Visualizing Time

Abstract The Greeks had two words for time: the measurable, uniform time that is chronos, and the hard-to-grasp, opportune moment that is kairos. As the sole visual personification of a time concept in Classical and Early Hellenistic Greece, the celebrated sculpture of Kairos by Lysippos embodies the aesthetic principles of the artist—perhaps Kairos was his own ‘canon’, envisioned as a direct response to that of his predecessor Polykleitos. When encountering the sculpture in its reconstructed 3D form, it becomes clear that its technical tour de force, especially in its composition, balance, and weight distribution as well as its possible mechanization, must be understood within the context of fourth-century scientific and technological advancements, including that of astronomy. By reviewing more recent ideas regarding fourth-century development of the mechanistic arts—those involving Archytas and Eudoxus as well as time-measuring or time-telling devices that signal a more focused societal awareness of short-term temporality—and by revisiting Aristotle’s relationship to the branch of mechanics, the Lysippan Kairos is re-evaluated as a visual expression of the fleeting concept of time—one that is both an essential part of the contemporary lived experience as well as a product of the contemporary philosophical and scientific landscape.