Evil, Progress, and Fall: Moral Readings of Time and Cultural Devolopment in Roman Literature and Philosophy, Special Issue of EPEKEINA. International Journal of Ontology. History and Critics, Vol. 4, N. 1-2 (2014), edited with R. R. Marchese. (original) (raw)

Abstract

The main purpose of the volume is to explore and reassess Latin texts where the cultural representation of time, in a literary and anthropological sense, plays a prominent role. It is a matter of fact that during its multi-faceted development Roman literature produced a wide range of interpretations of time, usually denoting peculiar views of cultural history. The striking multiplicity of Roman reflections on this matter seems to require further investigations taking into proper account the different ideological inputs involved. On the one hand, it is clear that like many other Mediterranean civilizations, Rome elaborated (and tended to reproduce) a culturally embedded conception of time, which made a remarkable impact on traditional values and social patterns. On the other hand, the complex processes of transformation which Roman culture underwent over the course of its long history inevitably affected (and reshaped) traditional chronological categories. Of course, several concurrent factors contributed to such processes, and all of them seem to have exerted an influence on the Latin writers' reading of time as a morally significant object. Philosophical trends, literary orientations and religious beliefs, in particular, introduced substantial changes to previous representations of time, and this was seen, by turns, as a circular, linear or hybrid dimension.

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