Hi Frank,
take a look here, maybe it can help you! I find it in 5 seconds. You can find a lots like this on google books. http://books.google.it/books?id=MC8XAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA72&dq=computing+time+roman Nicola ----Messaggio originale----Da: rncer...@uol.com.brdata: 18/03/2009 21.30A: "Mario Arnaldi"<marna...@libero.it>Cc: <sundial@uni-koeln.de>Ogg: Re: The End of the Day Dear Mario, Very interesting your answer. It would be nice, at least for me, if you could answer the other questions. Best regards, Ricardo Em 18/03/2009 12:45, Mario Arnaldi escreveu: Dear Frank, you are right in all you are writing in your email.Yes I can give some answere to your question but it takes a lot. All these arguments are part of the first part of the book that I'm writing, but it is hard to explane in a simple email. I have written an article splitted in two parts on this argument and it has been published in Gnomonica Italiana, exacly number 11 (2006) and 12 (2007). If you like I will try to reply with some emails for each of your pointed question.--------------> 1. Are my assumptions correct?-------------Yes--------------> 2. Did the Ancient Romans refer to midnight> as "the sixth (night-time) hour"?-----------------Yes. We must to remember that ancient Romans consider the "day" in two ways. You can find this in Censorinus "De die natali liber" 23, 1-3.«Superest pauca de die dicere, qui, ut mensis aut annus, partim naturalis partim civilis est. Naturaliter dies est tempus ab exoriente sole ad solis occasum, cuius contrarium tempus est nox ab occasu soli ad exortum. Civiliter autem dies vocatur tempus quod fit uno caeli circumactu, quo dies verus et nox continetur».Than in Cens. "De die nat." 23, 4 we read:«Indicio sunt sacra publica et auspicia etiam magistratuum, quorum si quid ante medium noctis est actum, diei qui praeteriit adscribitur, si quid autem post mediam noctem et ante lucem factum est, eo die gestum dicitur qui eam sequitur noctem. Idem significat quod qui a media nocte ad proximam mediam noctem in his horis quattuor et viginti nascuntur eundem diem habent natalem»So the day was "natural" and "civil". The natural day was the day counted from sunrise to sunset (hi s contrary was the night, from sunset to sunrise) and it was used in sundials for common uses. The civil day was the intere nychthemeron divided in 24 equal hours counted from midnight till the nex midnigt. This second day was used in civil administration and for calendar uses. If some one was born before midnight he was listed as born in the preceding day and if someone was born after midnight it was recorded as born in the next day.All this is remembered by many authors as Gellius and Censorinus and others, but all of them cite the word of Varro that wrote also on the use of other people to compute civil time.Question number 3 need more time. I will do it nex email.Mario----------------------------------------------------------------- Mario ArnaldiVia Cavour, 57/c48100 RavennaItalyLat. 44° 25' N - Lon. 12° 12' ERedazione di "GNOMONICA ITALIA NA" rivista di storia, arte, cultura e tecniche degli orologi solariID Yahoo Messenger: "mcardal"ID MSN Messenger: "mcar...@hotmail.itid Skype: "mcardal"----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
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