Brief introduction of ancient timing tools

The passage of time has always been a top priority for human beings, whether it is to meet basic needs, such as when to eat and sleep, the importance of seasons for migration and agricultural purposes, or more complicated time measurement to determine the time period of weeks, days and hours.

Using celestial bodies

The earliest way to measure time was by observing celestial bodies-the sun, the moon, the stars and the five known planets in ancient times. In all ancient civilizations, the rising and setting of the sun, the winter solstice, the moon phase and the position of specific stars and constellations were used to divide specific activities. For example, buildings in Egypt and Minos are usually built or arranged in the direction of sunrise to observe specific stars. Some of our earliest texts, such as Homer's and hesiod's texts around the 8th century BC, described the use of stars to specifically determine the best time for navigation and agriculture, and these suggestions are still valid today.

Ephemeris was created in the Near East, and the Greek calendar is probably based on the moon phase. Parapegmata in Greece in the 5th century BC was attributed to Merton and Euclid. It was used to draw ephemeris and festival calendars related to astronomical observation and was kept in Egyptian papyrus from Sibeh around 300 BC. The famous Antichi Sheila mechanical device can be traced back to the middle of BC 1 century and was found in the Aegean shipwreck. This is a complex device that displays and measures the movements of celestial bodies, including solar eclipses, through a complex arrangement of wheels and gears.

sundial

Throughout the classical period, the sun has been the main source of time measurement. In fact, sunrise and sunset decided the meetings of the ancient Athens Parliament and the Roman Senate, while in the latter, the decree decided after sunset was considered invalid. The early sundial only indicated the month, but later efforts tried to divide the day into fixed units and indicate the twelve hours of day and night first invented by the Egyptians and Babylonians. The origin of half-hour measurement is not clear, but it was mentioned in the Greek comedy of Meinander in the 4th century BC, so it must be widely used. Judging from the earliest existing sundial date, Taylor was in the 3rd century BC.

Since the Hellenistic era, sundials have become more accurate because of a deeper understanding of the influence of angle and position changes.

Since the Hellenistic era, due to a deeper understanding of the influence of angle and position changes (especially latitude), the measurement of time has become more accurate and the sundial has become more accurate. There are four types of sundials: hemispherical, cylindrical, conical and flat (horizontal and vertical). They are usually made of stone and marked with a concave surface. The hour hand casts a shadow on the surface of the dial, or, more rarely, the sun shines through a hole, thus forming a spot on the dial. In the Roman Empire, portable sundials became popular, and some sundials had replaceable disks to compensate for the change of position. All major towns have sundials, and their popularity is not only reflected in archaeological discoveries-there are 25 in Delos alone and 35 in Pompeii-but also involves Greek drama and Roman literature. On this issue, there is even a famous joke told by Emperor Trajan. When he noticed the size of someone's nose, he joked, "If you point your nose at the sun and open your mouth wide, you will see the day of all passers-by" (Anthony Parati 1 1.4 18). In the late ancient times (about 400 to 600 AD), a highly complicated portable sundial was made, which could be adjusted to as many as 16 different positions.

Water equipment

A time measuring device using water is also invented. Perhaps it evolved from the early oil lamp. As we all know, oil lamps will burn for a period of time under a certain amount of oil. In the early days, the so-called water clock released a certain amount of water from one container to another, which took some time. The earliest may have come from Egypt around 1600 BC, although they may have borrowed this idea from the Babylonians. The Greeks used this device (klepsydra in Athens) to make love and decide how long a speech might last: about six minutes.

The Greek and Roman armies also used water clocks to measure shift work, such as night shift. People invented a more complicated water clock, which poured water into the equipment to raise a floating drum, thus turning a gear, and the adjustment movement of the gear could be measured. Around 280 BC, the first such clock was attributed to Sibius of Ueckert, and Archimedes mainly attributed it to the development of equipment to achieve higher accuracy. Large public water clocks are also common and are usually measured all day. For example, there was such a clock with 65,438+0,000 liters of water in the Athens market in the 4th century BC. The wind tower in the 2nd century BC was built by Androni Kush in Athens, and its outer wall also contains a large water clock and at least nine sundials.