*The 360-Day Year on Real Science Radio

*Today we present the return of a classic show.

* Did the whole world once use a 360-day calendar? If so, why? From our archives, RSR hosts Bob Enyart and Fred Williams look at the Mayans, Egyptians, Aztecs, Indians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and the Hebrew Bible to answer the first question: Yes, ancient civilizations used a 360-day calendar. To answer the question why, one must keep in mind the sophistication of ancient astronomers. Nasa reports that in 650 B.C., "Mayan astronomers [made] detailed observations of Venus, leading to a highly accurate calendar." And the Encyclopedia of Time says of the Aztecs that, "they carried on and further developed calendrical traditions that had their roots some 2,000 years before their own time." Real Science Radio investigates the reason why the ancient world used a 360-day calendar and discusses a mechanism for speeding up the rotation of the Earth that in historical times could add 5.24 days to the year. See more at 360dayyear.com.

* RSR on YouTube: You're invited to check out RSR's 360-day year program turned into this important YouTube video:

* The Calendar is one of the Greatest Monuments of a Culture: Along with language, the calendar is one of the greatest monuments of a culture. Ranke, as quoted by Norman Lockyer (The Origin of the Year, 1982, Nature, p. 487) wrote, "The calendar may be considered the noblest relic of the most ancient times which has influenced the world." And in 1903 Emmeline Plunket judged (Calendars and Constellations of the Ancient World, 1903, p. 188) that interest in ancient calendars is a necessary part of being "interested in the history of the human race".

* Would You Consider Purchasing a Rare Research Book for RSR: [See kgov.com/wish-list for the latest status.] Over at Amazon.com, to further our investigation of one of Bob Enyart's favorite topics, the 360 day year, we've created a KGOV Research Amazon Wish List. We hope to procure an important and rare research book, The Cultic Calendars of the Ancient Near East. The text of this book is not available online, and there is a used copy of the book currently available, as of January 2016, that is $600 less expensive than the other copies also for sale. So if you're considering helping RSR continue to press forward on this significant topic, then please consider purchasing that book by clicking on our Wish List link just above. And for shipping, you can use the address at the Wish List. Thanks so very much for considering this! -Bob & Fred

* Other RSR 360 Shows and Related Links:
- The 360 Day Year on RSR (this show) and then Part 2 of today's program (broadcast in 2016 but not again in 2019)
- Astronomer Danny Faulkner on the 360-Day Year with Bob Enyart
- Danny's CRSQ paper rejecting the widespread belief among many creationists (including RSR, Henry Morris, Walt Brown, etc.) that God originally created the Earth with a 360-day year and 30-day months
- Danny's paper rebutted in CRSQ by Enyart
- How the Moon's Orbit Changed from 30 to 29.5 Days by a professor of astronautics at the U.S. Air Force Academy
- On the origin of the world's first-known number system (a hybrid decimal/base 60 system)
- 24 Hours in a Day -- How Ancient is the 24-hour Measurement?
- Seven Days in a Week -- How Ancient is the 7-day Week?
- 30 Days in a Month -- How Ancient is the 30-Day Month?
- RSR's 360 Day Year show on YouTube
- rsr.org/predictions#lunar-libration
- The Genius of Ancient Man
- 360dayyear.com
- rsr.org/300
- rsr.org/3

* What Year Is It On These Calendars? As of September 20, 2020, using these calendars, the year is:
- 6770 Assyrian
- 6024 Ussher
- 5781 Hebrew
- 5134 Mayan (3114 B.C.)
- 4719 Chinese

* Lunar Calendar At All Costs: Ancient man had more than sufficient knowledge to know that the year was more than 360 days and that the lunar month was less than 30. Yet his allegiance to a year of twelve 30-day months was intense. Of course, widely, great significance was placed on lunar-based religious feasts, yet these could have been observed within a solar calendar context (for example, the seventh month's New Moon). For a lunar calendar, like a 360-day calendar, unless corrected, would cause the seasons to migrate from winter to fall, and so on to spring. So while a lunar calendar readily supported the "New Moon" and other such religious festivals, and could help the especially astute person anticipate the strength of the tides (as Seneca reported in about 60 A.D.), a solar calendar would better enable mankind to accomplish pretty much everything else. Enormous benefits in implementation and planning in the areas of agriculture, hunting, fishing, civil administration, military planning, commercial agreements, political reigns, and in religious observations, would result from using a solar calendar. (For example, the annual rainy season coinciding with the melting of snow in the Ethiopian highlands led to Egypt's extraordinarily significant recurring flooding of the Nile.) In comparison with all that, the benefit from a lunar or 360-day calendar was minimal. Yet the ancient world adhered to their lunar and 360-day calendars. For millennia. Their loyalty speaks volumes. And if a man is to be a student of history he should listen to their voice.

* Minor Note from Assyro-Babylonian Mythology: A text from the Neo-Assyrian Period describes a battle wherein Marduk defeats the Eshumesha gods and takes 360 of them as prisoners of war.