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Ha, that's nothin'. The ancient Egyptians used a 365 day calendar (with no leap years) so it drifted by .25 days every year. So after 730 years it's essentially

Ha, that's nothin'. The ancient Egyptians used a 365 day calendar (with no leap years) so it drifted by .25 days every year. So after 730 years it's essentially backwards (summer solstice is when winter solstice used to be etc.). After that, it starts coming back into alignment again but takes another 730 years to get there. They used their calendar for so long that it nearly had time to roll over like this twice!

owlninja 3y ago
Somehow, for the first time ever, I recently heard the idea of the 13 month year and I sort of nodded my head in interest. Then I heard someone breakdown the history of calendars and it really blew my mind. Mainly the amount of thought that went into it and the incredible span of time it was revised and discussed!
- eternauta3k 3y ago
  This is an excellent podcast on the history of timekeeping: https://www.hi101.ca/?p=566 https://www.hi101.ca/?p=566
- brandensilva 3y ago
  The 13 month per calendar year (Mayan calendar) just makes so much sense as a web developer but somehow as a human it also seems hella mundane to have the same 28 day cycle repeated. Maybe that last day of the year party would make up for it though.
  - Ma8ee 3y ago
    The only disadvantage I can see is that you’d have your birthday in the same day of the week every year. If you are born on a Monday, you’ll celebrate on a Monday every year in your life.
    - eesmith 3y ago
      In our current calendar system I don't always celebrate my birthday on my birthday.
      - szundi 3y ago
        This is so true and adds to the prev prev argument
        eesmith 3y ago
        I'm so familiar with the Gregorian calendar that I would prefer the International Fixed Calendar (13 months of 28 days + Leap Day and Year Day) with its yearly synchronization over the Mayan calendar.
  - mnw21cam 3y ago
    I quite like the hobbit calendar. 12 months of 30 days each, plus 5 (or 6) extra days that don't belong to a month and are celebration days. Mid-year day and the leap day don't have a day of the week, so each date always is the same day of the week. https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Shire_Calendar https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Shire_Calendar
    - brandensilva 3y ago
      More celebration days, no complaints here. I wish humanity cared more about such universal celebrations that brought us together. Of course those days would be very hectic travel wise if the entire population of earth were to migrate around on those days.
    - bombcar 3y ago
      Days that aren't part of a month are such a elegant way to solve the problem. Even now 29 Feb shouldn't exist, it should just be "leap day" and have no numerical significance. Screw the computers, they can learn to adapt.
      - andirk 3y ago
        The Y29K Bug. That would fix the current "Don't Get Paid for A Day" trick that Leap Years do to salaried people.
pier25 3y ago
Woah. The change happened over multiple generations but they must have noticed, no?
- riku_iki 3y ago
  its always hot there, so no wonder they didn't notice winter shift (joking).
  - bombcar 3y ago
    This is actually partially part of it - if you're tracking your activities based on natural phenomena, you don't need to worry about a calendar - just things like "days since full moon" or "weeks since the flood".
- Ekaros 3y ago
  The farmers did not care. Nile floods at sometime, then it goes back then you do all the normal things until you harvest. Repeat. So they really did not need calendar for that. And on other hand the clerks had enough time to make writing system really hard to learn so such thing would make things even better for them...
nine_k 3y ago
My favorite factoid about ancient Egypt is that Cleopatra, the last pharaon queen of Egypt, lived much closer to the time when humans landed on Moon than to the time when the great pyramids were built.
- rocqua 3y ago
  Also, Cleopatra considered herself Greek (or rather hellinistic) and had the lineage to prove that. She is remembered fondly because she was decently respectful of her Egyptian subjects, but that was mostly in contrast to her predecessors.
  - bell-cot 3y ago
    > She is remembered fondly because... From accounts by professional ancient historians, that "fact" may mostly be PR spin and "rule of cool" myth. For instance: https://acoup.blog/2023/05/26/collections-on-the-reign-of-cleopatra/ https://acoup.blog/2023/05/26/collections-on-the-reign-of-cl...
  - pyuser583 3y ago
    She’s remembered because of her alliance with Mark Anthony.
- bell-cot 3y ago
  True...but "last pharaon queen of Egypt" may be misleading, for those unfamiliar with the history: Cleopatra was a Macedonian Greek, descended from one of Alexander the Great's generals. Alexander had conquered Egypt about 3 centuries earlier...taking it from the Persians, who had previously conquered the final "native" XXX Dynasty... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic_Kingdom And giving Egypt's foreign conqueror the title "Pharaoh", if only for domestic consumption, persisted for centuries after Cleopatra: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_pharaoh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_pharaoh Though Rome's appointed provincial governors mostly didn't care if the locals called them "Pharaoh".
  - 3y ago

owlninja 3y ago

Somehow, for the first time ever, I recently heard the idea of the 13 month year and I sort of nodded my head in interest. Then I heard someone breakdown the history of calendars and it really blew my mind. Mainly the amount of thought that went into it and the incredible span of time it was revised and discussed!

eternauta3k 3y ago
This is an excellent podcast on the history of timekeeping: https://www.hi101.ca/?p=566 https://www.hi101.ca/?p=566
brandensilva 3y ago
The 13 month per calendar year (Mayan calendar) just makes so much sense as a web developer but somehow as a human it also seems hella mundane to have the same 28 day cycle repeated. Maybe that last day of the year party would make up for it though.
- Ma8ee 3y ago
  The only disadvantage I can see is that you’d have your birthday in the same day of the week every year. If you are born on a Monday, you’ll celebrate on a Monday every year in your life.
  - eesmith 3y ago
    In our current calendar system I don't always celebrate my birthday on my birthday.
    - szundi 3y ago
      This is so true and adds to the prev prev argument
      - eesmith 3y ago
        I'm so familiar with the Gregorian calendar that I would prefer the International Fixed Calendar (13 months of 28 days + Leap Day and Year Day) with its yearly synchronization over the Mayan calendar.
- mnw21cam 3y ago
  I quite like the hobbit calendar. 12 months of 30 days each, plus 5 (or 6) extra days that don't belong to a month and are celebration days. Mid-year day and the leap day don't have a day of the week, so each date always is the same day of the week. https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Shire_Calendar https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Shire_Calendar
  - brandensilva 3y ago
    More celebration days, no complaints here. I wish humanity cared more about such universal celebrations that brought us together. Of course those days would be very hectic travel wise if the entire population of earth were to migrate around on those days.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    Days that aren't part of a month are such a elegant way to solve the problem. Even now 29 Feb shouldn't exist, it should just be "leap day" and have no numerical significance. Screw the computers, they can learn to adapt.
    - andirk 3y ago
      The Y29K Bug. That would fix the current "Don't Get Paid for A Day" trick that Leap Years do to salaried people.

pier25 3y ago

Woah. The change happened over multiple generations but they must have noticed, no?

riku_iki 3y ago
its always hot there, so no wonder they didn't notice winter shift (joking).
- bombcar 3y ago
  This is actually partially part of it - if you're tracking your activities based on natural phenomena, you don't need to worry about a calendar - just things like "days since full moon" or "weeks since the flood".
Ekaros 3y ago
The farmers did not care. Nile floods at sometime, then it goes back then you do all the normal things until you harvest. Repeat. So they really did not need calendar for that. And on other hand the clerks had enough time to make writing system really hard to learn so such thing would make things even better for them...

nine_k 3y ago

My favorite factoid about ancient Egypt is that Cleopatra, the last pharaon queen of Egypt, lived much closer to the time when humans landed on Moon than to the time when the great pyramids were built.

rocqua 3y ago
Also, Cleopatra considered herself Greek (or rather hellinistic) and had the lineage to prove that. She is remembered fondly because she was decently respectful of her Egyptian subjects, but that was mostly in contrast to her predecessors.
- bell-cot 3y ago
  > She is remembered fondly because... From accounts by professional ancient historians, that "fact" may mostly be PR spin and "rule of cool" myth. For instance: https://acoup.blog/2023/05/26/collections-on-the-reign-of-cleopatra/ https://acoup.blog/2023/05/26/collections-on-the-reign-of-cl...
- pyuser583 3y ago
  She’s remembered because of her alliance with Mark Anthony.
bell-cot 3y ago
True...but "last pharaon queen of Egypt" may be misleading, for those unfamiliar with the history: Cleopatra was a Macedonian Greek, descended from one of Alexander the Great's generals. Alexander had conquered Egypt about 3 centuries earlier...taking it from the Persians, who had previously conquered the final "native" XXX Dynasty... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic_Kingdom And giving Egypt's foreign conqueror the title "Pharaoh", if only for domestic consumption, persisted for centuries after Cleopatra: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_pharaoh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_pharaoh Though Rome's appointed provincial governors mostly didn't care if the locals called them "Pharaoh".
- 3y ago