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6. In the middle of the city place a marble amussium, laying it true by the level, or else let the spot be made so true by means of rule and level that no amussium is necessary. In the very centre of that spot set up a bronze gnomon or “shadow tracker” (in Greek σκιαθήρας). At about the fifth hour in the morning, take the end of the shadow cast by this gnomon, and mark it with a point. Then, opening your compasses to this point which marks the length of the gnomon's shadow, describe a circle from the centre. In the afternoon watch the shadow of your gnomon as it lengthens, and when it once more touches the circumference of this

circle and the shadow in the afternoon is equal in length to that of the morning, mark it with a point.

Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture. Vitruvius. Morris Hicky Morgan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. London: Humphrey Milford. Oxford University Press. 1914.

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  • Cross-references to this page (2):
    • A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), AGRIMETA´TIO
    • A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), AMUSSIS
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (3):
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