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.
Water Clocks
The ID column gives a sequential number for each vessel (fragments are referred to by an additional lower-case letter, e.g. Fr. c = fragment c) based on the system of Lodomez (2007). WCO = outflow, WCI = inflow, WC? = unknown. 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 in the AR? column. Click on the ID number to go to the description of the water clock.
| ID | AR? | Fragment | Current location | Catalogue No. | Inscribed to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WCI 1 | No | Sharm el Sheikh Museum (reportedly, as of 2024) | TR 2.12.26.16 | ||
| WCO 1 | Yes | National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Cairo (as of 2024) | JE 37525 | Amenhotep III | |
| WCO 2 | Yes | Egyptian Museum, Cairo | JE 67096 | Nekau II | |
| WCO 3 | a | British Museum, London | BM EA933 | Alexander the Great | |
| b | Musée du Louvre, Paris | E 30890 | |||
| c | Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin | ÄM 30508 | |||
| d | In private collection | - | |||
| WCO 4 | a | Hermitage, Saint Petersburg | ДВ-2507a | Alexander the Great | |
| b | Museo Nazionale, Naples | 2327 | |||
| WCO 5 | Brooklyn Museum, New York | 57.21.1 | Alexander the Great | ||
| WCO 6 | British Museum, London | EA938 | Philip Arrhidaeus | ||
| WCO 7 | a | Museo Egizio, Turin | Supp. 8 | ||
| b | Musées royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels | E.04782 | |||
| WCO 8 | Yes | Pushkin Museum, Moscow | I.1.a.5955 | ||
| WCO 9 | Ephesus | Unknown | |||
| WCO 10 | Yes | a | Musée du Louvre, Paris | N 664 | Ptolemy II |
| b | Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen | H351 | |||
| WCO 11 | Museo Barracco, Rome | MB 27 | Ptolemy II | ||
| WCO 12 | Hermitage, Saint Petersburg | ДВ-2507b | |||
| WCO 13 | Lost (was in Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin) | ÄM 19556 | Hadrian | ||
| WCO 14 | Museo Archeologico, Florence | 2613 | |||
| WCO 15 | Greco-Roman Museum, Alexandria | P.9619 | |||
| WC? 16 | Museo Egizio, Turin | Supp. 3524 | |||
| WCO 17 | Yes | Museo Archeologico, Florence | 12290 | ||
| WCO 18 | a | Petrie Museum, London | UC55487 | ?Nectanebo | |
| b | In private collection | - | |||
| WCO 19 | Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago | E16875 | |||
| WCO 20 | Capitoline Museum, Rome | - | |||
| WCO 21 | Yes | Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago | A7125 | Ptolemy II | |
| WC? 22 | British Museum, London | EA21736 | |||
| WC? 23 | Lost (was found in Rome) | - |
WCO 1 Amenhotep III (Egyptian Museum, Cairo JE 37525, "Karnak Clock/Clepsydra")
Identification
| ID in this catalogue | WCO 1 |
| Type | Outflow water clock |
| Current Location | National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Cairo (as of 2024) |
| Catalogue Numbers | JE 37525 |
| Provenance | Burial cachette in the court of the seventh pylon at Karnak (Legrain (1906), 65) |
| Date | Amenhotep III, 18th Dynasty, New Kingdom |
| Dimensions |
External: height 34.5 cm; upper diameter 46 cm; lower diameter 26 cm Internal: height 30.6 cm; upper diameter 44.4 cm; lower diameter 23 cm Thickness of material: 2 cm (average) (After Mengoli (1989)) |
| Material | Calcite (alabaster) or travertine (Müskens (2017)) |
| Condition | Mostly complete - reassembled from fragments |
| Publications | As this is the most complete example of an Egyptian water clock, JE 37525 is widely referred to in passing throughout Egyptological scholarship. For the sake of brevity, this following list includes only work that provides significant detail: Legrain (1906); Daressy (1915); Sloley (1924, 1931); Pogo (1936b); Chatley (1940); Neugebauer & Parker (1969); Leblanc and Nelson (1976); von Mackensen (1978); Curto (1984); Dorner (1985); Cotterell, Dickson & Kamminga (1989); Mengoli (1989); Mills & Symons (2000); Müskens (2017) |
Content
| External registers | 3 |
| External upper band of text | Not present |
| External lower band(s) of text | Not present |
| Exterior Astronomical Diagram | Yes, AR1 Water clock (Amenhotep III) |
| Rim | Civil month labels around the rim of the vessel, labelling the twelve columns of hour-marks on the interior surface by season and month. |
| Interior markings | Twelve columns of small round holes, each corresponding with a month name on the rim. Below each of these vertical scales is a raised relief symbol of either an ꜥnḫ or a ḏd-pillar which alternate around the interior of the vessel. |
| Other features | The astronomical diagram's upper two registers are interrupted by scene of Amenhotep III offering to Re-Horakhty (the Sun) and Thoth (the Moon). |
Notes
This is the earliest surviving example of an ancient Egyptian outflow water clock. Originally discovered in pieces in Karnak, it has been restored and is on display in Cairo. The incised decoration has remnants of inlay in semi-precious stones.
See also the entry in: Schomberg, A., Berlin Waterclock Project, ID 15 Karnak, 2019, Edition Topoi, DOI: 10.17171/2-10-7. (Berlin cast of this object is ID 1.)
Images
The majority of images found online (by Googling for "Karnak clepsydra" or similar) are of replicas or reconstructions. The Global Egyptian Museum website has one photo here accompanying a record here.
WCO 18 UCL UC55487 and Sotheby's
Identification
| ID in this catalogue | WCO 18 |
| Type | Outflow water clock vessel, represented by two extant fragments |
| Current Location |
Fragment a: Petrie Museum, London
Fragment b: Sold at Sotheby's, now presumably in a private collection
|
| Catalogue Numbers |
Fragment a: UC55487
Fragment b: N/A
|
| Provenance | Athribis/Mostai in the Nile Delta (Sotheby's listing), from the identification of an epithet of Thoth on the Petrie Museum fragment |
| Date | Dynasty 30, ?Nectanebo |
| Dimensions |
Fragment a (from the Petrie Museum catalogue): height 12.7 cm; width 18.8 cm; thickness 4.5 cm
Fragment b (from the Sotheby's catalogue): height 13.8 cm; depth 3.6 cm
|
| Material | Basalt |
|
Condition |
The two fragments show careful manufacture but together make up very little of the original vessel. Both fragments come from the area near the bottom of the interior hour scales. |
| Publications | Online Petrie Museum catalogue can be visited here. Sotheby's sale catalogue listing here . |
Content
| External registers | Unknown |
| External upper band of text | Unknown |
| External lower band(s) of text | Partially preserved: Fragment a includes "Thoth son of the two Lords, he who emerges from the forehead". A vertical label on fragment b: "To consecrate the bread for his father who ensures that he is endowed with life" (Sotheby's sale catalogue listing) |
| Exterior Astronomical Diagram | The lower parts of the pharaoh and deities appear on both fragments, but it is unclear whether there were upper registers with astronomical material above. |
| Rim | Not preserved |
| Interior markings | Columns of dots, with ḏd and wꜣs symbols underneath |
| Other features |
Notes
Fragment b sold for 60,000 USD on 12 December 2013 at Sotheby's, New York.
See also the entries in:
Schomberg, A., Berlin Waterclock Project, ID 40 Petrie Museum, 2019, Edition Topoi, DOI: 10.17171/2-10-35 [Fragment a]
Schomberg, A., Berlin Waterclock Project, ID 23 Private Collection, 2019, Edition Topoi, DOI: 10.17171/2-10-16 [Fragment b]
Images
Fragment b: Sotheby's sale catalogue listing has intererior and exterior views here with high resolution zoomable images.
Fragment a: Exterior view, courtesy of The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology UCL
Fragment a: Interior view, courtesy of The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology UCL
WCO 2 Nekau II (Egyptian Museum, Cairo JE 67096)
Identification
| ID in this catalogue | WCO 2 |
| Type | Outflow water clock |
| Current Location | Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Room 34 (as of 2024) |
| Catalogue Number(s) | JE 67096 |
| Provenance | Tanis |
| Date | Necho II, 26th Dynasty, Late Period, based on the appearance of the prenomen wḥm-ı͗b-rꜥ |
| Dimensions |
The dimensions of this fragment remain unpublished, however Neugebauer and Parker (EAT 3) provide an estimation of the complete vessel to be: height: 37 cm; upper diameter 57 cm; lower diameter 52 cm. |
| Material | ?Limestone |
|
Condition |
Incomplete. Four remaining and adjacent fragments have been joined. |
| Publications | Kircher (1654); Montet (1946); Schott (1950); Neugebauer & Parker (1969) |
Content
| External registers | A unique arrangement such that 4 distinct bands or subregisters are visible. |
| External upper band of text | Unknown. Top preserved register contains lunar months. |
| External lower band(s) of text | Unknown. Lowest preserved register contains hours of the night. |
| Exterior Astronomical Diagram | Yes. See here. |
| Rim | Not preserved. |
| Interior markings | According to Montet (1946), the interior is divided by bands of regular dots which end with the was sceptre or ankh sign. |
| Other features | The outflow hole of this vessel is on one of the remaining fragments and is located between the legs of a seated baboon. |
Notes
This water clock is the only known example to contain (at least) four registers. The first contains the names of the lunar months. The second register contains the names of decans with their associated deities in a subregister below. A vignette of the pharaoh and Amun spans some of the second and third registers, while the remaining portion of the third contains a line of a text. The fourth register seems to have contained the hours of the day and night.
See also the entry in: Schomberg, A., Berlin Waterclock Project, ID 2 Necho, 2019, Edition Topoi, DOI: 10.17171/2-10-12
Schematic
Details of the exterior decoration can be found in the Astronomical Respresentations section of this database here.
Images
Montet (1946) has a line drawing. Figure 9 in Egyptian Astronomical Texts vol 3 reproduces Montet's drawing.