About Time - Chapter 7 - The week

To further organize their lives, various cultures would adopt differing versions of an artificial, smaller cycle of days, independent of the rhythms of nature. The Babylonians had cut their month into portions of seven days, of which the last day was seen as unfortunate. These days were named after the Sun, the moon and the five known planets, which had attained a Godlike status. Because like the Sun and moon had clearly proven, it was believed that the planets must also possess powers to profoundly influence our lives. And so all seven planet-gods were honored and would take turns governing one of the seven days that together would become known as the week.

01:07 - The adoption of the planet praising week would lead to the rise of astrology The flickering night lights were overlaid with fantastical representations of our own living drama as we transformed the starry skies into a theatre for the adventures of Gods and other mythical characters. War and peace, death and birth, droughts and abundance, all were prophesied by the night sky spectacle. As their perceived power grew, monuments were built in their honor and studies of the stars and planets were intensified. Astrologers would increase and refine our knowledge of the heavens and the concept that cosmic bodies could regularly and invisibly influence us from afar, would later become the foundation for our scientific mind. .