The international Journal Thaumazein devotes a special issue to the relationship between kairos a... more The international Journal Thaumazein devotes a special issue to the relationship between kairos and the techniques in Graeco-Roman antiquity. It is a well-known fact that the concept of kairos encompasses a wide variety of meanings, ranging from "due time", "critical situation", "appropriate or decisive moment", to "correct behaviour" and "skilful action". All of these meanings point not only to the temporal and circumstantial features that characterize kairos, but also, and more importantly, to the action that is required in order to seize a favorable opportunity in a given moment. Without such action, and the ability to perform it, the kairos does not yield any advantage, thus remaining unexploited. On the other hand, without kairos no action can be successful, as even the most refined ability is by itself no guarantee for a successful outcome. In the Graeco-Roman world, kairos is therefore always linked with specific skills: in arts such as poetry, rhetorics, medicine, divination and in a variety of techniques (such as those needed in farming, warfare and sports) the successful outcome depends on the ability to grasp the kairos that is within reach at a given moment. We invite papers dealing with kairos in ancient arts and techniques. Papers should explore the multiple ways in which kairos provides a specific rationale for action in a wide variety of domains. The aim of the volume is to understand how the different meanings and nuances of kairos shed light on the methodologies of ancient arts and techniques, and how these very methodologies can in turn provide ways to expand our knowledge of kairos.
The international Journal Thaumazein devotes a special issue to the relationship between kairos a... more The international Journal Thaumazein devotes a special issue to the relationship between kairos and the techniques in Graeco-Roman antiquity. It is a well-known fact that the concept of kairos encompasses a wide variety of meanings, ranging from "due time", "critical situation", "appropriate or decisive moment", to "correct behaviour" and "skilful action". All of these meanings point not only to the temporal and circumstantial features that characterize kairos, but also, and more importantly, to the action that is required in order to seize a favorable opportunity in a given moment. Without such action, and the ability to perform it, the kairos does not yield any advantage, thus remaining unexploited. On the other hand, without kairos no action can be successful, as even the most refined ability is by itself no guarantee for a successful outcome. In the Graeco-Roman world, kairos is therefore always linked with specific skills: in arts such as poetry, rhetorics, medicine, divination and in a variety of techniques (such as those needed in farming, warfare and sports) the successful outcome depends on the ability to grasp the kairos that is within reach at a given moment. We invite papers dealing with kairos in ancient arts and techniques. Papers should explore the multiple ways in which kairos provides a specific rationale for action in a wide variety of domains. The aim of the volume is to understand how the different meanings and nuances of kairos shed light on the methodologies of ancient arts and techniques, and how these very methodologies can in turn provide ways to expand our knowledge of kairos.
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