Time is one of the fundamental quantities of physics  and perhaps the most mysterious of them all. I was reading the late Dr. Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time which inspired me to look into the depth of  archaeoastronomy and  ancient timekeeping all over the world. I am dedicating this blog to him.

Introduction

Archaeoastronomy is the study of how the universe, space and time was viewed in the past. And timekeeping is the art of recording time using a device or calculations. In this blog I am writing about the way eight ancient cultures, namely India, China, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Mesoamerica, Greco-Roman World, Celtic/Northern Europe & Islamic World viewed space & time, their cosmology and their methods of time keeping before the invention of telescope and modern clock. How different worlds got inspiration from each other and also their evolution.

India

Ancient India was very much inclined to cosmology and timekeeping. According  to Hindu Cosmology, time is circular with no beginning or end but has huge cycles known as Kalpa. A Kalpa is a day of Brahma’s, the God of Creation, which measures about 4.32 billion earthly years. Brahma’s life spans 100 years, which approximates to 311 trillion earthly years. Each Kalpa is divided into 14 Manvantaras, each lasting 306.72 million years and each Manvantaras is divided into 4 Yugas or ages which are Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. According to Hindu Cosmology, the current Yuga is Kali Yuga. In Buddhist Tantric Systems, time is also considered cyclical like Hindu cosmology. The cyclical nature is called Kalachakra or the Wheel of Time.

The calendars followed in Ancient India were lunisolar i.e. combination of lunar cycles and solar years of 365 days. The most common calendars were The Vikram Samvat Calendar from 57 BCE and The Saka Calendar from 78 CE.

India also had texts on Astronomy & Astrology. The earliest known text on Astronomy & Astrology is Vedanga Jyotisha from around 1350 BCE. It also includes Geometry and basic Trigonometry. Another later text which was heavily influenced by the Greeks is Yavanajataka (Ancient Indians called Greeks as Yavanas) which was written  after Greeks came into contact with India during  Alexander’s campaign. Another great astronomical text was Surya Siddhanta written around 600 CE. In this text Surya the Sun God  gives wisdom about astronomy to Maya, the Father in law of Ravana, the main antagonist of the epic Ramayana. Surya Siddhanta describes gravity a millennium before Sir Isaac Newton and also describes the size and positions of nearby planets quite accurately. It also describes how time passes at different rates under different circumstances and through different perceptions, which can be considered an earlier concept of relativity.

India also had sites aligned to celestial movements. For example Junapani stone circles (1500-500 BCE) which were primarily burial sites but also positioned in alignment to the winter solstice sunrise. The Ancient Indians also had their own Prime Meridian passing through Ujjain in modern Madhya Pradesh.

In early modern India, there were five big conservatories built by King Jai Singh II of Amber around the 18th century called Jantar Mantar. The largest Jantar Mantar is in Jaipur, Rajasthan which contains the world’s largest sundial.

China

Ancient Chinese Cosmology was highly influenced by Daoism. According to it, the world is composed of Yin and Yang, two opposite but complementary forces. Yin being passive, dark and feminine and Yang being active, bright and masculine, they represent every duality of nature. Together they represent continuous cycles of creation, balance & transformation. The proper symbolization of Yin and Yang was first introduced by the Chinese philosopher Zou Yan in the 3rd Century BCE.

The Chinese followed  Lunisolar calendars combining lunar cycles and solar years of 365 days.  They designed their calendars using Sundials & Water clocks, both of which were very much popular in Ancient China. They also developed astronomical charts that depicted stars & constellations. They used lines called skeleton lines which were used by the government to convey political & cultural values. These star charts were also popular in their sphere of influence namely Japan, Korea & Vietnam.

They used Oracle Bones which were made from Ox shoulder blades or Turtle Shells. The cracks in them were used during the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BCE) for divination and to predict Astronomical events.

China in later years also had a huge number of observatories to study the sky after the influence of post medieval missionaries. Emperor Kublai Khan also ordered construction of observatories throughout China.

Egypt

The Ancient Egyptians cosmology consists of Ra the Sun God who was also linked  to creation by creating universe and life and also destruction by destroying chaos. Ra was said to travel through the sky in his Solar Barques: The Mandjet during the day and Mesektet during the night. This journey of Ra in his vessels represented life, birth and rebirth, thus creating a cosmic order.

They used mainly a Solar Calendar of 365 days (12 months * 30 days + 5 extra days) for general purposes and also had a lunar calendar for religious and temple contexts.

The Egyptians relied on the helical rising of  Sirius or Sothis (after 70 days ) to align their civil calendar with astronomical and agricultural cycles. This coincided with the annual flooding of the Nile during mid-July. This also marked the Egyptian New Year. The star was ultimately linked to rebirth & fertility.

The Egyptians were known for the use of Obelisks for timekeeping. Obelisks were used as sundials and were designed to follow the sun from east to west throughout the day.

Mesopotamia

The Mesopotamians had a Lunisolar Calendar of 354 days, they used metonic systems to adjust the months to 29 or 30 days. The Sumerians also had a Lunar Calendar  with 12 months with an average of 29.53 days. They periodically inserted a 13th month to align with the solar year.

The Mesopotamians  had an old history of astronomical observation dating back to 2000 BCE. In star catalogues  like the Three Stars Each and also MUL.APIN, they divided the fixed stars into 3 groups- Anu, Enlil and Ea based on where they rose in Eastern Hemisphere, the stars in the Northern Hemisphere  were linked with Anu, the stars in the Equatorial  Region linked with Enlil, and the stars in the Southern Hemisphere with Ea. Anu, Enlil and Ea were also the three supreme gods of Mesopotamian Pantheon. Anu was the sky god with highest importance, Enlil was the god of winds and storms and considered the most powerful of the three and Ea was the god of water, wisdom and creation. In a series of 68 to 70 Mesopotamiam cuneiform tablets  named Enuma Anu Enlil, astronomical and atmospheric events were precisely described including solar and lunar eclipses, stars positions etc.

The Mesopotamians also built massive high structures to study astronomy and religious omens named Ziggurat which in Akkadian meant “Mountain Peak”.

Mesoamerica

The Olmecs were the earliest known Mesoamerican culture who lived between 1500-200 BCE. They contributed a lot to astronomy and even mathematics. One such example is the creation of the ritualistic Tzolkin calendar of 260 days (13 month * 20 days).

The Maya developed a Long Count Calendar to record days from a mythological starting point of August 11, 3114 BCE. It consisted of 5 units: Bak’tun(144000 days), K’atun (7200 days), Tun (360 days), Winal( 20 days) & K’in(1 day) combining numbers 1 to 19 in a positional system to represent dates which would reset after every Bak’tun cycle. For example December 21, 2012 CE marked the end of one Bak’tun cycle and beginning of another without a cataclysm.

They also built pyramids which were aligned to cardinal directions and celestial events reflecting sacred cosmology comprising both human and divine realms.

The Mayas used books called codices to record history, pictograms and celestial representations. About 3-4 codices survive today-

                              Dresden Codex- deals with astronomy, calendars and prophecies. The most important codex.

                              Paris Codex- deals with religious ceremonies, astronomy, constellations & history.

                              Madrid Codex- tells about Maya gods and rituals associated with them.

                              Maya Codex of Mexico- formerly called  Grolier codex, deals with astrology and predictions.

The Aztecs used a solar calendar of 365 days named Xiuhpohualli of 18 months of 20 days plus 5 extra days. There also existed a parallel ritual calendar called Tonalpohualli of 260 days. The two calendars ran simultaneously and together formed a 52 year century known as calendar round or “xiuhmolpilli’. This marked the renewal of the sun.

The Aztecs also created  a massive  basalt structure commonly known as the Aztec Sun Stone around 1427 CE. Also known as the Calendar Stone. It depicted five eras or five suns of the Aztec cosmology. The central figure consisted of a face often identified with the sun god Tonatiuh. Some scholars also argued that the face is of an earth monster named Tlaltecuhtli or a hybrid deity Yohualtecuhtli or the Lord of the Night.

The Greco-Roman World

The Greco-Roman world had one of the most advanced systems of astronomy and timekeeping. They primarily followed a lunisolar calendar but was later reformed by Julius Caesar in 46 BCE to a solar calendar also called the Julian Calendar. Later under  Emperor Constantine in 336 CE, the Christian Calendar was later influenced by the Julian Calendar, like the establishment of Christmas on December 25, coinciding with the solstice and Roman Festivals.

Ancient Greeks devised an analog computer called Antikythera Mechanism in order to observe and calculate astronomical positions and events including the sun, moon, planets, lunar eclipses etc. It used intricate gears reflecting advanced knowledge of trigonometry and astronomy.

Greeks were also early proponents of Heliocentricism. Astronomer Aristarchus of Samos, challenged Aristotle’s Geocentric model. Though his ideas were rejected and later totally dismissed by Hipparchus of Nicea. Hipparchus of Nicea was a Greek astronomer around 2nd century BCE who is well known for the discovery of the equinoxes and the gradual shift of the orientation of earth’s axis affecting the equinox over time. He estimated the precision rate of about one degree per century implying a full cycle of approximately 36000 years. He also recorded specific dates of autumnal and vernal equinoxes between 162 and 135 BCE in Egyptian calendar terms.

Another important astronomer was Claudius Ptolemy of around 2nd Century CE. He preferred the geocentric model and also introduced the concepts of epicircles whose centre moves around larger circles around earth. His system allowed the prediction of celestial motions and eclipses until it was superseded by the heliocentric model. He was also the first cartographer to use latitudes and longitudes.

The Romans were known to build sundials of various shapes and sizes- even horizontal and vertical. They also developed portable sundials which can be seen as the ancient wrist watches.

Celtic/Northern Europe

The Druids and the Ancient Northern Europeans were known to build huge observatories like the Clava Cairns in Scotland, the Stonehenge in Wiltshire, Southern England and Ireland’s Boyne Valley. They were used for both as sundials and also as observatories. The Stonehenge, a circular ‘henge’ earthwork of about 360 feet in diameter was built around 3100 BCE. It was primarily a burial pit but also acted as a sundial. The Clava Cairns is a Neolithic site where passage graves align with the winter solstice at sunset, illuminating inner chambers at mid winter.

The Celtic festivals are closely tied to the seasonal cycles. Main festivals include Samhain (around 31st October/ 1st November) signaling the Celtic New Year and the end of harvest, Imbolc (1st/2nd February) marking the start of spring, Beltane(30th April/ 1st March) celebrating the beginning of summer, Lughnasa(1st August) marking the start of autumn and harvest, Yule during Winter Solstice, Ostara during Spring Equinox, Litha during Summer Solstice and Mabon during Autumn Equinox, completing the annual cycle of the Wheel of the Year.

They also have the Celtic Cross, featuring a christian cross and a circle intersecting its arms, representing the sun’s illuminating shining rays behind the cross, blending christian and Celtic traditions. The design reflects the celtic reverence for nature and the sun, symbolizing light, life and spiritual illumination.

The Islamic World

The Islamic world follows a lunar calendar called Hijri of about 354 days with 12 lunar months.

In medieval times they were known to use Astrolobe, an ancient astronomical instrument developed around 6th century CE, used to measure time and the position of celestial bodies by determining their altitude. Though first developed by Europeans, it was refined by the Islamic world.

During the Islamic Golden Age, most mosques engaged a full time astronomer called Muqqawil. They were used to find Qibla or the direction towards the Kaaba in Mecca. They were also used to keep the lunar calendar accurate and for studying eclipses, comets and stellar positions.

In 10th-11th century CE, a sophisticated method was developed by the Khwarazmian polymath Al-Biruni to measure time using shadows, particularly to develop solar hours and muslim prayer times. His work ‘Shadow’ in 1021 CE details techniques involving gnomonic measurements, the calculation of solar hour angles through the sine of the sun’s altitude, and the use of shadows for various astronomical problems. His shadow based time measurements integrated trigonometry and astronomical observations with precisions and greatly influenced the Islamic cartography.

Short Summary For Each Civilization

India- saw time as eternal & cosmic- woven through Yugas and Kalpas, a sacred rhythm between the stars and the soul.

China- measured time in cycles and harmony between Yin and Yang, using calendars for dynastic & administrative purposes.

Egypt- viewed time as a divine order, ruled by Ra’s daily journey,  anchored in temples through the worship of the sun.

Mesopotamia- calculated time through mathematics & predictions, recorded through Cuneiform tablets.

Mesoamerica- honored time as sacred & cyclical, counting not just days but destinies, etched into codices & stones.

The Greco-Roman World- understood time as rational & observable, through analog computers, geocentric spheres & sundials.

Celtic/Northern Europe- senses time through seasons- where solstice danced through megalith gates.

The Islamic World- embraced time with devotion, refining Astrolabes and studying shadows.

Conclusion

The concept of time has always kept human beings thinking throughout millennia. Before the invention of telescopes and analog clocks, time and space was viewed entirely differently from what is being considered now. Those views, though only partially accurate, give an understanding of how different ancient cultures perceive time and its structure.

Suggested Reading

Explore General Articles on:

-1. Archaeoastronomy (World History Encyclopedia)

-2. Ancient Indian Astronomy (World History Encyclopedia)

-3. Maya Astronomy (World History Encyclopedia)

-4. Stonehenge (World History Encyclopedia)

-5. Ancient Calendars and Astronomy (Ancient Origins)

Recommended Books: A Brief History of Time by Dr. Stephen Hawking, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrass Tyson.

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