Time in the classical and medieval worldviews

pp. 1-23

in: Klaus Mainzer, The little book of time, New York City, Copernicus, 2002

Abstract

Over the course of their evolution, humans have developed an awareness of time so they could put in order the past, the present, and the future. Historically, the awareness of time was by no means universal or uniform. Ancient cultures all employed different models and techniques for measuring the duration and passage of time. In this chapter, we will briefly chart the intellectual history of time, exploring the early ideas that laid the groundwork upon which our contemporary concepts of time are based.