History of Calendars Quiz

Study Notes

The History of the Calendar

The Ancient Egyptians were the first to develop a calendar based on a 365-day year.
Their calendar was based on the annual flooding of the Nile River.
The Egyptians used sundials to track the sun's shadow, which helped them calculate time and seasons.
The Egyptians divided the year into 12 months of 30 days each, plus five extra days.
The Babylonians based their calendar on a 360-day year, which was influenced by their existing mathematics.
The Babylonians observed that the sun moved through the sky at about 1 degree each day.
In 46 B.C., Julius Caesar implemented a 365-day and 6-hour calendar known as the Julian Calendar.
The Julian Calendar added a leap day every four years to account for the extra 6 hours.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII replaced the Julian Calendar with the Gregorian Calendar, which is still used today.
The Gregorian Calendar accounts for the fact that the year is not exactly 365 days and 6 hours, but is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 46 seconds.
Leap years remain 366 days long, except for years divisible by 100 but not by 400 (e.g. 2000 was a leap year, but 1900 and 2100 were not).

Days of the Week

Between the first and third centuries CE, the Roman Empire adopted a seven-day week, replacing their previous eight-day system.
Sunday was named after the sun in Latin, "Dies Solis," meaning "day of the sun," and later became “Sunnon-dagaz” in Old Germanic.
Monday was named after the moon in Latin, "Dies Lunae," meaning "day of the moon," and became "Mondaeg" in Old English.
Tuesday was named for the Roman god of war, Mars. However, in Germanic culture, the god of war was Tiu, leading the English day of the week to be derived from his name as "Tiwsday" and eventually "Tuesday."
Wednesday was named for the Roman god Mercury. The equivalent Germanic god was Woden, leading to "Woden's Day" in German and "Wednesday" in English.
Thursday was named after Jupiter, the Roman god of thunder. Later, this evolved to Thor, the Norse god of thunder, and ultimately became "Thursday."
Friday was named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love. This evolved to Frigg, the Norse goddess of love, becoming "Frije-dagaz" in Germanic and "Friday" in English.
Saturday was named after Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture.

Months of the Year

The original Roman calendar had 10 months:
- March: named after the god of war, Mars.
- April: named after the goddess Aphrodite (or Apru).
- May: named after Maia, daughter of Atlas.
- June: named after the goddess Juno.
- July: named by the Roman Senate in honor of Julius Caesar.
- August: named after Augustus Caesar, the first Roman emperor.
- September: comes from the Latin word "septem," meaning "seven," as it was the seventh month in the early Roman 10-month calendar.
- October: comes from the Latin word "octo," meaning "eight."
- November: comes from the Latin word "nonus," meaning "ninth."
- December: comes from the Latin word "decem," meaning "ten."
When the Romans added two more months to the Julian Calendar:
- January was named after the god Janus.
- February is named after a Roman purification festival called "februa."

Description

Test your knowledge on the evolution of calendars from the Ancient Egyptians to the Gregorian Calendar. Understand how civilizations like the Babylonians and Romans shaped our current understanding of timekeeping. This quiz covers significant historical milestones and innovations in calendar development.