Dr's Casebook: Think of the Babylonians when you celebrate New Year

It may also surprise you to know that the way we tell time is based on Babylonian mathematics, that all originated four thousand years ago with the ancient Sumerians, who preceded the Babylonians and gave them their system. Photo: StockAdobe

The countdown to the New Year minute by minute and ultimately second by second until Big Ben chimes midnight is a highlight of the year gone by and the one about to begin.

Dr Keith Souter writes: All civilisations seem to have devised customs at the start of what they designate as the point when the new year begins. Our custom has been going for centuries, yet the New Year did not always start on January 1. At one time it was thought to begin with the start of the spring. In about the fifth century BCE, the Romans added two months, January and February, to the year in order to bring it into harmony with the changes of the moon.

January is named after their god Janus, the god of doorways, entrances and new beginnings, who had two faces, one looking backwards into the past and one forwards into the future.

The ancient Babylonians celebrated the new year with the sowing of the barley.

Interestingly, it is to them that we have to thank for the way that we tell time. They divided the year up into a system of twelve months, made up of weeks and days.

It may also surprise you to know that the way we tell time is based on Babylonian mathematics, that all originated four thousand years ago with the ancient Sumerians, who preceded the Babylonians and gave them their system. Hours, minutes and seconds are based on what is called a sexagesimal or base 60 system. So too, is the way we calculate directions and use the 360 degrees of a circle.

It may not seem the most logical system, since when we learn to count we use the base 10 or digital system. We have ten fingers, ten toes, after all. Then when you learnt to tell time didn’t the 12 hours seem strange, especially if you counted on fingers?

But the thing is that 60 is the smallest number that is divisible by every number from 1 to 6. It is the lowest common multiple of those numbers and therefore it simplifies many fractions. This is why even today we use the Babylonian system for measuring time, angles and geographical coordinates. So, think about the Babylonians when you look at your watch to await the countdown to celebrate New Year.