Olympiad

Overview

The Olympiad is an ancient unit of measurement that corresponds with 4 solar years, counting the number of Olympic games since the first Olympic games in 775 BCE. It was used for over 1000 years by Ancient Greece as well as Ancient Rome.

The Olympics eventually ceased to be held around 400 AD, and with it the Olympiad fell out of use.

Info

The ancient Olympiad has little connection to the modern olympic games, as they are out of phase with each other and start with a different epoch.

Accuracy

The exact start of the Olympic games is unclear, and most sources will just say it was held in the summer of 776 BCE. This website uses astronomical dates, so it is displayed here as 775 BCE. I have chosen to use 1 August of the Julian calendar for the middle of summer.

Source

All of the information for this timekeeping system has come from its Wikipedia article.