I wear a wristwatch all the time and feel very uncomfortable when I can’t see the time. I control when and where to come, what to do. How much time has already been spent on some process. Although there is such a saying that happy hours are not observed, even during rest they constantly have a clock.
How did people in the old days get by without precise time control? But even then people could quite accurately determine the time, only with a small error.
Gnomon - the sun is shining, the time is known
Before mechanical watches became widespread, the time was determined using a sundial. This device had three details: a gnomon, that is, an element that casts a shadow, a dial on which this shadow falls, and one more, conditional detail - the sun itself, which "winds" this very clock.
The dial has lines, and the gnomon has a size and shape, for the calculation of which geographic coordinates are used. That is, every sundial is created for a specific area. Their production is a painstaking and complex process that requires knowledge and skills. Therefore, such devices were not cheap.
In Russia, they acted easier: our ancestors simply dug a high pole into the ground, which cast a shadow. By observing the size of the shadow, it was possible to determine the time. Of course, this was not the ideal way. But comparing the lengths of the shadow, for example, at noon, in the evening or at dawn, as well as measuring it at different times of the year, our ancestors compiled a fairly clear determinant of time.
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Everything would be fine if the sun was constantly shining in Russia. Unfortunately, this is from the realm of fantasy - rains, clouds and other bad weather are very frequent here. If we add the peculiarity of the northern regions, where the sun does not rise too high above the horizon, which is why the shadow indicators of the gnomon are very long, it turns out that the sundial could not be considered as the only, accurate, year-round option.
We also have a huge sundial on the street in Belgorod. Once passing by, I compared it with my wrist - they definitely show the sun! That's it! literally up to a minute.
Clepsydras that steal water
The type of clock that does not depend on sunlight is water. They are called klepsydra. If we take this word apart, and it consists of klepto - to hide and hydor - water, then it is clear that translated from Greek, but means nothing more than "water thief." The simplest clepsydra consists of two vessels installed at different levels. There is a hole in the upper one through which water drops drop by drop into the lower one. Time was determined by observing how the water level in the upper vessel decreases, or how it rises in the lower one. There is a version that the expression "the passage of time" originated from here.
Clepsydra.
Since the pressure in the vessel affects the speed of water movement, the container began to be made in the form of a truncated cone. By its structure, the clepsydra has an advantage over the sundial, since the system of communicating vessels can be brought to perfection. They can be used at any time of the day, they determine the time more accurately.
Modern water clock.
But they can be used only when the water is in a liquid state. Alas, in Russia there are often frosts, and she could simply freeze. Such constructions did not find wide distribution among the population, they were used mainly during church rituals and were called "hydrology".
Roosters, larks and flowers for the poor
For a long time, watches in Russia were a luxury item. Ordinary people have used their own methods to get by without complex mechanisms. Our ancestors were observant, natural processes were not a secret for them.
For example, birds. It is clear that the alarm clock in ancient times (and in many villages to this day) was a rooster, which crowed three times a night: the first time after midnight, then at two in the morning, and the last time early in the morning, around the beginning of the fifth. Oriole, lark, sparrow - these birds also woke up and began their chants at a certain time. It was only necessary to observe, listen to the advice of the elderly and remember the time.
As you know, larks start singing at 2 o'clock in the morning, willow at 3 o'clock, and sparrows fall asleep only at 6 o'clock in the morning. The main "clock" in the old days was the rooster. The first time the roosters crow at 1 am, the second time at 2 am, and the third time at 5 am.
The peasants watched the flowers, as they, turning to the sun, open and close at a strictly defined time. The life cycle of many plants and animals is related to the time of the day. Flowers of different plants open and close at different times, at a certain time. Most of the flowers are blown out in the morning and close in the evening, but there are also those that close and open in the middle of the day or at night. Based on this principle, Karl Linnaeus invented and created a flower clock, which "worked" from three hours of the morning until midnight. Looking at them, it was possible to determine the time of days with an accuracy of up to 30 minutes.
And, of course, the sun itself. The Slavs divided the day into day and night, focusing on the movement of the heavenly body. The middle of the day was noon when the sun was at its highest point. The later, the longer the shadows from objects.
In ancient times, there was no electricity, there was nothing to light the huts with. Yes, there were candles, but it was economically unprofitable to burn them constantly. Because as soon as the sun went down, darkness covered the house - you can go to bed with a clear conscience. In addition, our ancestors did not need a clear definition of time, in minutes, seconds. For what? Daybreak - you can go to the fields, work - until sunset, at dusk they return to the village. Shepherds, for example, measured the shadow of a tree with bast shoes worn on their feet. The shadow has reached seven bast shoes - you can collect the herd and lead home.
The process of replacing temporal concepts with spatial ones is interesting, for example: “Is this village far? - Yes, far away, two days of walking. The segment that could be traversed in one day was called the bottom.
Clear biological clock
Everyone knows about the biological clock today, this is the name of the internal circadian rhythm. It takes years for its formation, with its help all biological processes of the human body are formed. We are hungry, which means that it is time for lunch to which we are accustomed. We want to sleep - you can look at the clock to make sure that it's already midnight (one in the morning, two, and so on), depending on the habit.
Artist K. Makovsky. Peasant lunch during the harvest.
Our ancestors lived according to a strict schedule. The peasant woman knew that she did not need to invite her husband to dinner. He came himself, or was already waiting for his wife in the field, because hard work and habit did their job, and the appetite was played very strongly.
The regularity, monotony characteristic of life in Russia, adherence to a certain routine, the absence of artificial lighting made orientation in time simple and partly arbitrary.
Flowers bloom and close at a specific time.
Watchmaking workshops began to develop in Russia in the 18th century. This event was marked by the opening of the Watch Dvor in Moscow. And today it is impossible to surprise even a kindergartner for hours - this subject has become so familiar, inexpensive and ubiquitous.