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AllenRBrady t1_j7dim8j wrote

Reply to comment by AllenRBrady in Is the yearly cycle of varying daylight durations from day to day throughout time consistent? Is the cycle we have today the same as in the 17th century? by meellowstar

I just wanted to throw in a few calculations to round this theory out a bit. Looking at Mannheim, Germany, I see that the winter solstice this year will have 8 hours and 9 minutes of daylight, and the summer solstice will have 16 hours and 17 minutes. That means the winter night will last 951 minutes, and the summer night only 463. If we divide that into 12 hours, that makes a winter hour as long as 79.25 minutes, and a summer hour as short as 38.58 minutes.

So 8pm in the winter would translate to 158.5 minutes past Vespers (sunset), and 10pm in the summer would mean 154.3 minutes past Vespers. That's pretty consistent. If my speculation is correct, this law is saying you need to carry a light source if you're leaving your house 2.5 (modern) hours after sunset.

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GracefulFaller t1_j7md19z wrote

I know it’s a bit later after this was answered but does the sunset to darkness time change over the course of the year? If it doesn’t then the ordinance using your math would correspond to not too long after darkness they would be required to have a light. Which would make sense.

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