Why there are seven days in a week?

The reason why we organize our lives around a 7-day week is, quite literally, above our heads. Like many other calendars, today's Gregorian calendar is ultimately based on the phases of the Moon. It takes the Moon around 29.5 days to cycle through all Moon phases. read more

Whether or not this is so, the "sacredness" of the number seven, and the fact that there are seven days in a week, is due to the association of the seven celestial beings (the visible planets plus the Sun and the Moon) with deities in the minds of humans from probably an early stage in the development of intelligence up to the time of the advent of modern science. read more

A week made up of seven days is part of our modern global culture, but its origins date back to ancient civilisation. The Greeks gave us democracy, the Romans bridges and roads but it is probably from the ancient Babylonians that we get the seven-day week. read more