Sumerians looked to the heavens when they created their time
system – the same system we use today. Have you ever wondered why we divide hours
into sixty minutes and minutes into sixty seconds? Why don’t we use multiples
of ten or twelve? It’s basically because the Sumerians didn’t operate on a
decimal (base-10) or duodecimal (base-12) system. What they used is called an exagesimal
(base-60) system. For the ancient Sumerians who first divided the movements of
the heavens (including our Earth) into countable intervals, sixty was the
perfect number. The number sixty can be reached by multiplying two and thirty, three
and twenty, four and fifteen, and five and twelve. Ancient Sumerian astronomers
believed there should be 360 days in a year: exactly six times sixty. The
Sumerian Empire thrived between 4100 and 1750 BCE, before being displaced by
the Babylonians. But they’ve left their mark on the world’s culture for over 5000
years.
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