Sponsored by: Archaeological Institute of America
Ancient Egypt is often credited with the invention of the 24-hour day. We examine the evidence for this assertion, via the objects, texts, and structures which inform our understanding of the relationship between ‘short time’ and religious practices in pre-Hellenistic Egyptian culture. Two sites are of particular interest, the Osireion at Abydos (c. 1300 BCE) and a group of three tombs in the Valley of the Kings (c. 1100 BCE), as they contain surviving examples of texts and practices related to timekeeping at the height of the Egyptian New Kingdom.
Short bibliography and/or website on lecture topic:
https://aea.physics.mcmaster.ca/
Miller, K.J. and Symons, S.L. eds., 2019. Down to the Hour: Short Time in the Ancient Mediterranean. Time, Astronomy, and Calendars. [online] Leiden: Brill. Available at: <https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004416291>.
Webster Lecture
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