respectively being Sabbaths, and that there was a general
prohibition of work on these days." Here, of course, is the
foundation of the Hebrew system of Sabbatical days which we have
inherited. The sacredness of the number seven itself--the belief
in which has not been quite shaken off even to this day --was
deduced by the Assyrian astronomer from his observation of the
seven planetary bodies--namely, Sin (the moon), Samas (the sun),
Umunpawddu (Jupiter), Dilbat (Venus), Kaimanu (Saturn), Gudud
(Mercury), Mustabarru-mutanu (Mars).[11] Twelve lunar periods,
making up approximately the solar year, gave peculiar importance
to the number twelve also. Thus the zodiac was divided into
twelve signs which astronomers of all subsequent times have
continued to recognize; and the duodecimal system of counting
took precedence with the Babylonian mathematicians over the more
primitive and, as it seems to us, more satisfactory decimal
system.

Another discrepancy between the Babylonian and Egyptian years
appears in the fact that the Babylonian new year dates from about
the period of the vernal equinox and not from the solstice.
Lockyer associates this with the fact that the periodical
inundation of the Tigris and Euphrates occurs about the
equinoctial period, whereas, as we have seen, the Nile flood
comes at the time of the solstice. It is but natural that so
important a phenomenon as the Nile flood should make a strong
impression upon the minds of a people living in a valley. The
fact that occasional excessive inundations have led to most
disastrous results is evidenced in the incorporation of stories
of the almost total destruction of mankind by such floods among
the myth tales of all peoples who reside in valley countries. The