THE LARGE BUILT WATER CLOCK OF AMPHIARAEION

Abstract

A very well preserved ancient water clock was discovered during excavations at the Amphiaraeion, in Oropos, Greece. The Amphiaraeion, a famous religious and oracle center of the deified healer Amphiaraus, was active from the pre‐classic period until the replacement of the ancient religion by Christianity in the 5th Century A.D.. The foretell‐ ing was supposedly done through dreams sent by the god to the believers sleeping in a special gallery. In these dreams the god suggesting to them the therapy for their illness or the solution to their problems. The patients, then threw coins into a spring of the sanctuary. In such a place, the measurement of time was a necessity. Therefore, time was kept with both a conical sundial and a water clock in the form of a fountain. According to archeologists, the large built structure that measured the time for the sanctu‐ ary dates from the 4th Century B.C.