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| A painted horizontal slate dial in a private collection, 415mm wide X 515mm deep X 7mm thick. It has a central dial for Latitude 54° 20'N Lon. 6 ° 16'W and four small subsidiary dials, one at each corner of the plate, which show the time at New York, Jerusalem, Van Diemens and Savanna There is a Place/Longitude table for the five locations delineated. It has an 8 point compass rose at the base on the central gnomon and the chapter ring shows the time from 5a.m. to 7p.m. in Roman Numerals with IV for four. It has a split noon to compensate for the gnomon thickness and fractional time rings inside the chapter ring of 60 mins, 30 mins, 15 mins and 5 mins. No gnomons (if there ever were any). It is doubtful if this dial was ever exposed to weather. Made by J. McNally, dated 1835, it has a stylicised fleur-de-lys as a North Point marker and mottoes in Latin and English Veni, Vedi, Legi, Vale (translation - I came, I saw, I read, farewell) Hora pars vitae (translation - Every hour shortens life) Mors omnia vincit (translation - Death comes to all) Brevis hominum vita (translation - Human life is short) Sol Gloria spheræ (translation - Sun, glory of the earth) I live and die daily Appollo is my teacher |
The method of showing the date is unusual in that it uses the ancient Greek Athenian numbering system found on monuments of the 1st Millenium B.C. The initials E.K. stand for Etos Kyriou, Greek for "A.D." (the year of the Lord).   |