Calendars Through the Ages

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• Learn more about astronomy and world history.

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Astronomy is central to understanding and comparing the Chinese, Christian, Indian, Islamic, and Jewish calendars, as well as those of the ancient Mayans and Romans. In creating the calendar, people have been trying to organize their lives in accordance with the sun and stars. Different cultures have different ways of measuring the passage of time and over the years, cultures have developed their own calendar to reflect those differences.

Calendars Through the Agesprovides a text-based but comprehensive coverage of the calendars developed by various cultures. In addition to answering age-old questions like “Has the year always started on January first?” or “Why does February have only 28 days?” this site draws from the works of Plutarch and Dionysius to answer the really tough questions. A Timeline ties it all together. A separate section explains the history and mystery of Daylight Savings Time.