Thanks for the clarification. The Julian date is what I was referring to in the initial post. I agree that Julius Caesar was definitely not a pope, etc.

In astro calculations, the Julian date is the critical factor. Anyone familiar with the Julian date knows that "Julian Day Number is an integer counter of the days beginning at noon 1 January 4713 B.C., which is Julian Day Number 0." Conversion to the Julian date number is necessary for most astronomical calculations.

I would be very interested in knowing what factor the Mayans used.

Tony