Hello Gianni and all, Thanks for your excellent explanation of Ezanic hours. Thanks to all who contributed to the discussion. I now see this is a useful term for describing some of the time lines on Ottoman sundials. I will use this Turkish word as a good descriptor for the time based on sunset with two 12 cycles of equal hours each day. The lines are identical to Italian hours but these generally count to 24 to end the day at sunset, the zero to start a new day.
It is interesting to see that Babylonian hours are generally inscribed on Ottoman sundials but not numbered. This is what I observed for the horizontal dial at Topkapi Palace and the vertical declining dials on several of the mosques. This is the design practice I am following for such dials. Regards, Roger Bailey www.walkingshadow.info Regards, ----- Original Message ----- From: Gianni Ferrari To: LISTA INGLESE Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 4:06 PM Subject: Re: Ezanic Hours I try to give an explication of the "ezanic hours" In Turkish language there are these words: ezan or azan = call to prayer - Adhan, in Arabic – It is the Islamic call for the prayers that have to be recited in Islamic lands five times each day ezani = pertaining to the azan ezani saat = the hour as reckoned from sunset saat,-ti = hour ; time; time of day; clock güneş saati = sundial güneş saati mili = gnomon ; stylus Among the 5 islamic prayers the first of the new day is the sunset prayer (Salat al Maghrib) that begins immediately after sunset. For this prayer the call to prayer (the ezan) is at sunset as the beginning of the day. For this reason I think (as Roger Bailey as already written) that "ezanic hours" is only the name (from Turkish to English) of those that we call "Italic or Italian hours". The only difference is that the "ezanic hours" are numbered in 12 + 12 , while the Italic ones in 24. For example at the Equinoxes : 0 or 12 ez.hour (sunset) is equivalent to = 0 or 24 it.hour ; 0 or 12 ez.hour (dawn) is equivalent to = 12 it.hour Noon is at 6 ez.hour or at 18 it.hour, etc. Both ezanic and Italic hours have a length that changes (slightly) from one day to another : today (June 16) they are 1h + 0.54sec length; on March 20 the length is 1h – 0.75 sec, etc. Best regard Gianni Ferrari ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 8.0.100 / Virus Database: 270.4.1/1510 - Release Date: 19/06/2008 3:21 PM
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