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| Sunday (hours) | |
| Saturn | 5th–12th–19th |
| Jupiter | 6th–13th–20th |
| Mars | 7th–14th–21st |
| Sun | 1st–8th–15th–22nd |
| Venus | 2nd–9th–16th–23rd |
| Mercury | 3rd–10th–17th–24th |
| Moon | 4th–11th–18th |
(Thus the 25th, i.e. the 1st of the next day, belongs to the Moon.)
Now I feel little or no doubt that this explanation is the right one, though it is true that earlier authorities have questioned it or suggested other explanations. Jensen[1], for instance, suggested that the week-order was determined by the metals and colours associated with the planets. Gold, he says, belonged to the Sun, silver to the Moon. These are the most valuable metals and come first. Of the colours red, the most highly esteemed, belongs to Mars, black, the least esteemed, to Saturn. This determined their place in the week-order. What the three intervening colours were he does not state. But Jensen does not seem to have known what to my mind is the overwhelming reason for accepting Dion's second explanation, namely, that it was
- ↑ V. Zeitschrift für Deutsche Wortforschung, 1901, p. 157. For full discussion of the earlier theories put forward notably by Scaliger (it is only right to add that this prince of scholars was well acquainted with Dion Cassius' explanations and rejected them) v. Hare in the article mentioned in the preface.
