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'Space and time' have been key concepts of investigation in the
humanities in recent years. In the field of Classics in particular,
they have led to the fresh appraisal of genres such as epic,
historiography, the novel and biography, by enabling a close focus
on how ancient texts invest their representations of space and time
with a variety of symbolic and cultural meanings. This collection
of essays by a team of international scholars seeks to make a
contribution to this rich interdisciplinary field, by exploring how
space and time are perceived, linguistically codified and portrayed
in the biographical and philosophical work of Plutarch of Chaeronea
(1st-2nd centuries CE). The volume's aim is to show how
philological approaches, in conjunction with socio-cultural
readings, can shed light on Plutarch's spatial terminology and
clarify his conceptions of time, especially in terms of the ways in
which he situates himself in his era's fascination with the past.
The volume's intended readership includes Classicists, intellectual
and cultural historians and scholars whose field of expertise
embraces theoretical study of space and time, along with the
linguistic strategies used to portray them in literary or
historical texts.
The circulation of books was the motor of classical civilization.
However, books were both expensive and rare, and so libraries -
private and public, royal and civic - played key roles in
articulating intellectual life. This collection, written by an
international team of scholars, presents a fundamental reassessment
of how ancient libraries came into being, how they were organized
and how they were used. Drawing on papyrology and archaeology, and
on accounts written by those who read and wrote in them, it
presents new research on reading cultures, on book collecting and
on the origins of monumental library buildings. Many of the
traditional stories told about ancient libraries are challenged.
Few were really enormous, none were designed as research centres,
and occasional conflagrations do not explain the loss of most
ancient texts. But the central place of libraries in Greco-Roman
culture emerges more clearly than ever.
The circulation of books was the motor of classical civilization.
However, books were both expensive and rare, and so libraries -
private and public, royal and civic - played key roles in
articulating intellectual life. This collection, written by an
international team of scholars, presents a fundamental reassessment
of how ancient libraries came into being, how they were organized
and how they were used. Drawing on papyrology and archaeology, and
on accounts written by those who read and wrote in them, it
presents new research on reading cultures, on book collecting and
on the origins of monumental library buildings. Many of the
traditional stories told about ancient libraries are challenged.
Few were really enormous, none were designed as research centres,
and occasional conflagrations do not explain the loss of most
ancient texts. But the central place of libraries in Greco-Roman
culture emerges more clearly than ever.
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