The Romans, and of course, any Christians in the Empire, generally used the consular year (naming the two consuls elected that year) for their dates until the reign of Justinian. They sometimes used the start of Diocletian's reign (AD 284), the reginal year of the emperor, or very rarely, dating to the founding of Rome (ab urbe condita) . In AD 537, Justinian abolished consular dating system and the Romans began using reginal years of the emperor (Justinian's reign started in AD 527).

Dating from the birth of Christ (Anno Domini) was invented in the 6th Century AD, but not commonly practiced until the 8th Century. By then, the Roman Empire, and Orthodox Church, had started using Anno Mundi dates, or starting from the Creation. They continued to use that dating system until the final fall of Constantinople in 1453.