|
If you ask anyone
what time it is, you will be sure to receive several different
answers! For, as Seneca states, it is impossible in Rome to be
sure of the exact hour; and it is easier to get the
philosophers to agree among themselves than the clocks:
"Horam non possum certam tibi dicere:
facilius inter philosophos quam inter horologia
convenit."
Time was not an exact thing in ancient Rome. Hours were
originally calculated for daytime; and even when the
invention of the horologia
ex aqua, or water-clock made it possible to
calculate the night hours by a simple reversal of the data
that the sundial first had given, it did not succeed in
unifying the hours.
 While modern hours are all sixty minutes of sixty seconds
in length, and each hour is definitely separated, the lack
of division with Roman hours meant that each stretched over
the interval of time between the preceding hour and the hour
which followed. Instead of being of fixed duration, this
interval changed constantly, now longer, now shorter, from
one end of the year to the other!
On any given day, the duration of the day hours
was different than the length of the night hours. The twelve
hours of day were divided between the rising and the setting
of the sun; conversely, night hours were divided between
sunset and sunrise. So clearly when the day hours were
longer in summer, the night hours were shorter, and vice
versa.
Day and night hours were equal only twice a year: at the
vernal and autumnal equinoxes. They lengthened and shortened
in inverse ratio until the summer and winter solstices, when
the discrepancy between the hours was greatest. At the
winter solstice (December 22), when the day had only 8 hours
and 54 minutes of sunlight against a night of 15 hours and
six minutes, the day hour was only a little over to 44
minutes long while the night hour lengthened to one hour and
15 minutes. At the summer solstice the position was exactly
reversed; the night hour was shortest while the day hour
reached its maximum length.
At the Winter solstice, hours were approximately as
follows:
|
|
I |
Hora
prima |
from |
7:33 |
to |
8:17 AM
|
|
II |
Hora
secunda |
from |
8:17 |
to |
9:02 AM
|
|
III |
Hora
tertia |
from |
9:02 |
to |
9:46 AM
|
|
IV |
Hora
quarta |
from |
9:46 |
to |
10:31 AM
|
|
V |
Hora
quinta |
from |
10:31 |
to |
11:15 AM
|
|
VI |
Hora
sexta |
from |
11:15 |
to |
12:00 noon
|
|
VII |
Hora
septima |
from |
12:00 |
to |
12:44 PM
|
|
VIII |
Hora
octava |
from |
12:44 |
to |
1:29 PM
|
|
IX |
Hora
nona |
from |
1:29 |
to |
2:13 PM
|
|
X |
Hora
decima |
from |
2:13 |
to |
2:58 PM
|
|
XI |
Hora
undecima |
from |
2:58 |
to |
3:42 PM
|
|
XII |
Hora
duodecima |
from |
3:42 |
to |
4:27 PM
|
At the Summer solstice, hours of the day
ran approximately as follows
|
|
I |
Hora
prima |
from |
4:27 |
to |
5:42 AM
|
|
II |
Hora
secunda |
from |
5:42 |
to |
6:58 AM
|
|
III |
Hora
tertia |
from |
6:58 |
to |
8:13 AM
|
|
IV |
Hora
quarta |
from |
8:13 |
to |
9:29 AM
|
|
V |
Hora
quinta |
from |
9:29 |
to |
10:44 AM
|
|
VI |
Hora
sexta |
from |
10:44 |
to |
12:00 noon
|
|
VII |
Hora
septima |
from |
12:00 |
to |
1:15 PM
|
|
VIII |
Hora
octava |
from |
1:15 |
to |
2:31 PM
|
|
IX |
Hora
nona |
from |
2:31 |
to |
3:46 PM
|
|
X |
Hora
decima |
from |
3:46 |
to |
5:02 PM
|
|
XI |
Hora
undecima |
from |
5:02 |
to |
6:17 PM
|
|
XII |
Hora
duodecima |
from |
6:17 |
to |
7:33 PM
|
Night hours were reversed in length with maximum
length at the winter solstice and minimum length at the
summer solstice.
Something as simple as telling time had an enormous
effect on Roman life. For one thing, as the methods of
measuring the hours was inexact, Roman life was never
regulated to the degree that the above schedule indicates.
Busy as life was in the Urbs,
it continued to have flexibility unknown to modern-day
citizens.
As the length of the Roman day changed constantly with
the seasons, life went through phases whose intensity varied
with the hours: less productive in winter, more productive
as the days lengthened. In this way, the character of Rome
maintained a strong link with its agrarian roots.
- - from Daily Life in
Ancient Rome, by Jerome Carcopino, Yale University
Press
VILLA > MEASURING TIME
Updated
|
