Telling Time in

Ancient Time
 Ever since humans first noticed the
regular movement of the Sun and the
stars, we have wondered about the
passage of time. Prehistoric people first
recorded the phases of the Moon some
30,000 years ago, and recording time has
been a way by which humanity has
observed the heavens and represented
the progress of civilization.
 Natural Events
The earliest natural events to be recognised
were in the heavens, but during the course of the
year there were many other events that indicated
significant changes in the environment. Seasonal
winds and rains, the flooding of rivers, the flowering
of trees and plants, and the breeding cycles or
migration of animals and birds, all led to natural
divisions of the year, and further observation and
local customs led to the recognition of the seasons.
Measuring time by the
Sun, the Moon and the
Stars
SUNDIALS
The earliest known timekeeping
devices appeared in Egypt and
Mesopotamia, around 3500 BCE. Sundials
consisted of a tall vertical or diagonal-
standing object used to measure the
time, called a gnomon. Sundials were
able to measure time (with relative
accuracy) by the shadow caused by the
gnomon.
 As the sun moves across the sky, shadows change
in direction and length, so a simple sundial can
measure the length of a day. It was quickly noticed
that the length of the day varies at different times of
the year. The reasons for this difference were not
discovered until after astronomers accepted the fact
that the earth travels round the sun in an elliptic
orbit, and that the earth's axis is tilted at about 26
degrees. This variation from a circular orbit leads to
the Equation of Time (see 'Note 2' below) which
allows us to work out the difference between 'clock'
time and 'sundial time'.
A sundial with roman
numerals. As you look The progress of the sun can be Wall Sundial
at this dial, which recorded using the four faces of
direction are you this cube. Can you discover the
orientation of these faces?
facing?
Wallsundial
Wall Sundial
Orion
The oldest image of a star pattern, the
constellation of Orion, has been recognised on
a piece of mammoth tusk some 32,500 years
old. The constellation Orion is symbolized by a
man standing with his right arm raised and a
sword at his belt and can be seen throughout
the world at different times of the year. Orion
was the sun god of the Egyptians and
Phonecians and called the 'strong one' by the
Arabs.
 In parts of Africa, his belt and sword
are known as 'three dogs chasing three
pigs' and the Borana people of East Africa
based a sophisticated calendar on
observations of star clusters near Orion's
belt. Orion contains some of the brightest
stars in the southern part of the winter sky
in the northern hemisphere and can be
seen later in the southern hemisphere.
 The three stars of
Prehistoric carving
Orion's belt and the red
said to represent the
star of his right arm can
Orion constellation
be easily recognised
Inventions for measuring
and regulating time
Oil Lamps
There is archaeological evidence of oil
lamps about 4,000 BCE, and the Chinese were
using oil for heating and lighting by 2,000
BCE. Oil lamps are still significant in religious
practices, symbolic of the journey from
darkness and ignorance to light and
knowledge. The shape of the lamp gradually
evolved into the typical pottery style shown.
It was possible to devise a way of measuring
the level in the oil reservoir to measure the
passing of time.
Candle Clocks
Marked candles were used for telling
the time in China from the sixth century
CE. There is a popular story that King
Alfred the Great invented the candle
clock, but we know they were in use in
England from the tenth century CE.
However, the rate of burning is subject to
draughts, and the variable quality of the
wax. Like oil lamps, candles were used to
mark the passage of time from one event
to another, rather than tell the time of
day.
Water Clocks
The water clock, or clepsydra,
appears to have been invented about
1,500 BCE and was a device which relied
on the steady flow of water from or into a
container. Measurements could be
marked on the container or on a
receptacle for the water. In comparison Improvements
were made to
with the candle or the oil lamp, the regulate the flow
clepsydra was more reliable, but the water by maintaining a
constant head of
flow still depended on the variation of water
pressure from the head of water in the
container.
Hour Glasses or Sandglasses
As the technology of glass-blowing
developed, from some time in the 14th
century it became possible to make
sandglasses. Originally, sandglasses were
used as a measure for periods of time
like the lamps or candles, but as clocks
became more accurate they were used
to calibrate sandglasses to measure Sandglass
specific periods of time, and to
determine the duration of sermons,
university lectures, and even periods of
torture.
The Division of the Day and the Length
of the 'Hour'
An Egyptian sundial from about 1,500
BCE is the earliest evidence of the division
of the day into equal parts, but the
sundial was no use at night. The passage
of time was extremely important for
astronomers and priests who were
responsible for determining the exact
hour for the daily rituals and for the
important religious festivals, so a water
clock was invented.
The Merkhet
The Egyptians improved upon the
sundial with a 'merkhet', one of the
oldest known astronomical
instruments. It was developed around
600 BCE and uses a string with a
weight as a plumb line to obtain a
Egyptian Merkhet
true vertical line, as in the picture.
The other object is the rib of a palm An Egyptian
leaf, stripped of its fronds and split at Merkhet. The
wooden upright has
one end, making a thin slit for a sight. a notch to use as a
sight when using
two plumb lines
 There are various theories about how the
24 hour day developed. The fact that the day
was divided into 12 hours might be because 12
is a factor of 60, and both the Babylonian and
Egyptian civilisations recognised a zodiac cycle
of 12 constellations. On the other hand, (excuse
the pun) finger-counting with base 12 was a
possibility. The fingers each have 3 joints, and so
counting on the joints gives one 'full hand' of
12.
 In classical Greek and Roman times they
used twelve hours from sunrise to sunset; but
since summer days and winter nights are longer
than winter days and summer nights, the
lengths of the hours varied throughout the year.
In about 50 BCE Andronikos of Kyrrhestes, built
the Tower of Winds in Athens. This was a water
clock combined with Sundials positioned in the
eight principal wind directions. By then it was
the most accurate device built for keeping time.
 Hours did not have a fixed length until the
Greeks decided they needed such a system for
theoretical calculations. Hipparchus proposed dividing
the day equally into 24 hours which came to be
known as equinoctial hours. They are based on 12
hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness on the
days of the Equinoxes. However, ordinary people
continued to use seasonally varying hours for a long
time. Only with the advent of mechanical clocks in
Europe in the 14th Century, did the system we use
today become commonly accepted.
Earliest mechanical
clock
 Mechanical clocks replaced the old water clocks, and the
first clock escapement mechanism appears to have been
invented in 1275. The first drawing of an escapement was
given by Jacopo di Dondi in 1364. In the early-to-mid-14th
century, large mechanical clocks began to appear in the
towers of several cities. There is no evidence or record of the
working models of these public clocks that were weight-
driven. All had the same basic problem: the period of
oscillation of the mechanism depended heavily on the driving
force of the weights and the friction in the drive.
In later Mediaeval times elaborate clocks were built in public
places. This is the Astronomical clock in Prague, parts of
which date from about 1410.
 Prague Astronomical Clock
This mechanism illustrates a basic
Showing the Zodiac Circles
escapement. The weight rotates
and early versions of the
the drum which drives the toothed
digits 2, 3, 4 and 7
wheel which gives the mechnism
its "tick-tock" movement
More Accurate Mechanical
Clocks
 Christiaan Huygens made the first
pendulum clock, regulated by a mechanism
with a "natural" period of oscillation in 1656.
Galileo studied pendulum motion as early as
1582, but his design for a clock was not built
before his death. Huygens' pendulum clock
had an error of less than 1 minute a day, and
his later refinements reduced his clock's errors
to less than 10 seconds a day.
 There was no device for keeping accurate
time at sea until John Harrison, a carpenter and
instrument maker, refined techniques for
temperature compensation and found new
ways of reducing friction. By 1761, he had built
a marine chronometer with a spring and
balance wheel escapement that kept very
accurate time. With the final version of his
chronometer, which looked like a large pocket
watch, he achieved a means of determining
longitude to within one-half a degree.
The pendulum moves the
lever which creates the
rocking movement of the
escapement
 Time is important in life because it
allows us to accomplish tasks, make
progress, and achieve our goals. It is also
important for building relationships,
enjoying leisure activities, and
experiencing new things.