Published on the occasion of the exhibition held at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, New York, October 19, 2016-April 23, 2017. Includes bibliographical references (pages 194-203).
Contents:
Exhibition checklist. Bernhard Weisser -- Near East relations : Mesopotamia and Egypt / John Steele -- Measuring the hours : sundials, water clocks, and portable sundials / Karlheinz Schaldach -- Days, months, years, and other time cycles / Daryn Lehoux -- Astrology in the Greco-Roman world / Stephan Heilen, Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum -- Images of time and cosmic connection / James Evans -- Roman imperial imagery of time and cosmos / Bernhard Weisser -- Exhibition checklist.
Summary:
The Greeks and Romans lived according to a distinctively Hellenic conception of time as an aspect of cosmic order and regularity. Appropriating ideas from Egypt and the Near East, the Greeks integrated them into a cosmological framework governed by mathematics and linking the cycles of the heavenly bodies to the human environment. From their cosmology they derived instruments for measuring and tracking the passage of time that were sophisticated embodiments of scientific reasoning and technical craft, meant not solely for the study of specialists and connoisseurs but for the public gaze. Time and Cosmos in Greco-Roman Antiquity, the accompanying catalogue for the exhibition at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, explores through thematic essays and beautiful illustrations the practical as well as the artistic, ideological, and spiritual role of time technology and time imagery in the Mediterranean civilizations. Highlights among the more than one hundred objects from the exhibition include marvelously inventive sundials and portable timekeeping devices, stone and ceramic calendars, zodiac boards for displaying horoscopes, and mosaics, sculptures, and coins that reflect ancient perceptions of the controlling power of time and the heavens.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.