Week 1 Discussion: Stonehenge

Unfortunately I was not able to view the video (timing out on me, argh!), but I was able to read the transcript (does everybody know how to access the transcript? it sure saved me tonight since the video kept timing out) - so my contribution to the discussion will be based on just reading the transcript. I was so excited that Kerry focused on one of my favorite topics: the constellations as stories! In the mythology course I teach, in fact, students have done some great class projects where they work with the stories traditionally associated with the named constellations. Here are some free public domain books at Google Books about the constellations and their stories if you are interested in that kind of thing!

As Kerry described the way that Stonehenge might have been used to "read" the motion of the sky, it immediately made me think of sun dials and how they work. I am really fascinated by sun dials as works of art and even as works of literature! I don't know if that is a topic we will be addressing in this class, but it is something that I enjoy. I'm intimidated by the armillary sphere (the idea of imagining the motion of the earth against the backdrop of the constellations in three-dimensional space over time is so confusing to me!), but a sun dial is somewhat easier to understand because for that I only have to understand the earth and the sun... which is still a stretch for me, but I can do that more easily!

As a contribution today, let me share a beautiful sun dial and inscription from Prinsenhof (Prince's Court) in Groningen. Here is a webpage about the sundial, and it is also the source of the image below:

If you Google the Latin inscription (iambic), it is a good way to find lots of pictures of the sun dial and to learn more about it. Here is the Latin:

TEMPUS PRAETERITUM NIHIL, FUTURUM INCERTUM,
PRAESENS INSTABILE, CAVE NE PERDAS HOC TUUM

Here is what it means:

Time past (is) nothing, the future (is) uncertain, the present (is) unstable, take care so that you do not lose this (time which is) yours.

Isn't that cool? Sun dial inscriptions are one of my favorite genres of Latin poetry. It is a shame that Stonehenge did not come with an inscription! :-)