Subject: [HM] base 60, Indian, Babylonian or Sumerian?
From: Milo Gardner (milo.gardner@24stex.com)
Date: Thu Feb 03 2000 - 21:11:38 EST
Dinseh's citation of the base 60 issue is pertinent. It appears that
Dinesh and the excellent web site that he listed today took the
position that base 60 cosmology originated with the Veda's,
if not earlier in India only.
What are the dates involved? I would like to propose that since
Indian/Vedic time and astronomy was indeed base 60, and not
base 10, that a dating to 1500 BC is easily achieved. That is,
it is clear that the Babylonian Water Clock, and its watches of
the night were used in India.
Can Dinseh, or his connects, show that the Water Clock was
first originated in India?
Pending a broader discussion, I will discuss only the base 10 Water
Clock from Egypt and the basee60 Water Clock from Babylon.
Both appeared about the same time, 1500 BC, and both may
have been primarily used to measure the daily difference between
solar time and sidereal time, the average loss of 3 minutes and 56
seconds per day, that disappears on the two equinoxes ( providing a
reference standard).
When did Indians first calculate sidereal time? In Egypt a confirmed
date of 1100 BC, the reign of Ramsside should be considered
to be moved back a few centuries.
Written records should play a major role in providing the hard
data base to reach a conclusion, right?
Regards to all,
Milo Gardner
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