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 sunnandæg. The reason the sun deserves a day of honor is obvious; the sun gives life to e

The least changed day of the week, Saturday, completes the week. Named for Cronus, the predecessor to Zeus, Saturday was known as hemera Khronu in Greek. Of course, the name Cronus was changed to Saturn when the other names were changed. Therefore, Saturday became dies Saturni in Latin. Surprisingly, the pronunciation of Old English name did not change much from the Latin pronunciation. However, the spelling did change to sæterdæg, which also means Saturn’s day. As the father of Zeus or Jupiter, Saturn is an important god in Greek and Roman mythology. He is also the god of agriculture, for these reasons Saturn is god that deserves his own planet and day.

Tuesday, named for the god of war, is the next day of the week. Originally called hemera Areos, Tuesday is the day of Ares, Greek god of war. When the Romans changed the names of the gods and the planets, this day became dies Martis, in honor of Mars. Also, the planet Mars honors the Roman god of war. Later, the British people changed the name to tiwesdæg, to honor Tiu, the nearest equivalent to Mars. One difference between Mars and Tiu is Tiu is the patron of the sky as well as war. Although war is destructive, it was and is still very common throughout the world. In some cases, war has prompted social and political change for the better. Thus, war seems to deserve a day of honor, along with the other honored gods.

The last day of the workweek, Friday, is the day of the goddess of love in all three cultures. In Greece, the goddess of love is Aphrodite, which is the reason this day was called hemera Aphrodites. In the Roman culture, this day was known as dies Veneris since Aphrodite had become known as Venus. Both Aph

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