Stamps on Sun Dials

 

 

 

Date of Issue : 16 December 2014

Israel Post has prepared for issuing a special set of three stamps on the theme “Sundials”- the first tool that allowed people to measure the passing of time. Three beautiful and different sundials found in Israel are depicted on this stamp set. The issue is to be released on the 16^th of December.

 

Sundials in Eretz Israel

The changing shadows cast upon the ground as the sun apparently moved across the sky have caught people’s attention since ancient times. This phenomenon was utilized in planning the sundial, the first tool that allowed people to measure the passing of time and determine the precise time for purposes of work and ritual.

The simplest type of sundial consists of a vertical rod (gnomon) that casts a shadow onto a dial marked with semicircular lines. Over time, sundials were improved and their precision was enhanced. Sundials are referenced in world literature as far back as the Bible.

The Jewish Quarter, Jerusalem

In the early 1970′s, a mobile sundial made of stone was discovered among the ruins of a grand building that was unearthed in an archeological dig in the eastern part of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem after the Six Day War and given the name “Beit Hamidot” (the measurement house). The dial was approximately 11 cms tall and the elegant etchings along its sides attest to the fact that it was a prestigious item used in a wealthy home in the 1st century.

It is a polar sundial, in which the scale of dates is affixed at a 33 degree angle to the ground, in accordance with the geographic latitude of Acre, and the top of the scale faces toward the pole. A dedication is carved into the front of the dial – “This sundial of the Al Anwar Al Ahmedi Mosque, which was dedicated by the honorable, renowned and magnificent minister Hag Ahmed Pasha Al Jezzar, who shall be rewarded by the forgiving God, is dedicated to benefitting humanity. It was built by Ibrahim Al-Faradi the Kurd in 1201 of the hijra of the prophet”.

Zoharei Chama Synagogue, Jerusalem

In 1908 a large perpendicular sundial was built on the southern wall of the Zoharei Chama synagogue on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem. It was designed and constructed by Moshe Shapira, a Jewish man from the old Yishuv who was born in the Meah She’arim neighborhood. He learned how to make sundials from Aryeh Leib Gordon,a learned educator in Jerusalem at that time, and from studying a book by the Vilna Gaon. The scale of dates is five meters in diameter and marked with lines indicating 5 minute intervals.

The pole that casts the shadow is fixed at an angle, parallel to the earth’s axis. Two reg

Club News

Hyderabad Stamp, coin & Note Fair – 2015 postponed

The Hyderabad Stamps, Coins & Notes Fair-2015 is postponed which was  proposed be held in February 2015 It was to be held at FAPCCI Federation House, Hyderabad. Executive Committee of FAPCCI has decided to renovate the Hall where this Fair was to be held, all bookings for the hall are cancelled.The Fair will be held under same terms and conditions and everything else remaining same, at the same place at a future date, details will be intimated soon.

- BK Nagpal  : email : HydPhilSociety@yahoo.co.in   Phone :+91 - 9885031013