Editing Week (section)

===Judaism===
A continuous seven-day cycle that runs throughout history without reference to the phases of the moon was first practiced in [[Judaism]], dated to the 6th century BCE at the latest.{{sfnp|Zerubavel|1989|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Cd5ZjRsNj4sC&pg=PA11 p. 11]}}<ref name="Senn 1997"/>

There are several hypotheses concerning the origin of the [[Old Testament|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,<ref name="LSC">{{cite journal
|last=Leland
|first=S. Copeland
|title=Sources of the Seven-Day Week
|journal=Popular Astronomy
|url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1939PA.....47..175C
|date=April 1939
|volume= XLVII| issue = 4
|page=176 ff
|bibcode=1939PA.....47..175C}}
</ref> and indeed the [[Babylonian calendar]] used [[Intercalation (timekeeping)|intercalary]] days to synchronize the last week of a month with the new moon.<ref>A month consisted of three seven-day weeks and the 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. {{cite book|author=Pinches, T.G.|editor=Hastings, James|others=Selbie, John A., contrib|title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics|volume=20|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|year=2003|pages=889–891|chapter=Sabbath (Babylonian)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVNqXDz4CE8C|isbn=978-0-7661-3698-4 |access-date=17 March 2009}}</ref> According to this theory, the Jewish week was adopted from the Babylonians while removing the moon-dependency.

[[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.<ref>"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, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JKBLAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 p. 74].</ref>

In a frequently-quoted suggestion going back to the early 20th century,<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015027068470;view=1up;seq=197 |chapter=The Babylonian Sabbath |page=181 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015027068470;view=1up;seq=9 |title=The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal |volume= XXX |year=1908 |access-date=21 June 2018}}</ref> the Hebrew ''[[Biblical Sabbath#Etymology|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<sup>m</sup>'' or ''Sabattu<sup>m</sup>'' in [[Babylonian language|Babylonian]], possibly present in the lost fifth tablet of the [[Enûma Eliš]], tentatively reconstructed {{according to whom|date=April 2015}} "[Sa]bbath shalt thou then encounter, mid[month]ly".<!-- [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] ''um nuh libbi'' ("day of mid-repose") what is this, a reconstruction or an extant translation of Enuma Elish?--><ref name="ere">{{cite book|author=Pinches, T.G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVNqXDz4CE8C|title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|others=Selbie, John A., contrib|year=2003|isbn=978-0-7661-3698-4|editor=Hastings, James|volume=20|pages=889–891|chapter=Sabbath (Babylonian)|access-date=17 March 2009}}
<!--it turns out this ERE article just summarizes a century-old Assyriologist theory, but we don't know whose it is, or how scholars have judged it--></ref>

However, [[Niels-Erik Andreasen]], [[Jeffrey H. Tigay]], and others claim that the [[Biblical Sabbath]] is mentioned as a day of rest in some of the earliest layers of the [[Pentateuch]] dated to the 9th century BCE at the latest, centuries before the [[Babylonian exile of Judah]]. They also find the resemblance between the Biblical Sabbath and the Babylonian system to be weak. Therefore, they suggest that the seven-day week may reflect an independent [[Israelites|Israelite]] tradition.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kE0YAAAAIAAJ |title=The Old Testament Sabbath: A Tradition-historical Investigation |last=Andreasen |first=Niels-Erik A. |date=1972 |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |isbn=9780891306832 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Shafer |first=Byron E. |date=1974 |title=Reviewed Work: ''The Old Testament Sabbath: A Tradition-Historical Investigation'' by Niels-Erik A. Andreasen |jstor=3263102 |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |volume=93 |issue=2 |pages=300–301 |doi=10.2307/3263102}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last=Tigay |first=Jeffery H. |date=1998 |title=Shavua |journal=Mo'adei Yisra'el: Time and Holy Days in the Biblical and Second Commonwealth Periods (Heb.), ed. Jacob S. Licht|pages=22–23 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |jstor=23506909 |title=New Moons and Sabbaths: A Case-Study in the Contrastive Approach |journal=Hebrew Union College Annual |volume=48 |year=1977 |pages=1–18 |last=Hallo |first=William W.}}</ref> Tigay writes:

<blockquote>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.<ref name=":1"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Friedman |first=Allen |date=Sep 2008 |title=Unnatural Time: Its History and Theological Significance |jstor=40914729 |journal=The Torah U-Madda Journal |volume=15 |pages=104–105 |postscript=, Tigay's citation. }}</ref></blockquote>

The seven-day week seems to have been adopted, at different stages, by the [[Persian Empire]], in [[Hellenistic astrology]], and (via [[Hellenistic period|Greek transmission]]) in [[Gupta India]] and [[Tang China]].{{efn|1=It was transmitted to China in the 8th century by Manichaeans, via the country of [[Kangju|Kang]] (a Central Asian polity near [[Samarkand]]).
Tang-era adoption is documented in the writings of the Chinese Buddhist monk [[I Ching (monk)|Yi Jing]] and the Ceylonese Buddhist monk [[Amoghavajra|Bu Kong]].
According to the Chinese encyclopedia ''[[Cihai]]'' ({{Lang|zh-hans|辞海}}), there is some evidence that the system had been adopted twice, the first time already in the 4th century ([[Jin dynasty (265–420)|Jin dynasty]]), based on a reference by a Jin era astrologer, Fan Ning ({{Lang|zh-hant|范寧}} / {{Lang|zh-hans|范宁}}).
The ''Cihai'' under the entry for "seven luminaries calendar" ({{Lang|zh-hant|七曜曆}} / {{Lang|zh-hans|七曜历}}, ''qī yào lì'') has: "method of recording days according to the seven luminaries [{{Lang|zh|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 CE, 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 ({{Lang|zh|康}}) in Central Asia."<ref>{{cite web |title=Japanese Days of the Week: the 'Seven Luminaries' |url=http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/dowjpn.html |website=Days of the Week in Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese & Mongolian |publisher=cjvlang}}</ref>}}{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}
The Babylonian system was received by the Greeks in the 4th century BCE (notably via [[Eudoxus of Cnidus]]). Although some sources, such as the Encyclopædia Britannica,<ref>{{cite web |title=Week |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/week |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |access-date=20 March 2024|quote=The Babylonians named each of the days after one of the five planetary bodies known to them (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) and after the Sun and the Moon, a custom later adopted by the Romans.}}</ref> state that the Babylonians named the days of the week after the five planets, the sun, and the moon, many scholars disagree. [[Eviatar Zerubavel]] says, "the establishment of a seven-day week based on the regular observance of the Sabbath is a distinctively Jewish contribution to civilization. The choice of the number 7 as the basis for the Jewish week might have had an Assyrian or Babylonian origin, yet it is crucial to remember that the ancient dwellers of Mesopotamia themselves did not have a seven-day week."{{sfnp|Zerubavel|1989|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Cd5ZjRsNj4sC&pg=PA14 p. 9]}} The astrological concept of [[planetary hours]] is an innovation of Hellenistic astrology, probably first conceived in the 2nd century BCE.{{sfnp|Zerubavel|1989|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Cd5ZjRsNj4sC&pg=PA14 p. 14]}}

The seven-day week was widely known throughout the [[Roman Empire]] by the 1st century CE,<ref name=":2">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PeVLAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA89|title=Written Space in the Latin West, 200 BCE to 300 CE |last1=Keegan |first1=Peter |last2=Sears |first2=Gareth |last3=Laurence |first3=Ray |date=12 September 2013 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=9781441123046|language=en}}</ref> along with references to the Jewish Sabbath by Roman authors such as [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] and [[Ovid]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e3ijDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA21|title=Jesus in Q: The Sabbath and Theology of the Bible and Extracanonical Texts |last=So |first=Ky-Chun |date=6 April 2017 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=9781498282116 |language=en}}</ref> When the seven-day week came into use in Rome during the early imperial period, it did not immediately replace the older eight-day [[nundinal cycle|nundinal]] system.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brind'Amour |first1=Pierre |title=Le calendrier Romain :Recherches chronologiques |date=1983 |publisher=Editions de l'Universitá d'Ottawa |isbn=2760347028 |pages=256–275 |language=fr}}</ref> The nundinal system had probably fallen out of use by the time Emperor [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]] adopted the seven-day week for official use in CE 321, making the [[Sunday|Day of the Sun]] ({{lang|la|dies Solis}}) a legal holiday.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schaff |first1=Philip |title=History of the Christian Church Vol. III |date=1884 |publisher=T&T Clark |location=Edinburgh |page=[https://archive.org/details/historychristia01schagoog/page/n299 380] |url=https://archive.org/details/historychristia01schagoog|access-date=15 March 2019}}</ref>