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KF5JRV > TECH 14.06.16 12:56l 44 Lines 1681 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 4553_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Roman Time
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Sent: 160614/1138Z 4553@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQK1.4.65
Roman Time
Since the length of the sunlight varied with the seasons,
this also meant that the length of the hour changed - with
shorter hours in winter and longer hours in summer. The
Romans also understood that the length of daylight depended
upon latitude. At the winter solstice, at mediterranean
latitude, an hour was about 45 minutes, while at the
summer solstice, an hour was about 75 minutes
The Romans used various timekeeping devices including
the clepsydra, or water clock, and the Greek sundial.
Censorinus describes the introduction of sundials to
Rome by Manius Valerius after his victories in Sicily.
A humorous comment about the prevalence of sundials is
illustrated by a character in The Boeotian Woman, a
drama by Plautus, who complains "May the gods destroy
that man who first discovered hours and who first set
up a sundial here, who cut up my day."; though the
comparison is with the speaker's young days when a
child is free of timekeeping, not about the
introduction of sundials. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
lists various types of sundials in Book IX of his
De Architectura, with attributions to their Greek
inventors.
Modern remnants
The Roman day starting at dawn survives today in
the Spanish word siesta, literally the sixth hour of
the day.
The daytime canonical hours of the Catholic church
take their names from the Roman clock: the prime, terce,
sext and none (liturgy) occur during the first (pr?ma),
third (tertia), sixth (sexta) and ninth (n?na) hours
of the day.
The English term noon is also derived from the
ninth hour, although due to semantic drift now refers
to midday rather than mid-afternoon.
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