Steve--
Yes, undeniably the co-Italian hours have more practical use than
Babylonian hours, as do the Temporary Hours that used to be standard before
clocks came into use.
For outdoor work like agriculture, or anything for which candle-light
wasn't sufficient, of course it mattered very much how many hours were left
before sunset(co-Italian), or what *percentage* of the day remained
(Temporary-Hours). If you've plowed 1/3 of the field that needs plowing
today, then it's desirable that not more than 1/3 of the day has elapsed.
But I wouldn't choose Temporary Hours, because now the matter of how much
of the day is gone seems like a negative thing to remind oneself of, and
not the right way to regard the day or the time. Maybe that's why you
don't like Babylonian Hours.
What I like about Babylonian Hours is that it tells how young the day is,
early in the morning. That's why I'd include it.
Of course, with both Babylonian and co-Italian Hours, one could determine
Temporary hours by:
T = B/(B+CI)
...where T = Temporary
B = Babylonian
CI = co-Italian
Michael Ossipoff
Aprilis 23rd, 2020
Taurus 5th
18 Th
On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 3:00 PM Steve Lelievre <
steve.lelievre.can...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Michael,
>
> For sure.
>
> I simply ignored the possibility of Babylonian Hours because I
> personally don't think they have much practical use (to the extent that
> any sundial has practical use these days). For a dial showing hours to
> sunset, on the other hand, I do see some hint of practical use. It will
> tell me if I have time to mow the lawn or finish painting the fence
> before it gets dark, and so on. As well, for observers of some
> religions, a sunset dial could be used to know approximately how much
> time is left until, for example, the Sabbath starts or until a daytime
> fast can be broken.
>
> Steve
>
>
>
>
>
> On 2020-04-22 5:52 a.m., Michael Ossipoff wrote:
> > Because the dial is a translucent-double one, with gnomons on both
> > sides of the dial-plate, it would tell time all day, and so it could
> > give Babylonian-hours in addition to co-Italian hours.
> >
> > On a single dial, with everything on the same dial-face, it would
> > avoid clutter to show Babylonian hours only in the morning, and
> > co-Italian hours only in the evening. But, with the very wide hole in
> > the wall, there's easily room for 3 dials, with one exclusively for
> > Babylonian and co-Italian, and so it wouldn't be cluttered to show
> > both for all day.
>
>
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