[[File:Al-jazari elephant clock.png|thumb|right|200px|An [[elephant clock]] in a manuscript by [[Al-Jazari]] (1206 AD) from ''The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices''.<ref>[[Ibn al-Razzaz Al-Jazari]] (ed. 1974), ''The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices''. Translated and annotated by [[Donald Routledge Hill]], Dordrecht/[[D. Reidel]].</ref>]]In the 13th century, [[Al-Jazari]], a Kurdish Muslim engineer from Mesopotamia (lived 1136-1206) who worked for [[Artuqid]] king of Diyar-Bakr, [[Nasir al-Din]], made numerous clocks of all shapes and sizes. The book described 50 mechanical devices in 6 categories, including water clocks. The most reputed clocks included [[Elephant clock|the Elephant]], Scribe and [[Castle clock]]s, all of which have been successfully reconstructed. As well as telling the time, these grand clocks were symbols of status, grandeur and wealth of the Urtuq State.{{citation needed|date=May 2010}}

 

 

None of the first clocks survived from 13th century Europe, but various mentions in church records reveal some of the early history of the clock.