Time for the Ancients: Measurement, Theory, Experience

P. N. Singer

Open Access Published by De Gruyter 2022

Time for the Ancients

Measurement, Theory, Experience

P. N. Singer
Funded by: Einstein Center Chronoi

Volume 3 in the series Chronoi

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110752397

Overview
Contents

About this book

OPEN ACCESS

The book presents the author's latest research on ancient perceptions of time; it centres on medical discussions, especially of the doctor-philosopher Galen, while also contextualizing his work within Graeco-Roman evidence and discussions – archaeological, medical, technological, philosophical, literary – more broadly. The focus is on questions of medical or experiential significance: life cycles, disease cycles, daily regimes for mind and body, clinical assessment, including the vital area of diagnosis through the pulse, technologies of time measurement. But the philosophical background is also examined: questions of the nature and definition of time and its relationship to space and motion. Galen offers original contributions in all these areas, at the same time as shedding important light on both contemporary attitudes and previous discussions.

The book thus offers an accessible and vivid overview of key issues in ancient time perception and awareness, while also offering the first in-depth exploration of the insights that the Galenic texts add to this picture.

Five thematic chapters – Time Measurement, Year and Life Cycles, Biography, Medical Cycles – consider a wide range of evidence and of recent scholarship, while highlighting the contribution of medical texts.

Accessible overview of ancient attitudes to and conceptions of time
Original research on the basis of previously unexplored medical texts
Summarizes recent scholarship in diverese areas

Author / Editor information

Peter N. Singer, Research Fellow at EC-Chronoi, Berlin, and at Birkbeck, University of London, UK.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	XIII
List of Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	XV
List of Tables Publicly Available Download PDF	XVII
Chapter One: Time measurement, time management: days, hours and routines Open Access Download PDF	1
Chapter Two: Times of life and times of year: the ever-shifting cycles Open Access Download PDF	35
Chapter Three: Lives in time: history, biography, bibliography Open Access Download PDF	67
Chapter Four: Time for the doctor: crises, perils and opportunities Open Access Download PDF	102
Chapter Five: Time, motion, rhythm: reality, perception and quantification Open Access Download PDF	123
Bibliography Open Access Download PDF	165
Index of names Open Access Download PDF	181
General index Open Access Download PDF	184

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Scholars and students of ancient history, ancient medicine, philosophy, and psychology
Pages
- Front matter: 14
- Main content: 186
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 5
- Coloured Illustrations: 10
- Tables: 7
Keywords: time in antiquity; time awareness; time pereception; Galen

eBook

Published: January 19, 2022
ISBN: 9783110752397

Paperback

Published: January 31, 2022
ISBN: 9783110751925