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Never before has time obsessed humanity as much as now. The more accurately we measure it, the more it worries us. Although we complain that it passes too quickly, we seldom question its fundamental characteristics or the methods we use to measure it. Having grown so accustomed to the ideas of time, history, and evolution, we find it hard to imagine that these concepts were not always considered important. If, however, we wish to understand why time dominates our way of life and thought, we must examine the role it has played throughout history. G.J. Whitrow provides just the study we need. His compelling, groundbreaking volume traces the evolution of our general awareness of time and its significance from the dawn of history to the present day. He examines not only the development of our methods of measuring time, but also discusses how changing concepts of time have influenced history itself. From prehistoric times to the twentieth century, and ranging from Ancient Egypt, Greece, Israel, the Islamic World, India, and China, to Europe and America, Whitrow presents an absorbing account of the different ways that various civilizations throughout history have perceived time. Preface Introduction Awareness of Time Time and civil life Our sense of time Time and mankind Describing Time Time, language, and number Time and natural bases of measurement Time in contemporary society Time in Antiquity and the Middle Ages Time at the dawn of history Prehistory Ancient Egypt Sumeria and Babylonia Ancient Iran Time in Classical Antiquity Classical Greece and Hellenistic civilization Ancient Israel Imperial Rome and early Christianity Time in the Middle Ages Medieval Europe The Islamic World The periodization of history and millenarianism The measurement of time Time in the Far East and Mesoamerica India China The Maya Time in the Modern World The Advent of the Mechanical Clock The invention of the verge escapment The social influence of the mechanical clock Time and History in the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution Reform of the calendar The pendulum clock and the clocklike universe Attitudes to time and history in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Time and History in the Eighteenth Century The invention of the marine chronometer The discovery of historical perspective Evolution and the Industrial Revolution The evolutionary universe The role of time in modern industrial society Rival Concepts of Time Instant and duration Relativistic and cosmic time Time, History, and Progress Time and belief in progress Time, history, and the computerized society Appendices 1 Leap Years 2 The Metonic Calendrical Cycle 3 The Calculation of Easter References Index