Did something happen almost 3

Did something happen about 3,000 years ago
to change our perception of time as we know it?
There is ample evidence that the calendar system
changed in all civilizations on Earth way back then.
Could it happen again? Is it about to happen?

A look at the various ancient civilizations reveals the following, as outlined by Immanuel Velikovsky in a work well-footnoted and entitled Worlds in Collision : The old Babylonian year was composed of 360 days, a fact which was understood by scholars even before the cuneiform script was deciphered. The old Babylonian year consisted of twelve months of thirty days each. The Assyrian year consisted of 360 days; a decade consisted of 3,600 days. Assyrian documents refer to months of thirty days, counted from crescent to crescent.

The ancient Persian year was made up of 360 days of twelve months of thirty days each. The Egyptian year was made up of 360 days before it was changed to 365 by the addition of five days.

The calendar of the Eber Papyrus, a document of the New Kingdom, has a year of twelve months with thirty days each. The new moon festivals were very important in the days of the Eighteenth Dynasty, observed at thirty day intervals.

There is a statement found as a gloss on a manuscript of Timaeus that the calendar of a solar year of 360 days was introduced by the Hyksos after the fall of the Middle Kingdom. The Book of Sothis, erroneously credited to the Egyptian priest Manetho, as well as Georgius Syncellus, the Byzantine chronologist, both maintain that originally the additional five days did not follow the 360 days of the calendar but were introduced at a later time.

The Mayan year consisted of 360 days; later five days were added, and every fourth year another day was added.

In ancient South America the year consisted of 360 days, divided into twelve months.

In China the year consisted of 360 days divided into twelve months of thirty days each. When the year changed from 360 to 365.3, the Chinese added five and one-quarter days to their year.

Plutarch wrote that in the time of Romulus, the Roman year was made up of 360 days only, and various Latin authors say the ancient month was thirty days in length (Velikovsky, pp. 124, 332-340).

Numerous evidences are preserved, Velikovsky tells us, which prove that prior to the year of 365.3 days the year was only 360 days long. The texts of the Veda period, for example, refer to a year of 360 days. Passages of the length of the year are found in all the Brahmanas. The Vedas nowhere mention an intercalary period while repeatedly stating that the year consisted of 360 days. There is no mention of the five or six days associated with the solar year. This Hindu year was divided into twelve months with thirty days each. In their astronomical works, the Brahmans used very ingenious geometric methods and their failure to discern that the year of 360 days was five and one-quarter days short seems baffling.

In all their historical computations Hindu chronology utilized a month of thirty days and a year of 360 days. All over the world we find at some time the calendar of 360 days, and that at some later time, about the seventh century bc, five days were added to the end of the year (Velikovsky, pp. 330-331, 341).

What is the significance of the statement by the prophet Daniel, ". . . he [God] changeth the times and the seasons . . ."? (Dan. 2:21)

In the seventh or eighth centuries bc five additional days were added to the year under conditions which caused them to be regarded as unfavorable. From about the seventh century bc, the length of the Hindu year became 365¼ days, even though the older system was not discarded. The reason for the worldwide identity of time reckoning between the fifteenth and eighth centuries bc was due to the movement of the Earth along its orbit, and the revolutions of the moon during that historical period. The length of the lunar month must have been exactly thirty days and the length of the year apparently did not vary more than a few hours from 360 days.

Then something happened. A series of catastrophes occurred that changed both the axis and orbit of both the Earth and the moon as well as the length of the ancient year. As a result of repeated disturbances, the Earth changed from an orbit of 360 days to one of 365.3 days and the month changed from thirty days to twenty-nine and one-half (Velikovsky, pp. 338, 332, 342).

"He changeth the times and the seasons." Our solar system being what it is, there are some specific things that must take place before times and seasons are changed. The axis of the earth must shift from the perpendicular in order to affect the seasons, and the orbits of the Earth and moon must be altered in order to change the times.

In view of the vast amount of evidence from many peoples all over the globe the conclusion is obvious. At one time during a century of disturbances involving two catastrophes the moon receded eventually to an orbit of twenty-nine and one-half days, on the average, which has continued ever since. At the same time the orbit of the earth changed to one of 365.3 days. Spring follows winter and fall follows summer because the Earth's axis is inclined toward the sun. Should the axis be perpendicular (as likely was the case prior to the Flood) there would be no seasonal changes. Should the axis change, the seasons would change in their intensity and their order (Velikovsky, pp. 345, 120). Written traditions of the peoples of antiquity relate the disorder of the seasons directly connected with the motion of the heavenly bodies (ibid, p. 121).