Dates, dating formulae, ages

2024-03-20

Recording expressions of dates and durations in the transcribed text.

Names of months, days of the week, or various other periods of time in the text, may be tagged as a reference string (rs) for purposes of indexing or other processing, as in the example below:

ἔτι καὶ μηνεὶ <rs type="month"
 nymRef="months.xml#Ξανθικός">Ξανθικῷ</rs>

Explicit dates that appear in the text (whether or not they can be parsed into Julian years) may also be tagged using the date element.

ἐτελεύτισεν <date>μινὶ Παυνὶ ἑβδόμι</date>
<calendar xml:id="creationOfWorld">
 <p>"Since the creation of the world"</p>
</calendar>
<!-- -->
<date when="1382-06-28"
 when-custom="6890-06-20" datingMethod="#creationOfWorld"> μηνὶ Ἰουνίου εἰς <num>κ</num> ἔτους <num>ςωϞ</num>
</date>

This example encodes the Roman consular date A.D. 154:

<date from-custom="0154-01-01"
 to-custom="0154-12-31" datingMethod="#julian" type="consulship">
 <persName type="imperial" role="consul"
  nymRef="#Commodus">Commodo</persName>
 <w lemma="et">et</w>
 <persName type="attested" role="consul"
  nymRef="#Lateranus">Laterano</persName>
 <w lemma="consul">
  <expan>co<ex>n</ex>s</expan>
  <expan>
   <ex>ulibus</ex>
  </expan>
 </w>
</date>
<!-- ... Commodo et Laterano co(n)s(ulibus) -->
(RIB: 452)

Durations

From time to time, it is desirable to mark-up durations of time. This is accomplished with the date element and the dur attribute. Rules for encoding dur values are codified in the W3C Recommendation on Datatypes.

For the sake of consistency, the following optional typevalues are recommended for specifying the type of duration being marked up.

  • age
  • age-at-death
  • office-span
  • military-service-span
  • marriage-span
Age (of person possibly still alive)
ἧι ἐν μάχηι συνηγωνίσατο Αἰσχύλος ὁ ποιητὴς ἐτῶν ὢν
<date rend="acrophonic" type="age"
 dur="P35Y">ΔΔΔ𐅃</date>
Note: Digital Marmor Parium, ll. 63-4.
auguri co(n)s(uli) de[s(ignato)] / <date type="age" dur="P14Y">an(nos) nat(o) XIIII</date> prin[c(ipi)] / [iuventutis]
(EDH: HD037387)
[honorato <date type="age" dur="P18Y">ann(orum) XVIII</date> praef(ecto)]
(EDH: HD030409)
Age at death (i.e. completed life-span)
biuerunt <date type="age" dur="P70Y9M">annos plus minus septuaginta menses IX</date>
(IRT: 844)
uixit <date type="age" dur="P3Y6M14D">annos III menses VI dies XIIII</date>
(IRT: 835)
v(ixit) <date type="life-span" dur="P20Y">an(nos) <num atLeast="20">XX</num>
</date>
(RIB: 960)
Office span
βασιεύοντος Ἀθηνῶν Αἰσχύλου, <date type="office-span" dur="P21Y">ἔτους εἰκοστοῦ καὶ ἑνός</date>
Note: Digital Marmor Parium
Military service span
<date type="military-service-span"
 dur="P13Y">stip(endiorum) <num value="13">XIII</num>
</date>
(RIB: 485)
Marriage span
<date type="marriage-span" dur="P30Y">a(nno) <num value="30">XXX</num>
</date>
(RIB: 295)

See also:

Other pages describing <date>:

Other pages describing <rs>:

Other pages describing <calendar>:

    Responsibility for this section

    1. Simona Stoyanova, author
    2. Gabriel Bodard, author
    3. Scott Vanderbilt, author

    EpiDoc version: 9.6

    Date: 2024-03-20