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/9780199291083.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter discusses different forms of temporal calibration and articulation, as well as the complementary nature of natural time and culturally-determined time. After introducing some ...
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This chapter discusses different forms of temporal calibration and articulation, as well as the complementary nature of natural time and culturally-determined time. After introducing some philosophical problems concerning the nature of time, it examines evidence for the proposition that time as a malleable and constructed concept was familiar within the everyday life of the Greek polis, through the plays of Aristophanes and publicly displayed inscriptions. The connections between time as mapped out on a recurring annual cycle through the calendar and historical time which spans the past of a place are also considered.Less
This chapter discusses different forms of temporal calibration and articulation, as well as the complementary nature of natural time and culturally-determined time. After introducing some philosophical problems concerning the nature of time, it examines evidence for the proposition that time as a malleable and constructed concept was familiar within the everyday life of the Greek polis, through the plays of Aristophanes and publicly displayed inscriptions. The connections between time as mapped out on a recurring annual cycle through the calendar and historical time which spans the past of a place are also considered.
Paul Glennie and Nigel Thrift
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199278206
- eISBN:
- 9780191699979
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278206.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History, Social History
Aside from telling the time shown by digital or analogue clocks through hours, minutes, and seconds, clock time is expounded by highlighting the interdependence of ‘clock time’ and ‘natural time’, ...
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Aside from telling the time shown by digital or analogue clocks through hours, minutes, and seconds, clock time is expounded by highlighting the interdependence of ‘clock time’ and ‘natural time’, the public aspects of clock-timekeeping in early modern England, the historical transition of temporality, and the various ways in which clock time can be measured. This chapter discusses the major ways of approaching the history of clock time by looking into the following narratives and their limitations: the horological history of clocks and other technologies used in timekeeping, how social discipline is related to the social and historical aspects of time and timing, and cultural modernity through conceptualizations of time.Less
Aside from telling the time shown by digital or analogue clocks through hours, minutes, and seconds, clock time is expounded by highlighting the interdependence of ‘clock time’ and ‘natural time’, the public aspects of clock-timekeeping in early modern England, the historical transition of temporality, and the various ways in which clock time can be measured. This chapter discusses the major ways of approaching the history of clock time by looking into the following narratives and their limitations: the horological history of clocks and other technologies used in timekeeping, how social discipline is related to the social and historical aspects of time and timing, and cultural modernity through conceptualizations of time.
Phil Hadfield
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199297856
- eISBN:
- 9780191700866
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199297856.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This chapter draws upon the personal experiences of the author and a diverse range of published works on the cultural and natural histories of night-time in Western societies. Night-time is revealed ...
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This chapter draws upon the personal experiences of the author and a diverse range of published works on the cultural and natural histories of night-time in Western societies. Night-time is revealed as a social setting of highly ambivalent status, symbolising the times and places of restful recuperation, as well as those of restless hedonism, escape, and ‘dark deeds’. It explores how security concerns, fortification, and policing of the night have accompanied the governance of cities throughout history. Since the onset of industrialized urbanization, the night-time has been progressively colonized by the forces of commerce, and given over to forms of consumption and commodification which often challenge the contradictory will to impose order on the night-time streetscape.Less
This chapter draws upon the personal experiences of the author and a diverse range of published works on the cultural and natural histories of night-time in Western societies. Night-time is revealed as a social setting of highly ambivalent status, symbolising the times and places of restful recuperation, as well as those of restless hedonism, escape, and ‘dark deeds’. It explores how security concerns, fortification, and policing of the night have accompanied the governance of cities throughout history. Since the onset of industrialized urbanization, the night-time has been progressively colonized by the forces of commerce, and given over to forms of consumption and commodification which often challenge the contradictory will to impose order on the night-time streetscape.
Denis Feeney
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520251199
- eISBN:
- 9780520933767
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520251199.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Archaeology: Classical
The ancient Romans changed more than the map of the world when they conquered so much of it; they altered the way historical time itself is marked and understood. This book investigates time and its ...
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The ancient Romans changed more than the map of the world when they conquered so much of it; they altered the way historical time itself is marked and understood. This book investigates time and its contours as described by the ancient Romans, first as Rome positioned itself in relation to Greece, and then as it exerted its influence as a major world power. The book welcomes the reader into a world where time was movable and changeable and where simply ascertaining a date required a complex and often contentious cultural narrative. It investigates the pertinent systems, including the Roman calendar (which is still our calendar) and its near perfect method of capturing the progress of natural time; the annual rhythm of consular government; the plotting of sacred time onto sacred space; the forging of chronological links to the past; and, above all, the experience of empire, by which the Romans meshed the city state's concept of time with those of the foreigners they encountered to establish a new worldwide web of time. Because this web of time was Greek before the Romans transformed it, the book also provides a study in the cross-cultural interaction between the Greek and Roman worlds. It closely examines the most important of the ancient world's time divisions, that between myth and history, and concludes by demonstrating the impact of the reformed calendar on the way the Romans conceived of time's recurrence.Less
The ancient Romans changed more than the map of the world when they conquered so much of it; they altered the way historical time itself is marked and understood. This book investigates time and its contours as described by the ancient Romans, first as Rome positioned itself in relation to Greece, and then as it exerted its influence as a major world power. The book welcomes the reader into a world where time was movable and changeable and where simply ascertaining a date required a complex and often contentious cultural narrative. It investigates the pertinent systems, including the Roman calendar (which is still our calendar) and its near perfect method of capturing the progress of natural time; the annual rhythm of consular government; the plotting of sacred time onto sacred space; the forging of chronological links to the past; and, above all, the experience of empire, by which the Romans meshed the city state's concept of time with those of the foreigners they encountered to establish a new worldwide web of time. Because this web of time was Greek before the Romans transformed it, the book also provides a study in the cross-cultural interaction between the Greek and Roman worlds. It closely examines the most important of the ancient world's time divisions, that between myth and history, and concludes by demonstrating the impact of the reformed calendar on the way the Romans conceived of time's recurrence.
Thomas M. Allen
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807831793
- eISBN:
- 9781469603827
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807868171_allen.8
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter focuses on the revolutions in natural time that took place in the nineteenth century. It examines how the expansion of the temporal scale in the nineteenth century by major developments ...
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This chapter focuses on the revolutions in natural time that took place in the nineteenth century. It examines how the expansion of the temporal scale in the nineteenth century by major developments in natural history, especially geology, shaped American thinking about history and nationhood. Between about 1750 and 1860, a series of naturalists and science writers including Comte de Buffon, James Hutton, John Playfair, Charles Lyell, Louis Agassiz, and Charles Darwin revolutionized the Western world's understanding of time by expanding the scale of the earth's history from thousands to millions of years. This shift was brought about by major theoretical and methodological developments in the sciences of geology and biology, developments that were disseminated through the literate public by books and reviews written for an intelligent lay audience.Less
This chapter focuses on the revolutions in natural time that took place in the nineteenth century. It examines how the expansion of the temporal scale in the nineteenth century by major developments in natural history, especially geology, shaped American thinking about history and nationhood. Between about 1750 and 1860, a series of naturalists and science writers including Comte de Buffon, James Hutton, John Playfair, Charles Lyell, Louis Agassiz, and Charles Darwin revolutionized the Western world's understanding of time by expanding the scale of the earth's history from thousands to millions of years. This shift was brought about by major theoretical and methodological developments in the sciences of geology and biology, developments that were disseminated through the literate public by books and reviews written for an intelligent lay audience.
