The Water Clock in the Tower of the Winds Essay Example for Free

The peeing measure in the reign of the Winds EssayNoble and prices in-depth bind examining the specific technical attri thates of the irrigate clock in the tugboat of Winds in the Roman Agora of Athens purports to be a virtual reconstruction of the predominate of Winds and, specifically, the water-clock and supporting water-tower within. The oblige is just that and little else.While steadfastly maintaining through out the obligate that the water-clock and the hover of Winds have get too little literary and scientific attention over the centuries and lamenting that such a marvelously curious structure (which has been maintained and continuously occupied over the many centuries since its construction), the authors do little to broider the tugs existence or bring the rich archaeological indorse and information made available by the structure into vivid, documentaryrealization. True enough, the bulk large and the water-clock are generally passed over by scholars. An e xample is G. J. Whitrows rear of the Tower of Winds in his book Time in History Views of Time from Prehistory to the Present twenty-four hours which states simply there is evidence of more elaborate instrumentation, such as the Tower of the Winds which can lock be seen in Athens, north of the Acropolis.Designed and built by the astronomer Andronicus Kyrrhestes of Macedonia in the second cast of the outgrowth century BC, with a wind vane and complicated sundials on each of its eight walls, its more or less interesting feature is a reservoir in a pifflinger building that stood next to its mho side 1 with the implication that the rest of the structure was, in fact, of little interest. Ironically, the very concept of a water-clock provokes a sense of mystery and interest.The origin of water-clocks is presumed to be Egyptians who developed the water-clock as a method for retentivity track of time at night when sun-dials were, obviously, incapable of functioning To provide a mean s of quantity time at night the Egyptians also invented the water-clock, or water gage as the Greeks later called it Vitruvius, writing most 30 BC, described a number of types 2 so the history of the water-clock is deep and richly extensive.The Noble-Price article hints at this rich history for the technological and heathen significance of the water-clock, but evades any real crystallisation of the possible incarnations of water-clocks which preceded the massive example in the Tower of Winds. Before examining the strengths and weaknesses of the articles largely technical explication, it may be exercisingful to summarize in general what a water-clock is and what it is intended to do.Although the Noble-Price article certainly fulfills this need for approach information, the Columbia Encyclopedia does a far better job of stating, succinctly, the overall historical evolution of the water-clock much elaborate clepsydras were later developed. Some were double vessels, the larger o ne below containing a float that rosaceous with the water and marked the hours on a scale. A form more closely foreshadowing the clock had a cord fastened to the float so that it turned a wheel, whose movement indicated the time.A moreover step was the use of gear wheels and a turning pointer. 3 Another key point of the Noble-Price article relevant to the history of clepsydras is that which demonstrates the distinction between the two major types of water-clocks (or clepsydras) which were used extensively in antediluvian patriarch times the outflow model and the in-flow model. The article mentions that The outflow clepsydra was known as early as the third millennium B. C. in Egypt, In this type water is allowed to escape from a vessel by dripping from an orifice near its base.Time is then calculated by measuring the fall of the water level, or the entire period taken for all the water to drain away with the subsequent electronegative outcome that the rate of flow through the o rifice depends on the head of water above it and then as the water drains away the flow becomes slower. 4 By contrast, with the inflow device, the invention of which Vitruvius ascribes to Ktesibios, water was cater into a tank somehow equipped to provide a constant head of water.From a small orifice near the bottom of the tank, water dripped at a constant rate into a rounded container provided with a float the float indicated the change in water level and therefore the time move on 5 and this solution si evident in the Tower of Winds where The cylindrical tower section of the Tower of the Winds is perfectly suited to house such an apparatus 6. Such technical distinctions are seemingly minor, but play a key role in the pursuit of the article under discussion.As Noble-Price indicate in the articles opening paragraph, the intention of the article is to fill this long-standing lacuna 7 where the captivating archaeological evidence of The Tower of Winds is at long last brought to th e attention of serious observers by way of the authors practical income tax return of the mechanism designed by Andronikos of Kyrrhos in Macedonia, probably near the beginning of the second half of the first century 8 and the authors certainly fulfill this promise.The shortcoming of the article is its dry, technical explication of the water-clock and Tower which does little to repair upon the authors own dry observation that At the outset it must be admitted that literary and historical allusions to the Tower of the Winds or its designer give almost no indication that the building was anything more than an elaborate wind-vane. 9 By contrast, Suzanne Youngs study, An Athenian Clepsydra, narrates an engaging technical explication along with a salient recreation of the function of the clepsydra in the practice of ancient law Our earliest authority for the clepsydra is Aristophanes.One of his chorus of oldish Acharnians grumbles that it is hardly fitting that youngsters should sha me an old mans grey hairs by dragging him into litigation to destroy him at the clepsydra. 10 Young breaks up her technical explication with historical anecdote and humor In a passably later play he teases a jury-court veteran (his chief Wasp ) who never sleeps a wink11 or if he doze off the least fighting his mind goes fluttering in the night well-nigh the clepsydra. Such an approach finds the reader far more prepared to absorb the more demanding specifications of the technical and cultural attributes under discussion. Similarly, Henry Robinsons article The Tower of the Winds and the Roman Market-Place adopts a narrative-historical approach to the interpretation of the water-clock and Tower, concluding that The Tower of the Winds served as a public time-piece for the city of Athens. Its interior instruments, then, like those in the horologium of Scipio Xasica at Rome, should have been brotherly to the populace of the city at all times, both night and day.The absence of one cu tting on each threshold block and of one on the floor of the Tower indicates that this was the case 12 and leadership the reader to understand the cultural significance of the architecture. Perhaps the Noble-Price article might have benefited from a bit of personal introspection or commentary from the authors outside of that which pertains to the dearth of active scholarship in sex act to their chosen subject for the article. Unfortunately, the authors vividly miss any opportunity to include such material, or horizontal a bit of comic relief as is evident in Carl W.Blegans article Prosymna Remains of Post-Mycenaean visit which catelogs a tremendous amount of information on a dizzying array of artefacts and manages to compress this information into an socialize and memorable package. Perhaps it is necessary for the human mind to punctuate its absorption of information with cutaway moments of frantic reflection, humor, and introspection. If so, the Noble-Price article suffers gr eatly from its lack of such punctuated emotion. The Blegen article, for example, finishes with a bit of humor and mystery, describing an ancient Egyptian artifactThe arcs and the lines are for the most part accurately and carefully drawn. The zodiacal names and the numerals of the hours are written in fairly well formed letters which seem to belong to the end of the second century B. c. , and we may conclude that the sphere was made about that time. The dedicatory inscription, on the other hand, with its crowded, badly shaped letters, regular use of t for Z, EI for 0, and for R,must be a much later addition, perhaps assignable to the second century A. D. some(prenominal) its earlier history, the sun-dial was presumably at that time dedicatedto Hera and set up in the sanctuary from which it must subsequently have rolled down the hill to the place where it was found. 13 In conclusion, while the Noble-Price article does an admirable job of presenting technical details, is deeply resea rched, and honestly intended, the article lacks any narrative or dramatic intensity which and will likely do little to exhume the Tower of the Winds from scholarly or normal obscurity.NOTES1. G. J. Whitrow, Time in History Views of Time from Prehistory to the Present Day (Oxford Oxford University Press, 1989), 50. 2 G. J.Whitrow, Time in History Views of Time from Prehistory to the Present Day (Oxford Oxford University Press, 1989), 27. ) 3. The Columbia Encyclopedia 6th ed. , s. v. Clepsydra, 4. Noble Joseph V. de Solla Price Derek J. The Water Clock in the Tower of the Winds American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 72, No. 4. (Oct. , 1968), p. 351. 5. Noble Joseph V. de Solla Price Derek J. The Water Clock in the Tower of the Winds American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 72, No. 4. (Oct. , 1968), p. 346. 6. Noble Joseph V. de Solla Price Derek J. The Water Clock in the Tower of the WindsAmerican Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 72, No. 4. (Oct. , 1968), p. 346. 7. Noble Joseph V. de S olla Price Derek J. The Water Clock in the Tower of the Winds American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 72, No. 4. (Oct. , 1968), p. 346. 8. Noble Joseph V. de Solla Price Derek J. The Water Clock in the Tower of the Winds American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 72, No. 4. (Oct. , 1968), 351. 9. Noble Joseph V. de Solla Price Derek J. The Water Clock in the Tower of the Winds American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 72, No. 4. (Oct. , 1968), 352. 10. Young, Suzanne. An Athenian Clepsydra Hesperia, Vol.8, No. 3, The American Excavations in the Athenian Agora ordinal Report. (Jul. Sep. , 1939), pp. 276. 11. Young, Suzanne. An Athenian Clepsydra Hesperia, Vol. 8, No. 3, The American Excavations in the Athenian Agora Sixteenth Report. (Jul. Sep. , 1939), pp. 276. 12. Robinson, Henry S. The Tower of the Winds and the Roman Market-Place American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 47, No. 3. (Jul. Sep. , 1943), pp. 295. 13. Blegen, Carl W. Prosymna Remains of Post-Mycenaean Date American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 43, No. 3. (Jul. Sep. , 1939), pp. 444.