State of the Art

The concept of time, connected with day and night alternation and with seasonal life cycle, became a palimpsest of social life and economic organization in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. As the study of Egyptology, Near Eastern Archaeology, and Assyriology started in the 19th century, the study of ancient time increased in connection with the ancient use of obelisks which were deemed (and sometimes reused by Romans) as gnomons in gigantic sundials. The careful examination of sundials, water clocks, and other time measuring devices (including architectural complexes) carried out by scholars (Schiapparelli 1892, Daressy 1915, Pogo 1936, Bedini 1962, Cotterell - Dickinson 1986, Ritner 2016) accounted – sometimes much better than texts – about ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians knowledge of astronomy, empirical physics, mathematics, and geometry (Salmas 2013, von Lieven 2016, von Lieven– Schomberg 2020). From the study of sources, however, it became clear that Egyptians and Sumerians originally organized their calendars according to the cycles of the moon and the agricultural seasons (Spalinger 2002).  Their achievements were illustrated within an etiological belief depicting the universe as an ordered cosmos descending from gods’ creation within the symbolic realm of myth (Belmonte - Shaltut eds 2009). The study of calendars – decisive also for chronological aims (Krauss - Warburton 2009) – has shown that various systems of time reckoning coexist: The cultic calendar and the administrative one (Steele 2007, 2012). The cycle of the sun and the heliacal rising of stars (Gautschy 2011) mark the seasons and allow resetting the lunar year: the mismatch was dealt with by imposing intercalation practices over the direct control of the kings. Relationships between time control and royal power both in Egypt and Mesopotamia are very strong. Scholars have become aware of this, even though for such a study the skills of unified Near Eastern Archaeologists, Egyptologists, Assyriologists do not seem enough: the help of philosophers, astrophysicists and engineers is needed, and this is what SYN-NAT Project will do. 

Bibliography

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Belmonte J.A. - Shaltut M. eds 2009, In Search of Cosmic Order: Selected Essays on Egyptian Archaeoastronomy, Cairo.

Cotterell M. - Dickson F.P. - Kamminga J. 1986, “Ancient Egyptian Water-clocks: A Reappraisal”, JAS 13, 31-50.

Daressy G. 1915, “Deux clepsydres antiques”, Bulletin de l’Institut Égyptien 9, 5-16.

Gautschy R. 2011, “Der Stern Sirius im Alten Ägypten”, Zeitschrift fur Ägyptische Sprache 138, 116-131.

Krauss R. - Warburton D.A. 2009, “The basis for the Egyptian dates”, in D.A. Warburton ed., Time’s Up! Dating the Minoan Eruption of Santorini (MDIA 10), Athens.

Pogo A. 1936, “Egyptian Water Clocks”, Isis 25, 403-425.

Ritner R. 2016, “Oriental Institute Museum Notes 16: Two Egyptian Clepsydrae (OIM E16875 and A7125)”, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 75, 361-389.

Salmas A.C. 2013, “La mesure du temps de la journée (1). Modules et fonctionnement des premières horloges à ombre”, BIFAO 113, 353-380.

Spalinger A. 2002, “Ancient Egyptian Calendars: How Many Were There?”, JARCE 39, 241-250.

Steele J.M. ed. 2007, Calendars and Years: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient Near East, Oxford.

von Lieven A. 2016, “The Movement of Time. News from the ‘Clockmaker’ Amenemhet”, in R. Landgráfová and J. Mynárová eds, Rich and Great. Studies in Honour of Anthony J. Spalinger, 207-231. Prague.

von Lieven A. - Schomberg A. 2020, “The Ancient Egyptian Water Clock between Religious Significance and Scientific Functionality”, in KJ Miller - S Symons eds, Down to the Hour: Short Time in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East (Time, Astronomy, and Calendars 8), Leiden, 52-89. 

Figure credit

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung / Fotograf unbekannt CC BY-SA 4.0