Sunday, January 11, 2009

What have the Babylonians ever done for us?

Listening to More or Less on Radio 4, I learnt about the Babylonian's contribution to our maths.  Apart from our systems for time and angles (they worked in base 60), they also had a big impact on our calendar.

Babylonians were big on phases of the moon and worked in 28 day months, broken down into 7 day weeks.  They believed that the 7th day of each week was dangerous so it was best to stay at home.  It is believed that this had a big impact on the Israelites while they were with the Babylonians, so this 7 day cycle got written into the Genesis creation story.

So, what have the Babylonians ever done for us?  Sundays off!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought the 7th day of the week was Saturday?

Sunday is the 1st day.

Sarah said...

Yes, I understand that. But the idea of a 'day of rest' is based on the sabbath concept. We celebrate on a Sunday because that's the day the resurrection was on, I think. But the day of rest idea comes from the Babylonians.

Anonymous said...

See I told you Babylon 5 was good...or am I missing the point?

Sarah said...

As usual, yes, and deliberately so. You can't fool me.