Editing Clock (section)

===Water clocks===
{{main|Water clock}}

[[File:MandalayWaterClock.jpg|thumb|upright|A water clock for [[goldbeating]] [[goldleaf]] in [[Mandalay]] (Myanmar)]]

Water clocks, along with sundials, are possibly the oldest time-measuring instruments, with the only exception being the day-counting [[tally stick]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|1984|p=1}}</ref> Given their great antiquity, where and when they first existed is not known and is perhaps unknowable. The bowl-shaped outflow is the simplest form of a water clock and is known to have existed in [[Babylon]] and Egypt around the 16th century BC. Other regions of the world, including India and China, also have early evidence of water clocks, but the earliest dates are less certain. Some authors, however, write about water clocks appearing as early as 4000 BC in these regions of the world.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cowan|1958|p=58}}</ref>

The [[Ancient Macedonia|Macedonian]] [[ancient Greek astronomy|astronomer]] [[Andronicus of Cyrrhus|Andronicus]] of [[Cyrrhus (Macedonia)|Cyrrhus]] supervised the construction of the [[Tower of the Winds]] in [[Roman Athens|Athens]] in the 1st century BC, which housed a large clepsydra inside as well as multiple prominent sundials outside, allowing it to function as a kind of early [[clocktower]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.sailingissues.com/yachting-guide/tower-of-winds-1.html |website=sailingissues.com | title = Tower of the Winds – Athens| access-date = November 4, 2008| archive-date = December 9, 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081209015740/http://sailingissues.com/yachting-guide/tower-of-winds-1.html| url-status = live}}</ref> The [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] civilizations advanced water clock design with improved accuracy. These advances were passed on through [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] and [[Islamic]] times, eventually making their way back to Europe. Independently, the Chinese developed their own advanced water clocks ({{lang|zh|水鐘}}) by 725 AD, passing their ideas on to Korea and Japan.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Water Clock {{!}} China {{!}} Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE) |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/696219 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405125014/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/696219 |archive-date=Apr 5, 2023 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref>

Some water clock designs were developed independently, and some knowledge was transferred through the spread of trade. [[Pre-modern]] societies do not have the same precise timekeeping requirements that exist in modern industrial societies, where every hour of work or rest is monitored and work may start or finish at any time regardless of external conditions. Instead, water clocks in ancient societies were used mainly for [[astrology|astrological]] reasons. These early water clocks were calibrated with a sundial. While never reaching the level of accuracy of a modern timepiece, the water clock was the most accurate and commonly used timekeeping device for millennia until it was replaced by the more accurate [[pendulum clock]] in 17th-century Europe.

Islamic civilization is credited with further advancing the accuracy of clocks through elaborate engineering. In 797 (or possibly 801), the [[Abbasid]] [[caliph]] of [[Baghdad]], [[Harun al-Rashid]], presented [[Charlemagne]] with an [[Asian elephant]] named [[Abul-Abbas]] together with a "particularly elaborate example" of a water<ref>{{cite book | last = James | first = Peter | title = Ancient Inventions | year = 1995 | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-345-40102-1 | page = [https://archive.org/details/ancientinvention00jame/page/126 126] | publisher = Ballantine Books | url = https://archive.org/details/ancientinvention00jame/page/126 }}</ref> clock. [[Pope Sylvester II]] introduced clocks to northern and western Europe around 1000 AD.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/livesnecromance04godwgoog|title=Lives of the Necromancers|author=William Godwin|year=1876|page=232|publisher=London, F.J. Mason}}</ref>