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Re: Why not 13 months? (Was La Systeme Metrique)
Frank Joseph Yurco (fjyurco@quads.uchicago.edu)
Wed, 16 Aug 1995 17:30:10 GMT
In response to the last post, all the data about Julius Caesar adopting
the 365 day calendar, plus a leap year extra day every four years was
correct, except that, Caesar obtained this calendar from Egypt, where
the ancient Egyptians had been using a solar based calendar for almost
3,000 years already. The Ptolemies around 270 B.C., had improved it by
adding on the leap year extra day, every four years and this became known
as the Alexandrian Calendar.
Get a copy of J.R. Harris, Legacy of Egypt, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1971), and read Richard A. Parker's article, "Calendars and Chronology,"
and you'll find it all clearly laid out there.
Sincerely,
Frank J. Yurco
University of Chicago
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Frank Joseph Yurco fjyurco@midway.uchicago.edu
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