Thoughts on Time

It is hard to think of a concept more important to mankind, and more universally adhered to, than time. It is of the utmost importance to modern man. It guides nearly every facet of our lives. We assign appointment times to all of our tasks. We schedule events striving to fit as many of these tasks into our days as possible. We even take pride in our ability to multi-task (doing multiple timed tasks at once).

I wonder what it was like before the measurement of time was available? Yes, that once was the case. Sundials are very old, but during medieval times, 500-1500 AD there were no clocks as we know them today; they had not yet been invented. Water clocks were invented in Egypt but were not very accurate. Sundials and sandglasses were not uniform, widely used, or accurate.

It is interesting to note that early Greek scholars believed that time was circular, not linear. Taking their clues from the seasons, the tides, and the movement of celestial bodies, they thought that all events happened over and over again. For everything there was a circle which had no real beginning or end, but returned to its point of origin and renewed itself to begin the next cycle. The lives of men and animals were all part of the earth’s cycles.

Religious observers noted that the life of Jesus Christ was a completely unique event; never to be repeated in the history of man. So the means of measuring time was divided into two distinct periods, before Christ (BC) and after Christ (AD). From this point forward time was measured in linear increments.

In an agricultural world reliance on the seasons, and the associated work tasks, caused measurement of the movements of the sun to be essential. Holy days were established to recognize, and celebrate, these changing natural cycles. During the Medieval Ages summertime was the season for war. Vassals were required to provide military support to the King. No military activity was conducted in winter.

Churches began to measure the day by prayer hours. Lauds (3 a.m.), Martins (6 a.m.), Terse (9 a.m.), Sext (noon), Nones (3 p.m.), Vespers (6 p.m.) and Compline (9 p.m.). Kings and Lords had control of the work lives of men. Workers obeyed time imposed on them by bells, trumpets and horns.

The Greeks divided the year into twelve parts which they called months. Each month was divided into thirty parts called days. Their year only had a total of 360 days, or 12 times 30 (12 x 30 = 360). Since the Earth goes around the Sun in one year, the Greeks decided to divide the earth’s circle into 360 degrees.

The Egyptians and Babylonians considered the day to be from sunrise to sunset. They divided it into twelve parts that are called hours. They also divided the night, the time from sunset to sunrise, into twelve hours. But the day and the night are not the same length, and the length of the day and night also changes through the year. This system of measuring the time was not very accurate because the length of an hour changed depending on the time of year. Somebody finally figured out that by dividing the whole day into 24 hours of equal length (12 hours of the day plus 12 hours of the night), the time could be measured much more accurately. The hour was divided into 60 minutes, and each minute is further divided into 60 seconds. Dividing both the hours and minutes into 60 parts comes from the Sumerian sexagesimal system, which is a base 60 numbering system.

Like everything else, the accurate measurement of time can be both a blessing and a burden. Well, I gotta go now. I have appointments to keep.