Editing Hour (section)

==History of timekeeping in other cultures==
{{Further|History of timekeeping devices}}
{{off topic|date=April 2020}}

===Egypt===
{{Further|Egyptian calendar|Decans|History of timekeeping devices in Egypt}}

The [[ancient Egypt]]ians began dividing the night into ''{{lang|egy|wnwt}}'' at some time before the compilation of the [[Dynasty V]] [[Pyramid Texts]]<ref name=comeandlisten>{{harvp|Clagett|1995|p=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_8c10QYoGa4UC/page/n57 49]}}</ref> in the 24th{{nbsp}}century{{nbsp}}BC.<ref name=toastory>{{harvp|Clagett|1995|p=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_8c10QYoGa4UC/page/n58 50]}}</ref> By 2150{{nbsp}}BC ([[Dynasty IX]]), diagrams of stars inside Egyptian [[coffin]] lids—variously known as "diagonal calendars" or "star clocks"—attest that there were exactly 12 of these.<ref name=toastory/> [[Marshall Clagett|Clagett]] writes that it is "certain" this duodecimal division of the night followed the adoption of the [[Egyptian civil calendar]],<ref name=comeandlisten/> usually placed {{c.|2800}}{{nbsp}}BC on the basis of analyses of the [[Sothic cycle]], but a [[Egyptian lunar calendar|lunar calendar]] presumably long predated this{{sfnp|Parker|1950|pp=30-2}} and also would have had 12 [[month]]s in each of its years. The coffin diagrams show that the Egyptians took note of the [[heliacal rising]]s of 36 stars or [[Asterism (astronomy)|constellations]] (now known as "[[decans]]"), one for each of the ten-day "weeks" of their civil calendar.<ref name=amannamedjed>{{harvp|Clagett|1995|p=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_8c10QYoGa4UC/page/n58 50–1]}}</ref>  (12 sets of alternate "triangle decans" were used for the 5 [[Egyptian intercalary month|epagomenal days]] between years.)<ref name=poormountaineer>{{harvp|Clagett|1995|p=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_8c10QYoGa4UC/page/n226 218]}}</ref> Each night, the rising of eleven of these decans were noted, separating the night into 12 divisions whose middle terms would have lasted about 40{{nbsp}}[[minute]]s each. (Another seven stars were noted by the Egyptians during the twilight and predawn periods,{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} although they were not important for the hour divisions.) The original decans used by the Egyptians would have fallen noticeably out of their proper places over a span of several centuries. By the time of {{nowrap|[[Amenhotep III]]}} ({{c.|1350}}{{nbsp}}BC), the priests at [[Karnak]] were using [[water clock]]s to determine the hours. These were filled to the brim at sunset and the hour determined by comparing the water level against one of its 12 gauges, one for each month of the year.{{sfnp|Parker|1950|p=40}} During the [[New Kingdom]], another system of decans was used, made up of 24 stars over the course of the year and 12 within any one night.

The later division of the day into 12 hours was accomplished by [[sundial]]s marked with ten equal divisions. The morning and evening periods when the sundials failed to note time were observed as the first and last hours.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes, yet there are only 24 hours in a day?|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-time-division-days-hours-minutes/|access-date=2022-01-24|website=Scientific American|language=en}}</ref>

The Egyptian hours were closely connected both with the priesthood of the gods and with their divine services. By the [[New Kingdom]], each hour was conceived as a specific region of the sky or [[Egyptian underworld|underworld]] through which [[Ra]]'s [[solar barge]] travelled.{{sfnp|Wilkinson|2003|p=83}} Protective deities were assigned to each and were used as the names of the hours.{{sfnp|Wilkinson|2003|p=83}} As the protectors and resurrectors of the sun, the goddesses of the night hours were considered to hold power over all lifespans{{sfnp|Wilkinson|2003|p=83}} and thus became part of Egyptian funerary rituals. Two fire-spitting cobras were said to guard the gates of each hour of the underworld, and [[Wadjet]] and the rearing [[cobra]] ([[uraeus]]) were also sometimes referenced as ''{{lang|egy|wnwt}}'' from their role protecting the dead through these gates. The Egyptian word for [[astronomer]], used as a synonym for priest, was ''{{lang|egy|wnwty}}'', "one of the ''wnwt''", as it were "one of the hours".{{efn|''{{lang|egy|Wnwty}}'' is written variously as <hiero>E34:N35-G43-X1:Z4-N14</hiero>,{{sfnp|Vygus|2015|p=400}} <hiero>E34:N35-W24*X1-D4</hiero>, <hiero>E34:N35-W24*X1-N14</hiero>,{{sfnp|Vygus|2015|p=408}} <hiero>E34:N35-W24:X1-N14-A24-A1:Z2</hiero>, <hiero>E34:N35-W24:X1-N14-N5:D4</hiero>,{{sfnp|Vygus|2015|p=409}} <hiero>E34:N35-W24:X1-Z4-A1</hiero>, <hiero>E34:N35-W24:X1-Z4-N11:N14-D6</hiero>, <hiero>E34:N35-W24:X1-Z4-N14</hiero>, <hiero>E34:N35-W24:X1-Z4-N14-A1</hiero>, <hiero>E34:N35-W24:X1-Z4-N2-A24</hiero>,{{sfnp|Vygus|2015|p=410}} <hiero>E34:N35-X1:Z4-N14:N5</hiero>,{{sfnp|Vygus|2015|p=412}} <hiero>N14</hiero>,{{sfnp|Vygus|2015|p=1235}} <hiero>N14:W24-X1:Z4</hiero>,{{sfnp|Vygus|2015|p=1239}} and <hiero>N14:X1*Z4</hiero>.{{sfnp|Vygus|2015|p=1240}}}} The earliest forms of ''{{lang|egy|wnwt}}'' include one or three stars, with the later solar hours including the [[determinative#Egyptian|determinative]] [[hieroglyph]] for "sun".<ref name=comeandlisten/>

===East Asia===
{{main|Traditional Chinese timekeeping}}
[[File:Clock Tower from Su Song's Book.JPG|thumb|right|200px|A Chinese diagram from [[Su Song]]'s AD{{nbsp}}1092 ''Xinyi Xiangfa Yao'' illustrating his clocktower at [[Kaifeng]].]]
[[File:Beijing_2006_1-14.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A reconstruction of another kind of Chinese [[Water clock|clepsydra]] in [[Beijing]]'s [[Beijing Drum Tower|Drum Tower]]]]

[[Ancient China]] divided its day into 100 "marks"{{sfnp|Stephenson|1997}}{{sfnp|Steele|2000}} {{nowrap|([[Chinese language|Chinese]]: {{lang|zh|{{linktext|刻}}}},}} {{nowrap|<small>[[Old Chinese|oc]]</small> [[linguistic reconstruction|*]]''kʰək'',{{sfnp|Baxter & al.|2014}}}} {{nowrap|<small>[[pinyin|p]]</small> ''kè'')}} running from midnight to midnight.{{sfnp|Sōma & al.|2004|p=887}} The system is said to have been used since [[prehistoric China|remote antiquity]],{{sfnp|Sōma & al.|2004|p=887}} credited to the legendary [[Yellow Emperor]],{{sfnp|Petersen|1992|p=129}} but is first attested in [[Western Han|Han]]-era [[water clock]]s{{sfnp|Petersen|1992|p=125}} and in the [[Book of Han|2nd-century history]] of that [[list of Chinese dynasties|dynasty]].{{sfnp|Sōma & al.|2004|p=889}} It was measured with sundials{{sfnp|Stephenson & al.|2002|pp=15–16}} and [[water clock]]s.{{efn|According to the 2nd-century ''[[Shuowen Jiezi]]'', "A water clock holds the water in a copper pot and notes the marks [''kè''] by a rule. There are 100 marks which represent the day".}} Into the [[Eastern Han]], the Chinese measured their day schematically, adding the 20-''ke'' difference between the solstices evenly throughout the year, one every nine days.{{sfnp|Petersen|1992|p=125}} During the night, time was more commonly reckoned during the night by the "watches" {{nowrap|([[Chinese language|Chinese]]: {{lang|zh|{{linktext|更}}}},}} {{nowrap|<small>[[Old Chinese|oc]]</small> [[linguistic reconstruction|*]]''kæŋ'',{{sfnp|Baxter & al.|2014}}}} {{nowrap|<small>[[pinyin|p]]</small> ''gēng'')}} of the guard, which were reckoned as a fifth of the time from [[sunset]] to [[sunrise]].{{sfnp|Stephenson|1997}}{{sfnp|Sōma & al.|2004|p=888}}

[[Imperial China]] continued to use ''ke'' and ''geng'' but also began to divide the day into 12 "double hours" {{nowrap|(<small>[[traditional characters|t]]</small> {{lang|zh|{{linktext|時}}}},}} {{nowrap|<small>[[simplified characters|s]]</small> {{lang|zh|{{linktext|时}}}},}} {{nowrap|<small>[[Old Chinese|oc]]</small> [[linguistic reconstruction|*]]''də'',{{sfnp|Baxter & al.|2014}}}} {{nowrap|<small>[[pinyin|p]]</small> ''shí'',}} {{nowrap|{{abbr|lit.|literally}} "time[s]")}} named after the [[earthly branches]] and sometimes also known by the name of the corresponding animal of the [[Chinese zodiac]].{{sfnp|Sōma & al.|2004|p=904}} The first ''shi'' originally ran from 11{{nbsp}}pm to 1{{nbsp}}am but was reckoned as starting at midnight by the time of the [[History of Song (Yuan dynasty)|History of Song]], compiled during the early [[Yuan Dynasty|Yuan]].{{sfnp|Sōma & al.|2004|p=896}} These apparently began to be used during the [[Eastern Han]] that preceded the [[Three Kingdoms]] era, but the sections that would have covered them are missing from their official histories; they first appear in official use in the [[Tang dynasty|Tang]]-era [[Book of Sui]].{{sfnp|Sōma & al.|2004|p=889}} Variations of all these units were subsequently adopted by [[ancient Japan|Japan]]{{sfnp|Sōma & al.|2004|p=888}} and the other countries of the [[Sinosphere]].

The 12 ''shi'' supposedly began to be divided into 24 hours under the [[Tang dynasty|Tang]],{{sfnp|Sōma & al.|2004|p=888}} although they are first attested in the [[Ming]]-era [[Book of Yuan]].{{sfnp|Sōma & al.|2004|p=887}} In that work, the hours were known by the same [[earthly branches]] as the ''shi'', with the first half noted as its "starting" and the second as "completed" or "proper" ''shi''.{{sfnp|Sōma & al.|2004|p=887}} In modern China, these are instead simply numbered and described as "little ''shi''". The modern ''ke'' is now used to count quarter-hours, rather than a separate unit.

As with the Egyptian night and daytime hours, the division of the day into 12 ''shi'' has been credited to the example set by the rough number of lunar cycles in a solar year,<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://digitalis.uc.pt/pt-pt/livro/timeless_legacy_calendars_ancient_egypt|chapter=A Timeless Legacy: the Calendars of Ancient Egypt|last=Canhão|first=Telo Ferreira|date=2013|publisher=Edições Afrontamento|isbn=9789892609669|location=Porto|doi=10.14195/978-989-26-0966-9_20|title=Alexandrea ad Aegyptvm: The legacy of multiculturalismo in antiquity|pages=283–301}}</ref> although the 12-year [[Jupiter|Jovian]] orbital cycle was more important to [[Chinese zodiac|traditional Chinese]]<ref>{{citation |last=Zai |first=J. |title=Taoism and Science |publisher=Ultravisum |date=2015 }}</ref> and Babylonian reckoning of the zodiac.{{sfnp|Rogers|1998|pp=9–28}}{{efn|The late classical Indians also began to reckon [[Samvatsara|years based on the Jovian cycle]], but this was much later than their lunar calendar and initially named after it.{{sfnp|Sewell|1924|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=LQffS160KxEC&pg=PR12 xii]}}}}

===Southeast Asia===
{{main|Thai six-hour clock}}

In [[Thailand]], [[Laos]], and [[Cambodia]], the traditional system of noting hours is the [[Thai six-hour clock|six-hour clock]]. This reckons each of a day's 24 hours apart from [[noon]] as part of a fourth of the day. The first hour of the first half of daytime was 7 am; 1 pm the first hour of the latter half of daytime; 7 pm the first hour of the first half of nighttime; and 1 am the first hour of the latter half of nighttime. This system existed in the [[Ayutthaya Kingdom]], deriving its current phrasing from the practice of publicly announcing the daytime hours with a [[gong]] and the nighttime hours with a [[drum]].{{sfnp|Thongprasert|1985|pp=229–237}} It was abolished in Laos and Cambodia during their [[French Indochina|French occupation]] and is uncommon there now. The Thai system remains in informal use in the form codified in 1901 by [[King Chulalongkorn]].<ref>{{citation |contribution=ประกาศใช้ทุ่มโมงยาม |title=Royal Gazette, ''No. 17'' |date=29 July 1901 |url=http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2443/018/206.PDF |page=206 |access-date=8 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609235147/http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2443/018/206.PDF |archive-date=9 June 2012 |url-status=dead }}. {{in lang|th}}</ref>

===India===
{{main|Hindu units of time}}
[[File:Drei Horen.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Two of the [[Horae|deified Hours]] of the Greeks and Romans]]

The [[Vedas]] and [[Puranas]] employed [[Hindu units of time|units of time]] based on the [[sidereal day]] (''nakṣatra ahorātra''). This was variously divided into 30 ''muhūrta-s'' of 48 minutes each<ref>{{Cite book|last=Srinivasan|first=Saradha|url=https://archive.org/details/Mensuration_in_Ancient_India|title=Mensuration in Ancient India|publisher=Ajanta Publications|year=1979|location=Delhi, India|pages=119–122}}</ref> or 60 ''dandas''{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} or ''nadī-s'' of 24 minutes each.<ref name=dersh>{{harvp|Dershowitz & al.|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DPbx0-qgXu0C&pg=PA207 207]}}</ref> The [[solar day]] was later similarly divided into 60 ''ghaṭikás'' of about the same duration, each divided in turn into 60 ''vinadis''.<ref name=dersh/>  The [[Sinhalese people|Sinhalese]] followed a similar system but called their sixtieth of a day a ''peya''.