Talk:Hour
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There are 12 hours in a day for the same reason 13 has a tradition of being an unlucky number. The Babylonians (and Sumerians?) used a base 60 numbering system. They attributed mystical significance to numbers. Good and powerful numbers divided 60 evenly. 7 is the first number that doesn't divide 60 evenly and, curiously, got tagged as "lucky". 8 was considered the weakest of the numbers from 1 to 12. 13 does not divide 60 evenly and so was thought a "bad" number. When anything important needed dividing into units, such as the hours in a day, it was done in some even divisor of 60 with 12 being the most popular. That the moon happens to wax and wane approximately 12 times a year and that a year is close to 60*6 = 360 days only reinforced the holiness of base 60 numbering. To prevent the 360 day calendar from getting out of sync, the 5 extra days in a year were used for a holiday which was called Saturnalia. (Think Saturnalia must be a Roman name, after Saturn which in the Greek mythos is Chronos, God of Time.)
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Looks like all the entries on units of time are missing this history. Also the entry on Babylonia barely mentions this and the entry on Sumeria is totally silent.