Changes

The origin of the seven day week originate in appears to be from ancient Mesopotamia, from Sumerian-Babylonian culture that likely developed about possibly as early as 5000 -4000 years agoand divided days into segments of seven. The Babylonians saw that seven was a type of 'divine' number, with seven major planets and group of seven gods signifying aspects of the relevance for the number seven (Figure 1). Festival days for gods often lasted seven days. This concept led them to divide dividing time in weeks with 7 being the key division in a week. The names of the week were named after gods and this is also true in our modern system, although different gods are used. Thursday, for example, was meant to be Thor's Day, that is the day of Thor in the Anglo-Saxon language.<ref>For more on the origins and conventions of the Western calendar days and week, see: Stern, S. (2012). <i>Calendars in antiquity: empires, states, and societies</i>. Oxford Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. </ref>

While what was the Sumerian-Babylonian concept of week or seven day divisions eventually influenced the Hebrew calendar and later the Western calendar through adoption in the Classical world, the idea of a workweek had not developed fully in the ancient world. Among the closest, however, was the Jewish use of the weekly calendar, where there would be six days of work and one Sabbath day based on the interpretation that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. The Sabbath meant any day or holy day where work would cease. This, however, did influence what became the Christian week, where the Sabbath was effectively Sunday. In the Medieval period in Europe, people were expected to work throughout the week and on Sunday worship in their local perish.<ref>For more on the Sabbath and the origins of the concept of the workweek, see: Kleinman, S. (Ed.). (2009). <i>The culture of efficiency: technology in everyday life</i>. New York: Peter Lang, pg. 93.</ref>