If the moon determines months and the earth's rotation determines days....?

Question

Where does the seven day week come from?

Answer 1

Each week is one quarter phase of the moon. A full moon to a new moon takes two weeks, then another two to return. For practical purposes it was easier for early civilisations to split things into 7 rather than deal with a 14 day week. Interestingly civilisations across the globe developed a 7 day week independantly to each other. Days months and weeks were pretty uniform measures of time with only years changing because they were not measured accurately or influenced by religion. As cultures came into contact with each other it was helpful to have similar measurements of time for purposes of trade also. The two largest civilsations to develop seven days was China (and Japan) and the West: From as early as Babylon through ancient Egypt and Rome.

Answer 2

The calendar that we use today was created by the church. And that calendar has actually stuffed up the menstural cycle. So the seven day week doesn't come from that. I guess they thought that having a seven day week was easier for us to make time for things. But then time isn't real either...

Answer 3

The Lunar month is 28 days, or 4 weeks of 7 days.

Answer 4

Seems about right to me (4 X 7 = 28 days)

Answer 5

well, if every month were exactly 4 weeks, 4 X 7 would be 28 - one lunar cycle.

i think that was the original idea, but it kind got muddled up with all the calendrical revisions

Answer 6

The idea of the week came from the Babylonians.
http://www.obliquity.com/calendar/week.html

Answer 7

From God - the days of Creation and God's day of rest.

Answer 8

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Week
It gives an explanation

Answer 9

the number of days in a menstrual cycle