Did A Year Used To Last 360 Days?
Dear Bill and Margaret, I believe evidence shows that before and after
Noah's flood for a period of time, the year consisted of 12 thirty day
months equalling 360 days exactly. The chronology of the
flood certainly seems to verify this; It is also evidenced by
Deut. 34:8 and 21:13, and Num. 20:29 where mourning for the dead is
ordered for a "full Month," and is carried on for thirty
days. There are also many ancient writings from India,
Persia, Babylonia, Assyria etc, whose writings describe the year as
having 360 days, 12 thirty day months. Their writings go on
to say that in the seventh century B.C. 5+ additional days were added.
In your knowledge of time and history, can this be confirmed?
God bless you, Arnold
Hi Arnold :
I am not sure if you asking if the cultures of the day used a 360 day
calendar or if the earth actually rotated around the sun in 360 days
rather than the 365 and 1/4 days it actually takes.
If you
are asking the first question then yes you are correct. Many
cultures did use a 360 day calendar which led to season
creep. In other words a month that used to be in winter would
eventually become a spring month as the decades and centuries
progressed because it takes 5 and 1/4 extra days for the earth to
rotate around the sun. Eventually that extra 5 days was
recognized and incorporated into calendar systems. However
even that was a problem because of that 1/4 day. Which is why
we now have leap year.
And this little tidbit: Leap year was first introduced by king Ptolemy III, Egypt in 238 BC
For the short and sweet version of how we got our current calendar, check out the AD and BC article on our site.
Or for a much longer but interesting explanation of calendars (there are about 40
different ones still in use around the world today) try this site http://astro.nmsu.edu/~lhuber/leaphist.html
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