Caesar\'s Calendar. Ancient Time and the Beginnings of History (Sather Classical Lectures)

PREFACE

xi

Time became an obsession for me in more ways than one after I had the honor of

being invited to deliver the Sather Lectures. Four years went by between receiving

the invitation and arriving in Berkeley in spring 2004, and time ’s pressure grew

remorselessly all through that period. It accelerated as the years dwindled, and

“next year” finally became “this year.” I moved into my office for the semester and

began spending most of my waking hours facing out the window, looking at the

beautiful Berkeley hills; framed against them was Sather Tower, with its inex-

orably advancing hands, and its bells tolling out the hours that were being sliced

away from my deadline. Soon it was next month, and then next week, and then

today, tonight.

Now, my first lecture is twenty-eight months in the past, and I can with a cer-

tain degree of tranquillity recollect the very happy semester I enjoyed in Berkeley.

Everything you read in the prefaces to books in the Sather series is true: the friend-

liness and hospitality of the department and the university community are indeed

wonderful, the physical surroundings are superb, the conditions for concentrated

work are ideal. I owe a great debt of gratitude, first of all, to Robert and Carolyn

Knapp. Robert was the perfect chairman, making everything run smoothly, and he

and Carolyn made me feel immediately at home with their generous hospitality.

The faculty were outstanding collective hosts; I must particularly thank Erich

and Joan Gruen, Tony and Monique Long, and Nelly Oliensis and John Shoptaw.

Steve Miller coached me on ancient agriculture and astronomy and took me to a

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