How Did People Tell Time in Jesus’ Day?

Archdiocese of Washington ^ | 03-22-17 | Msgr. Charles Pope

[dp0622]

Yeah cause my boss wouldn’t give a #### if i was an hour late because reading the Sun I was little off that day.

Or for the next New Years Eve party I’ll go by the stars and hope i make it on time.

Time wasn’t invented by man. Modern man created a Much easier way for regular folk to know what the hell time it is.

Another article telling us how bad we are for dding nothing wrong.

Catholic guilt. The hardest part of staying with my religion for a long time.

I think God would die laughing at some of these articles

[LukeL]

you find the Crucifixion funny?

[cynwoody]

They just looked up at Jesus and saw which way his arms were pointing...... : )

Generally it was quarter after nine.

Got a link for that?

At a quarter after nine, the minute hand should be pointing 90°, and the hour hand 277.5° (not 270°). Doesn't match any depiction of which I am aware.

[Bullish]

Tsk tsk.

[alexander_busek]

As for the night hours, things were even less precise.

On the contrary, I would have thought that time-keeping during the (starry) night would have been more precise.

I would imagine that, back then, even laypersons had a greater familiarity with the stars and constellations - in which case the constellations grouped near the North Star (Polaris) could be viewed as the face of a clock.

Simply drop a plumb-line (or eyeball it) from the North Star, and wait until a particular star swings through that line.

Regards,

[cynwoody]

If I open a Terminal window on my Mac and ask for the calendar for 1752:

$ cal 1752
                             1752

      January               February               March
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa  Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa  Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
          1  2  3  4                     1   1  2  3  4  5  6  7
 5  6  7  8  9 10 11   2  3  4  5  6  7  8   8  9 10 11 12 13 14
12 13 14 15 16 17 18   9 10 11 12 13 14 15  15 16 17 18 19 20 21
19 20 21 22 23 24 25  16 17 18 19 20 21 22  22 23 24 25 26 27 28
26 27 28 29 30 31     23 24 25 26 27 28 29  29 30 31
                                            
       April                  May                   June
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa  Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa  Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
          1  2  3  4                  1  2      1  2  3  4  5  6
 5  6  7  8  9 10 11   3  4  5  6  7  8  9   7  8  9 10 11 12 13
12 13 14 15 16 17 18  10 11 12 13 14 15 16  14 15 16 17 18 19 20
19 20 21 22 23 24 25  17 18 19 20 21 22 23  21 22 23 24 25 26 27
26 27 28 29 30        24 25 26 27 28 29 30  28 29 30
                      31                    
        July                 August              September
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa  Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa  Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
          1  2  3  4                     1         1  2 14 15 16
 5  6  7  8  9 10 11   2  3  4  5  6  7  8  17 18 19 20 21 22 23
12 13 14 15 16 17 18   9 10 11 12 13 14 15  24 25 26 27 28 29 30
19 20 21 22 23 24 25  16 17 18 19 20 21 22  
26 27 28 29 30 31     23 24 25 26 27 28 29  
                      30 31                 
      October               November              December
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa  Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa  Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
 1  2  3  4  5  6  7            1  2  3  4                  1  2
 8  9 10 11 12 13 14   5  6  7  8  9 10 11   3  4  5  6  7  8  9
15 16 17 18 19 20 21  12 13 14 15 16 17 18  10 11 12 13 14 15 16
22 23 24 25 26 27 28  19 20 21 22 23 24 25  17 18 19 20 21 22 23
29 30 31              26 27 28 29 30        24 25 26 27 28 29 30
                                            31

Pope Gregory's eleven-day correction shows up in September.

[Twinkie]

I’m shed of the watch & the phone. I’m old and my voice is
too crackly to talk much on the phone. I have a watch; but
cannot stand anything on my wrist all the time. I do have
a watch I got a J.C. Penney at least ten years ago. It’s a
snap-on bracelet type instead of an expansion band and keeps
good-enough time. Probably about $14 back then. Takes a
new battery from time to time. - The computer I still need
to ditch, but FR is a magnet. I don’t e-mail much at all.
We do need to free ourselves from all “time” traps as much
as possible. I’m retired and just notice the clock mostly
for doctor’s appointments.

[Twinkie]

WEWAX!

[Flick Lives]

[imardmd1]

bttt

[Arlis]

Spent a lot of time in Brazil - where Americans are advised, “Leave your watches at home.” So true there and many Latino countries.

If you have a business meeting of 5 people in Brazil at a set time, maybe one person will be on time if you are lucky; 2 more 15 - 30 min. late, 2 more almost an hour late, and one no-show (without notification). This is considered normal.

At a church in a large city where I was speaking, I was concerned that it was 30 min. from where we were staying, and 15 min. before the time of the gathering we were still at the supper table. We were 20 min. late. The hall was maybe 20 - 20% full.

We continued to fellowship, and the meeting finally began about 45 min. late with only about 50% of the people there. As I stood to speak some 30 min. later, many were still entering the hall, and continued to do so for another 30 min. When I finished, the hall was finally full.

I think Brazil is the worst of Latino nations in this way.

Now I find that it’s biblical! Being a time-urgent person, I’d go nuts....

[jocon307]

Thanks for posting this, it’s very interesting. I’m going to share it with a gal at work, we were just talking about time and how it is measured the other day.

Quite interesting about the 7 day week, that’s the kind of thing that make you realize how much there is in the world that you just never think about.

[Clutch Martin]

About a month ago I attended a graveside funeral which started at 11 o’clock a.m., I was at the gravesite area for the funeral, I noticed over by the boxwood and myrtle garden a sundial and I went to observe the sundial. It was almost 11 o’clock a.m. Local time East Coast & I noticed that the Sundial Shadow fell upon the X which meant it was 10 o’clock according to the sundial. Now, granted this was before the time change. I stood there pondering what time zone was I in? And surmised that according to the Sundial and the solar calculation rendered we were located in the same time zone as Tennessee (according to the sun. And that a time change would not even account for the upcoming DST correction. So now I’m wondering that solar time must be different than the graduated system of timekeeping and time zones we were presumably located. It struck me odd as I was thinking we should be on Nova Scotia time but then after I thought for a few minutes I realized it was more like Central time on the East Coast according to the Sun at this particular time of year which was February and it just struck me as interesting.

[rwa265]

So did Andrew and the other disciple stay with Jesus until ten in the morning or four in the afternoon?

[rwa265]

from John 1:39

[MayflowerMadam]

Not sure, but where were you in TN? We’re in two time zones here in TN — Central and Eastern.

[redfreedom]

I like your idea and can see it would be healthy in many ways.

[manna]

BTT.

[Clutch Martin]

The sundial I looked was in eastern Virginia. My sisters farm is north of Cooksville and is on Central Time.

[jonrick46]

Bookmark.