Water Clocks in Ancient Greece

How did the ancient Greeks measure time and drag themselves out of bed before the modern alarm clock or smart phone?
Around 325 BC, water clocks began to be used by the Greeks, who called this device the clepsydra (‘water thief’), a bowl like vessel with a hole, which is sized to create a non stop pressured water flow.

One of the uses of the water clock, especially in Athens, was for the timing of speeches in law courts. Some Athenian sources indicate that the water clock was used during the speeches of various well known Greeks, Aristotle, Aristophanes the playwright, and Demosthenes the statesman.
Apart from timing their speeches, the water clock also prevented their speeches from running too long. Depending on the type of speech or trial that was going on, different amounts of water would be filled into the vessels.

A timepiece, by which time was measured .
In the ancient world, there were two forms of water clocks: outflow and inflow. In an outflow water clock, the inside of a container was marked with lines of measurement.
The container was filled with water, which was allowed to leak out at a steady pace. Observers were able to tell time by measuring the change in water level.
An inflow water clock followed the same principle as an outflow one, i.e. the steady dripping of water.
A display of two outflow water clocks from the Ancient Agora Museum in Athens.
The top is an original from the late 5th century BC. The bottom is a reconstruction of a clay original.