Continuing my meditations on the names of the days of the week in English and French, which I began in my post Saturday and samedi, it occurred to me to wonder why we have weeks of seven days at all.

It seems that the seven-day week was probably settled by the Babylonians about 4,000 years ago. They might have chosen this rather awkward prime number seven for the length of the week for two reasons. The first is that the number seven was sacred to them – a vague memory of which perhaps still persists today when people think of the number seven as “lucky”. The second reason has to do with astronomy.

The Babylonians were accomplished mathematicians and also avid sky-watchers who virtually invented the science of astronomy. Their calendar defined the year as twelve synodic (lunar) months, making it about 354 days long. To reconcile it with the solar year used in agriculture, they added extra days as necessary.

The Babylonians were meticulous at record-keeping and this in itself enabled them to make a number of discoveries. For example, they discovered the Saros cycle of the moon. This lasts for about 18 years, 11 days and 8 hours during which lunar events recur almost exactly. Thus they were able to predict lunar and solar eclipses long before they actually happened.

The Babylonians knew that while the stars remained in fixed positions, there were certain celestial objects that moved. These included occasional visitors such as comets and meteors but the most important ones were the sun, the moon and the five known planets, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn, or to give them their Babylonian names (in the same order), Shamash, Sin, Nergal, Nabû, Marduk, Ishtar and Ninurta. What would be more natural for these gifted astronomers than to name the seven days of the week after these seven celestial bodies which they associated with their gods?

The Greeks and the Romans took over this ancient week of seven days, substituting their own day names. The Romans named the celestial objects after their own gods and goddesses. The sun and the moon were seen as deities in their own right while the planets were designated as Mars, the god of war; Mercury, the messenger of the gods but also the god of commerce; Jupiter or Jove, in ancient times the god of the sky and thunder but to the Romans the chief of the gods with a propensity for casting down thunderbolts on people who angered him; Venus, the goddess of love and beauty; and Saturn, the god of sowing and agriculture in whose honour the festival called Saturnalia was held every year on December 17th.

The Romans took their calendar with them to the lands that they conquered and occupied. This included Britain but, whereas France and other old colonies of Rome continued using (and modifying) the Latin language and the Roman day names, in Britain, invading Scandinavian and Germanic tribes replaced the Romans and took over as the ruling class. Their language and culture became dominant. This of course affected, among other things, the names of the days of the week. Exactly how it affected them we shall see in due course. The seven-day week, however, was retained and is with us still.

In our perambulation today, we took a turn around Myddelton Square. It is said to be the biggest residential square in the district known as Clerkenwell. It was laid out by William Chadwell Mylne and built in the 1820s to 1840s in Georgian style of yellow brick – a style and finish typical of this area.

The houses are quite large with a tall ground floor and the usual basement – the realm of the servants – accessible through its own sunken open area. They were obviously conceived as commodious dwellings for well-to-do families but most have now been subdivided into flats.

As I mentioned in my post Good Friday, the square has a central park or garden within which resides the local parish church of St Mark.

Historic plaque in Myddelton Square

Today, we noticed a detail that had hitherto escaped my attention. It is a rather plain incised plaque bearing the following inscription:

43-53 MYDDELTON SQUARE
DESTROYED BY ENEMY ACTION
ON 11th JANUARY 1941
REBUILT 1947-1948 BY
THE NEW RIVER COMPANY

The New River Company, you will recall, was formed by Hugh Myddelton to acquire land and construct the New River that terminates near here. They leased leased to builders developing housing in the area.

The contrast old old and new brickwork

This photo shows clearly that the whole of the end of the row was destroyed and nicely rebuilt to the original plan. The rebuilt houses have lighter coloured bricks. They may possibly come to blend in as they age and accumulate dirt from the atmosphere.

The door of St Mark’s Church

The church, and the church shop, have been closed since lockdown was imposed. On passing the doorway today, we spied this installation: chair with a vase of flowers and a potted shrub decorated with Easter eggs.

Not being religious, I don’t know whether there is any particular Christian significance intended to attach to these items but I was amused by the no doubt unconscious pagan symbolism: eggs and hares were symbols of Eostre, the Germanic goddess of fertility, from whose name our word Easter ultimately derives.

A kindly gift from Myddelton’s

And yes! Today we did go for coffee at Myddelton’s Deli. In conversation with the shopkeeper, Tigger jokingly mentioned that she had not received an Easter egg this year, whereupon he kindly made her a present of one! I think that once the pandemic is over, we should maintain our new friendship with the owners by continuing to shop at Myddelton’s.