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Calander Systems & Time Conversions

1 by granny_skot
I was wondering if there is a web site where one can find alternate historical years, by which I mean, if I'm looking at say 60 ad, for Rome, What year was it to the Roman living it? to the German tribesman same era? alternately if I'm looking at 1400 CE South Africa what year was it to the south african?

I was thinking that would be a wonderfully usefull tool for any person who was looking at a lot of disparate information. not so hard for the Chinese or even jewish calendars as they are VERY old so fairly consistant, but.... there are so many cultures to consider... :)

Granny

Re: Calander Systems & Time Conversions

2 by Eddy
granny_skot wrote:I was wondering if there is a web site where one can find alternate historical years, by which I mean, if I'm looking at say 60 ad, for Rome, What year was it to the Roman living it? to the German tribesman same era? alternately if I'm looking at 1400 CE South Africa what year was it to the south african?

I was thinking that would be a wonderfully usefull tool for any person who was looking at a lot of disparate information. not so hard for the Chinese or even jewish calendars as they are VERY old so fairly consistant, but.... there are so many cultures to consider... :)

Granny

A while ago I coincidentally found an 'Almagest Ephemeris Calculator'
http://www.phys.uu.nl/~vgent/astro/alma ... emeris.htm
I didn't study it really closely but perhaps this might be something you look for :idea: ?

4 by Mark
Hi granny,
Calendars and how they are calculated are interesting, dont you think?
Not least as its probably the origin of the zodiac in the first place. :shock:

Mark
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly

5 by Eddy
granny_skot wrote:Very interesting, Calendars and how they are calculated are interesting, dont you think? G
I too find them very interesting :) . Entire cultures rely on calendars.

6 by granny_skot
Or the sodiac is the begining of them.... :) I think they are pretty well tied up together.

the the egyption breaking up of the calendar into about 10 day segments in interesting. I think a 7 day week is a really odd segment? for creatures whose digits are generally 1, 2, 5 and 10

just a thought. :) Granny

7 by Eddy
granny_skot wrote:Or the sodiac is the begining of them.... :) I think they are pretty well tied up together.

the the egyption breaking up of the calendar into about 10 day segments in interesting. I think a 7 day week is a really odd segment? for creatures whose digits are generally 1, 2, 5 and 10

just a thought. :) Granny
In globally one Solar year (365.25 days) the Moon repeats her phases globally 12 times. One lunar month or one 'moon' is about 29.53 days so each 354 days 12 moonmonths have passed and this year is ca 11 days shorter than the solar year.

To keep up with the solar year about every 3 years there has to be a 13th month. The Jewish calendar still uses an old calendar based upon the Meton cycle 235 lunar months is almost exactly 19 years. These are with seven 13th month. During such an imperfect added month people didn't feel comfortable. According to some 13 is a bad luck number because of this. According to others 13 is a bad number because the 'Last Supper' was with 13 people, Jesus and the disciples. If I'm correct it was then that Jesus said to Judas that he would betray him.

The modern western/Christian calendar doesn't use the Moon except for calculating some dates like Easter. Further the basis calendar is purely Solar. Hence Easter occurs then in April then in March.

The Muslims skip the solar year and use only 12 moonmonth years without intercalation. Therefore their festivities like fasting during the month Ramadan occur 11 days earlier every solar year.

The Moon has her phases, New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon and Last Quarter every ca. 7 days. As there are 7 planets too, the ancient peoples considered the 7 a special number.

Johannes Kepler who realised that the astrological signs were schematically derived from the 12 lunar months in a year rejected or at least felt reluctant to the use of the 12 astrological signs, considering them an unnatural division. ?4.2 http://cura.free.fr/docum/15kep-en.html

8 by granny_skot
shhhh dont tell anyone, but it actually has 13 cycles in a year... scary I know, but accurate. ;) okay that is is you start with a full or new moon, but close enough for government work.

granny
PS I was born on Friday the 13th and I'm rather fond of the day.

9 by Eddy
granny_skot wrote:... it actually has 13 cycles in a year...
Well if you use the lunar cycle of 0?Aries to 0?Aries then this is 27.32 days 13 of these tropical moon months is ca. 355.16 days. As the Sun moves too in that tropical month's time it will take a bit over 2 days for the Moon to catch up with the Sun to be in the same phase as previous month. As far as I know there are no traditional calendars based on the tropical moon month with 13 and sometimes 14 months in one solar year. The phases of the Moon are more notable than the tropical (or sidereal) position so these inspired more peoples for the use of their calendars. However the sidereal position of the Moon in 27/28 lunar mansions also have been significant for counting the days.

10 by granny_skot
365/28 is 13 with one extra day, so I really do think 13 28 day months with an extra day in the middle some where would be more fun and ad an extra day for leap year at new years every fourth year, I think its silly how t he months are all different lengts when they could be far more equal. Heck even if you kept it as twelve months it seems logical to me to drop a couple of those 31st days and ad them to february to get a far more even calendar... as it stands its oddly lopsided...

Granny

11 by Mark
the the egyption breaking up of the calendar into about 10 day segments in interesting
I think its silly how t he months are all different lengts when they could be far more equal. Heck even if you kept it as twelve months it seems logical to me to drop a couple of those 31st days and ad them to february to get a far more even calendar... as it stands its oddly lopsided...
Your not the first to suggest that. Its been done in fact. A modern experiment was the French Republican Calendar used during the French Revolutionary period for about 12 years. It had 12 months of exactly 30 days, which in turn were divided into three 10-day weeks called d?cades (decades). Five extra days ? six in leap years ? were national holidays at the end of every year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar

Unfortunately, the calendar got a bit of a bad name being associated with Robespierre and the Terror. :-sk

I would favour its return if we could have a working week of 6 days and then 4 days off. :lala
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly

12 by Mark
I meant to mention earlier if anyone really wants to get to the bottom of ancient calendars and their linkage to astronomical cycles and astrology this book looks worth the investment:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Astronomy-Weath ... 0521851815

The book is strong on the Babylonian, Greek, Roman and Egyptian traditions. Its only limitation is its focus on the classical world, Near East and Egypt without looking at Asia, the Americas, etc. Still those probably all deserve large volumes in their own right.

You can actually access the above authors 250 page PHD Thesis for free which formed the basis of her later book. There is loads of useful information here:

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/ ... Q53766.pdf

You will note one big difference though...the word astrology was replaced by astronomy by the publishers in the final title of her book. Presumably they regarded that as more academically respectable. :(

Mark
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly
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