The names of the days of the week have changed many times to become the familiar names we now call them. Every time the names of the days have changed, a major change in the political environment of the region has been the cause. First, the Greeks named the days of the week and the seven visible bodies of the solar system for their most important gods and goddesses. However, when the Romans conquered former ancient Greece, the people adopted Roman names for the days. Then, the Romans continued their conquests to England. Eventually, the Roman Empire fell, and some of the conquered cultures, including Britain, changed the names of the days. All of the names represented a god or goddess that was important to that society.
The first day of the week, Sunday, has a unique historical and social importance. In Greek, the day of the sun is hemera helio, or Helios's day. This day honored the god of the sun, Helios, who drove the sun across the sky from east to west. After Rome conquered former Greece, the god Sol replaced Helios. Therefore, Sunday's new name became dies solis. In turn, the people of Britain changed the name from dies solis to sunnandg. The reason the sun deserves a day of honor is obvious; the sun gives life to every living being on Earth. In addition, Sunday is part of the weekend, perhaps because Sunday has been the day of rest for Christians for many centuries.
The history of the second day of the week, Monday, is very similar to Sunday. The day of the moon is hemera selenes in ancient Greek, and dies lunae in Latin, the language of the Romans. In Britain, Monday became mondg, which also honors the moon. The reason the history of Sunday is similar to the history of Monday is in both Greek and Roman mythology, the sun god and moon goddess is brother and sister. In addition, the moon and sun are the largest objects in the sky, when viewed from Earth. Even today, the original Greek and Roman names are the basis for words like selenium and lunar that refer to the moon.
