GRK 372:  Pre-Modern Concepts of Time and the Past

• Subject Area: Ancient Cultures
• Term: from 1998 to 2004
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 272097

Research in this research training group is mainly concerned with thoseideas of time and the past which were relevant in the period from Antiquity to the Renaissance; such ideas will be investigated from various angles in order to find out what significance they may have had for individuals as well as for social groups or for society as a whole. In particular, the following points will be considered from a philosophical, historical, and/or literary point of view:(1) The conceptualisation and structuring of time and the past in thepre-modern era (e.g. relevant expressions and their meanings; models; ideas of linearity and circularity; the calendar; epochs and eras; generations and genealogies; the origins, changes, declines, or other turning points in the development of such ideas, etc.).(2) The practical application of such concepts and ideas in various areas of culture and society (e.g. the uses of the past in the construction of 'history', 'stories', and views of history; metaphors and topoi in different literary genres as well as in philosophical and political theory, etc.).(3) The significance of time and the past for individuals and for theintellectual framework of the respective societies (e.g. legitimisation; creation of meaning and identity; the establishment of norms; education; time as a structural element in literature; etc.).

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Universität zu Köln
• Participating Institution: Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf; Universität Siegen
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Karl-Joachim Hölkeskamp
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Jan A. Aertsen (†); Professor Dr. Wolfram Ax (†); Professor Dr. Wilhelm G. Busse; Professor Dr. Werner Deuse; Professor Dr. Andreas Kablitz; Professor Dr. Udo Kindermann; Professor Dr. Bernd Manuwald; Professorin Dr. Ursula Peters; Professor Dr. Tilman Struve (†); Professor Dr. Heinz-Josef Thissen (†); Professor Dr. Michael Zahrnt