March 2012 page 27
Peter Ransom

Postcard Potpourri 21: Lewes, East Sussex

This entry features an undated postcard (c.1930) of a spherical dial at Lewes Castle. It references "The Book of Sun-Dials" (1900) which describes the broken and mended stone ball, noting its unknown history and questioning its current existence.
Dials: Hemispherical, Historical Dials

March 2012 page 30
Malcolm Bishop

Gillot and Fragonard: two eighteenth century French artists’ conceptions of ball sundials

This article discusses two 18th-century French artworks depicting ball sundials: Claude Gillot’s etching for a fable and Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s painting "Rêverie." It argues that while artistically unrealistic, these dials serve a narrative purpose by precisely indicating time to convey moral or emotional messages within their respective contexts.
Dials: Hemispherical, Historical Dials, Sundial Design & Layout

September 2010 page 35
Edmund Knight

Holiday Sightings

This entry briefly describes a Greco-Roman conical dial at Side, Turkey, made of white marble with day curves for the solstices but unusually lacking those for the equinoxes.
Dials: Hemispherical, Historical Dials

December 2009 page 2
Robert Hannah

The Pantheon as a timekeeper

This article argues that the Pantheon in Rome functions as a large-scale timekeeper, similar to a roofed spherical sundial. It examines how sunlight entering through the oculus marks specific times of the year, such as the equinoxes, and compares its astronomical features to those of Nero's Domus Aurea.
Dials: Hemispherical, Dials: Unusual, Historical Dials

June 2006 page 78
Mike Cowham

The Pyramidical Dial in the King’s Garden at Whitehall

This article reconstructs the spherical dials from the complex 1669 Pyramidical Dial in Whitehall, based on descriptions by William Leybourn. It details various glass sphere dials, including those showing time by heat ("fire"), water, optical alignment ("air"), and terrestrial globes ("earth"), and discusses their delicate construction and short lifespan.
Dials: Hemispherical, Dials: Unusual, Historical Dials

December 2006 page 184
E. Th. Theodossiou

The Roman Sundial at Dion: the famous Macedonian sanctuary

E. Theodossiou describes a unique spherical Greco-Roman sundial discovered at Dion, Macedonia, dating to the 1st century AD. This well-preserved white marble artifact, found in a 'luxurious house', features eleven hour lines and inscriptions dedicating it from I. Granius Felix, a market inspector. It is a significant find for ancient Macedonian archaeology.
Dials: Hemispherical, Historical Dials, Mottoes

June 2002 page 52
Shaul Adam

Ancient Sundials of Israel, Part 1: Sundials Found in Jerusalem

Archaeological survey of ancient sundials discovered in Jerusalem, including conical and hemispherical dials, their contexts, and cultural relevance.
Dials: Hemispherical, Historical Dials

March 2001 page 41
Donald J. Bush

Millennium Sundials for Nottinghamshire Schools

Describes a Nottinghamshire County Council competition for schools to mark the Millennium, with sundials as prizes. The author was consulted on the design, choosing an updated ancient hemicyclium: a hemispherical bowl on a plinth, with a rod gnomon. The ceramic dials, crafted by Danel Sherlock, feature hour, equinox, and solstice lines. A booklet guides setup and reading, hoping the dials will serve as useful learning tools for the winning schools.
Construction Projects, Dials: Hemispherical

February 2000 page 3
Allan A. Mills

Graeco-Roman Sundials, Part 1: Dials Based on the Sphere

Explores early Greek and Roman hemispherical and hemicyclium sundials, their geometry, historical usage, and accuracy.
Dials: Hemispherical, Historical Dials, How Sundials Work, Mathematics of Dialling

February 2000 page 12
John Moir

Bowl Dials - A Brief Comparison in Depth

Compares aesthetics and function of deep hemispherical vs shallow bowl sundials, including gnomonic differences and delineation methods.
Dials: Hemispherical, Dials: Scaphe, Sundial Design & Layout

June 1998 page 40
Dick Shackleton

The Hemispherium or Dial of Berosus in Anna Liffey Garden, Lucan, Co. Dublin

This article describes a hemispherical sundial, or 'hemispherium,' located in the author's garden, reputedly invented by Berosus around 300 BC. It details the successful process of delineating the solstice and equinox lines using a custom-made template and explains the dial's function in dividing daylight into 'temporary hours'.
Construction Projects, Dials: Hemispherical, Dials: Scaphe, Sundial Design & Layout

October 1998 page 8
Barry Mason

Helios XXII

This article introduces an innovative 'Helios XXII' sundial concept, designed as an architectural shell structure or summerhouse. It features a hemispherical dome with a reflective pool at its centre and a stainless steel rod circulating water creating ripples. Reflections from the water, with shadows from the concentric ripples, are projected onto the dome's underside, marking hours and seasons, aiming for a tranquil contemplative environment.
Construction Projects, Dials: Hemispherical, Dials: Unusual, Sundial Design & Layout

July 1997 page 3
Shaul Adam

Sundials in Israel

This article provides a historical overview of sundials in Israel, from ancient biblical references and archaeological artifacts to sundial makers of the 20th century. It describes various types of dials, including hemicycliums, portable stone dials, and modern vertical and horizontal dials.
Dials: Hemispherical, Dials: Horizontal, Dials: Vertical, Historical Dials

February 1992 page 24
Peter I. Drinkwater

The Miracle of Ahaz

The article clarifies the Biblical account of the "Dial of Ahaz," explaining that the original Hebrew text refers to "steps" and a "staircase" rather than a sundial with "degrees." It discusses how medieval illustrations, like Holbein's, misinterpreted this, depicting a hemicycle-like device. The author also notes an adjustable Jewish hemicycle described in a 1650 translation, which could tell time by both the sun and the moon.
Dials: Hemispherical, Historical Dials

October 1992 page 37
Mark Lennox-Boyd

The Holker Dial

This article describes the Holker Dial, a large shallow bowl sundial made of Burlington slate, sited at Holker Hall. Designed by Mark Lennox-Boyd, it is a projection of Berossos' hemispherium onto a shallow bowl, marked with 15-minute divisions, zodiacal signs, and a combined table for correcting for longitude offset and Equation of Time. The article details the challenging production process by Burlington Slate, involving computer-calculated polar coordinates for engraving and the moving of massive stone objects.
Construction Projects, Dials: Hemispherical, Dials: Scaphe, Mathematics of Dialling, Sundial Design & Layout

February 1991 page 8
Milutin Tadic

The Roman Cylindrical Sundial in the Zemaljski Museum, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.

The Roman Cylindrical Sundial in the Zemaljski Museum, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, by Milutin Tadic" discusses a rare cylindrical sundial discovered in Yugoslavia. It highlights the features of ancient sundials, such as being carved in stone and typically concave. The article presents a reconstruction of the Diluntum sundial, explaining its potential mechanism using a horizontal gnomon and projected diurnal arcs to show seasonal hours.
Dials: Hemispherical, Historical Dials

October 1990 page 12
Peter I. Drinkwater

The Spherical Sundial

This article discusses various forms of spherical sundials, from simple painted stone spheres to the ancient concave hemisphere (Scaphe or Hemicycle) and the later, less effective, convex hemisphere. It also explores the projection of spherical coordinates onto a plane, linking them to the discovery of the analemmatic dial.
Dials: Hemispherical, Historical Dials, Dials: Scaphe, Dials: Armillary Sphere

October 1990 page 26
George P. Woodford

Q for Question

This article, presented in a question-and-answer format, describes a didactic hemispherical sundial that models the Earth's relationship to the sun. It explains how the shadow of a bead indicates date and time, distinguishes it from ancient Greek dials, and clarifies why it needs occasional adjustment about its axis to display clock time.
Dials: Hemispherical, Equation of Time, How Sundials Work