Ronit, Egyptian practice after about 2150 BCE was to have twelve daytime hours and twelve nighttime hours. Daytime hours were determined by shadow clocks (based on the sun's angle east or west of the zenith meridian), nighttime hours by star clocks and water clocks. Star clocks were based upon the heliacal rising (and in later years upon the meridional transit) of 36 decans (groups of stars), and upon their visibility after sunset. It appears to me that at least the nighttime hours were principally used for timing religious activities.
For references see the Wikipedia entry on water clocks. The most comprehensive work that I have found on Egyptian timekeeping is Marshall Clagett's source book: Clagett, Marshall, Ancient Egyptian Science, Volume II: Calendars, Clocks, and Astronomy, 1995, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 214, Philadelphia. Gordon Uber, San Diego, California At 04:11 PM 5/20/2007, Noam Kaplan wrote: >Ronit, > >Depends what you mean by antiquity. For everyday use in the Roman and >Greek world as far as I know the night was divided into watches, >vigils. In the Talmud there is an argument as to how many watches the >night is divided, three or four. But there were definitely methods of >timekeeping to >----- Original Message ----- >From: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>øåðéú îòåæ >To: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2007 8:44 PM >Subject: temporary hours > >Dear friends, >Was the division of day+night in antiquity divided into 12 temporary >hour day and 12 temporary hour at night > thanks in advance for your answers. >Ronit Maoz > > > > > >---------- >--------------------------------------------------- ><https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial>https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial > >--------------------------------------------------- >https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
