The first mechanical clockmakers were Christian monks, whose monasteries required clocks to regulate daily prayer and work schedules.ġ4th Century medieval illuminated manuscript showing the astronomical clock of St. The Middle Ages and the earliest mechanical clocksįor centuries, the two primary time-telling instruments were the water clock and the sundial.Īlthough other forms of timekeepers existed – such as candle clocks, incense clocks and hourglasses – these were equally inaccurate, and it wasn’t until the Middle Ages that what we would consider a traditional ‘clock’ was invented.Ĭlocks as we know them today, with dials indicating the hour and minute of the corresponding time, originated in medieval Europe. To function, both rely on inaccuracies of the natural world, as the sun’s path through the sky changes with the seasons and the flow of water cannot be totally controlled. Yet however complex these inventions became, both water clocks and sundials could not measure time with complete accuracy.
The most advanced water clocks even displayed astrological models of the universe. Some new clocks were created with bells and gongs that sounded, while others opened doors and windows to show figurines of people, or moved pointers and dials. Astonishingly, the physician had, in effect, created the first heart rate monitor.Īs time passed, Greek (and later Roman) scientists developed more and more complex water clocks.
In the early 3 rd Century BC, Herophilos used a portable water clock to measure his patients’ pulse-beats. More impressive was the ancient Greek physician Herophilos’ use of the water clock.
Using water clocks had other advantages too: they were smaller and more portable than sundials, and could also be used for purposes other than knowing the time of day.įamously, water clocks were used as stop-watches to impose a time limit on clients' visits to Athenian brothels. World's oldest sundial from Egypt's Valley of the Kings (1500 BC) and reconstruction of an original clay water clock found in the Athenian agora (500 BC). © Marsyas via Wikimedia Commons Suddenly, people did not have to wait until daylight or travel to town centres to tell the time – both of which had been problems of the sundial. Water clocks became common throughout the city of ancient Athens. The most important of the ancient Greek time-telling inventions was the water-clock, which measured time by regulating the water flow through a system of complex mechanics and counting drops of water falling from a tank. As well as making use of the sundial, the ancient Greeks created new and advanced timekeepers of their own. The ancient Greeks and the water clockĪs ever in ancient history, the inventions of the Greeks were not far behind those of the Egyptians. By refining and advancing the sundial over three thousand years, this hugely advanced society were able to divide up the seasons and separate the daytime into hours. And so, the ancient Egyptians had created very first man-made time-telling devices.īut the Egyptians did not stop there. These structures cast shadows on precisely decorated spirals that were set in the ground, meaning that ordinary Egyptian people were able to tell the time of day. Master thinkers, builders and inventors, as early as 3500 BC the ancient Egyptians had created the very first sundials by building tall obelisks near their temples and palaces. One of the first civilisations to use the sun as a timekeeper were the ancient Egyptians. The earliest human civilisations would have estimated the time of day by noting the position of the sun in the sky, but this process was refined by looking at the length and position of a shadow cast by an object.
Mankind has been unable to correctly calculate the smaller divisions of time – the hours, minutes and seconds in a day – until the most recent centuries. In fact, measuring time accurately has been extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the majority of human existence. The rising and setting of the sun began long before humans walked the earth, breaking down the expanse of time into separate days and nights.īut it is one thing to observe this continual cycle of light and dark, and another thing entirely to try to measure it or impose a structure on it. The natural world has always allowed for approximations of time to be made. The origins of time telling and the first clocks The Mayfair Gallery history of antique clocks unravels this fascinating history, and reveals how telling the time - an activity born from practical necessity - became associated with the luxury and splendour of stunning works of art. B ut telling the time wasn't always so easy. In an age of digital clocks and mobile phones, we are able to tell the tim e with minimal effort.