Roman Portable Sundials

Roman Portable Sundials
Author: Richard J. A. Talbert
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2017
Genre: Antiques & Collectibles
ISBN: 0190273488

Talbert investigates miniature sundials which can be adjusted for the owner's whereabouts. They incorporate a list of locations and latitudes for ready reference, data that offers insight into Romans' worldviews. To some perhaps, these sundials were primarily symbols of scientific awareness as well as imperial mastery of time and space.

Sundials

Sundials
Author: Hester Higton
Publisher: Philip Wilson Publishers
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2001
Genre: Antiques & Collectibles
ISBN:

This is an examination of the portable sundials used as timekeepers for three millennia. The focus is on the sundials themselves, but much reference is made to social, political and economic history.

Time and Cosmos in Greco-Roman Antiquity

Time and Cosmos in Greco-Roman Antiquity
Author: James Evans
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2016-11-11
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0691174407

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.

The Prosciutto Sundial

The Prosciutto Sundial
Author: Christopher Charles Parslow
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2024
Genre: History
ISBN: 0197749380

The Prosciutto Sundial is the first comprehensive study of the sundial in the shape of a miniature prosciutto from the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum from its rediscovery in 1755 to modern times. Drawing on contemporary correspondence and manuscripts, early philological and scientific assessments, and later published accounts, it catalogs the many attempts by scholars and lay people alike to understand how it functioned. It explains the significance of its context in the Villa and, through the results of empirical analysis using a 3D model, highlights the remarkable accuracy of this unique ancient timepiece.

Down to the Hour: Short Time in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East

Down to the Hour: Short Time in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2019-12-02
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9004416293

"Clock time", with all its benefits and anxieties, is often viewed as a "modern" phenomenon, but ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern cultures also had tools for marking and measuring time within the day and wrestled with challenges of daily time management. This book brings together for the first time perspectives on the interplay between short-term timekeeping technologies and their social contexts in ancient Egypt, Babylon, Greece, and Rome. Its contributions denaturalize modern-day concepts of clocks, hours, and temporal frameworks; describe some of the timekeeping solutions used in antiquity; and illuminate the diverse factors that affected how individuals and communities structured their time.

Alexandria and Qumran: Back to the Beginning

Alexandria and Qumran: Back to the Beginning
Author: Kenneth Silver
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 612
Release: 2017-12-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 178491729X

This book addresses the proto-history and the roots of the Qumran community and of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the light of contemporary scholarship in Alexandria, Egypt.

World and Hour in Roman Minds

World and Hour in Roman Minds
Author: Richard J. A. Talbert
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2023-02-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 0197606369

World and Hour in Roman Minds: Exploratory Essays seeks to penetrate Romans' consciousness of space and time, aspects of antiquity currently attracting intense interest. Historian Richard Talbert presents here a cohesive selection of nineteen essays, published over the course of thirty years, all but one previously appearing in widely scattered publications. Now reinforced by an Introduction and textually and visually updated, these essays document the progress of pioneering efforts to glimpse the worldviews of Romans up and down the social scale--even Julius Caesar and Claudius--and to reassess the communicative role of Roman mapping along with its strengths and limitations. Talbert interprets the Antonine Itinerary and Artemidorus and Peutinger maps afresh, visualizing the latter with a wider perspective than in previous scholarship and probing the challenges of its design, production and copying. He also casts doubt, however, on the idea that Romans conceptualized their long-distance roads as an interconnected system, as did certain comparable premodern states across the Americas and Asia. The most recent essays share findings that emerge with a shift of focus from space to time, specifically Romans' daily timekeeping by hours--another neglected dimension of their social mentalité. Talbert suggests that Romans' tracking of time should be regarded as uncannily similar to that of the Japanese before Westernization. Throughout, the essays are unified by the methods applied. The value of broader, often comparative, approaches is demonstrated, as well as the creative potential of untapped testimony and digital technology--altogether an invaluable platform to stimulate further inquiry.