times, though.