..and asked someone what year it was, what would they say? Obviously they wouldn't say it was 500 BCE because that measurement of time is based on something that hasn't happened for them yet. My point is..how was time kept track of before we came up with the means we use now? With no zero year what place in time did they go by? Please..no guessing or you will be beaten by rabid monkeys with swizzle sticks..
2007-01-29 05:37:26 · 10 answers · asked by crazylifer 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Cordova: Good point. They may not have known what a year was back then. But there had to have been some sorta of unit of measure. And it had to have existed for a while because we know things like how old King Solomon was when he was crowned, married, built the great Temple, and died. They may not have used a 365 day calendar for their "years" but, they must have used some sort of universal unit for measuring time that was used by many if not by all.
2007-01-29 05:47:29 · update #1
It depends on which culture you were to land in - some had calenders and some did not. Most cultures seemingly did not keep track of the years, while a few used critical events in their cultural history to track time from, or from the alignment of the celestial beings or gods.
How many monkeys?
2007-01-29 05:45:57 · answer #1 · answered by walkinandrockin 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You and I will not live long to see the existence of the time machine. Well, archaelogists and scientists are working hard to establish what the world looked like back in 500 BCE. Nevertheless, can we survive to read or see the information. I have a plan and that is I will ask God when I go to meet him but how am I going to tell you when that happens.
2007-01-29 13:44:55 · answer #2 · answered by Ptuan 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In most ancient societies, people kept track of time by referring to the year of a ruler's reign. So it could be Caesar 4, for example. Some societies did have numbering systems like ours, but obviously these were based on some other event than what we base ours on.
2007-01-29 13:50:53 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They would certianly measure up time with the help of astronomical observation e.g. If a Solar Eclipse took place in 496 BCE then they would say," You are 4 yrs after the sun got darkened"
2007-01-29 13:47:36 · answer #4 · answered by Redhead Kicki 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they didn't track time as we do now, more along when the seasons occurred. if you look at an ancient mayan calendar (this would be about your time period) you won't see any way to track how many summers/springs/winters have passed, but just how long it is until the next seasonal change.
can i have a swizzle stick?
2007-01-29 13:47:06 · answer #5 · answered by mizzouswm 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most civilizations had calendars and kept track of the years according to the reigns of the kings of queens of their civilizations.
2007-01-29 15:33:34 · answer #6 · answered by real illuminati(Matt) 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They might say something like "It's the fourteenth year of King Darius's reign."
P.S.
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/BabylonianCalendar.html
I found this on the Babylonian Calendar.
2007-01-29 13:45:10 · answer #7 · answered by Mister Farlay 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
They would probably tell you it is "Year 7 of the reign of such and such King." They kept track by major events such as new monarchies and wars.
2007-01-29 13:47:03 · answer #8 · answered by Crabboy4 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They likely wouldn't speak English,so it would not matter what we said.
2007-01-29 13:46:34 · answer #9 · answered by Jo 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They might say, "What the hell is a year?"
2007-01-29 13:43:48 · answer #10 · answered by Immortal Cordova 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋