by Fogaban
Days - Hours, Minutes & Seconds
This is my narrative and relevant references from the Books where Days are mentioned.
It is not meant to be anything other than the facts of the matter. Arrive at your own conclusions.
I wish you well,
Fogaban
The Gorean day is divided into twenty Ahn, which are numbered consecutively. The tenth Ahn is noon, the twentieth, midnight. Each Ahn consists of forty Ehn, or minutes, and each Ehn of eighty Ihn, or seconds.
Outlaw of Gor Book 2 Page 26
The Gorean day consists of twenty Ahn; the Gorean Ahn, or hour, of forty Ehn, or minutes; the Ehn consists of eighty Ihn, or seconds. An Ihn is slightly less than an Earth second.
Tribesmen of Gor Book 10 Page 352
| Ihn | = | A Gorean 'second' | |
| Ehn | = | A Gorean 'minute' | |
| Ahn | = | A Gorean 'hour' | |
| Tenth Ahn | = | The Gorean noon | |
| Twentieth Ahn | = | The Gorean midnight | |
| 80 Ihn | = | 1 Ehn | |
| 40 Ehn | = | 1 Ahn | |
| 20 Ahn | = | A Gorean day | |
| 1 Ihn | = | 1.35 seconds | |
| 1 Ehn | = | 1 minute, 48 seconds | or 108 seconds |
| 1 Ahn | = | 1 hour, 12 minutes | or 72 minutes |
Based on what we know, we can also covert, or compare, a Gorean day to an Earth day.
| 12:01 | AM | - | 1:12 | AM | = 1st Ahn |
| 1:13 | AM | - | 2:24 | AM | = 2nd Ahn |
| 2:25 | AM | - | 3:36 | AM | = 3rd Ahn |
| 3:37 | AM | - | 4:48 | AM | = 4th Ahn |
| 4:49 | AM | - | 6:00 | AM | = 5th Ahn |
| 6:01 | AM | - | 7:12 | AM | = 6th Ahn |
| 7:13 | AM | - | 8:24 | AM | = 7th Ahn |
| 8:25 | AM | - | 9:36 | AM | = 8th Ahn |
| 9:37 | AM | - | 10:48 | AM | = 9th Ahn |
| 10:49 | AM | - | 12:00 | PM | = 10th Ahn - Noon |
| 12:01 | PM | - | 1:12 | PM | = 11th Ahn |
| 1:13 | PM | - | 2:24 | PM | = 12th Ahn |
| 2:25 | PM | - | 3:36 | PM | = 13th Ahn |
| 3:37 | PM | - | 4:48 | PM | = 14th Ahn |
| 4:49 | PM | - | 6:00 | PM | = 15th Ahn |
| 6:01 | PM | - | 7:12 | PM | = 16th Ahn |
| 7:13 | PM | - | 8:24 | PM | = 17th Ahn |
| 8:25 | PM | - | 9:36 | PM | = 18th Ahn |
| 9:37 | PM | - | 10:48 | PM | = 19th Ahn |
| 10:49 | PM | - | 12:00 | AM | = 20th Ahn - Midnight |
The passage of time is counted in a variety of ways on Gor. And this narrative is not meant to be all inclusive of every single time keeping device on Gor but I have covered here quite a bit of verified information.
There are precision chronometers on Gor. [1] Chronometers are contained in most compasses [2] but these are rare and valuable. [3] Chronometers can also be found in other items such as chests. [4] One type is referred to as a sun chronometer. [5]
Official clocks are adjusted according to the Caste of Scribes based on various astronomical measurements having to do with the movements of the sun and stars. [6]
Incidentally, the hands of a Gorean clock move in the opposite direction from what we're used to. [7]
Some cites use time bars which are rung to signal each hour. [8]
In some port cites, shields, on high poles, are hoisted or lowered according to the time of day. At the tenth hour, the Gorean noon, a white-smoke fire is lit. At the twentieth hour, the Gorean midnight, a beacon is lit. These things serve to synchronize chronometers in the port, and serve to regulate schedules and the utilization of the tide tables. [9]
In the artic, due to the proportionately longer day or night, days are counted as 'sleeps'. [10]
Tournament games are regulated with sand clocks. These clocks are arranged in such a way that each has a tiny spigot which may be opened and closed, this determining whether sand falls or not. These spigots are linked in such a way that when one is open the other must be closed; the spigot turned by a given player closes his own clock's sand passage and opens that of his opponent; when the clocks must both be stopped, as for an adjournment of play, they are placed on their side by the chief judge in the match. [11]
Other types of sand glasses are used to measure different lengths of time. [12]
A water clock or clepsydra, a device in which time is measured by the regulated flow of liquid, were also by some. [13]
Some other ways to tell time are marked, or ringed candles, sundials and oil clocks. [14] And, in one instance, a month clock is mentioned. [15]
Those of the Tahari are taught from childhood to tell time by the speed of a kaiila, by the circle and the stick and by the sun. [16]
Even though the Red Savages are not usually concerned with the precise time of day, [17] at times they too use a stick and circles to tell time. [18]
Some contests of skill are timed by the heartbeat of a standing kaiila. [19]
And even the heartbeat of a slave has been used to count time. [20]
Interestingly it seems some cites have what amounts to a version of Daylight Savings Time. [21]
And, just for comparison, the Kur day is divided into 12 hours, as opposed to the Gorean 20 hours.[22]
[1] There are precision chronometers on Gor, incidentally, and a more mechanical method of time control is technically feasible. The sand clocks, on the other hand, tend to be a matter of tournament tradition.
Beasts of Gor Book 12 Page 85
[2] Like most Gor compasses, mine contained a chronometer, and I took the compass, turned it over, and pressed the tab that would snap open the back and reveal the dial.
Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 78
I poked through the other contents of the saddle pack, delighted to find my old maps and that device that serves Goreans as both compass and chronometer.
Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 144
[3] Chronometers exist on Gor, but they are rare and valuable.
Magicians of Gor Book 25 Page 358
[4] Although it was late, according to the chamber chronometer, fixed in the lid of one of the chests, I prepared to leave the room.
Priest-Kings of Gor Book 3 Page 48
[5] Similarly walking sticks and staffs often have one or more such compartments in them; reached by unscrewing various sections of the stick or staff. Needless to say, some of these, too, contain, daggers or thrusting swords. Such concealed compartments and weapons, and sometimes even builders' glasses, sun chronometers, and compasses, and such, are found in such objects.
Mercenaries of Gor Book 21 Pages 211 - 212
[6] In many cities, of course, including Ar, time tends to be kept publicly. Official clocks are adjusted, of course, according to the announcements of scribes, in virtue of various astronomical measurements, having to do with the movements of the sun and stars. The calendar, and adjustments in it, are also the results of their researches, promulgated by civil authorities.
Magicians of Gor Book 25 Page 358
[7] Gorean clock hands move in the opposite direction
Nomads of Gor Book 4 Page 3
[8] Indeed, I had heard the striking of the time bar, mounted on the roof of the Administrator's store, as I had approached the town's outskirts.
Savages of Gor Book 17 Page 93
At certain Ahn I was expected to be in the public rooms of the palace and, at others, even at the ringing of palace time bars, for no reason I clearly understood, I was expected to be in my quarters.
Kajira of Gor Book 19 Page 78
I heard the ringing of the time bar from the arsenal. It was the Twentieth Ahn, the Gorean midnight.
Players of Gor Book 20 Page 38
I heard two of the time bars, far off, across the city, beginning to sound.
. . .
I counted the sounding of the bars, stroke by stroke.
. . .
I heard the tenth bar sound.
It was the tenth Ahn.
Witness of Gor Book 26 Page 513
"No," she said. "They meet at appropriate times and places, according to schedules, beginning when clocks strike or bells ring, and ending when they strike or ring again."
Mariners of Gor Book 30 Page 569
At that point the trading bar began to ring.
"It is the twentieth Ahn," I said.
Mariners of Gor Book 30 Page 549
[9] The large, yellow shield on the high pole in the harbor had already been hoisted and fallen, and, near it, the fire of white smoke had been lit. When the shield reaches the top of the pole in the harbor and is permitted to fall it is the tenth hour, the Gorean noon. At the same time the white-smoke fire is lit. At the twentieth hour, the Gorean midnight, a beacon is lit. These things serve to synchronize chronometers in the port, and serve to regulate schedules and the utilization of the tide tables.
Slave Girl of Gor Book 11 Pages 343 - 344
[10] Two weeks ago, some ten to fifteen sleeps ago,
Beasts of Gor Book 12 Page 265
Some three weeks ago, more than twenty sleeps past,
Beasts of Gor Book 12 Page 289
[11] A fellow with him carried the sand clocks. These clocks are arranged in such a way that each has a tiny spigot which may be opened and closed, this determining whether sand falls or not. These spigots are linked in such a way that when one is open the other must be closed; the spigot turned by a given player closes his own clock's sand passage and opens that of his opponent; when the clocks must both be stopped, as for an adjournment of play, they are placed on their side by the chief judge in the match, in this case Reginald of Ti.
Beasts of Gor Book 12 Page 85
[12] each is dragged up the steps of the minor block, bid upon while a one-Ehn sand clock is turned, sold for the highest bid that comes forth in one Ehn,
Assassin of Gor Book 5 Page 112
One of the inn boys, sitting in an apron, on a bench near the large, cylindrical sand clock, glanced at it. "Past the nineteenth hour," he said. He yawned. He would stay up until the twentieth hour, the Gorean midnight, at which time he would turn the clock, and retire.
Tribesmen of Gor Book 10 Page 180
in the falling sand in the Ahn glass,
Blood Brothers of Gor Book 18 Page 387
'What time is it?' he asked. A fellow, glancing at the sand glass, said, 'A bit past the nineteenth Ahn.'
Mariners of Gor Book 30 Page 73
[13] "It is now the fourteenth Ahn," he said, casting a meaningful glance at the water clock on the counter to his right.
Fighting Slave of Gor Book 14 Page 212
in the tiny stream of water in the clepsydra,
Blood Brothers of Gor Book 18 Page 387
"It is near the tenth Ahn," said a man, inspecting the level of the water in the clepsydra. In the depths one cannot tell day from night, except by the clocks.
Witness of Gor Book 26 Page 577
[14] the ringed candles,
Blood Brothers of Gor Book 18 Page 387
The average Gorean has a variety of simple devices at his disposal for making the passage of time. Typical among them are marked, or calibrated, candles, sundials, sand glasses, clepsydras and oil clocks.
Magicians of Gor Book 25 Page 358
[15] I reminded myself, again and again, as the month clock rotated, that Caprus was a trusted agent of Priest-Kings, that Misk himself had spoken in the highest terms of him.
Assassin of Gor Book 5 Page 185
[16] "You will tell the time," said Farouk of Kasra, "by the speed of your kaiila, by the circle and the stick, by the sun."
Tribesmen of Gor Book 10 Page 62
[17] "The Yellow Knives were standing in the vicinity of a small, raised place, prominent among the Isanna lodges. On this small, raised place stood Watonka. On this small, raised place, too, was a stick, surrounded by two circles, a larger and a smaller. I take it that the measurement of time was being accomplished by this stick and the circles. The inner circle, I think, would have had the edge of the shadow reach it or fall within it about noon."
"Interesting," said Cuwignaka.
"Yes," I said. "Why would they not simply judge noon by the position of the sun?"
"The stick is more accurate," said Cuwignaka. "Too, the shadow may be watched intently, as the sun may not be."
"The council is to begin at noon," I said. "Doubtless they were interested in a more precise judgment of time than might be afforded by simple visual sightings."
"Why?" asked Cuwignaka.
"I do not know," I said. To be sure, this question seemed a sensible one. Red savages are not ordinarily concerned with such precise measurements of time.
Blood Brothers of Gor Book 18 Pages 204 - 205
[18] At the feet of Watonka there was a slim, upright stick. In the dirt, about the stick, were drawn two circles, a larger and a smaller. In the morning, when the sun was high enough to cast a shadow, the shadow, I surmised, would have come to a point on the outer circle. At noon the sun, it seemed, in this latitude, casting its shortest shadow, would bring the shadow to or within the smaller of the two circles. When the shadow, again, began to lengthen, the sun would be past meridian. I looked up at the sun, and down to the stick and its shadow. It was, I conjectured, less than half of an Ahn before noon.
Blood Brothers of Gor Book 18 Page 198
[19] The time in these matters is reckoned by the heartbeat of a standing kaiila.
Nomads of Gor Book 4 Page 70
[20] Moreover, she was to be his for the night, once he had counted upon her body, using her beating heart as the clock of the evening's sport.
Slave Girl of Gor Book 11 Page 157
[21] The fifth Ahn marks the midpoint of the morning, betwixt the Gorean midnight and noon, as the fifteenth Ahn marks the midpoint of the evening, between noon and midnight. There are twenty Ahn in the Gorean day, as time is figured in the high cities. These Ahn, in the high cities, are of equal length. In certain cities, interestingly, the length of the Ahn depends on the time of year. In these cities, there are ten Ahn in the day, and ten Ahn in the night, and, as the days are longer in the summer and shorter in the winter, so, too, are the Ahn. Correspondingly, of course, the Ahn are shorter in the summer night, and longer in the winter night. The day as a whole, of course, including both day Ahn and night Ahn, comes out to the same overall length as it would in one of the high cities.
Magicians of Gor Book 25 Page 432
[22] "How much time is there?" I asked.
"Three Kur Ahn," he said. "The device is set on Kur chronometry, synchronized to the rotation of the original world."
"The same chronometry which is used in the complex?" I asked.
"Of course," he said.
"That is a little more than five Gorean Ahn," I said.
"Two Ehn more," he said.
I nodded. The Kur day was divided into twelve hours, the Gorean day into twenty.
Beasts of Gor Book 12 Page 422
