Post #3344154

2026-06-15 18:36 UTC

@vnikolov@ieji.de @ohir@social.vivaldi.net Well wait a minute, the alphabet was merely inherited. I don't buy united Europe; Germanic tribes mostly controlled those lands. Quotes, yes, I suppose; it doesn't feel like it's on the same footing as the rest. In the years B.C., including under the first caesars, the calendar was an utter mess that changed every year for political reasons. When *did* it finally settle down? @spaf@mstdn.social

Replies (1)

@vnikolov@ieji.de 2026-06-15 19:00

Julius Caesar himself commissioned an Egyptian astronomer (Sozygenes??) to set the calendar straight. As you rightly say, that was painfully necessary at the time. I think that was in the early 40s, perhaps in 47. Not counting the renaming of a month to August and adding a day to it, this calendar has been tweaked only a little since, in 1582 or thereabout. I claim that if both territory and political unity are taken into account, the European Union is still behind the Roman Empire of the 2nd century, though now it's behind only by a little. Note, for example, that Switzerland, Turkey, and much of the Western Balkans are not in the European Union, so it's "gain some, lose some" regarding just territory, but political unity matters at least to an equal degree. As to the alphabet I don't know what exactly inherited means in your post, and I'd prefer not to reply with multiple variants. (Since it's after dark, my next reply may come in the morning.) @dougmerritt@mathstodon.xyz @ohir@social.vivaldi.net @spaf@mstdn.social

Open ##3344155