Week - wikipedia Week For other uses, see Week ( disambiguation ) and Weeks ( disambiguation ). An Italian cameo bracelet representing the days of the week by their eponymous deities ( mid-19th century, Walters Art Museum ) Circular diagrams showing the division of the day and of the week, from a Carolingian ms. ( Clm 14456 fol. 71r ) of St. Emmeram Abbey. The week is divided into seven days, and each day into 96 puncta ( quarter - hours ), 240 minuta ( tenths of an hour ) and 960 momenta ( 40th parts of an hour ). A week is a time unit equal to seven days. It is the standard time period used for cycles of rest days in most parts of the world, mostly alongside -- although not strictly part of -- the Gregorian calendar. The days of the week were named after the classical planets ( derived from the astrological system of planetary hours ) in the Roman era. In English, the names are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. ISO 8601 includes the ISO week date system, a numbering system for weeks within a given year -- each week begins on a Monday and is associated with the year that contains that week 's Thursday ( so that if a year starts in a long weekend Friday -- Sunday, week number one of the year will start after that ). ISO 8601 assigns numbers to the days of the week, running from 1 to 7 for Monday through to Sunday. The term `` week '' is sometimes expanded to refer to other time units comprising a few days, such as the nundinal cycle of the ancient Roman calendar or the `` work week '' or `` school week '' referring only to the days spent on those activities. Contents 1 Name 2 Definition and duration 3 Days of the week 4 History 4.1 Ancient Near East 4.2 Achaemenid period 4.3 Hellenistic and Roman era 4.4 Adoption in Asia 4.5 Christian Europe 5 Week numbering 6 `` Weeks '' in other calendars 6.1 Pre-modern calendars 6.2 Modern calendar reforms 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading Name The English word week comes from the Old English wice, ultimately from a Common Germanic * wikōn -, from a root * wik - `` turn, move, change ''. The Germanic word probably had a wider meaning prior to the adoption of the Roman calendar, perhaps `` succession series '', as suggested by Gothic wikō translating taxis `` order '' in Luke 1 : 8. The seven - day week is named in many languages by a word derived from `` seven ''. The archaism sennight ( `` seven - night '' ) preserves the old Germanic practice of reckoning time by nights, as in the more common fortnight. Hebdomad and hebdomadal week both derive from the Greek hebdomás ( ἑβδομάς, `` a seven '' ). The obsolete septimane is cognate with the Romance terms derived from Latin septimana ( `` a seven '' ). Slavic has a formation * tъ ( žь ) dьnь ( Serbo - Croatian тједан, Ukrainian тиждень, Czech týden, Polish tydzień ), from * tъ `` this '' + * dьnь `` day '', in some cases alongside nedělja ( OCS нєдѣлꙗ ), a loan - translation of Latin feria and sedmitsa ( седмица ), as ἑβδομάς derived from `` seven ''. Chinese has 星期, as it were `` planetary time unit ''. Definition and duration A week is defined as an interval of exactly seven days, so that technically, except at daylight saving time transitions or leap seconds, 1 week = 7 days = 168 hours = 10,080 minutes = 604,800 seconds. With respect to the Gregorian calendar : 1 Gregorian calendar year = 52 weeks + 1 day ( 2 days in a leap year ) 1 week = ⁄ ≈ 22.9984 % of an average Gregorian month In a Gregorian mean year, there are 365.2425 days, and thus exactly 52 ⁄ or 52.1775 weeks ( unlike the Julian year of 365.25 days or 52 ⁄ ≈ 52.1786 weeks, which can not be represented by a finite decimal expansion ). There are exactly 20,871 weeks in 400 Gregorian years, so 3 October 1617 was a Tuesday just like 3 October 2017. Relative to the path of the Moon, a week is 23.659 % of an average lunation, or 94.637 % of an average quarter lunation. Historically, the system of Dominical letters ( letters A to G identifying the weekday of the first day of a given year ) has been used to facilitate calculation of the day of week. The day of the week can be easily calculated given a date 's Julian day number ( JD, i.e. the integer value at noon UT ) : Adding one to the remainder after dividing the Julian day number by seven ( JD modulo 7 + 1 ) yields that date 's ISO 8601 day of the week ( for example, the Julian day number of 3 October 2017 is 2458030. Calculating ( 2458030 mod 7 + 1 ) yields 2, corresponding to Tuesday. ). Days of the week Main article : Names of the days of the week Schematic comparison of the ordering of the classical planets ( arranged in a circle ) and the sequence of days in the week ( forming a ( 7 / 3 ) heptagram within the circle ). The days of the week were originally named for the classical planets. This naming system persisted alongside an `` ecclesiastical '' tradition of numbering the days, in ecclesiastical Latin beginning with dominica ( the Day of the Lord ) as the first day. The Greco - Roman gods associated with the classical planets were rendered in their interpretatio germanica at some point during the late Roman Empire, yielding the Germanic tradition of names based on indigenous deities. The ordering of the weekday names is not the classical order of the planets ( by distance in the planetary spheres model, or, equivalently, by their apparent speed of movement in the night sky ). Instead, the planetary hours systems resulted in succeeding days being named for planets that are three places apart in their traditional listing. This characteristic was apparently discussed in Plutarch in a treatise written in c. AD 100, which is reported to have addressed the question of Why are the days named after the planets reckoned in a different order from the actual order ? ( the text of Plutarch 's treatise has been lost ). Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Planet Sun Moon Mars Mercury Jupiter Venus Saturn Greco - Roman deity Helios - Sol Selene - Luna Ares - Mars Hermes - Mercury Zeus - Jupiter Aphrodite - Venus Cronus - Saturn Greek : ἡμέρα Ἡλίου ἡμέρα Σελήνης ἡμέρα Ἄρεως ἡμέρα Ἑρμοῦ ἡμέρα Διός ἡμέρα Ἀφροδίτης ἡμέρα Κρόνου Latin : dies Sōlis dies Lūnae dies Martis dies Mercuriī dies Iovis dies Veneris dies Saturnī interpretatio germanica Sun Moon Tiwaz Wodanaz Þunraz Frige -- Old English sunnandæg mōnandæg tiwesdæg wōdnesdæg þunresdæg frīgedæg sæterndæg An ecclesiastical, non-astrological, system of numbering the days of the week was adopted in Late Antiquity. This model also seems to have influenced ( presumably via Gothic ) the designation of Wednesday as `` mid-week '' in Old High German ( mittawehha ) and Old Church Slavonic ( срѣда ). Old Church Slavonic may have also modeled the name of Monday, понєдѣльникъ, after the Latin feria secunda. The ecclesiastical system became prevalent in Eastern Christianity, but in the Latin West it remains extant only in modern Icelandic, Galician and Portuguese. 1. Sunday ( Christian Sabbath ) 2. Monday 3. Tuesday 4. Wednesday 5. Thursday 6. Friday ( Muslim Sabbath ) 7. Saturday ( Jewish Sabbath ) Greek Κυριακὴ ἡμέρα / kiriaki iméra / Δευτέρα ἡμέρα / devtéra iméra / Τρίτη ἡμέρα / tríti iméra / Τετάρτη ἡμέρα / tetárti iméra / Πέμπτη ἡμέρα / pémpti iméra / Παρασκευὴ ἡμέρα / paraskevi iméra / Σάββατον / sáb : aton / Latin ( dies ) dominica ; rarely feria prima, feria dominica feria secunda feria tertia feria quarta ; rarely media septimana feria quinta feria sexta Sabbatum ; dies sabbatinus, dies Sabbati ; rarely feria septima, feria Sabbati History A continuous seven - day cycle that runs throughout history paying no attention whatsoever to the phases of the moon was probably first practiced in Judaism, dated to the 6th century BC at the latest. There are several hypotheses concerning the origin of the biblical seven - day cycle. Friedrich Delitzsch and others suggested that the seven - day week being approximately a quarter of a lunation is the implicit astronomical origin of the seven - day week, and indeed the Babylonian calendar used intercalary days to synchronize the last week of a month with the new moon. According to this theory, the Jewish week was adopted from the Babylonians while removing the moon - dependency. However, Niels - Erik Andreasen, Jeffrey H. Tigay and others claimed that the sabbath is mentioned as a day of rest in some of the earliest layers of the Pentateuch dated to the 9th century BC at the latest, centuries before Judea 's Babylonian exile. They also find the resemblance between the biblical Sabbath and the Babylonian system weak. Therefore they suggested that the seven - day week may reflect an independent Israelite tradition. Tigay writes : It is clear that among neighboring nations that were in position to have an influence over Israel - and in fact which did influence it in various matters - there is no precise parallel to the Israelite Sabbatical week. This leads to the conclusion that the Sabbatical week, which is as unique to Israel as the Sabbath from which it flows, is an independent Israelite creation. The seven - day week seems to have been adopted, at different stages, by the Persian Empire, in Hellenistic astrology, and ( via Greek transmission ) in Gupta India and Tang China. The Babylonian system was received by the Greeks in the 4th century BC ( notably via Eudoxus of Cnidus ). However the designation of the seven days of the week to the seven planets is an innovation introduced in the time of Augustus. The astrological concept of planetary hours is rather an original innovation of Hellenistic astrology, probably first conceived in the 2nd century BC. The seven day week was widely known throughout the Roman Empire by the 1st century AD, along with references to the Jewish Sabbath by Roman scholars such as Seneca and Ovid. The seven day cycle ultimately replaced the older Roman system of the nundinal cycle, probably during the 4th century. Ancient near East The earliest evidence of an astrological significance of a seven - day period is connected to Gudea, priest - king of Lagash in Sumer during the Gutian dynasty, who built a seven - room temple, which he dedicated with a seven - day festival. In the flood story of the Assyro - Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh the storm lasts for seven days, the dove is sent out after seven days, and the Noah - like character of Utnapishtim leaves the ark seven days after it reaches firm ground. It seems likely that the Hebrew seven - day week is based on the Babylonian tradition, although going through certain adaptations. George Aaron Barton speculated that the seven - day creation account of Genesis is connected to the Babylonian creation epic, Enûma Eliš, which is recorded on seven tablets. Counting from the new moon, the Babylonians celebrated the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th as `` holy - days '', also called `` evil days '' ( meaning `` unsuitable '' for prohibited activities ). On these days, officials were prohibited from various activities and common men were forbidden to `` make a wish '', and at least the 28th was known as a `` rest - day ''. On each of them, offerings were made to a different god and goddess. In a frequently - quoted suggestion going back to the early 20th century the Hebrew Sabbath is compared to the Sumerian sa - bat `` mid-rest '', a term for the full moon. The Sumerian term has been reconstructed as rendered Sapattu or Sabattu in Babylonian, possibly present in the lost fifth tablet of the Enûma Eliš, tentatively reconstructed `` ( Sa ) bbath shalt thou then encounter, mid ( month ) ly ''. Achaemenid period The Zoroastrian calendar follows the Babylonian in relating the seventh and other days of the month to Ahura Mazda. The forerunner of all modern Zoroastrian calendars is the system used to reckon dates in the Persian Empire, adopted from the Babylonian calendar by the 4th century BC. Frank C. Senn in his book Christian Liturgy : Catholic and Evangelical points to data suggesting evidence of an early continuous use of a seven - day week ; referring to the Jews during the Babylonian Captivity in the 6th century BC, after the destruction of the Temple of Solomon. While the seven - day week in Judaism is tied to Creation account in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible ( where God creates the heavens and the earth in six days and rests on the seventh ; Genesis 1 : 1 -- 2 : 3, in the Book of Exodus, the fourth of the Ten Commandments is to rest on the seventh day, Shabbat, which can be seen as implying a socially instituted seven - day week ), it is not clear whether the Genesis narrative predates the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews in the 6th century BC. At least since the Second Temple period under Persian rule, Judaism relied on the seven - day cycle of recurring Sabbaths Tablets from the Achaemenid period indicate that the lunation of 29 or 30 days basically contained three seven - day weeks, and a final week of eight or nine days inclusive, breaking the continuous seven - day cycle. The Babylonians additionally celebrated the 19th as a special `` evil day '', the `` day of anger '', because it was roughly the 49th day of the ( preceding ) month, completing a `` week of weeks '', also with sacrifices and prohibitions. Difficulties with Friedrich Delitzsch 's origin theory connecting Hebrew Shabbat with the Babylonian lunar cycle include reconciling the differences between an unbroken week and a lunar week, and explaining the absence of texts naming the lunar week as Shabbat in any language. Hellenistic and Roman era Main article : Nundinae In Jewish sources by the time of the Septuagint, the term `` Sabbath '' ( Greek Sabbaton ) by synecdoche also came to refer to an entire seven - day week, the interval between two weekly Sabbaths. Jesus 's parable of the Pharisee and the Publican ( Luke 18 : 12 ) describes the Pharisee as fasting `` twice in the week '' ( Greek δὶς τοῦ σαββάτου dis tou sabbatou ). The ancient Romans traditionally used the eight - day nundinum but, after the Julian calendar had come into effect in 45 BC, the seven - day week came into increasing use. For a while, the week and the nundinal cycle coexisted, but by the time the week was officially adopted by Constantine in AD 321, the nundinal cycle had fallen out of use. The association of the days of the week with the Sun, the Moon and the five planets visible to the naked eye dates to the Roman era ( 2nd century ). The continuous seven - day cycle of the days of the week can be traced back to the reign of Augustus ; the first identifiable date cited complete with day of the week is 6 February AD 60, identified as a `` Sunday '' ( as viii idus Februarius dies solis `` eighth day before the ides of February, day of the Sun '' ) in a Pompeiian graffito. According to the currently - used Julian calendar, 6 February 60 was, however, a Wednesday. This is explained by the existence of two conventions of naming days of the weeks based on the planetary hours system : 6 February was a `` Sunday '' based on the sunset naming convention, and a `` Wednesday '' based on the sunrise naming convention. Adoption in asia The earliest known reference in Chinese writings to a seven - day week is attributed to Fan Ning, who lived in the late 4th century in the Jin Dynasty, while diffusions from the Manichaeans are documented with the writings of the Chinese Buddhist monk Yi Jing and the Ceylonese or Central Asian Buddhist monk Bu Kong of the 7th century ( Tang Dynasty ). The Chinese variant of the planetary system was brought to Japan by the Japanese monk Kobo Daishi ( 9th century ). Surviving diaries of the Japanese statesman Fujiwara Michinaga show the seven - day system in use in Heian Japan as early as 1007. In Japan, the seven - day system was kept in use for astrological purposes until its promotion to a full - fledged Western - style calendrical basis during the Meiji era. The seven - day week was known in India by the 6th century, referenced in the Pañcasiddhāntikā.. Shashi ( 2000 ) mentions the Garga Samhita, which he places in the 1st century BC or AD, as a possible earlier reference to a seven - day week in India. He concludes `` the above references furnish a terminus ad quem ( viz. 1st century ) The terminus a quo can not be stated with certainty ''. Christian europe Further information : Holy Week and Easter Week The seven - day weekly cycle has remained unbroken in Christendom, and hence in Western history, for almost two millennia, despite changes to the Coptic, Julian, and Gregorian calendars, demonstrated by the date of Easter Sunday having been traced back through numerous computistic tables to an Ethiopic copy of an early Alexandrian table beginning with the Easter of AD 311. A tradition of divinations arranged for the days of the week on which certain feast days occur develops in the Early Medieval period. There are many later variants of this, including the German Bauern - Praktik and the versions of Erra Pater published in 16th to 17th century England, mocked in Samuel Butler 's Hudibras. South and East Slavic versions are known as koliadniki ( from koliada, a loan of Latin calendae ), with Bulgarian copies dating from the 13th century, and Serbian versions from the 14th century. Medieval Christian traditions associated with the lucky or unlucky nature of certain days of the week survived into the modern period. This concerns primarily Friday, associated with the crucifixion of Jesus. Sunday, sometimes personified as Saint Anastasia, was itself an object of worship in Russia, a practice denounced in a sermon extant in copies going back to the 14th century. Sunday, in the ecclesiastical numbering system also counted as the feria prima or the first day of the week ; yet, at the same time, figures as the `` eighth day '', and has occasionally been so called in Christian liturgy. Justin Martyr wrote : `` the first day after the Sabbath, remaining the first of all the days, is called, however, the eighth, according to the number of all the days of the cycle, and ( yet ) remains the first ''. A period of eight days, starting and ending on a Sunday, is called an octave, particularly in Roman Catholic liturgy. In German, the phrase in acht Tagen ( literally `` in eight days '' ) means one week from today. Week numbering Further information : Leap week calendar World map showing holidays of week in different countries Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Weeks in a Gregorian calendar year can be numbered for each year. This style of numbering is commonly used ( for example, by schools and businesses ) in some European and Asian countries, but rare elsewhere. ISO 8601 includes the ISO week date system, a numbering system for weeks -- each week begins on a Monday and is associated with the year that contains that week 's Thursday ( so that if a year starts in a long weekend Friday -- Sunday, week number one of the year will start after that ). For example, week 1 of 2004 ( 2004W01 ) ran from Monday, 29 December 2003 to Sunday, 4 January 2004, because its Thursday was 1 January 2004, whereas week 1 of 2005 ( 2005W01 ) ran from Monday, 3 January 2005 to Sunday, 9 January 2005, because its Thursday was 6 January 2005 and so the first Thursday of 2005. The highest week number in a year is either 52 or 53 ( it was 53 in the year 2004 ). Schematically, this ISO convention translates as follows : Dates in January Effect Week number Week assigned to 5 6 7 New year 5 6 New year 5 New year New year 53 Previous year 53 when leap year, 52 when normal year Previous year 52 Previous year In some countries, though, the numbering system is different from the ISO standard. At least six numberings are in use : System First day of week First week of year contains Can also be last week of previous year Used by / in ISO - 8601 Monday 4 January 1st Thursday 4 -- 7 days of year yes EU and most of other European countries, most of Asia and Oceania ( Islamic ) Saturday 1 January 1st Friday 1 -- 7 days of year yes Much of the Middle East ( North American ) Sunday 1 January 1st Saturday 1 -- 7 days of year yes Canada, United States, India, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Israel, South Africa, most of Latin America The semiconductor package date code is often a 4 digit date code YYWW where the first two digits YY are the last 2 digits of the calendar year and the last two digits WW are the two - digit week number. The tire date code mandated by the US DOT is a 4 digit date code WWYY with two digits of the week number WW followed by the last two digits of the calendar year YY. `` Weeks '' in other calendars The term `` week '' is sometimes expanded to refer to other time units comprising a few days. Such `` weeks '' of between four and ten days have been used historically in various places. Intervals longer than 10 days are not usually termed `` weeks '' as they are closer in length to the fortnight or the month than to the seven - day week. Pre-modern calendars Calendars unrelated to the Chaldean, Hellenistic, Christian or Jewish traditions often have time cycles between the day and the month of varying lengths, sometimes also called `` weeks ''. An eight - day week was used in Ancient Rome and possibly in the pre-Christian Celtic calendar. Traces of a nine - day week are found in Baltic languages and in Welsh. The ancient Chinese calendar had a ten - day week, as did the ancient Egyptian calendar ( and, incidentally, the French Republican Calendar, dividing its 30 - day months into thirds ). A six - day week is found in the Akan Calendar. Several cultures used a five - day week, including the 10th century Icelandic calendar, the Javanese calendar, and the traditional cycle of market days in Korea. The Igbo have a `` market week '' of four days. Evidence of a `` three - day week '' has been derived from the names of the days of the week in Guipuscoan Basque. The Aztecs divided a ritual cycle of 260 days, known as Tonalpohualli, into 20 weeks of 13 days known in Spanish as Trecena. They also divided the solar year into 18 periods of 20 days and five nameless days known as Nemontemi, creating a `` 20 - day month '' divided into four `` five - day weeks ''. The Maya divided a 260 - day ritual cycle known Tzolk'in into 20 weeks of 13 days known as Trecena. The Maya also divided the year, Haab ', into 18 periods of 20 days, Uinal and five nameless days known as Wayeb '. The Balinese Pawukon is a 210 - day calendar consisting of 10 different simultaneously running weeks of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 days, of which the weeks of 4, 8 and 9 days are interrupted to fit into the 210 - day cycle. Modern calendar reforms Further information : Decimal calendar, French Revolutionary Calendar § Ten days of the week, Bahá'í calendar, International Fixed Calendar, and Soviet calendar A 10 - day week, called décade, was used in France for nine and a half years from October 1793 to April 1802 ; furthermore, the Paris Commune adopted the Revolutionary Calendar for 18 days in 1871. The Bahá'í calendar features a 19 - day period which some classify as a month and others classify as a week. The International Fixed Calendar ( also known as the `` Eastman plan '' ) fixed every date always on the same weekday. This plan kept a 7 - day week while defining a year of 13 months with 28 days each. It was the official calendar of the Eastman Kodak Company for decades. Soviet calendar `` Twenty - first year of the socialist revolution '' 12 December 1937 ( Below 12 : ) `` Sixth day of the six - day week '' -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- `` Election day for the Supreme Soviet of the USSR '' Between 1929 and 1931, the USSR changed from the seven - day week to a five - day week. There were 72 weeks and an additional five national holidays inserted within three of them, totaling a year of 365 days. In 1931, after its brief experiment with a five - day week, the Soviet Union changed to a six - day week. Every sixth day ( 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th and 30th ) of the Gregorian Calendar was a state rest day. The five additional national holidays in the earlier five - day week remained and did not fall on the state rest day. But, as January, March, May, July, August, October and December have 31 days, the week after the state rest day of the 30th was seven days long ( 31st -- 7th ). This extra day was a working day for most or an extra holiday for others. Also as February is only 28 or 29 days depending on whether it is a leap year or not, the first of March was also made a state rest day, although not every enterprise conformed to this. To clarify, the week after the state rest day, 24 / 25 February to 1 March, was only five or six days long, depending on whether it was a leap year or not. The week after that, 2 to 6 March, was only five days long. The calendar was abandoned 26 June 1940 and the seven - day week reintroduced the next day. See also Wikimedia Commons has media related to Week. Names of the days of the week Workweek and weekend References Jump up ^ sennight at worldwidewords.org ( retrieved 12 January 2017 ) Jump up ^ In pre-modern times, days were measured either from sunset to sunset, or from sunrise to sunrise, so that the length of the week ( and the day ) would be subject to slight variations depending upon the time of year and the observer 's geographical latitude. Jump up ^ Richards, E.G. ( 2013 ). `` Calendars ''. In S.E. Urban & P.K. Seidelmann, eds. Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac, 3rd ed. ( pp. 585 -- 624 ). Mill Valley, Calif. : University Science Books. 2013, pp. 592, 618. This is equivalent to saying that JD0, i.e. 1 January 4713 BC of the proleptic Julian calendar, was a Monday. Jump up ^ E.G. Richards, Mapping Time, the Calendar and History, Oxford 1999. p. 269. Jump up ^ Max Vasmer, Russisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, s.v. понедельник ; however, the Slavic languages later introduced a secondary numbering system that names Tuesday as the `` second day ''. Jump up ^ the latter specifically due to the influence of Martin of Braga, 6th - century archbishop of Braga. Richard A. Fletcher ( 1999 ). The Barbarian Conversion : From Paganism to Christianity. University of California Press. p. 257. ISBN 978 - 0 - 520 - 21859 - 8. McKenna, Stephen ( 1938 ). `` Pagan Survivals in Galicia in the Sixth Century ''. Paganism and Pagan Survivals in Spain Up to the Fall of the Visigothic Kingdom. Catholic University of America. pp. 93 -- 94. Retrieved 20 March 2013. Jump up ^ `` day of preparation '', i.e. the day before Sabbath, c.f. Luke 23 : 54 ( καὶ ἡμέρα ἦν Παρασκευῆς, καὶ σάββατον ἐπέφωσκεν. ) ^ Jump up to : Eviatar Zerubavel, The Seven Day Circle : The History and Meaning of the Week, University of Chicago Press, 1989 ( 1985 ), p. 11, p. 14. ^ Jump up to : Senn, Frank C. ( 1997 ). Christian Liturgy : Catholic and Evangelical. Fortress Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8006 - 2726 - 3. Jump up ^ Leland, S. Copeland ( April 1939 ). `` Sources of the Seven - Day Week ''. Popular Astronomy. XLVII ( 4 ) : 176 ff. Bibcode : 1939PA... 47... 175C. Jump up ^ a month consisted of three seven - day weeks and a fourth week of eight or nine days, thus breaking the seven - day cycle every month. Consequently, there is no evidence that the days of the week were given individual names in Babylonian tradition. Pinches, T.G. ( 2003 ). `` Sabbath ( Babylonian ) ''. In Hastings, James. Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. 20. Selbie, John A., contrib. Kessinger Publishing. pp. 889 -- 891. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7661 - 3698 - 4. Retrieved 2009 - 03 - 17. Jump up ^ Andreasen, Niels Erik A. ( 1972 ). The Old Testament Sabbath : A Tradition - historical Investigation. Society of Biblical Literature. Jump up ^ Shafer, Byron E. ( 1974 ). `` Review of The Old Testament Sabbath : A Tradition - Historical Investigation ''. Journal of Biblical Literature. 93 ( 2 ) : 300 -- 301. doi : 10.2307 / 3263102. ^ Jump up to : Tigay, Jeffery H. ( 1998 ). `` Shavua ''. Mo'adei Yisra'el : Time and Holy Days in the Biblical and Second Commonwealth Periods ( Heb. ), ed. Jacob S. Licht : pp. 22 -- 23. CS1 maint : Extra text ( link ) Jump up ^ HALLO, WILLIAM W. `` New Moons and Sabbaths : A Case - Study in the Contrastive Approach, Hebrew Union College Annual, vol. 48, 1977, pp. 1 -- 18 ''. Jump up ^ FRIEDMAN, ALLEN ( 2008 ). `` Unnatural Time : Its History and Theological Significance ''. The Torah U-Madda Journal. 15 : 104 -- 105, Tigay 's citation. Jump up ^ It was transmitted to China in the 8th century by Manichaeans, via the country of Kang ( a Central Asian polity near Samarkand ). Tang - era adoption is documented in the writings of the Chinese Buddhist monk Yi Jing and the Ceylonese Buddhist monk Bu Kong. According to the Chinese encyclopaedia Cihai ( 辞海 ), there is some evidence that the system had been adopted twice, the first time already in the 4th century ( Jin dynasty ), based on a reference by a Jin era astrologer, Fan Ning ( 範 寧 / 范 宁 ). The Cihai under the entry for `` seven luminaries calendar '' ( 七曜 历 / 七曜 曆, qī yào lì ) has : `` method of recording days according to the seven luminaries ( 七曜 qī yào ). China normally observes the following order : Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. Seven days make one week, which is repeated in a cycle. Originated in ancient Babylon ( or ancient Egypt according to one theory ). Used by the Romans at the time of the 1st century AD, later transmitted to other countries. This method existed in China in the 4th century. It was also transmitted to China by Manichaeans in the 8th century from the country of Kang ( 康 ) in Central Asia. '' ( translation after Bathrobe 's Days of the Week in Chinese, Japanese & Vietnamese, plus Mongolian and Buryat ( cjvlang.com ) ^ Jump up to : Keegan, Peter ; Sears, Gareth ; Laurence, Ray ( 2013 - 09 - 12 ). Written Space in the Latin West, 200 BC to AD 300. A&C Black. ISBN 9781441123046. Jump up ^ So, Ky - Chun ( 2017 - 04 - 06 ). Jesus in Q : The Sabbath and Theology of the Bible and Extracanonical Texts. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 9781498282116. Jump up ^ Leland, S. Copeland ( April 1939 ). `` Sources of the Seven - Day Week ''. Popular Astronomy. XLVII ( 4 ) : 176. Bibcode : 1939PA... 47... 175C. Copeland ( 1939 ) cites as the date for Gudea `` as early as 2600 BC '' ; the modern estimate according to the short chronology places Gudea in the 22nd century BC. By contrast, Anthony R. Michaelis in `` The Enigmatic Seven ``, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 7, p. 373 claims that `` the first great empire builder, King Sargon I of Akkad ( ( ruled ) 2335 to 2279 BC ( viz., middle chronology ) ), decreed a seven - day week in his empire. He lived for 56 years, established the first Semitic Dynasty, and defeated the Sumerian City States. Thus the Akkadian language spread, it was adopted by the Babylonians, and the seven - day week was similarly inherited from him. '' An article from The Economist of 20 December 2001, titled The power of seven, talks about the significance of the number seven in Sumerian mythology. Jump up ^ `` Each account is arranged in a series of sevens, the Babylonian in seven tablets, the Hebrew in seven days. Each of them places the creation of man in the sixth division of its series. '' cited after : Albert T. Clay, The Origin of Biblical Traditions : Hebrew Legends in Babylonia and Israel, 1923, p. 74. ^ Jump up to : Pinches, T.G. ( 2003 ). `` Sabbath ( Babylonian ) ''. In Hastings, James. Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. 20. Selbie, John A., contrib. Kessinger Publishing. pp. 889 -- 891. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7661 - 3698 - 4. Retrieved 2009 - 03 - 17. Jump up ^ referenced in The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal 30 ( 1908 ) Jump up ^ Boyce, Mary ( ed. & trans. ). Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism. University of Chicago Press, 1984, p. 19 - 20. Jump up ^ Senn, Frank C. ( 1997 ). Christian Liturgy : Catholic and Evangelical. Fortress Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8006 - 2726 - 3. Jump up ^ Landau, Judah Leo. The Sabbath. Johannesburg, South Africa : Ivri Publishing Society, Ltd. pp. 2, 12. Retrieved 2009 - 03 - 26. Jump up ^ Sampey, John Richard ( 1915 ). `` Sabbath : Critical Theories ''. In Orr, James. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Howard - Severance Company. p. 2630. Jump up ^ Strong 's Concordance, 4521. Jump up ^ Zerubavel, Eviatar ( 1989 ). The Seven Day Circle : The History and Meaning of the Week. University of Chicago Press. p. 45. ISBN 978 - 0 - 226 - 98165 - 9. Senn, Frank C. ( 1997 ). Christian Liturgy : Catholic and Evangelical. Fortress Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8006 - 2726 - 3. Jump up ^ Nerone Caesare Augusto Cosso Lentuol Cossil fil. Cos. VIII idus Febr ( u ) arius dies solis, luna XIIIIX nun ( dinae ) Cumis, V ( idus Februarias ) nun ( dinae ) Pompeis. Robert Hannah, `` Time in Written Spaces '', in : Peter Keegan, Gareth Sears, Ray Laurence ( eds. ), Written Space in the Latin West, 200 BC to AD 300, A&C Black, 2013, p. 89. Jump up ^ Shashi, Shyam Singh ( 2000 ). Encyclopaedia Indica India, Pakistan, Bangladesh Vol. 76 Major dynasties of ancient Orissa : India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. pp. 114 -- 115. ISBN 978 - 81 - 7041 - 859 - 7. Jump up ^ Kane, Dr. Pandurang Vaman ( 1930 -- 1962 ). History of Dharmasastra. Jump up ^ Neugebauer, Otto ( 1979 ). Ethiopic astronomy and computus. Verl. d. Österr. Akad. d. Wiss. ISBN 978 - 3 - 7001 - 0289 - 2. `` The Roman context of the spread of Christianity meant that Rome contributed a lot to the structure and calendar of the new faith. '' `` BBC Religion & Ethics -- Why are there seven days in a week ? ''. BBC Religion & Ethics. Jump up ^ William Francis Ryan, The Bathhouse at Midnight : An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia, Penn State Press, 1999 p. 380. Jump up ^ William Francis Ryan, The Bathhouse at Midnight : An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia, Penn State Press, 1999 p. 383. Jump up ^ This is just a reflection of the system of ordinal numbers in Greek and Latin, compare the nundinal cycle ( literally `` nine - days '' cycle, describing an eight - day week ) of the Roman calendar, or the Resurrection of Jesus ( after a period of less than 48 hours ) being described as happening on the `` third day '' Jump up ^ `` Saint Justin Martyr : Dialogue with Trypho ( Roberts - Donaldson ) ''. earlychristianwritings.com. Jump up ^ Peter Johann Haas ( 26 January 2002 ). `` Weeknumber sorted by definition ''. pjh2.de. Jump up ^ `` JRS -- Calendar Weeks -- JR Stockton ''. demon.co.uk. Jump up ^ `` Marking Convention ''. Jump up ^ `` Top Mark Convention -- 4 - Digit Date Code ''. Jump up ^ `` 49 CFR 574.5 -- Tire identification requirements. ''. Jump up ^ OED s.v. `` week n. '', entry 1. c. : `` Sometimes applied transf. to other artificial cycles of a few days that have been employed various peoples '' Jump up ^ Astronomy and Basque Language, Henrike Knörr, Oxford VI and SEAC 99 `` Astronomy and Cultural Diversity '', La Laguna, June 1999. It references Alessandro Bausani, 1982, The prehistoric Basque week of three days : archaeoastronomical notes, The Bulletin of the Center for Archaeoastronomy ( Maryland ), v. 2, 16 -- 22. 1. astelehena ( `` week - first '', Monday ), 2. asteartea ( `` week - between '', Tuesday ), 3. asteazkena ( `` week - last '', Wednesday ). Jump up ^ `` Aztec calendar stone ''. aztec-history.com. Jump up ^ Zerubavel, Eviatar ( 1985 ). The Seven - Day Circle. New York : The Free Press. pp. 48 -- 50. ISBN 0029346800. Further reading Colson, Francis Henry ( 1926 ). The Week : An Essay on the Origin and Development of the Seven - day Cycle. Cambridge University Press. OCLC 59110177. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. ( 1911 ). `` week ''. Encyclopædia Britannica ( 11th ed. ). Cambridge University Press. 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Question: where did the 7 days of the week come from
Answer: the seven-day week being approximately a quarter of a lunation is the implicit astronomical origin of the seven-day week