I think he's asking why seven days, not how did the days of the week get their names.
<< 2.) How did the 7-day week evolve w/o the Bible? Apparently via pagan astrologists. >>
<< I think he's asking why seven days, not how did the days of the week get their names. >>
That IS the answer. All other calendar patterns are based on natural patterns. The periodic cycles of the sun = year. The periodic cycles of the moon = month. The seasons are obvious.
But the seven-day week has no basic natural pattern to it. The oldest record of such goes back to ancient Sumeria. Astronomer/astrologers saw seven "planets" and thousands of stars. All the stars appear to circle the earth together in a set pattern, while the seven "planets" [Greek = wanderers] follow their own paths. These seven were: The sun, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Of course -- those are our names for these wanderers, from the names of Roman gods. The Greek names preceded the Roman names -- and the Babylonian names preceded the Greek ones. Each "planet" was given the name of a god, and each day of the "week" was named in honor of that god.
The seven-day week originated -- as far as we can tell -- in ancient Sumeria. Of course, those who believe that the creation story in Genesis is the original history would claim that the Babylonians borrowed from that. The evidence points to the fact that the Hebrews borrowed from the Babylonians.
The Hebrews did not carry over the Babylonian names of the days -- but if you look into it, you can see that the Hebrew names for the months are derived from the original Babylonian ones.