Roman Sundial, Pompeii

Roman sundial on top of the Ionic column on the left hand side of the steps of the Temple of Apollo. This sundial is made of white marble. Pompeii was a Roman city destroyed and buried by ash during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The lines on flat sundials are difficult to calculate because you're translating the movement of something which appears to be travelling across a spherical surface onto a flat plane. The Greeks and Romans bypassed this problem by projecting the shadow of a sundial onto a curved surface. With a spherical surface it becomes very easy to divide each day into 12 hours by carving straight lines

Restrictions Only for Ireland and United Kingdom

Curved Gnomon Ionic Pompeii Sphere Spherical Sundial

Features In These Collections

> Contributors > PHR