Why sundials with Italian hours do'nt indicate directly the result of this
calculation? Is there a practical or historical reason?
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I just have made a two parts divided article for the italian magazine of
gnomonics about this subject, but I didn't find any historical reason for this.
I simply understand that these sundials had not been born for measuring the
remaining time to the sunset, they was born just to count the hours in a
different way, no matter the sunlight rest. 24 was just the 24th hour passed
from the last sunset. But obviously it was a direct consequence to understand
that the complement of 24 was the number of hours that a man could still work
in a open field.
It is also easy to understand that the farmers didn't need at all to know how
many hours of light remained before the sun will go to set, when they were in
the morning, or at noon, or in the immediate afternoon. The farmer starts to
feel the need to know the hours of light remained only when the sun was
reaching the half of the afternoon (three quarters of his course in the sky),
let say at 21 or better 22. When the farmer was hearing the bells strike 22
sounds it was not difficult for him to calculate that he had just 2 hours to
conclude his job in the field, and nevertheless at 24 o'clock the bells played
for at least half an hour more to give time to the people outside the city to
come in.
Mario
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Mario Arnaldi
Via Cavour, 57/c
48100 Ravenna
Italy
Lat. 44° 25' N - Lon. 12° 12' E
Redazione di "GNOMONICA ITALIANA" rivista di storia, arte, cultura e tecniche
degli orologi solari
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