Image Details

Sundials have been found throughout the Mediterranean. This red sandstone sundial with an Aramean inscription has features in common with a marble sundial found in Turkey and one depicted in a mosaic from Pompeii. All are marked with 11 hour lines, were probably designed to face south and had gnomons placed top and center. The gnomon’s shadow would travel down one side of the dial as the sun rose and up the other as it set. The outer edges, therefore, represented sunrise and sunset; the centermost line, called the meridian, represented noon.