Lupine Publishers | Journal of Forensic & Genetic Sciences
Abstract
During their research of the explanation of the world, most authors
were, and still are, concerned about temporality. However,
the literature of the subject is dominated by a proliferation of
opinions and a dramatic absence of demonstrations, the tenacity of
historians, poets and philosophers deserves praise. In his Annales, the
Latin poet Tacitus (c.55-c.120) notices that there is little
distance between art and error (Book IV, Ch. LVIII, 3).
Keywords:Precursor; Event; State of a System
Introduction
Since antiquity, the main trends of thought have developed from
the idea of eternity: in many cultures, man in his anguish refuses
death by attributing himself an eternal destiny. The idea of eternity
can be considered a prodrom of temporality; a major precursor of
time observed as soon as the writing was invented about 5000 years
ago. This study reviews the main concepts of temporality, according
to their appearance in history, and through over fifty major authors.
Eternity and Rebirth
Figure 1: A sacred precursor of time and space. .
Eternity is a theological precursor of time that has first
appeared in Mesopotomia and in Egypt. An Egyptian hieroglyph
(Figure 1) symbolizes the cycle of the Sun God Re, in which the
disc represents Re, creator of living beings. The spread wings of the
Goddess Nephthys symbolize the Sun’s path, with the alternation of
day and night, and with rebirth after death: a life post mortem in an
imaginary hereafter, a life that is sustainable, perpetual; hence the
idea of eternity, the idea of eternal duration. This sacred symbol of
motion spread across a large part of western Asia, but no trace has
been observed in Greek and Roman architecture and numismatics.
In most theogonies, Gods created humans with the purpose
of being served and venerated; but, as they were afraid of being
overwhelmed by these creatures of their own making, an idea which
may seem strange to us, they made them mortals. They could then
exert their occult Uranian influence by using aging and subsequent
death. God must be written with a capital letter, as the Latin poet
Petronius (?-c.65 CE) (CXIV) did in Satiricon, and as Tacitus did in
Annales (Book III, Ch. VI, 2); indeed, their Gods were not inferior
to ours. (CE for Common Era; BCE for Before Common Era). The
Gilgamesh Epic (Sumer, c.2700 BCE) reveals that the Gods created
humans, but that death was part of the deal. The legendary king
was protected by the sun God Shamash, requesting that neither
he nor his double Enkidu should be required to age: they wanted
eternal life.
Pharaoh Narmer, c.3000 BCE, Menes in Greek « the one who
is eternal » [1], p. 37), was the first pharaoh of unified Egypt. The
name of pharaoh Menkaou-Re (c.2500 BCE), Mikherinos in Greek
means « the solar God Re is eternal » [1], p. 46). The Pharaoh Khety,
c.2070 BCE, gave his opinion: « Man survives after death, his deeds
in a heap at his side. We are here for eternity; he who does not take
Eternity is a theological precursor of time that has first
appeared in Mesopotomia and in Egypt. An Egyptian hieroglyph
(Figure 1) symbolizes the cycle of the Sun God Re, in which the
disc represents Re, creator of living beings. The spread wings of the
Goddess Nephthys symbolize the Sun’s path, with the alternation of
day and night, and with rebirth after death: a life post mortem in an
imaginary hereafter, a life that is sustainable, perpetual; hence the
idea of eternity, the idea of eternal duration. This sacred symbol of
motion spread across a large part of western Asia, but no trace has
been observed in Greek and Roman architecture and numismatics.
In most theogonies, Gods created humans with the purpose
of being served and venerated; but, as they were afraid of being
overwhelmed by these creatures of their own making, an idea which
may seem strange to us, they made them mortals. They could then
exert their occult Uranian influence by using aging and subsequent
death. God must be written with a capital letter, as the Latin poet
Petronius (?-c.65 CE) (CXIV) did in Satiricon, and as Tacitus did in
Annales (Book III, Ch. VI, 2); indeed, their Gods were not inferior
to ours. (CE for Common Era; BCE for Before Common Era). The
Gilgamesh Epic (Sumer, c.2700 BCE) reveals that the Gods created
humans, but that death was part of the deal. The legendary king
was protected by the sun God Shamash, requesting that neither
he nor his double Enkidu should be required to age: they wanted
eternal life.
Pharaoh Narmer, c.3000 BCE, Menes in Greek « the one who
is eternal » [1], p. 37), was the first pharaoh of unified Egypt. The
name of pharaoh Menkaou-Re (c.2500 BCE), Mikherinos in Greek
means « the solar God Re is eternal » [1], p. 46). The Pharaoh Khety,
c.2070 BCE, gave his opinion: « Man survives after death, his deeds
in a heap at his side. We are here for eternity; he who does not take
care of that is a total fool! » [2], p. 62). The Djed (Figure 2) is a pillarshaped
amulet which was intended to allow the pharaoh to live on
« for ever in the next world » [3], Ch. III). The Djed appears on the
side of the throne of Sesostris I (1970-1928 BCE) which was found
in Karnak (Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo). It reminds
the backbone of Osiris [4], p. 27), the God of rebirth after death. In
his hypogeum, Amenophis II receives the cross of life Ankh (Figure
2) from the Goddess Hathor, thus conferring the gift of immortality
[4], p. 121). In Odes, the Latin poet Horace (65-8 BCE) writes « we
shall take the barque for the eternal exile » (Book II, III). For the
polytheists (early 1st century), αιων (aion) is the eternal duration,
associated with change. The fourth century Greek philosopher
Euhemerus made a rational study of the post mortem divination of
monarchs and prophets, called euhemerism, which is today lost in
part. Medieval Judeo-Christians used the expression eternal time
[5], p. 522).
Figure 2: Djed and Ankh.
The Day
Figure 3: Hittite hieroglyph for « day ».
The Hittite pictographic writing appears during the 15th century
BCE, as does their first hieroglyphs: they use the day in their
everyday life as a kind of unit (Figure 3) [6]. In Odyssey, the Greek
poet Homer (9th century BCE) writes: « when Zeus brought the
seventh day » (Song XII). « Then Helios was falling (in the Okeanos),
and it was the end of this war of one day » (post-Homeric song).
In Cratyle, the Greek philosopher Plato (428-348) notices that for
Socrates (470-399), (the Sun) « is continuously rotating around
the Earth ». The Latin poet Virgil (70-19 BCE), refers to volvenda
dies: the rolling out of the days; what let suppose he considered
that time is an active phenomenon. In de rerum natura, the Latin
poet Lucretius (99-c.55 BCE) mentions the revolutions of the Sun
(Song V, 931). In Manuel des Poids et Mesures, published in 1840,
A. Tarbe gives an exemplary definition: « the returns (of the Sun)
to the meridian mark the days » (Titre IV, §8). This is the rigorous
semantic of an Avocat General at the Court of Cassation who was
not, however, an astronomer.
The Month
Figure 4: The invention of temporality.
From 2800 BCE, Sumerians have developed a cuneiform writing
[7]. An unexpected clay tablet has been uncovered: it is engraved
with a cuneiform sign (Figure 4) which means « lunar month » (6,
Ch. II). It is the oldest proven reference to temporality (2800-2500)
in the history of thought. The foregoing analysis demonstrates
that the lunar month was not discovered somewhere in Nature
or in the Universe, unlike a virus or an exo-planet. The Sumerian
savants observed the Moon alternations, they named it arhue,
which corresponds to the lunar month, and they used it as a unit
in their everyday life. The lunar month is the invention of the first
parameter of time, knowing that the word time does not exist yet.
In Odes, the Latin poet Horace (65-8 BCE) wrote: Luna volvit menses
(the Moon rolls out the months). In Aeneid, Virgil, who assumes
that time is active, ventures the following expression: volvendis
mensibus (the course of the months).
The Year
The year was used in Mesopotamia from the late 3rd millennium
(7, Ch. IV): it comprised 360 days. During the Assyrian period (12th-
7th century BCE), the limmu was an important person whose name
was used to indicate the year (5, p. 239). In Odyssey, Homer writes:
« when time comes with the course of years » (Song I). « when the
fourth year came, and when the seasons began again » (Song II). «
after days and months have passed and the year being performed,
seasons come again » (Song IV). « at the end of the year, when the
hours have accomplished their round trip, when the months have
gone by and when long days have elapsed » (Song X). In Histories,
the Greek historian Herodotus (484-425) reports his travel in Egypt
during which Egyptians claimed that they were the first to identify
the annual cycle of seasons, this being divided into twelve months
(Book II, 4). In Georgics, Virgil uses Volventibus annis (the years roll
out). In Epistles, Horace complains: « During their course, the years
strip us all our advantages » (Book II, II). In Life of Numa, the Greek
philosopher Plutarch (c.46-c.126) writes about the year: « It only
has three months among certain barbarians. Among Egyptians,
the year had one month at first, and later it had four months » (18,
6 & 7). The Consul Ausonius, in The other prayer to the calends of
January (379 CE), was the first in Rome to associate the regular
advent of seasons with Annus (5, p. 553). The calends was the first
day of the lunar month.
Past, Present and Future
Homer refers to what has passed using the word παρωξημενοζ
(5, p. 547). In Odyssey, he writes: « So that we sang them in the
future days » (Song VIII). The Greek poets Aeschylus (c.525-456)
and Pindar (518-438) talk about future time: μελλων (5, p. 547).
For the Greek Stoic Zeno (335-264), ομελλων means the future.
The present is initiated with οενεστωζ, but its reality is denied (5,
p. 551). They were right, because present time is a concept. In on
Common Conceptions against the Stoics, Plutarch criticizes them
with an unjustified reproach: « it is contrary to the notion that we
have a future time and a past, but no present » (5, p. 549). In Isis, he
mentions Rhea, the mother of Gods, spouse of Cronus (or Kronos),
and the source of duration [8].
In Pyrrhonian Hypotyposes, the philosopher Sextus Empiricus
(c.160-c.210) mentions the three divisions of time. He wonders if
time exists or not. Is it finite or infinite? Divisible or indivisible?
Perishable if it was created, or imperishable if it was not created?
(5, p. 548). In the Peloponnese War, the Greek founder of historical
science, Thucydides (c.465-c.395), reports the conflict which
opposes Athena and Sparta from 431 to 404, pulled into conflict
by their various alliances. He does not study present time, but
present events. He follows the sequence of events in order to
understand, and to accomplish his work as a historian (Book V, 26).
In his conference La Conscience et la Vie (in L’Energie Spirituelle)
at Birmingham University in 1911, the French philosopher
Henri Bergson (1859-1941) described the present, as a duration
thickness located between our immediate past and our imminent
future. The physicist J. M. Levy-Leblond claims about present, that
there is a width and a thickness between future and past [9]. In
fact, if present designates present event, its duration is measured
with a timer; if it designates present time, the duration of time is an
obvious sophism.
The Seasons
Thucydides talks about the season (August) during which
people’s health grows weaker (Book VII, 47). He avoids the
confusion between the seasonal climatic impact and time. His
translator Denis Roussel notes that physicians of the Cos School,
that of Hippocrates (c.460-c.377) were taking the influence of
climate and seasons into account. In the early fourth century AD,
during Roman times, winged women were used to represent the
four seasons, as in the Mosaic of the Seasons which was discovered
near Antioch [10], Ch. V), and is now in the Musee du Louvre. In
Histoire du temps (Fayard 1982), the French intellectual Jacques
Attali reports an investigation carried out by Reinberg and Halberg
about people suffering from brain death in France between 1962
and 1967, from which it results a greater fragility during winter
seasons. Attali takes this as an action of time on individuals (Ch. 4),
whereas in fact there is no action of time, merely a seasonal climatic
impact. DAYS’ WALK
Herodotus frequently specifies the distance travelled (or to be
travelled) in « days’ walk », in « days’ sail », or in « months’ sail »
(Book I, 203; Book II, 19 and 31: « The distance is not short, it’s three
days’ walk » (Book III, 6). In Anabase, the historian and strategist
Xenophon (c.428-c.353) uses « days’ walk » (Book I), like Plutarch
does in Life of Timoleon (25, 5). Considering how slow walking
armies could be, for Persian, Greek, and Phoenician strategists, and
especially for the foot soldiers and sailors who carried out these
maneuvers, these expressions had the advantage of indicating
both the « distance » and the « duration » of the travel. « distance
walked in one day », « distance sailed in one day » and « distance
sailed in one month » can be considered the first speed units. The
British physicist Issac Newton (1643-1727) formalizes the distance
travelled according to speed, with the equation: (distance travelled)
= (velocity) x (duration of the travel) (9, p. 67).
The Clepsydra
The Latin writer Cicero (106-43) uses ad clepsydram, which
means: under the control of the clepsydra, which is a water clock.
Plutarch says that he’s measuring the water of clepsydra (Life of
Alcibiades, 19, 5): he measures how much water has flowed, not the
duration of an event.
Duration
The Queen Hatshepsut (1504-1483 BCE) says « So that my
name is durable and perpetual ». Hatshepsut’s high priest: « I went
towards my place of infinite duration ». Amenophis I « Amon is
satisfied » (1558-1530 BCE) adds « Amon whose monuments are
long-lasting » [11], Ch. II). Ptahhotep begs his pharaoh Isesi (c.2400
BCE) to discharge him of his functions: he complains of « the longlasting
of life » (12, Ch. III). Was the concept of duration known at
this epoch? Instead, Ptahotep probably said « the many years of
life ». The physicist Michel Paty points out that the philosopher
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) thought that a duration had a
temporal thickness [9].
Time
In Tell el-Amarna, on the tomb of Ai, who was the second
husband of Nefertiti « the beautiful one has come » (second half of
XIVth BCE), there appears a poignant anthem to the Sun composed
by the Pharaoh Akhenaten, instigator of the first monotheism: « You
are time itself, you last with it. In you, we all live eternally thanks to
your splendour » [12], Ch. II). Eternity was subsequently referred
to as the father of time by the Greek philosopher Proclus (412-485)
(5, p. 540). In the Heracleidae by the Greek poet Euripides (480-
406 BCE), eternity was given the nickname son of time. According
to Plato, the Demiurge has created a mutable copy (time) of the
immutable model (eternity) (5, p. 537); in other words, Plato
considers time to be a reality, without defining it. In Timaeus, he
notes: « the Sun, the Moon and the five other planets were born
to define the numbers of time » (5, p. 559). This is correct, given
that the numbers of time correspond to our time units. However, he
adds: « days, nights, seasons, are time divisions »; which shows that
he did not see the need to distinguish phenomena (days, nights and
seasons) and concepts (time divisions).
Philosophy treats time and physical space as primordial
categories of understanding, although Philosophy does not explain
what time and space are. For the Greek philosopher Aristotle
(384-322), time and place are two out of his ten categories of
understanding. In his cosmological treatise On the Heavens, the
tutor of Alexander the Great, uses αιων (aion) for duration; the
tripartition of time is not clearly established (5, p. 537). In De rerum
natura Lucretius notices « the immensity of time » (Song V, 427)
and « the infiniteness of time » (Song II, 574 et Song V, 378); he
uses spatium tempus for space of time. Fugit irreparabile tempus
(Time flies irremediably): this aphorism due to Virgil in Georgics
represents all the metaphors of the presumed dynamics of time.
In Geography, the historian and geographer Strabon (c.64-c.22 EC)
reminds that the Egyptian priests of Thebes, who also dealt with
philosophy and astronomy, decided to connect the course of time
to the Sun and no longer to the Moon. The Roman historian Titus
Livius (c.59-17 CE) used spatium tempus for space of time. In The
art of loving, the Latin poet Ovid (43- 18 CE) asserts that « with time
you will conquer Penelope » (Book I). He rejoices: « Others praise
the past; for myself, I am pleased to be born in this century » (Book
III). « Time flows like water » (Book III). Tempus edax rerum (Time
destroys things), the aphorism of Ovid in Metamorphoses, suggests
that time is the cause of change, including aging.
Plutarch was careful enough to say he had « leisure » instead
of « free time » (Life of Cesar, 11, 5). Petronius describes « a clock
near which a bucinator warns us of the flight of the days, and time
gone by » (XXV). Days and hours cannot be measured; it is changes
observed by Petronius that are measured. In Annals, Tacitus uses the
expression « succession of times » instead of « succession of events »
(Book XII, Ch. XL, 5). He uses distanti tempore for space of time. The
Mosaic of Antioch (150 x 350 cm) was brought to light in 1939 in
the lower valley of the Orontes river. Dated from Roman times (3rd
Century) it carries the inscription ΧΡΟΝΟΙ (plural of time). The
mosaic represents three allegories at a banquet: ΠΑΡΩΞΗΜΕ//
ΝΟΕ (past), ΕΝΕΣΤΩΣ (present), ΜΕΔΔΩΝ (future). Outside the
symposiac scene, the fourth allegory, ΑΙΩΝ (Aion), God of eternity,
exhibits the ring of the zodiac, which symbolizes the uninterrupted
and eternal duration of cosmic cycles (5, p. 517). Proclus proposes a
truly constructive definition: « Time is the measure of the common
return of all motions to the same point » (5, p. 557). This definition
is interesting, even though Proclus does not differentiate between a
phenomenon and the corresponding concept. Strictly speaking, it’s
the observation of the return of motions that defines the concept
of time.
The Roman bishop Aurelius Augustinus (354-430) complained
in his Confessions (398) that time was familiar to him, but otherwise
totally elusive if ever he attempted to explain it. In La Magie
Orientale, Idries Shan observes that the Qutub was the supreme
and invisible head of Sufism who managed to reach the degree of
Wasl (Union with the infinite); he used to communicate with chiefs
of the Order through telepathy, by abolishing time and space (p. 83).
In As you like it, the British playwright William Shakespeare (1564-
1616) has Rosalind say: « the lazy foot of Time as well as a clock.
Time travels in divers’ paces with divers’ persons » (Act III, Scene
II). He uses heterochrony to express the illusive heterogeneity of
durations; asserting that time passes quickly or that it flows slowly
assigns a speed to time, but with respect to time, which is a sophism.
In Julius Caesar, Mark Antony speaks to Caesar who has just been
murdered: « Thou art ruins of the noblest man That ever lived in the
tide of times » (Act III, Scene I, 256). For Newton, time determines
phenomena (9, p. 33). « I saw the customs of my time », the Swiss
philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) writes in the
preface to La Nouvelle Héloïse published in 1761: Rousseau used
the word time instead of the word epoch. The German philosopher
Emmanuel Kant (1724-1804) considers time and space as two out
of his twelve philosophical categories: Kant asserts that time and
space are pure intuitions, cognizable by intellect.
Time as a Phenomenon
Lucretius asserts that « time does not exist » (Song I, 459), but
he later refers to « the strong forces of time » (Song III, 451), and «
the eternal stretching of time » (Song V, 216). Lucretius mentions «
the strong laws of time » (Song V, 58), « the ravages of time » (Song V,
317), and « the forces of immense time » (Song V, 379). He adds that
« time is changing the nature of the world » (Song V, 834). In Ancient
History of the Jews, the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (37-c.100)
noticed that the beauty of the palace built in Ecbatana, the capital
of Media, now Hamadan, in the sixth century BCE by Darius King
of Persia, was not tarnished by time (Book X, 11). Flavius recalls
that « The Temple of Jerusalem was taken (by Pompey) on a day
of fasting during the 179th olympiad » (Book VIII, 2), which would
have been about 60 BCE. The Roman historian Curtius Rufus (1st
century) admired the good condition of the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon (Bab-Ilu means the door of God Ilu), which were created
by Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562), and which had thus escaped the
gradual destruction by time.
Plutarch observed that the monuments of Pericles (including
the Parthenon) were preserved from « the ravages of time » (Life of
Pericles, 13, 5). He cited Pericles when he was faced with the threat
of war: « Time is the best advisor » (17: 18, 2), thereby discouraging
haste. The French poet Victor Hugo (1802-1885) quotes the
inscription on the façade of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, which
refers to damage done to the monument during the Revolution:
Tempus edax, Homo edacior (Time destroys, humans more so). In
L’Evolution Creatrice (1907), the French philosopher Henri Bergson
(1859-1941) asserts that time is a flux and a kind of force, however
flux and force are mutually exclusive. In La Fin des Certitudes (Odile
Jacob, 1996), the Belgium Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize in chemistry
in 1977, is convinced that time must necessarily play an active role
in physical laws (Ch. I): The French philosopher Gilles Deleuze
(1925-1995) thinks that time keeps dividing itself into before and
after with the motion of the instant.
Events
In Bibliotheca historica, the Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily
(c.90-30) stresses the fact that history has valuable lessons to teach
us: the history that Diodorus is talking about concerns past events
and present events, rather than past time and present time. In Ars
Poetica, Horace mockes the laudator temporis acti (the old man who
praises past time); of course, Horace means past life or past events,
instead of past time as such. In Odes he writes: Luna volvit menses
(The Moon rolls out the months). Fugaces labuntur anni! (The years
pass quickly!) (Book II, XIII).
The Physical State of a System
The Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras
(c.570-c.480) considers that « everything changes, nothing
disappears ». In de Natura, the Greek philosopher Parmenides
(c.504-450) explains that the Universe is stationary. On the other
hand, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus (c.541-c.480) has an
intuition of impermanence: Παντα ρει και ουδεν μενει (everything
flows, nothing remains) [5]. In de rerum natura, Lucretius writes
that « nothing stays the same as it is now » (Song V, 830). In on the
E at Delphi, Plutarch pointed out the impossibility of « observing a
deadly substance twice in the same physical state » (5, p. 555).
Time and duration will be defined from the concept of state of
a system [13].
The Existence of Time
In Sein und Zeit (1927), the German philosopher Martin
Heidegger (1889-1976) postulates the existence of time and the
phenomenology of time. He thinks of time as a being, and confused
time, events, and historiality; he wondered why the flux of time
could not be reversed. Despite his baroque phraseology, he could
not explain the nature of time. The Austrian physicist Ernst Mach
(1838-1916) thought that space and time did not exist, and that
they were used to relate together certain phenomenona (9, p.
130). In other words, Mach considered that time and space were
only parameters. In 1953, the French poet Louis Aragon (1897-
1982) proclaims without hesitation that Stalin, who had just died,
was « the greatest philosopher of all time » (L’Express, Feb. 22nd,
2012). Naturally, we should understand here: in the whole history
of philosophy, as the poet did not know the meaning of the word
time. The Dictionnaire General du Surrealisme (P.U.F 1982) reports
that the grave of the surrealist poet André Breton (1896-1966) in
Batignolles cemetery in Paris carries the epitaph: « I seek the gold
of time ». In Princeton in 1954, the Swiss physicist Albert Einstein
(1879-1955) did a statement wherein he was in favour of a theory
with no space and no time; « although we do not know how to do »,
Einstein added (9, p. 44).
Conclusion
Tacitus reminds us that « The habits were modified, according
to needs; also, today’s innovation would soon happen in the
manners » (Book XII, Ch. VI, 3). The long and rich Odyssey of time,
from eternity to Einstein’s interrogation, offers an unexpected
illustration of Titus’s aphorism.
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