Greco–Roman and Qin–Han Chinese Sundials: A Comparative Study

Zhi Li

doi:10.54254/2753-7064/2025.NS29451

Communications in Humanities ResearchOpen access

Greco–Roman and Qin–Han Chinese Sundials: A Comparative Study

Research Article

Open Access

Greco–Roman and Qin–Han Chinese Sundials: A Comparative Study

Zhi Li ^1*

¹ University of Wisconsin–Madison

^*Corresponding author: 1755964798@qq.com

Published on 11 November 2025

CHR Vol.98

ISSN (Print): 2753-7072

ISSN (Online): 2753-7064

ISBN (Print): 978-1-80590-531-8

ISBN (Online): 978-1-80590-532-5

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Abstract

This article compares how sundials arose and were shaped in the Greco–Roman world and in early China between the fourth century BCE and the fourth century CE. It uses published historical sources together with archaeological catalogues to group the Mediterranean examples into the usual types—spherical, conical, planar and cylindrical—and to comment on several portable pieces. For the Chinese side, it turns to excavated instruments and transmitted texts to follow their appearance and early find contexts, and to note the main disagreements about how they were used and how they should be classified. Viewed together, both traditions start from measuring a shadow cast by a vertical gnomon, but later forms moved in different directions because the social tasks assigned to timekeeping and the technical choices were not the same. Placing the two bodies of evidence side by side helps to show what was common to early time measurement and what was specific to each cultural setting.

Keywords:

sundials, Greco–Roman world, Qin–Han China, comparative timekeeping

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