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【簡(jiǎn)譯】古代西方計(jì)時(shí)法

2023-04-06 12:27 作者:神尾智代 0人讀過(guò) | 我要投稿

The passage of time has always been a preoccupation of human beings, whether it be a question of satisfying basic needs such as when to eat and sleep, the importance of seasons for migratory and agricultural purposes or a more sophisticated measuring of time into defined periods of weeks, days and hours.

? ? ? ? ? 時(shí)間的流逝一直是人類關(guān)注的問(wèn)題，無(wú)論是滿足基本需求的問(wèn)題，如什么時(shí)候吃飯和睡覺(jué)，還是季節(jié)對(duì)于遷徙和農(nóng)業(yè)的重要性，或者是以更復(fù)雜的方式，將時(shí)間劃分為周、天和小時(shí)。

天體的運(yùn)用

The earliest method of measuring time was through observation of the celestial bodies - the sun, moon, stars and the five planets known in antiquity. The rising and setting of the sun, the solstices, phases of the moon, and the position of particular stars and constellations have been used in all ancient civilizations to demarcate particular activities. For example, Egyptian and Minoan buildings were often constructed in orientation to the rising sun or aligned to observe particular stars. Some of our earliest texts such as those by Homer and Hesiod around the 8th century BCE describe the use of stars to specifically determine the best periods to sail and farm, advice which remains valid today.

? ? ? ? ? 最古老的測(cè)量時(shí)間的方法是觀察天體：太陽(yáng)、月亮、星星和古代已知的五顆行星。日出和日落、至日、月相以及某些恒星和星座的位置在所有古代文明中都被用來(lái)劃定特定的活動(dòng)。例如，埃及和米諾斯建筑通常面向朝陽(yáng)或?qū)ｉT用于觀星。一些最古老的文本，例如荷馬和赫西俄德的文本從公元前 8 世紀(jì)左右開(kāi)始，專門描述了使用星星來(lái)確定航行和種植的最佳時(shí)期，這些建議今天仍然有效。

Star calendars were created in the Near East, and Greek calendars were likely based on the phases of the moon. The Greek Parapegmata from the 5th century BCE, attributed to Meton and Euctmon, was used to map a star calendar and a calendar of festivals linked to astronomical observations survives in an Egyptian papyrus from Hibeh dated to around 300 BCE. The celebrated Antikythera Mechanism, dated to the mid-1st century BCE and found in an Aegean shipwreck, is a sophisticated device which, through a complicated arrangement of wheels and gears, demonstrated and measured the movement of celestial bodies, including eclipses.

? ? ? ? ? 星歷產(chǎn)生于近東，而希臘歷法可能是基于月相。公元前5世紀(jì)的希臘Parapegmata（一種跟蹤周期性事件的設(shè)備，尤其是星星、天氣、季節(jié)等，古希臘語(yǔ) παρ?πηγμα （parápēgma，“固定或掛起的東西” ）），歸功于雅典的默冬（Meton）和Euctmon（馬其頓國(guó)王和亞歷山大大帝的私人醫(yī)生），被用來(lái)創(chuàng)建星歷和節(jié)日日歷。在Hibeh（El Hiba是古埃及城市Tayu-djayet的現(xiàn)代名稱，是古時(shí)的昵稱，意為“他們的城墻”，指的是建造在該遺址上的巨大圍墻。在科普特語(yǔ)中，它被稱為“ Teujo”，在希臘羅馬時(shí)期，它被稱為“γκυρονπ?λι?”和“ Ancyronpolis”）的埃及紙莎草紙上還保存著一份與天文觀測(cè)有關(guān)的節(jié)日日歷，其年代約為公元前300年。在愛(ài)琴海沉船中發(fā)現(xiàn)的著名的安提基特拉機(jī)械裝置，其年代為公元前1世紀(jì)中期，它通過(guò)復(fù)雜的輪子和齒輪排列，演示和測(cè)量天體的運(yùn)動(dòng)，包括日食。

日? ? ?晷

The sun continued to be the primary source of time measurement throughout the Classical Period. Indeed, sunrise and sunset determined the sessions of both the ancient Assembly of Athens and the Roman Senate, and in the latter, decrees decided after sunset were not deemed valid. Early sundials merely indicated months but later efforts attempted to break the day into regular units and indicate the twelve hours of the day and night first invented by the Egyptians and Babylonians. The origins of the half-hour measurement are unclear but it is mentioned in a 4th-century BCE Greek comedy by Menander and so must have been commonly used. The earliest surviving sundial dates from Delos in the 3rd century BCE.

? ? ? ? ? 在整個(gè)古典時(shí)期，太陽(yáng)一直是測(cè)量時(shí)間的主要來(lái)源。事實(shí)上，黎明和黃昏決定了雅典議會(huì)和羅馬元老院會(huì)議的開(kāi)會(huì)時(shí)間，而在后者中，天黑后達(dá)成的法令被認(rèn)為是無(wú)效的。最初的日晷只指示月份，但后來(lái)有人嘗試將一天劃分為固定單位，埃及人和巴比倫人首先發(fā)明了晝夜12個(gè)小時(shí)制。半小時(shí)測(cè)量法的起源尚不清楚，但在公元前 4 世紀(jì)米南德 (Menander) 的希臘喜劇中提到過(guò)，因此這種測(cè)量法曾被普遍使用?，F(xiàn)存最早的日晷可以追溯到公元前3世紀(jì)的提洛島。

From Hellenistic times the measurement of time became ever more precise and sundials became more accurate as a result of a greater understanding of angles and the effect of changing locations, in particular latitude. Sundials came in one of four types: hemispherical, cylindrical, conical, and planar (horizontal and vertical) and were usually made in stone with a concave surface marked out. A gnomon cast a shadow on the surface of the dial or more rarely, the sun shone through a hole and so created a spot on the dial. In the Roman Empire, portable sundials became popular, some with changeable discs to compensate for changes in location. Public sundials were present in all major towns and their popularity is evidenced not only in archaeological finds - 25 from Delos and 35 from Pompeii alone - but also in references in Greek drama and Roman literature. There is even a famous joke on the subject attributed to Emperor Trajan, who, when noticing the size of someone's nose, quipped: "If you put your nose facing the sun and open your mouth wide, you'll show all the passerby the time of day" (Anthologia Palatina 11.418). By Late Antiquity (c. 400 to 600 CE) highly sophisticated portable sundials were produced which could be adjusted to as many as 16 different locations.

? ? ? ? ? 從希臘化時(shí)代開(kāi)始，由于對(duì)角度和位置變化（尤其是緯度）的影響有了更深入的了解，時(shí)間測(cè)量變得更加精確，日晷也變得更加準(zhǔn)確。日晷有四種類型：半球型、圓柱型、圓錐型和平面型（水平和垂直），通常用石頭制成，表面凹面并刻有標(biāo)記。日晷通過(guò)在鐘面上投下陰影來(lái)標(biāo)記時(shí)間，或者更偶爾地，太陽(yáng)會(huì)從一個(gè)洞中照射進(jìn)來(lái)，從而在鐘面上投下一個(gè)點(diǎn)。在羅馬帝國(guó)，便攜式日晷很流行，其中一些帶有可互換的圓盤以補(bǔ)償位移。公共日晷出現(xiàn)在所有主要城市，它們的受歡迎程度不僅來(lái)自考古發(fā)現(xiàn)（僅提洛島就有 25 個(gè)，龐貝古城就有 35 個(gè)），而且希臘戲劇和羅馬文學(xué)中的參考文獻(xiàn)也證明了它們的受歡迎程度。關(guān)于這個(gè)問(wèn)題甚至有一個(gè)著名的笑話，據(jù)說(shuō)是圖拉真皇帝說(shuō)的，他看到某人鼻子的大小，就告訴他：“如果你面向太陽(yáng)張開(kāi)嘴，路過(guò)的人就能知道時(shí)間是”（Anthologia Palatina11,418）。到古代末期（公元 400 年到 600 年之間），人們已經(jīng)生產(chǎn)出非常復(fù)雜的便攜式日晷，可以調(diào)整到多達(dá) 16 個(gè)不同的位置。

水基計(jì)時(shí)儀器

Time measuring devices were also invented which used water. Perhaps evolving from earlier oil lamps, which were known to burn for a set period of time with a defined quantity of oil, the early so-called water-clocks released a specified quantity of water from one container to another, taking a particular time to do so. Perhaps the earliest came from Egypt around 1600 BCE, although they may have borrowed the idea from the Babylonians. The Greeks used such a device (a klepsydra) in Athenian law courts and it determined how long a single speech could last: approximately six minutes.

? ? ? ? ? 人們還發(fā)明了水基計(jì)時(shí)儀器。它們可能是從油燈演變而來(lái)的，眾所周知，油燈使用特定數(shù)量的油會(huì)燃燒特定的時(shí)間。第一個(gè)所謂的水鐘在特定時(shí)間內(nèi)將特定量的水從一個(gè)容器中釋放到另一個(gè)容器中。也許最早的水鐘來(lái)自公元前1600年左右的埃及，盡管他們可能是從巴比倫人那里借用了這個(gè)想法。希臘人在雅典的法庭上使用了這種裝置（klepsydra），它決定了一次演講可以持續(xù)多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間：大約6分鐘。

The Greek and Roman army also used water-clocks to measure shift-work, for example, night watches. More sophisticated water-clocks were developed which poured water into the device thereby raising a floating drum and consequently turning a cog whose regulated movement could be measured. The first such clocks are attributed to Ctesibius around 280 BCE and Archimedes is largely credited with developing the device to achieve greater accuracy. Large public water-clocks were also common and often measured a whole day, for example in the 4th century BCE agora of Athens there was such a clock which contained 1000 litres of water. The 2nd-century BCE Tower of the Winds in Athens, built by Andronicus, also contained a large water-clock and no less than nine sundials on its outer walls.

? ? ? ? ? 希臘和羅馬軍隊(duì)也使用水鐘來(lái)測(cè)量輪班時(shí)間，例如值夜班。后來(lái)，人們開(kāi)發(fā)了更加復(fù)雜的水鐘，它將水倒入裝置中，容器又升起一個(gè)浮子來(lái)轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)一個(gè)齒輪，可以測(cè)量其運(yùn)動(dòng)的規(guī)律性。這種時(shí)鐘的第一個(gè)例子歸功于公元前 280 年左右的克特西比烏斯，阿基米德提升了這種儀器的精確度。大型公共水鐘也很常見(jiàn)，經(jīng)常測(cè)量一整天的時(shí)間，例如在公元前4世紀(jì)的雅典廣場(chǎng)上就有這樣一個(gè)鐘，里面有1000升的水。公元前2世紀(jì)由安德羅尼克斯（希臘語(yǔ)：?νδρ?νικο?）建造的雅典風(fēng)之塔也有一個(gè)大型水鐘，其外墻上有不少于九個(gè)日晷。