Water Clocks
Water clocks were used as time keeping instruments in ancient Egypt from at least the New Kingdom until the end of pharaonic history. Most of the surviving full-sized water clocks are made of stone and are inscribed inside and out. All but one of them are 'outflow' water clocks, meaning that time was indicated by the water level falling past scale marks as the water ran out of the vessel. The remaining one is apparently an inflow water clock (water level rising past scale marks as the water ran into the vessel). Most water clocks have been found in pieces; fragments of the same vessel may currently be in different collections. The list below does not include smaller water clocks without scales, which may be models rather than real vessels.
The ID column gives a sequential number for each vessel (fragments are referred to by an additional lower-case letter, Fr.) based on the system of Lodomez (2007). Most objects are poorly provenanced, but the inscribed name gives a date reference. The exterior decoration of outflow water clocks sometimes included an astronomical representation (AR). These vessels are cross-referenced to the relevant page in the astronomical representations section of the database.
Outflow Water Clock
ID | Inscribed to | Notes | AR? | Fr. | Current location | Catalogue No. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
WCO 1 | Amenhotep III | Temple of Karnak, New Kingdom | Yes | Egyptian Museum, Cairo | JE 37525 | |
WCO 2 | Nekau II | Late Period, 26 Dynasty | Yes | Egyptian Museum, Cairo | JE 67096 | |
WCO 3 | Alexander the Great | Tell el-Yahudiya, late 4th C BC. Fragment a is actually two attached fragments. | No | a | British Museum, London | BM EA933 |
b | Musée du Louvre, Paris | E 30890 | ||||
c | Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin | ÄM 30508 | ||||
d | In private hands | - | ||||
WCO 4 | Alexander the Great | No | a | Hermitage, Saint Petersburg | ДВ-2507a | |
b | Museo Nazionale, Naples | 2327 | ||||
WCO 5 | Alexander the Great | No | Brooklyn Museum, New York | 57.21.1 | ||
WCO 6 | Philip Arrhidaeus | Tell el-Yahudiya, c. 320 BC | No | British Museum, London | EA938 | |
WCO 7 | No | a | Museo Egizio, Turin | Supp. 8 | ||
b | Musées royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels | E.04782 | ||||
WCO 8 | No | Pushkin Museum, Moscow | I.1.a.5955 | |||
WCO 9 | No | Ephesus | Unknown | |||
WCO 10 | Ptolemy II | Yes | a | Musée du Louvre, Paris | N 664 | |
b | Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen | H351 | ||||
WCO 11 | Ptolemy II | Found in Rome in the Iseo Campense area, according to the museum label | No | Museo Barracco, Rome | MB 27 | |
WCO 12 | No | Hermitage, Saint Petersburg | ДВ-2507b | |||
WCO 13 | Hadrian | Found in ruins in Villa Bonelli, outside Porta Portese, Rome (Porter & Moss 1960) | No | Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin | ÄM 19556 | |
WCO 14 | No | Museo Archeologico, Florence | 2613 | |||
WCO 15 | Temple of Serapis in Alexandria. Assigned a find number in Rowe & Drioton (1946). | No | Unknown | P.9619 | ||
WC? 16 | This fragment seems to be curved. The decoration is consistent with other outflow water clocks. | No | Museo Egizio, Turin | Supp. 3524 | ||
WCO 17 | Unknown, possibly Saqqara? | Yes | Museo Archeologico, Florence | 12290 | ||
WCO 18 | ?Nectanebo | No | a | Petrie Museum, London | UC55487 | |
b | In private hands | - | ||||
WCO 19 | No | Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago | E16875 | |||
WCO 20 | Described by Borchardt (1920) | No | Unknown | - | ||
WCO 21 | Ptolemy II | Nineveh, acquired by Frankfort in 1930 (Ritner 2016) | Yes | Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago | A7125 |
Inflow Water Clock
ID in this catalogue | Provenance | AR? | Current location | Catalogue number |
---|---|---|---|---|
WCI 1 | Edfu | No | Egyptian Museum, Cairo | TR 2.12.26.16 |