12 phalanges counted with the thumb = 12 hours
12 hours for the day and 12 for the night = 24 hours
Babylonians used a base 60 astronomical numbering system, most probably because 60 is very easily divisible (by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20 and 30). So 60 minutes with 60 seconds each were added later on. The 360 angular degrees in trigonomitry are also based on this.
the egyptians are to blame for the 24 hour thing
they allocated a nice even 10 hours to the day and put a transition hour for dawn and dusk. They then allocated 12 hours to the night based on the movement of the stars, giving about 40 minutes to the rise and fall of their star groups relative to each other.
The hours also were not set amounts of time during the day, they expanded and contracted as the seasons passed as the sun took longer or shorter to reach dusk, always having that shifting duration of daylight divided into 10 hours.
12 hours for the day and 12 for the night = 24 hours
Babylonians used a base 60 astronomical numbering system, most probably because 60 is very easily divisible (by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20 and 30). So 60 minutes with 60 seconds each were added later on. The 360 angular degrees in trigonomitry are also based on this.
they allocated a nice even 10 hours to the day and put a transition hour for dawn and dusk. They then allocated 12 hours to the night based on the movement of the stars, giving about 40 minutes to the rise and fall of their star groups relative to each other.
The hours also were not set amounts of time during the day, they expanded and contracted as the seasons passed as the sun took longer or shorter to reach dusk, always having that shifting duration of daylight divided into 10 hours.