The Sands Of Time

The major fault with sundials and shadow clocks is obvious...They don't work at night! Amenophis I, the king of Egypt, wanted to know what time it was all through the night without having to check the position of the stars. As you can imagine, it would be inconvenient to get up and out of bed every time you want to know the time. So, Prince Amenemhet made the king a clepsydra or a water clock. He took a big bucket of water, filled it with water up to a specific line. He then cut a small hole in the bottom of the bucket and marked off lines on the bucket after each hour had passed. There were, of course, some problems with this water clock as well. Water would flow more slowly or quickly when the temperature changed. This is where sand came into effect. The inventor of the sand clock is unknown but the sand clock or hourglass was commonly used in ancient times and is still used today. They are often found in board games or are used as kitchen timers. Is there an hourglass in your home?