The history of atheism, depending on how one defines the term, can be dated to as early as the 6th century BC, or as recently as the late 18th century AD. The word atheism itself was not coined until the 16th century. In Medieval and Renaissance Europe, instances of atheism are rare. The existence of arguments put forward to demonstrate God's existence by Aquinas, Anselm and others suggests that non-belief was not unheard of, but few records of it are known.