Katherine Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199291083
- eISBN:
- 9780191710582
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199291083.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter focuses on chronography, that is, the scholarly field which concerns the organization and articulation of time. It examines the extant fragments of the ancient chronographic tradition, ...
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This chapter focuses on chronography, that is, the scholarly field which concerns the organization and articulation of time. It examines the extant fragments of the ancient chronographic tradition, which was initially dominated by competitive culture of Hellenistic scholarship, and by figures such as Eratosthenes of Cyrene and Apollodorus of Athens. Methodological problems, such as that of generic classification, are addressed throughout. The chapter deals first with works concerning Greek city-calendars, especially the festival calendars, before moving on to those which focus on the articulation and expression of linear, historical time. Here are treated issues of synchronism; the establishment of important dates, such as that of the fall of Troy and the acme of Homer; the correlation of fixed chronological markers with continuous systems, such as lists of eponymous magistrates, kings, or Olympic victors; the development of universal chronologies; and the notion of literary time-frames.Less
This chapter focuses on chronography, that is, the scholarly field which concerns the organization and articulation of time. It examines the extant fragments of the ancient chronographic tradition, which was initially dominated by competitive culture of Hellenistic scholarship, and by figures such as Eratosthenes of Cyrene and Apollodorus of Athens. Methodological problems, such as that of generic classification, are addressed throughout. The chapter deals first with works concerning Greek city-calendars, especially the festival calendars, before moving on to those which focus on the articulation and expression of linear, historical time. Here are treated issues of synchronism; the establishment of important dates, such as that of the fall of Troy and the acme of Homer; the correlation of fixed chronological markers with continuous systems, such as lists of eponymous magistrates, kings, or Olympic victors; the development of universal chronologies; and the notion of literary time-frames.
