The Prosciutto Sundial: Casting Light on an Ancient Roman Timepiece from the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum

Recovered in 1755 during excavations in the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, the prosciutto sundial is the earliest known portable Roman sundial. Palm-sized and in the shape of an Italian cured ham, its silver-plated cast bronze form cleverly combines an accurate modelling of a prosciutto with a relatively sophisticated scientific device capable of capturing the seasonal hours of the zodiacal year by employing the pig's tail to cast the sun's shadow onto the dial. This book explores the sig...