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WDQS gives dates that are two days ealier than reported on the item page and the API
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Description

This query:

# Query birthdate of Vespasian
SELECT ?date ?precision ?rank
WHERE
{
  wd:Q1419 p:P569 ?dob_statement.
  ?dob_statement wikibase:rank ?rank.
  ?dob_statement psv:P569 ?dob_value.
  ?dob_value wikibase:timePrecision ?precision.
  ?dob_value  wikibase:timeValue ?date.
}

gives three dates of birth for Q1419 (Vespasian). Compare with https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1419#P569:

  • The preferred date in the query is "15 November 0009", but item page says "17. november 9".
  • The deprecated value in the query is "16 November 0009", but the item page says "18. november 9".

The API (wbgetclaims: https://www.wikidata.org/w/api.php?action=wbgetclaims&entity=Q1419&property=P569) agrees with the item page.

So it seems that WDQS gives dates that are two days earlier than they should be in this case.

Event Timeline

Restricted Application added a subscriber: Aklapper. · View Herald Transcript

The user interface and the API show you the original date value and its calendar model, which in this case is the Julian calendar. The RDF export, on the other hand, always converts dates to the proleptic Gregorian calendar (source). I assume that’s the cause for this apparent discrepancy (two days sounds roughly in the right ballpark for a date some half a century after Caesar’s death).

Not a very happy situation, though, if there is no way in WDQS to retrieve a Julian-format date that is what is entered on the wikidata item and would be universally used on sources.

T246731 is open as a live bug asking for somw attention on this.