The Construction of Time in Antiquity
Ritual, Art, and Identity

Time stands at the heart of human experience. In this book, new investigations illuminate the gamut of human engagement with time in antiquity.

Jonathan Ben-Dov (Edited by), Lutz Doering (Edited by)

9781107108967, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 October 2017

308 pages, 15 b/w illus. 6 tables
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.9 cm, 0.64 kg

'… editors have gathered an impressive breadth and depth of perspectives on time in antiquity.' Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

Time has always held a fascination for human beings, who have attempted to relate to it and to make sense of it, constructing and deconstructing it through its various prisms, since time cannot be experienced in an unmediated way. This book answers the needs of a growing community of scholars and readers who are interested in this interaction. It offers a series of innovative studies by both senior and younger experts on various aspects of the construction of time in antiquity. Some articles in this book contain visual material published for the first time, while other studies update the field with new theories or apply new approaches to relevant sources. Within the study of antiquity, the book covers the disciplines of Classics and Ancient History, Assyriology, Egyptology, Ancient Judaism, and Early Christianity, with thematic contributions on rituals, festivals, astronomy, calendars, medicine, art, and narrative.

1. Introduction Lutz Doering and Jonathan Ben-Dov
2 Time and natural law in Jewish-Hellenistic writings Jonathan Ben-Dov
3. Calendars, politics, and power relations in the Roman Empire Sacha Stern
4. Doubling religion in the Augustan Age: shaping time for an empire Jörg Rüpke
5. Real and constructed time in Babylonian astral medicine John Steele
6. The intellectual background of the Antikythera mechanism Robert Hannah
7. Divine figurations of time in Ancient Egypt Alexandra von Lieven
8. The moon and the power of time reckoning in Ancient Mesopotamia Lorenzo Verderame
9. Toward a phenomenology of time in ancient Greek art SeungJung Kim
10. Women's bodies as metaphors for time in biblical, second temple, and rabbinic literature Sarit Kattan Gribetz
11. The beginning of sabbath and festivals in ancient Jewish sources Lutz Doering
12. Seasoning the bible and biblifying time through fixed liturgical reading systems (lectionaries) Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra
13. The Roman ember days of September and the Jewish New Year Robert Hayward
14. Celebrations and the abstention from celebrations of sacred time in Early Christianity Clemens Leonhard.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], Judaism: sacred texts [HRJS], Christian theology [HRCM], Religion & beliefs [HR], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]