Fun fact: the ‘pole’ in Syrene was not actually a pole but a well. It had been noticed that at the summer solstice the sun shone directly to the bottom of the well without illuminating the walls.
This also explains how he was able to measure the shadow in Alexandria at the exact same time (the summer solstice) as in Syrene before the invention of any reliable time measuring devices.
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u/pawnografik Nov 11 '23
Fun fact: the ‘pole’ in Syrene was not actually a pole but a well. It had been noticed that at the summer solstice the sun shone directly to the bottom of the well without illuminating the walls.
This also explains how he was able to measure the shadow in Alexandria at the exact same time (the summer solstice) as in Syrene before the invention of any reliable time measuring devices.