17 Hour Water Clock – Ancient Agora in Athens

Those of you who wish there were more hours in a day can be thankful we have twenty-four hours a day not seventeen. This ancient water clock in the ancient agora (market) of Athens took seventeen hours to drain when the plug was removed at dawn. My first thought was they went with seventeen hours instead of twenty-four because they got tired of digging. More likely the clock was needed during the day to mark time and refilled in the off hours each night.

Those of you who share my interest in horology can see some of the other interesting clocks and watched I’ve found in the world here.