Letter: Next millennium starts Jan. 1, 2001

The pseudo-dawn of the third millennium has mesmerized and beguiled the ignorant and learned alike.

Throughout the recorded history of human civilization, never has a dynasty, reign, or era been based on a calendrical system that designated the first year as 0. The fact that the Gregorian calendar assumes Dionysius Exiguus was correct in his estimation of the year Christ was born is intriguing but not relevant to the fundamental point: Jan. 1, 2001 is the first day of the 21st century and of the much anticipated next millennium.

MARC EHLERS

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