In our time, to find out the desired date, it is enough to use the calendar, the same for all civilized countries. But in ancient times, the systems of calculating time differed significantly among different civilizations. What is their history, and who is credited with inventing the first calendar today?
Calendar history
The first mention of tribes that could count years and seasons with a fairly high accuracy is found in the ancient annals of Europe and the Middle East. About 7,000 years ago, in what is now Egypt, in Nabta Playa, pastoralists depended on the rainy season, which came at approximately the same time intervals, and fed pastures for livestock with fresh water. At the same time intervals, the brightest star, Sirius, appeared in the sky, and observers logically connected these events.
A similar "calendar circle" was created around the same time by tribes on the territory of modern Germany. It was called "Gozeksky", and was tied to the winter solstice.
Returning to Egypt, it is worth noting that the calendar was vital for this country, because the amount of the harvest depended on the floods of the Nile River. Anticipating these floods made it possible to prepare the fields for flooding in time, and after the water receded, to know the approximate time until the next flood. In addition to the Egyptians, the Jews, who counted from 3761 BC, and the Romans from 753 BC, also engaged in chronology. It was the latter who began to count each new year from January 1, starting from the year 45 BC.
The Julian calendar, named after Gaius Julius Caesar, for the first time began to divide years into ordinary and leap years. The duration of the first was 365 days, and the second - 366 days. Such a chronology system was adopted in all Christian countries for more than 15 centuries, until it was finalized by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, and transformed into the Gregorian calendar, which everyone still uses. Unlike Julian, it:
- Removes the error of 10 days that has accumulated since 325 AD (since the First Ecumenical Council). In fact, the error was 12 days, but Gregory XIII thus timed the date of the real spring equinox to March 21 (Easter border).
- Accounts for regular date offsets that were not taken into account by the Julian calendar. So, the difference between the old and new styles in the 17th century was 10 days, in the 19th century - 12 days, and in 2100 it will be 14 days.
Today, the Gregorian calendar is generally accepted for most countries of the world. Even many Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, have switched to it. And India, Israel, China and many other states that have their own chronology systems use two calendars at the same time: their national and Gregorian.
Interesting facts
In different periods of history, world civilizations used lunar, lunisolar and solar calendars. In our time, the generally accepted is solar, which is already more than 2 thousand years old. During the existence of the calendar chronology, many interesting facts have accumulated. Here are just a few of them:
- The Aztec civilization, which flourished on the territory of modern Mexico from the 14th to the 16th centuries, calculated the calendar many centuries ahead - until December 21, 2012.
- Although September is the ninth month of the year, its name comes from the word septem, which translates as "seven".
- The ancient Roman calendar had only 10 months, and only 4 of them had names.
- For the first time, the concept of a leap year was introduced by the Roman emperor Julius Caesar, during whose lifetime only one 366-day year was recorded.
- Collecting printed pocket calendars is called philotaymia or calendarism.
- In Russia, the Gregorian calendar was introduced only in 1918, after the overthrow of the monarchy.
- The national Chinese calendar is lunisolar, and takes into account the position in the sky of both the Sun and the Moon. According to him, in an ordinary year there are 12 months, and it lasts only 353-355 days. A leap year lasts 383-385 days, and consists of 13 months.
- The difference between the Gregorian and the Coptic calendar currently exceeds 7 years, which is why Ethiopia celebrated the new millennium not in 2000, but in 2007.
It's also worth noting that printed calendars with months, dates, and historical/religious events have long been considered luxury items, and only the very wealthy had them. For example, in Russia this practice existed until the middle of the 19th century.
Over the past 6-7 millennia, many calendars have been invented, differing for each people / civilization. Only the Julian (later Gregorian) calendar, which is used all over the world today, has stood the test of time. It is the most accurate of all existing ones, and gives an error of 1 day every 3333 years!
