The Hours of the Sun

Interesting exhibition at the Museum of Archaeology in Naples looking at sundials found at Pompeii.

These were not particularly beautiful objects but they had been examined scientifically and a fascinating video showed you how a sundial could tell the time throughout the year. It showed how daylight was divided into 12 but each of those divisions of 12 was a different length depending on the time of year.

It had been discovered that some must have been ornamental and brought from other places as they would not calibrated to work in Pompeii. There was one made specifically made for Pompeii. I also loved one from the bath house which had been used to regulate sessions at the complex.

It was nice touch to display the Farnese Atlas, a Roman copy of a Greek work showing Atlas bearing the world on his shoulders, at the centre of the room. It shows a high level of astronomical knowledge and records discoveries made in the same period that it was made. 

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