Alaturka time
The Alaturka-time ( Turkish alaturka saat ) was in the Ottoman Empire and in the early years of the Republic of Turkey usual regional timekeeping by äqualen (ie equal) hours. Alaturka time was based on sunset.
method
The clock was set to 12 o'clock at sunset, when the lower edge of the sun merged with the horizon. The day began with the sunset. It was divided into two twelve hours of equal length. When the sun set at 6 p.m., it was midnight and noon, respectively, at 6 a.m. Mechanical clocks were reset every day.
background
In the Islamic world, sundials, hourglasses and water clocks were used to measure time for a long time. In mosques, madrasas and observatories, sundials were preferred. The first mechanical clocks were made in the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 16th century. The Ottoman polymath Taqi ad-Din described in his Arabic script al-Kawākib ad-durriyya fī waḍʿ al-bankāmat ad-dauriyya ("The brightest star in the construction of mechanical clocks") a mechanical clock and designed various mechanical clocks himself he u. a. for his work as an astronomer and muvakkit, ie person responsible for determining the times of prayer.
The oldest surviving examples of the Ottoman Empire date from the middle of the 17th century and are part of the Topkapı Museum's clock collection . They are the work of master watchmakers Abdurrahman and Galatalı Şahin Usta (Master Şahin from Galata). At that time, clocks were often given the shape of the astrolabe . In the 18th century, an English influence became increasingly noticeable. The French-influenced 19th century is considered to be the most important period of Ottoman watchmaking. Usually pendulum clocks were produced for tables and cupboards. Skeleton clocks based on the French model came particularly during the reign of Selim III. on. Masters from the Mevlevi order such as Ahmed Eflâkî and Lakap Saatçi Dede (watchmaker grandpa) made a name for themselves here .
In the 19th century numerous clock towers ( Saat Kulesi in Turkish ) were erected in the empire . Well-known examples are the clock towers of Dolmabahçe and Izmir or the Great Clock in Adana. In the late Ottoman Empire, gold pocket watches were considered a status symbol.
The Ottoman court clockmaker, Johann Meyer , developed a clock under Sultan Abdülhamid II that displayed both the Alaturka time and the international time. He gave a copy to the Sultan and received a medal for it.
Changeover
Due to economic, military and political relations with foreign countries, the Alaturka time and the international standard were used side by side in the Ottoman Empire. In April 1912 the Ottoman Ministry of the Interior (Dahiliye Nezareti) decreed that the European time should apply in all offices and in the army.
The Alaturka-time in Turkey was on January 2, 1926, the Law no. 697 called Günün 24 Saate Taksimine Dair Kanun (Law on the division of the day into 24 hours) equinoctial hours changed. The law was published in the Official Journal on the same day and became legally effective. The law stipulates that the day begins at midnight and is divided into hours from 0 to 24 (Art. 1). The time in the entire country was based on the 30th degree of longitude (Art. 2).
The day before, the Rumi calendar had also been abolished by law and the Gregorian calendar introduced.
terminology
As part of the Kemalist reforms called “revolutions” , the changeover in Turkey is also known as the “ clock revolution ” ( saat inkılabı or saat devrimi ). Other names this time were Ezani sowing , that is according to the time ezan or saat gurûbî , time according to the sunset. The internationally common system, in which the clock shows at midnight and 12 noon at noon, was called zevalî saat ("time counted from noon") or Alafranga saat , ie time according to the European (French) style.
gallery
Dolmabahçe clock tower
Clock tower in Çorum
Ottoman clock tower on Jaffa Gate (photo before 1918)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Avner Wishnitzer: Reading Clocks, Alla Turca: Time and Society in the Late Ottoman Empire . University of Chicago Press, Chicago / London 2015, ISBN 978-0-226-25772-3 , pp. 32 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ Büyük Larousse Sözlük ve Ansiklopedisi, Istanbul 1986, vol. 19, p. 1018, sv SAAT.
- ↑ Johann Meier's biography and documents, including the order with the sultan's tughra
- ^ Mustafa Kaçar and Atilla Bir in TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, sv SAAT
- ↑ Legal text in the form transcribed according to the letter revolution
- ↑ Resmî Gazete No. 260 still in Arabic script