Temporal Concepts and Perception of Time in the Ancient Orient [Proceedings of the Workshop 'Calendar Festivals of the Ancient Orient']

The workshop “Calendar Festivals of the Ancient Orient” was organized by Professor of St. Petersburg State University V.V.Emelianov in the framework of the scientific conference “Religious Studies in Russia: from the past to the future” (St. Petersburg State University, Museum of the History of Religion, St. Petersburg, November 20-21, 2020).
The research is supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project N 19-18-00085) “Calendar Festivals of the Ancient Orient: Calendar Ritual and the Role of Temporal Representations in the Traditional Consciousness of the Ancient Peoples”. In our project, for the first time, the task is to create a holistic picture of the history of temporal representations of the peoples of the Ancient Orient (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Asia Minor, Israel and Judea, India, Iran) in the cultural and historical context of the Bronze and Iron Ages (3rd millennium BC.–1st millennium BC).
As the authors of the project see it, the most important task of this research is to study the influence of temporal factors on the traditional consciousness and political ideology of the societies of the ancient world, as well as to study the evolution of temporal concepts found in the sources of different eras. The intended result can be used in the works of specialists in chronology, heortology, religious studies, mythology, ethnology, folklore studies, general history, political science, sociology, cultural philosophy and philosophical anthropology.