If you ever wondered why we have 24 hours in a day, 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour, you can look at early
civilizations for the answer. We owe it all to the Egyptians, Babylonians and the Sumerians.
In the early ages of humanity, night and day was treated as separate realms of time and were not thought of as part of a greater whole
Using a sundial which evolved from a crude stick in the ground to a T-shaped rod to a water clock, the concept of time was generated. Night, however, was a different story because there was no sun to use for the sundial and the moon wasn't always there. Luckily, there are 12 stars that appear and disappear in the course of hours to base the foundation of a 24-hour day.
The Egyptians were then able to develop the water clock that supplemented the calculation of seconds and hours developed by the Sumerians and inherited by Babylonians. The system was sexadecimal and based on the number 60
60 is easily divisible by the first six numbers
clipped from: science.qj.net 