Caesar's calendar : ancient time and the beginnings of history / Denis Feeney.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Feeney, D. C.

Series:

Sather classical lectures ; v. 65.

Sather classical lectures ; v. 65

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Calendar, Roman.

Time--Social aspects--Rome.

Time.

Time--Political aspects--Rome.

Chronology, Roman.

Synchronization.

Historiography--Rome.

Historiography.

City and town life--Rome.

City and town life.

Rome--Historiography.

Rome.

Rome--Social life and customs.

Rome--Civilization--Greek influences.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (391 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, Calif. ; London : University of California Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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. In this brilliant, erudite, and exhilarating book Denis Feeney 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. Feeney 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. In a style that is lucid, fluent, and graceful, he 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 is also a remarkable study in the cross-cultural interaction between the Greek and Roman worlds. Feeney's skillful deployment of specialist material is engaging and accessible and ranges from details of the time schemes used by Greeks and Romans to accommodate the Romans' unprecedented rise to world dominance to an edifying discussion of the fixed axis of B.C./A.D., or B.C.E./C.E., and the supposedly objective "dates" implied. He 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. Feeney's achievement is nothing less than the reconstruction of the Roman conception of time, which has the additional effect of transforming the way the way the reader inhabits and experiences time.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Illustrations

Preface

Introduction

1. Synchronizing Times I: Greece and Rome

2. Synchronizing Times II: West and East, Sicily and the Orient

3. Transitions from Myth into History I: The Foundations of the City

4. Transitions from Myth into History II: Ages of Gold and Iron

5. Years, Months, and Days I: Eras and Anniversaries

6. Years, Months, and Days II: The Grids of the Fasti

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Index Locorum

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN:

9786612359231

9781282359239

1282359231

9780520933767

0520933761

9781433708329

1433708329

OCLC:

614488066