"The question of what time is and how it is relevant for humans also occupied the Roman world. Philosophical discourse only played a small part; of more interest were the functions of "time" within society. This study pays particular attention to situations in which temporal order underwent changes in the Roman Empire - for example with the introduction of clocks in Rome, the Julian reform of the calendar, the extension of the Empire to new lands and cultures - and investigates literary reflexion on these changes in the Roman literature of the Republic and the Early Empire."--Publisher's website.