 Unlike AD, which traditionally precedes the year number, CE always follows the year number (if context requires that it be written at all).Thus, the current year is written as in both notations (or, if further clarity is needed, as CE, or as AD ), and the year that Socrates died is represented as 399 BCE (the same year that is represented by 399 BC in the BC/AD notation).The abbreviations are sometimes written with small capital letters, or with periods (e.g., "B.C.E."