I can't seem to find anywhere how to make a Roman sundial so I'm wondering if anyone can tell me how or where I can find how to make a Roman sundial?
I'm also wondering how Roman time works and how it is kept?
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Sign up to join this communityI can't seem to find anywhere how to make a Roman sundial so I'm wondering if anyone can tell me how or where I can find how to make a Roman sundial?
I'm also wondering how Roman time works and how it is kept?
One of the best primary sources for sundials is from Vitruvius, "On Architecture", book 9. He describes mathematically how to construct a sundial based on the works of the earlier Greek philosophers.
One hōra (hour) was always 1/12 of the time from sunrise to sunset, regardless of how long the day was. This made timekeeping without a sundial significantly easier (since the sun is always in roughly the same place for any given hour), and made constructing a sundial easier as well. Vitruvius's construction is a bit difficult to follow in text, but doesn't require particularly complicated mathematics, and—most importantly—doesn't require much adjustment once the sundial is finished.
As far as how Romans actually kept time, that depends on the period you're talking about. In general the day was divided into twelve hōrae (hours) and the night into four vigilae (watches) of equal length; how accurately these were measured, however, varied wildly.