by Samantha Perry
Spring 2017 Intern
In high school, we had three
foreign languages to choose from: Spanish, French and Latin. I decided to take
Latin, hoping it might take me on a school trip to Italy as a senior. Although
I didn’t make it to Italy in high school, I did study Latin throughout and
learned quite a bit about ancient Roman culture.
One thing I learned was that the
ancient Romans stayed on top of new technology just as fervently as we do today.
The wealthiest Romans often owned the newest tech and the latest styles, which were
used to show off just how much wealth someone had. A portable sundial was a
combination of both, and therefore the perfect status symbol.
The Roman day was divided into 12
increments of daylight and 12 increments of nighttime, with an hour measuring about
45 minutes in the winter and 75 minutes in the summer. Wealthy Romans who
sported portable sundials could boast about knowing the time wherever they
traveled. But these flashy pieces did require a good bit of technical knowledge
in order to be used correctly. Many of the sundials that have been recovered
were found with “cheat
sheets,” collections of coordinates for different locations, which were
used to calibrate the sundial to find the correct time for the desired area.
One of the most famous portable
sundials was discovered in 1706 in the ruins of Villa dei Papiri in
Herculaneum. Think your Hello Kitty iPhone case is cool? This
sundial is in the shape of an Italian ham, and has been dubbed the “pork clock”
since its discovery. It was recently recreated in a 3D model, which includes a replication
of a grid on one side of the ham that marked the months of the year as well as
hours past sunrise or sunset. The actual dial piece (called the gnomon) is missing, but it had been described
in the past as being in the curly shape of a pig’s tail, so the 3D model
includes this unique feature. A sundial of this shape is an extravagant example
of a Roman status symbol, possibly intended for an Epicurean philosopher. These
thinkers used a pig for their symbol and were known for their carpe diem attitude. Seize the day—and
the pork, apparently!
But, similar to today, there were
always those who preferred simpler ways over new technology. Some ancient
Romans insisted that their stomachs
were the best judges of time, since they told them when it was time for breakfast,
lunch and dinner. They’d probably have something similar to say about roosters
vs. alarm clocks—too bad they never got the chance to experience the snooze
button!
Did You Know?
The month of January is named after
the Greek
God Janus, the god of beginnings and ends. He is depicted as having two
faces, one looking forward and the other back, to represent the transition
between the old year and the new.
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