Hourglass
written by Harsha Jean Chase
Read this if you want to know the importance of time.
Last Updated
05/31/21
Chapters
4
Reads
579
Time waits for none.
Chapter 2
Depictions of an hourglass as a symbol of the passage of time are found in art, especially on tombstones or other monuments, from antiquity to the present day. The form of a winged hourglass has been used as a literal depiction of the well-known Latin epitaph tempus fugit ("time flies").
The origin of the hourglass is unclear. Its predecessor the clepsydra, or water clock, is known to have existed in Babylon and Egypt as early as the 16th century BCE.
There are no records of the hourglass existing in Europe prior to the Early Middle Ages; the first documented example dates from the 8th century CE, crafted by a Frankish monk named Liutprand who served at the cathedral in Chartres, France. But it was not until the 14th century that the hourglass was seen commonly, the earliest firm evidence being a depiction in the 1338 fresco Allegory of Good Government by Ambrogio Lorenzetti.
