Babylonian Base 60 and the Visualization of Time

As noted in an earlier post, I speculated that base 60 was selected for its highly composite nature, as well as the ability for humans to use fingers and/or joints to intuitively count to 60. The articles considered here both present the composite nature of 60 as a likely motivator, though not with certainty. I was previously of the belief that this system must have been chosen for some reason before it was used as a tool to measure time and angle. However, learning about how Egyptians divided the day and night into 12 for separate reasons, I am now of the opinion that observation, utility, and number system are likely birthed together. This is supported E. F. Robertson, who believes that base 60 was not chosen for any specific reason, but instead was adopted by the natural way humans count.

I was also struck by how long time was measured with unequal units, something which amplifies the novelty of our mechanical, hyper-rational time measurement. From our class discussion, the main variables in the visualization / perception in time were:

Linear or Circular – Do you see each year as a circle? A line? A calendar? A spreadsheet?

Repeating or non-repeating (Does each year have its own line/circle? Or is every year envisioned on the same line?

Equal or un-equal units – Do all parts of the year feel as long? Are they consistent with our mechanical measurements of time?

I’m sure there is value in understanding time in all ways. That being said, I am curious how our Western (linear, non-repeating, equal units) understanding of time compares with the intuition of people throughout history.