What year was Jesus born?

By correlating events in the biblical Gospels with Jewish and Roman historical records, experts have come to believe that Jesus was born between the years 6 and 1 B.C. The problems with accurate dating include disagreements within historical records and different methods for calculating recorded events.

The method of year counting developed for western cultures began with the sixth-century monk Dionysius Exiguus, who believed Jesus was born in 1 B.C.; however, both earlier and later church fathers believed he was born at least one to three years earlier. The most common argument is that Jesus must have been born during the end of Herod's reign, and Herod died between 4 and 1 B.C.