Re: Mathematical texts from a Maya site in Guatemala identify an astronomer called Sak Tahn Waax.

"a425couple"  wrote in message news:KFK5S.227016$%[email protected]...

from
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-02170-8

Mathematics formula found on Maya wall rivals insights of ancient masters
Mathematical texts from a Maya site in Guatemala identify an astronomer
called Sak Tahn Waax.

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Our own calendar also has very ancient origins.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_astronomy
They gave us the 60 minute hour, 24 hour day and 360 degree circle which the 
Metric system was unable to replace.

An Athenian Greek named Meton discovered that the sun and moon almost 
exactly repeat in a cycle of 19 years, which is named for him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonic_cycle

This relationship was embodied in the Antikythera Device which is a geared 
mechanical model of the motions of the sun, moon and possibly planets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism

When Julius Caesar assumed the post of Pontifex, Rome's chief engineer, he 
sought an alternative to the lunar calendar they used, which needed 
readjustment every few years and was being manipulated to extend the 2 year 
office terms of consuls and shorten that of their successors.

Caesar's mistress Cleopatra had a priest in her retinue who understood the 
Egyptian solar calendar which Caesar adapted to the existing Roman months, 
giving a constant Julian year of 365-1/4 days, 3 of 365 plus a leap year of 
366. Hipparchus before him had found a more precise value but the error 
accumulated so slowly that it wasn't corrected until the (Pope) Gregorian 
calendar of 1522. Non-Catholic nations adopted it gradually, the last Russia 
in 1917.

Cleopatra was living in Rome and courting the powerful because she and her 
father the (Greek) Pharaoh had been ousted from Egypt by a rival brother. 
General Ptolemy and his descendants had ruled Egypt since Alexander's 
conquest. As with Judea, Rome was invited in to settle a royal family 
rivalry and only then took over.

Now we add or subtract a second as needed for corrections.
https://www.cnmoc.usff.navy.mil/Our-Commands/United-States-Naval-Observatory/Precise-Time-Department/Global-Positioning-System/USNO-GPS-Time-Transfer/Leap-Seconds/

To coordinate ancient observations the Julian calendar has been extended 
backward to 4713 BC, making this Year 6739 of Western civilization. Actually 
little of note happened before 3300 BC.