Saeculum: Defining Historical Eras in Ancient Roman Thought

How the notion of unique eras influenced the Roman view of time and the narration of history from various perspectives.

The Victorian Era. The Age of Enlightenment. The post-9/11 years. We are accustomed to demarcating history, fencing off one period from the next. But societies have not always operated in this way. Paul Hay returns to Rome in the first century BCE to glimpse the beginnings of periodization as it is still commonly practiced, exploring how the ancient Romans developed a nov...