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The '''Age of Aries''' is a fictional designation for years, used only in the [[Ars Magica]] game.  [[ArM5]] does not use the Age of Aries (and neither did [[ArM1]]), with very few exceptions.<ref name=HoHTL>''[[Houses of Hermes: True Lineages]]'', "House Guernicus", at various points between pp. 47-90, including inserts</ref> In [[ArM2]] through [[ArM4]], the [[Order of Hermes]] generally recorded dates in terms of the Age of Aries, abbreviated '''AA''' or '''A.A.''', rather than using the [[AD]] Christian Calendar.<ref name=OoH>[[ArM2]] Sourcebook ''[[Order of Hermes (book)|Order of Hermes]]'', pp. 122-124</ref><ref name=HoH_Introduction>[[ArM3]]/[[ArM4]] Sourcebook ''[[Houses of Hermes Book|Houses of Hermes]]'', "Chapter One - Introduction", p. 5</ref><ref name=HoH>[[ArM3]]/[[ArM4]] Sourcebook ''[[Houses of Hermes Book|Houses of Hermes]]'', "General Timeline" and "Detailed Timeline", p. 140</ref>

== Conversion from AA to AD ==
In Ars Magica [[canon]], the Age of Aries began in 139 B.C.<ref name=HoH /> It's tempting to suggest one should simply subtract 139 years to convert a date from AA to [[AD]] (and many authors appear to have done exactly this). However, since there was no year Zero on the common calendar, this introduces an error of one year. So to be accurate, one should instead subtract 138. <ref name=HoHTL /> so 1358 AA would be 1220 AD.

Also, according to Age of Aries reckoning, the new year begins in March rather than January.<ref name=OoH />

== Astrological Ages ==
The Age of Aries is an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_age Astrological Age] of the Zodiac.  However, it is not the correct astrological age corresponding to the real-world medieval period.  In [[Real History]], the Age of Aries was from about 1658 BC to 498 BC.  The correct astrological age for the Middle Ages would be the Age of Pisces. None the less, Ars Magica consistently used the "Age of Aries" until astrological dates were dropped nearly entirely with [[ArM5]].  Perhaps the world of Mythic Europe is oriented 30 degrees east relative to our world, or perhaps (more likely) [[Atlas Games]] was aware of the error but didn't consider it important enough to correct.

== References ==
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===  Legacy Page  ===
The history of this page before August 6, 2010 is archived at [[Legacy:age_of_aries]]
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