Stupid Question.

[Muzzaguchi]

Hi all,

probably a combination of water clocks or the position of the stars and probably calls - the hours of the night being divided into the appearance or dissaperance of particular constellations you would know (as a rough and probably very wrong example off the top of my head) that at the moment Sirius appears it would be the third hour of the night and thus your watch was over - you could then wake your replacement. Being an army you would probably need to wait till the duty officer dismissed you probably with a call or signal of some kind.

Also, unless it was completely clouded over or overcast you could tell the relative positions of the stars if any one identifiable star was visible - even Homer Od 5.269-281 has passages showing how Odysseus navagated using such a technique - that was the best conference paper I ever attended - R Hannah 'Odysseus' Navigation' Prudentia 29.1 1997, 15-33

The sources on night watches assume that the time keeping is not an issue only alertness.

Cheers

Murray

[Jon Eaton]

According to Frontinus (Stratagems 1.1.13):

"When Marcus Licinius Crassus was asked at what time he was going to break camp, he replied: 'Are you afraid you'll not hear the trumpet?"

In this case, the actual time of day (or night) was not as important as the trumpet signal.

[Susanna]

See page 215 on top, right hand:

http://ancientlibrary.com/smith-dgra/0222.html

Theme about "buccina prima, secunda..."etc.

[Matt Lukes]

It was a standard feature of clocks for a very long time to chime on the hour, quarter-hour, etc. and it certainly seems reasonable that a trumpeter could perform the task when ordered to by a master time keeper.

The fact that someone was always up is fine for how one wakes up for a shift, but not for those awake knowing when to do it- that requires a useful timekeeper- some kind of signal so everyone knows.

[Matt Lukes]

It was a standard feature of clocks for a very long time to chime on the hour, quarter-hour, etc. so clearly signals were considered important- it certainly seems reasonable that a trumpeter could perform the task when ordered to by a master time keeper.

The fact that someone was always up is fine for how one wakes up for a shift, but not for those awake knowing when to do it- that requires a useful timekeeper- some kind of signal so everyone knows.