book: Time for the Ancients
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Time for the Ancients

Measurement, Theory, Experience
  • P. N. Singer
  • Funded by: Einstein Center Chronoi
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2022
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About this book

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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.

Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
January 19, 2022
eBook ISBN:
9783110752397
Paperback published on:
January 31, 2022
Paperback ISBN:
9783110751925
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
14
Main content:
186
Illustrations:
5
Coloured Illustrations:
10
Tables:
7
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