They kept track by having the new year on the vernal equinox.
they had a five day holiday at that point which was a time considered removed from normal time.....maybe because of the alcohol.hehe. It was the time that the king had to reaffirm his right to reign by holding the hand of the sun god. They took that quite seriously if the king refused he was executed before the sun was down. the legend attached to the holding of the hands ceremony is that a bad king would be instantly immolated by the power of the god. Good way of ensuring the taxes dont go up if you ask me
the rest of the year was split into 18 months of 20 days
the zodiac is also split into 18 houses of twenty days [www.geocities.com]
all their building work was begun at the end of the festival which means that all their buildings are also aligned to the vernal equinox.
The king lists were not really effective at keeping track of the years because they were written on the walls of each respective city and of course the length of king bob wouldn't be written until King bob was toes up in the cemetary.
And they didn't use the bce/bc ace/ad system that we do.
the king list didn't have dates
i personally don't think that counting years was all that important as much as remembering their past rulers




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/2005 03:50PM by marduk.