Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
This book is a study both of anachronism in antiquity and of anachronism as a vehicle for understanding antiquity. It explores the post-classical origins of the term 'anachronism' and the theoretical presence of anachronism in a variety of classical texts, including drama, historiography and philosophy, in ancient criticism and scholarship, and in in material objects. Analysis of these topics is set to transform modern conceptualizations of the history of temporality. The focus among philosophers of history on post-eighteenth-century European temporality has resulted in a perception that what is distinctive about modern temporality must be contrasted with antiquity. This book argues, against such views that there are many indications that the ancients did have sophisticated notions of anachronism. It provides an overarching explanatory framework for understanding what earlier scholarship has at best treated as isolated instances of anachronism.
The central hypothesis, that antiquity reveals evidence of a strong sense of temporal difference and anachronism, is tested by an examination of Greek and Roman texts, images, and material objects that focuses on the conceptions of the past underlying ancient perceptions of historical change and assesses in detail how anachronism operates in a variety of generic contexts. The book as a whole offers a synthetic treatment of the topic of ancient anachronism suitable for scholars and students both of classical antiquity and of modern history, anthropology, and visual culture. Its ambition is to offer a new conceptual map of antiquity through the notion of anachronism.