Measures of Time

PTOLEMAIC l Earth UNITS TO EARTH FRENCH DAY ENGLISH DAY l PtolemaeusMoon 33–64 lundi monday l Mercury 64–166 mercredi wednesday l Venus 166–1,079 vendredi friday l Sun 1,160–1,260 dimanche sunday l Mars 1,260–8,820 mardi tuesday l Jupiter 8,820–14,187 jeudi thursday l Saturn 14,187–19,865 samedi saturday M ’ ’ The gods rotate through the days hours, each days first hour sacred to that god. ° ° ° ° ° ° 1Romans Saturn* Sun Moon Mars Mercury Jupiter Venus 2 Jupiter Venus Saturn Sun Moon Mars 3 Mars Mercury Jupiter Venus Saturn Sun 4 Sun Moon Mars Mercury Jupiter Venus WEDNESDAY 5 Venus Saturn Sun Moon Mars Woden 6 Mercury Jupiter Venus Saturn Sun Wotan, Odin 7 Moon Mars Mercury Jupiter Venus highest 8 Saturn Sun Moon Mars Teutonic god, 9 Jupiter Venus Saturn Sun linked with the 10 Mars Mercury Jupiter Venus Roman god, 11 Sun Moon Mars Mercury 12 Venus Saturn Sun 13 Mercury Jupiter Venus 14 Moon Mars FRIDAY 15 Saturn Sun Frija 16 Jupiter Venus Frigg, Freyja 17 Mars love and 18 Sun Mars fertility in men 19 Venus Sun Mars and women, 20 Mercury Venus Sun Mars linked with 21 Moon Mars Mercury Venus Sun the Roman 22 Saturn Sun Moon Mars Mercury Venus goddess, Venus 23 Jupiter Venus Saturn Sun Moon Mars Mercury ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ 24 Mars Mercury Jupiter Venus Saturn Sun Moon TUESDAY * Saturn, the bringer of bad luck, evaded by doing nothing on his“ day. In 321” AD the 1st Tiw Christian Roman emperor Constantine the Great shifted the day of rest to Sunday. Tiwaz, Tyr success in battle, linked with the Roman god, Mars THURSDAY Thor possessor of the uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu thunderbolt, linked with the Roman god, Barbarians Jupiter © 1997 6 66 Signs of the Beast CHALDEAN ASTRONOMY 2300–1600 BC JEWISH EXILE IN BABYLON 586–444 BC Hexagon inscribed in circle divides to 6 equal parts; Nebuchadnezzar sacks Jerusalem; First Temple sexagesimal number system (base 6) developed; Period ends; Jewish survivors removed to slave labor year = 360 days and degree symbol ˚ indicates suns; in Babylon; Old Testament texts collated during circles assigned 360˚; zodiac divided into 12 regions captivity; Second Temple Period begins 444 BC M THOTH HOUR ssssssssss The Egyptian physician Chaldeans (Babylonians) Thoth, c. 3000 BC, divided a daily cyle into 24 ssssssssss proposed a decimal-like units (hours) ssqsssssss system of arranging time. A month of 30 days was Romans divided daylight ssqssssssss divided into 3 groups into 12 equal parts and of 10. darkness into 12 equal parts. Note seasonal varia- ssssssssss tion of lengths. Guards ssssssssss HOUR ssssssssss stood watch for four parts, Thoth divided a day DAY ssssssssss a tradition retained in nau- ssssssssss into 10 hours ssssssssss tical clocks, which chime 1 ssssssssss bell for each half-hour and ssssssssss MINUTE ssssssssss And divided an hour repeat at 8 bells. ssqsssssss into 100 minutes MINUTE ssssssssss ssssssssss SECOND Chaldeans divided an ssssssssss hour into 60 minutes ssssssssss And divided a minute ssssssssss ssssssssss into 100 seconds ssssssssss SECOND ssssssssss And divided a minute ssssssssss NIGHT ssssssssss Later Egyptians worshiped into 60 seconds Thoth as a deity. As part of rationalizing systems of mea- sure, the National Convention In 820 AD Hrabanus Maurus, of Revolutionary France a monk, divided the hour into adopted Thoth’s system in April 22,560 atoms.1/288th of an 1795.It was repealed in 1805. atom was a scrupulus. © 1997 Months of Romulus MARTIUS MONTHS FEBRUARIUS Mars first an ADDED Februus agricultural c. 450 BC god of the deity, dead, ritual APRILIS spring; later, of purifica- Pales IANUARIUS god tion for the a + prilius Janus of battle; new year toward the god of Charlemagne festival of crossing renamed to + MONTH OF Pales, name- places, Lentzinmanoth; MERCEDONIUS sake of esp. bridges, with his son inserted into Palatine later gates it reverted MAIUS Feb. every Hill; Maia 2 years anniversary daughter of Rome’s of Atlas, BEGINNING OF founding associated NEW YEAR with cult of moved to Jan. 1 the dead; in 153 BC considered an unwise month for marriage Divisions of a Month SATURNALIA KALENDS TERMINALIA FESTIVAL appearance of the new moon; e.g., IV Kalends = 4 days before the new moon; length varies in full and empty months DECEMBER Tenth NONES the 9th day before the ides; e.g., II Nones = 11days before the full moon IDES appearance of the full moon; sacred to Jupiter; a festival day; debt payments were due on the Ides NOVEMBER IUNIUS Ninth Juno Briefly, first sacred Domitianus, to women, Faustinus, esp. child- Romanus birth and marriage; OCTOBER QUINCTILIS later, Eighth (IULIUS) consort of Fifth Jupiter Assigned SEPTEMBER SEXTILIS to Julius Seventh (AUGUSTUS) Caesar in Briefly, Sixth 45 BC by Germanicus, Assigned to the Senate, Antonius, Augustus as thanks Tacitus Caesar in for the 9 BC calendar reform © 1997 Annus Trepidus SOLAR CYCLE Every 28 years the days of Two issues arise in nailing down a year: what cycle to reference (lunar, solar, agricultural, all of these) for the length of a year; and a conception of how the the month return to the years relate one to another (our insistence on linear time is relatively new). same days of the week Early civilizations often used several calendar systems running side by side. (a perpetual calendar); a solar year is 365.2422 days THE ANCIENT GREEKS followed a lunar calendar that aligned to the solar year: first 2 years of 12 lunar months, then 1 year of 13 lunar months. LUNAR CYCLE THE MUSLIM CALENDAR’s 12 lunar months fell short of the solar year by Every 19 years the lunar about 11 days. In 33 lunar years the two calendars aligned again. days return to align with BEGINNING c. 3000 BC EGYPT followed a solar calendar that began with the solar days; a lunar the fall equinox (when the Nile’s annual flood recedes and planting begins): month is 29.53059 days; 6 numbered months of 30 days to the spring equinox, then 6 numbered there are 12.36827 lunar months of 30 days plus 5 named days: Osiris, Horus, Set, Isis, Nephthys (leap day? not known). The Chaldeans (Babylonians) used a similar plan. months in a solar year AFTER THE EXODUS MOSES devised a year of 52 weeks, 7 days each, that GREAT YEAR began on the fall equinox. An extra 1 day of celebration (2 on leap years) ended the year. Each of the 4 seasons had the same number of weeks. The The lunar and solar cycles year began on the 1st day of the week and ended on the last day of the week. mesh every 532 years IN 45 BC JULIUS CAESAR adopted Egypt’s solar cycle and reformed the LUNAR YEAR Romulan calendar, which began with ten lunar months (these ended after the harvest season and picked up at the spring equinox), then added January and February, and then inserted the month of Mercedonius into February Ancient Greek every 2 years. An “improvement” by Julius sprinkled the extra 5 days among full and empty months. u A nice feature (from Egypt) was that each Jewish year started and ended on the same day. u The Romans counted the years since the city’s founding in 753 BC; but the more common reference was to Muslim a given leader’s reigning year (e.g., I Philip = 1000 Rome = 248 AD). Following Christian symbology, Christ was SOLAR YEAR CHRISTIANS (AND EASTER) born on the winter solstice, the day of greatest darkness. He was resurrected on the first full moon following the spring equinox, the day of greatest light, Egypt ergo Easter. Early and middle Christians showed tremendous concern about the correct dating of Easter, the error of celebrating Easter twice in one year, Rome and the desirability that all churches use the same date. Thus each year the bishops of Rome and Alexandria set an Easter date and notified all the churches in Christendom (for a time, Rome charged a fee). The Jews cele- CHRISTIAN u brate Passover on Nisan 14. This lunar date shifts through the solar calendar and at one time coincided occasionally with Easter. To avoid this, early Christians fixed Easter to their sabbath and moved that to Sunday. Then the ADOPTION OF 1582 REFORM Nicene Council of 325 AD forbade Easter falling on Passover and affirmed the heretical nature of the Quartodecimans (eventually slaughtered) who Germany 1700 celebrated Easter on Nisan 14. The current odd system of dating Easter is Denmark 1700 a final patch. u The Easter problem spurred the church to develop tables Great Britain 1752 assigning Easter dates; these tables tended to propagate local errors long America 1752 after their intended usefulness. A sampling: table of Hippolytus, Bishop of Portus (16-year cycle); improved Hippolytan tables by Cyprian (16-year Sweden 1753 cycle, 112 years); octaëteris used by Epiphanius (8-year cycle); Laterculus of Japan 1873 Augustalis (84-year cycle); the older Supputatio Romana (84-year cycle); China 1912 Theophilus (100 years); Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria (95 years); Victorius of Russia 1918, 1940 Aquitaine (19-year cycle, 532 years); and Dionysius Exiguus (19-year cycle, 114 years). u Dionysius notes in his prologue (525 AD = 1277 Rome = East Orthodox 1924, 1927 CCXLII Diocletian): “I did not wish to preserve the memory of the impious persecutor in my cycles but rather chose to denote the times from the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” Thus began our (slightly incorrect) system of dating from the birth of Christ. u Note that revisions by Constantine I in 321 AD adopted the 7-day week with 52 1/7 weeks in the year, setting off a shift of days from one year to the next.

Load more