HermanCainsGhost t1_ja5qxjz wrote on February 27, 2023 at 1:13 AM

Reply to comment by be0wulfe in 4,500-year-old Sumerian temple dedicated to mighty thunder god discovered in Iraq. by Rifletree

Because 60 has a LOT of factors that can go into it.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15... etc

It's the reason why there are 60 minutes in an hour (and ultimately why there are 60 seconds in a minute, though that's a later development). It's also ultimately why we have 24 hours in a day (they had 12 for daylight hours, which ALSO has a lot of factors, it was eventually doubled).

A lot of time keeping stuff is due to them

AppleDane t1_ja7twnl wrote on February 27, 2023 at 2:21 PM

The 12 hour clock was more due to having 1 hour of dawn and 1 hour of twilight. Night wasn't counted as "time", so they had 10 hours of effective time.

dreadcain t1_ja8e9n2 wrote on February 27, 2023 at 4:42 PM

Source?

AppleDane t1_ja8g2mo wrote on February 27, 2023 at 4:54 PM

I have to give up on finding any. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I remember this from either a documentary on TV or some article I read.

Everyone points to the babylonian number system, so I'm doubting myself too. Maybe I misremember this, or it was a later invention.