Time in Antiquity (Sciences of Antiquity Series)

221 Pages·2009·4.86 MB·English

by  Robert Hannah

TIME IN ANTIQUITY
Time in Antiquity explores the different perceptions of time from Classical
antiquity, principally through the technology designed to measure, mark or
tell time. The material discussed ranges from the sixth century bc in archaic
Greece to the third century ad in the Roman Empire, and offers fasci-
nating insights into ordinary people’s perceptions of time and time-keeping
instruments.
Cosmic time is defined, as expressed through the movements of the sun,
moon and stars in themselves or against the backdrop of the natural land-
scape. Robert Hannah subsequently discusses calendars, artificial schedules
designed to mark time through the year, with particular attention being
given to an analysis of the Antikythera Mechanism – the most complex,
geared, astronomical instrument surviving from antiquity, and the object of
exciting recent scientific studies.
At the core of the book is an analysis of the development of sundial tech-
nology, from elementary human shadow-casting to the well-known spherical,
conical and plane sundials of antiquity. The science behind these sundials,
as well as other means of measuring time, such as water clocks, is explained
in simple and clear terms. The use of the built environment as a means of
marking time is also examined through a case study of the Pantheon in
Rome. The impact of these various instruments on ordinary human life is
highlighted throughout, as are ordinary perceptions of time in everyday life.
Robert Hannah is Professor of Classics at the University of Otago, New
Zealand. His research interests include Greek and Roman archaeoastronomy,
Classical art and the Classical tradition.
SCIENCES OF ANTIQUITY
Sciences of Antiquity is a series designed to cover the subject-matter of what
we call science. The volumes discuss how the ancients saw, interpreted and
handled the natural world, from the elements to the most complex of living
things. Their discussions on these matters formed a resource for those who
later worked on the same topics, including scientists. The intention of this
series is to show what it was in the aims, expectations, problems and circum-
stances of the ancient writers that formed the nature of what they wrote. A
consequent purpose is to provide historians with an understanding of the
materials out of which later writers, rather than passively receiving and
transmitting ancient “ideas”, constructed their own world-view.
Also available from Routledge:
ANCIENT MEDICINE
Vivian Nutton
ANCIENT METEOROLOGY
Liba Taub
ANCIENT MATHEMATICS
Serafina Cuomo
COSMOLOGY IN ANTIQUITY
Rosemary Wright
ANCIENT NATURAL HISTORY
Roger French
ANCIENT ASTROLOGY
Tamsyn Barton
TIME IN ANTIQUITY
Robert Hannah
First published 2009
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2009 Robert Hannah
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-39247-7 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0–415–33155–2 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–415–33156–0 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–39247–7 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–33155–5 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–33156–2 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–39247–8 (ebk)
FOR PAT, NGAIRE AND MARK

CONTENTS
List of figures viii
Abbreviations x
Acknowledgements xi
1 Time in antiquity: an introduction 1
2 Cosmic time 5
3 Marking time 27
4 Telling time 68
5 Measuring time 96
6 Conceptions of time 116
7 Epilogue 145
Notes 157
References 180
Index 199
vii
LIST OF FIGURES
0.1 The sundial above the Theatre of Dionysos in Athens xiv
2.1 Limits of sunset, midsummer to midwinter Dunedin 6
2.2 Limits of sunrise, midsummer to midwinter Athens 7
2.3 Sunrise over Mount Lykabettos, Athens, at the
summer solstice 9
2.4 Sunset behind the peak of Saddle Hill, Dunedin 10
2.5 View of the San Francisco mountains, Arizona 10
2.6 Alexander Stephen’s sketch of the observations of
the setting sun 11
2.7 San Francisco mountains, Arizona (detail of Figure 2.5) 12
2.8 The ecliptic from Virgo to Pisces 16
2.9 Cancer and Leo 17
2.10 The Moon (night 1) 19
2.11 The Moon (night 2) 19
2.12 The Moon (night 3) 20
2.13 Evening setting of the Pleiades, Venus and Orion 25
3.1 Fasti Antiates Maiores 28
3.2 Fasti Praenestini 29
3.3 The Antikythera Mechanism, Fragment A 30
4.1 Plane sundial from Oropos 74
4.2 A ‘10 foot’ shadow 76
4.3 Byzantine vertical plane sundial 86
4.4 Spherical sundial perhaps from Aphrodisias 89
4.5 Conical sundial from Pergamon 91
4.6 Plane sundial on the Tower of the Winds 93
4.7 Arab astrolabe 94
6.1 Mosaic of armillary sphere, Solunto 117
6.2 An analemma for the section of a spherical and a
conical sundial for the latitude of Rome 119
6.3 Plane sundial from Oropos at the equinoxes 122
6.4 Plane sundial from Oropos at the winter solstice 123
6.5 Plane sundial from Oropos at the summer solstice 124
viii
LIST OF FIGURES
6.6 Conical sundial from Alexandria: the three day curves 128
6.7 Conical sundial from Alexandria: the intended
latitude and the theoretical solstitial points 129
6.8 Conical sundial from Alexandria: the marked
solstitial points 130
6.9 Conical sundial from Alexandria: Figures 6.7 and
6.8 overlaid 131
6.10 Conical sundial from Alexandria: the theoretical
gno¯mo¯n for the marked solstitial lines and the
theoretical latitude 132
6.11 Conical sundial from Alexandria: calculation of
intended latitude 133
7.1 Profile of a spherical sundial at the summer solstice 146
7.2 Profile of a spherical sundial at the winter solstice 146
7.3 Profile of a spherical sundial at the equinoxes 146
7.4 Profile of a spherical sundial: determination of the
latitude 147
7.5 Profile of a roofed spherical sundial at the summer
solstice 148
7.6 Profile of a roofed spherical sundial at the winter
solstice 148
7.7 Profile of a roofed spherical sundial at the equinoxes 149
7.8 Profile of a roofed spherical sundial: determination
of the latitude 149
7.9 Rome, Pantheon 150
7.10 Rome, section through the Pantheon 150
7.11 Rome, section through the Pantheon at the
summer solstice 151
7.12 Rome, section through the Pantheon at the winter
solstice 151
7.13 Rome, section through the Pantheon at the equinoxes 152
7.14 Rome, Pantheon: noon around the autumn equinox 153
7.15 Rome, section through the Pantheon:
determination of the North Celestial Pole 154
ix