Talk:Hour
From Academic Kids
There are 12 hours in a day for the same reason 13 has a tradition of being an unlucky number. The Babylonians (and Sumerians?) used a base 60 numbering system. They attributed mystical significance to numbers. Good and powerful numbers divided 60 evenly. 7 is the first number that doesn't divide 60 evenly and, curiously, got tagged as "lucky". 8 was considered the weakest of the numbers from 1 to 12. 13 does not divide 60 evenly and so was thought a "bad" number. When anything important needed dividing into units, such as the hours in a day, it was done in some even divisor of 60 with 12 being the most popular. That the moon happens to wax and wane approximately 12 times a year and that a year is close to 60*6 = 360 days only reinforced the holiness of base 60 numbering. To prevent the 360 day calendar from getting out of sync, the 5 extra days in a year were used for a holiday which was called Saturnalia. (Think Saturnalia must be a Roman name, after Saturn which in the Greek mythos is Chronos, God of Time.)
Looks like all the entries on units of time are missing this history. Also the entry on Babylonia barely mentions this and the entry on Sumeria is totally silent.
Media reference to this article
This article is quoted from by Julian Palmore, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Illinois in the "Ask The Expert" column appearing in the May/June 2005 issue of Illinois Alumni, a newsletter for alumni of the University of Illinois. The first sentence is quoted. It would be useful to provide a reference(s) for this first sentence along with references supporting other information in the article. Courtland 13:26, 2005 May 12 (UTC)
