[Jewelry making - Article 00079] - [Orchid] [Tidbits] Shadow Clock

[Benjamin Mark]

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    How old is the oldest clock you ask? If the Old Testament was written
    somewhere around 1450 B.C.... then the first clock was created a
    scant 450 years later... somewhere around 1000 B.C. It looked a bit
    like a T... with the top facing east before noon and then turned to
    face west after noon. The shadow formed at the base told the hours. 

    There is another Shadow Clock that was unearthed during excavations
    in Egypt which consisted of a wall and a flight of steps. The
    principal is essentially the same as the Shadow Clock mentioned
    above. As the shadow of the wall fell across the steps... the number
    of steps covered by the shadow told the hour. 

    The dial of the Shadow Clock is mentioned in the Second Book of Kings
    in the Old Testament. I won't quote the whole passage as this might
    tend to border on tedium and we all know we wouldn't want that. Still
    for those who want to delve into this... the passage begins with:
    "And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah..." 

    And although I am going to be showing you an Egyptian Shadow Clock in
    the form of a T... another form of a shadow clock was the obelisk...
    a vertical spire around which a circle was formed demarcating the
    hours by the shadows formed by the sun. I mention this type because
    there's a fascinating aspect to it. The Egyptians observed that when
    the shadow of the obelisk was at it's shortest ... it always pointed
    in the same direction... regardless of the season. Today we call this
    direction the meridian... a line joining north and south. 

    So... imagine you're lost in the desert somewhere. It's daylight.
    Sand all around you. No landmarks. No compass. No watch. No nothing
    ... except for a twig you happen to be carrying around in your back
    pocket. If I remember correctly... the book on desert-traveling
    clearly states... and I quote: "Ye who shall travel the deserts
    shall keep a twig in thine back pocket." This is not without sound
    rationale. 

    You need direction. It is still early. You grab thine twig and stick
    it deep into the sand... and you wait for the shadow to be the
    shortest ... and now you have a line going north to south. And you
    can start walking in the direction of your choice. Except that is...
    for one little thing. Which direction is north... and which direction
    is south? I say take your pick. You've got a fifty-fifty chance of
    getting out of there alive... which is a whole lot better than if you
    didn't have a twig at all. 

    Which brings us to that ancient but wise saying which states... and I
    quote: "A man is not worth his weight in shekels if he does not have
    his twig." Rumor has is that there are some out there who have
    re-written this adage and have changed the word "twig" to "trunk". I
    do not understand the concept behind this thinking. In any case...
    the wisdom behind the old adage is immeasurable. Compasses break.
    Watches stop. But a twig is forever. Or something. I don't know. 

    For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits...may I
    direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
    scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that says
    Current Tidbits... and then click on it in order to view an Egyptian
    Shadow Clock. 

And there ya have it.
That's it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark
http://www.tyler-adam.com
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