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Chapter 9
Specific Calendars |
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This rather large chapter considers a number of calendars. The organization of this chapter is designed to proceed from the more familiar to the less familiar calendars, introducing major topics in progressive, small doses. At the end, virtually every important topic will have been introduced in the context of an actual calendar. |
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The chapter begins with the Roman calendar, which is the basis for the current Gregorian calendar. This is the calendar most familiar to most readers. In the process of discussing the history of this calendar, I introduce a number of concepts used later. |
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Egypt is the next stop. Here I introduce the first different calendar. It is a very simple calendar, and you learn something of the value of simplicity and consistency. The Coptic calendar follows, illustrating a blend of the Julian and Egyptian calendars. |
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The Islamic calendar shifts to a different perspective the completely lunar calendar. The Jewish calendar follows, introducing an example luni-solar calendar. The Jewish calendar is one of the more complex calendars and is further complicated by a number of rules based on religious injunction. |
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The next calendar departs even farther from the Western perspective. The Maya calendar is a Mesoamerican invention, featuring a cyclic view of time, base-20 arithmetic, an incredibly remote epoch, and an accuracy better than the Gregorian calendar itself. |
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After the Maya calendar, I take a breather with the Indian civil calendar, then proceed to consider a set of equations whose object is not to solve a particular calendar, but the problem of solving calendars itself. Using these tools, I look at several calendars of historical importance and learn how to consider calendars in terms of structure. |
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