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Article: CALENDAR CONFUSION.(development of calendars)
- Article from:
- The Evening Standard (London, England)
- Article date:
- December 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Carus Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE BABYLONIANS. The Babylonians used a lunar calendar of 29- and 30-day months equaling 354 lunar days. To realign the movement of the seasons and stars, they added an occasional month. Every eight years, another three months were added to coordinate with the solar year.
THE EGYPTIANS. The Egyptians designed a solar calendar with twelve 30-day months (360 days in all). The missing extra five days were put at the end of the year as birthdays of the five most important gods.
THE ROMANS. Our present-day calendar goes back to the Romans, 2700 years ago. The first Roman calendar had only ten months -- six months of 30 days, and four months of 31. Someone ...