360 isn't as arbitrary as you think and was chosen specifically for its divisibilty. 365 doesn't divide well by much of anything.
I'd always heard that it was because the ancient sumarrians thought there were 360 days in a year combined with the fact that their holy number was 60 so it divided cleanly.
It takes only about 19 years for a 360 day calendar to be off by a whole season. Every ~38 years, winter and summer would swap entirely. Grandparents would have told their grandchildren about how much easier the summers were and how much harder the winters were.
I doubt the ancient Sumerians thought there were 360 days in a year.
360 isn't as arbitrary as you think and was chosen specifically for its divisibilty. 365 doesn't divide well by much of anything.
I'd always heard that it was because the ancient sumarrians thought there were 360 days in a year combined with the fact that their holy number was 60 so it divided cleanly.
It takes only about 19 years for a 360 day calendar to be off by a whole season. Every ~38 years, winter and summer would swap entirely. Grandparents would have told their grandchildren about how much easier the summers were and how much harder the winters were.
I doubt the ancient Sumerians thought there were 360 days in a year.
Ah. Fair enough then.