Description
- Abstract:
- Abstract of The Archaeology of Roman Hourly Timekeeping, by Alex John Marko, Ph.D., Brown University, October 2021. The social impacts of hourly timekeeping practices in the Roman empire have often been given lower priority than the technological and scientific background of tracking short time. This dissertation argues that hourly timekeeping had profound impacts on social life among Romans, and that these impacts are centered on the material objects that told hourly time and the assemblages in which they participated. This dissertation further argues that hourly timekeeping was widespread and influential enough that it should be considered a vital piece of infrastructure in the Roman Imperial period. In order to prove these points, this dissertation closely contextualizes both individual timekeeping devices and the broader assemblages in which they participated. Timekeeping devices are considered alongside the written, epigraphic, and representational record to further contextualize their role in social life. The catalog of relevant objects here is the largest known to the author, drawing on both previous scholarship and newly identified evidence. The dissertation identifies both spatial and temporal trends in the use of hourly timekeeping across the ancient Mediterranean, most notably that the Roman Imperial period saw significant changes in these uses and their broader significance. Many of the social impacts of hourly time were enacted through administrative action by the empire and/or local authorities. In order to investigate these impacts, this dissertation also offers new contributions on the role of hours and the devices that kept them in Roman law and practice. This dissertation shows that hourly time was more commonly used in the Roman world than even scholars of ancient timekeeping have previously suggested. These uses range from imperial policy to the private lives of individuals across the socio-economic spectrum.
- Notes:
- Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brown University, 2021
Citation
Marko, Alex John,
"The Archaeology of Roman Hourly Timekeeping"
(2021).
Graduate Research Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:5ks935zt/
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Graduate Research Theses and Dissertations
Theses and Dissertations for the Graduate Research department....