This book is about time and local history in the Greek world. It argues that choices concerning the articulation and expression of time reflect the values of both those who ‘make’ it and their audiences. This study ranges from the widespread awareness of time's malleability and the perceived value of the past by the citizens of the Greek polis to the formal analysis of time-systems in Hellenistic scholarship. It addresses the development by historians of ways to articulate the long span of historical time, from the chronologies developed by those who wrote universal narratives to those whose s ... More

This book is about time and local history in the Greek world. It argues that choices concerning the articulation and expression of time reflect the values of both those who ‘make’ it and their audiences. This study ranges from the widespread awareness of time's malleability and the perceived value of the past by the citizens of the Greek polis to the formal analysis of time-systems in Hellenistic scholarship. It addresses the development by historians of ways to articulate the long span of historical time, from the chronologies developed by those who wrote universal narratives to those whose stories were about the individual polis. The negotiation of time is of interest in any social context, but it carries particular resonance in the world of Greek poleis, where each community had its own calendar and ran to its own time. Both the articulation of time and the establishment of ‘shared’ histories have been seen as modes of self-expression for communities. An exploration of their intersection is, therefore, especially illuminating. By focusing on city-history, the creation of the past within a restricted community, it is possible to examine more closely the dynamics of how time and the past were ‘made’. Therefore, this study brings together the wider theme of ‘managing time’, with an exploration of how history was created at a local level, within a civic context. It looks at the construction of the past as a social activity, which both reflects and contributes towards the sense of a shared, civic identity.