In an unscientific era when maps were rarities, how did ancient
Romans envisage their far flung empire? This was done by various
means for certain, including with the aid of an ingenious type of
portable sundial that has barely attracted notice. As the Romans
understood before the first century BCE, to track the passage of
the sun across the sky hour-by-hour one needed to know one's
latitude and the time of year, and that, furthermore, sundials did
not have to be fixed objects. These portable instruments, crafted
in bronze, were adjustable for the changes of latitude to be
expected on long journeys-say, for instance, from Britain to Spain,
or from Alexandria to Rome, or even on a Mediterranean tour. For
convenient reference, these sundials incorporated lists of twenty
to thirty names of cities or regions, each with its specific
latitude. One of the insights of Roman Portable Sundials is that
the choice of locations offers unique clues to the mental world-map
and self-identity of individuals able to visualize Rome's vast
empire latitudinally. The sixteen such sundials known to date share
common features but designers also vied to create enhancements.
Comparison with modern calculations shows that often the latitudes
listed are incorrect, in which case the sundial may not perform at
its best. But then the nature of Romans' time-consciousness (or
lack of it) must be taken into consideration. Richard Talbert
suspects that owners might prize these sundials not so much for
practical use but rather as prestige objects attesting to
scientific awareness as well as imperial mastery of time and space.
In retrospect, they may be seen as Roman precursors to comparable
Islamic and European instruments from the Middle Ages onwards, and
even to today's luxury watches which display eye-catching proof of
their purchasers' wealth, sophistication, and cosmopolitanism.
Richly enhanced with detailed photographs, line drawings, maps, a
gazetteer, and a table of latitudes and locations, Roman Portable
Sundials brings these overlooked gadgets out of the shadows at last
to reveal their hitherto untapped layers of meaning.
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