TY - JOUR

T1 - ВОСПРИЯТИЕ МИРОЗДАНИЯ, ВРЕМЕНИ И ВЕЧНОСТИ КАК КЛЮЧЕВОЙ ФАКТОР ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ ЦИВИЛИЗАЦИОННОЙ ИДЕНТИЧНОСТИ: НА ПРИМЕРЕ ДРЕВНИХ ЕВРЕЕВ И ДРЕВНИХ ГРЕКОВ

AU - Тантлевский, Игорь Романович

N1 - ΣΧΟΛΗ Vol. 20. 2 (2026) 2026 classics.nsu.ru/schole

PY - 2026/7

Y1 - 2026/7

N2 - This article offers a comparative analysis of conceptions of the universe, time, and eternity in ancient Jews and ancient Greek intellectual traditions, with particular attention to their role in shaping distinct forms of civilizational identity. The discussion begins with the semantic range of the Hebrew term 'ōlām, which may denote duration, a world-age, universal infinity, and, in later contexts, the world as a spatiotemporal whole. In the Hebrew Bible, God is presented as transcending both the spatial-material universe and the created duration of the world. Against this background, the article examines the Tetragrammaton, the Septuagint rendering of Exodus 3:14, and Philo of Alexandria's philosophical interpretation of the formula ἐγώ εἰμι ὅ ὄν. Special attention is given to Ecclesiastes 3:11: the possible meanings of hā-'ōlām are considered together with the anthropological semantics of lēb, "heart," understood as mind and consciousness, and with the possibility that the verse attributes to human beings a capacity to apprehend reality sub specie aeternitatis. Biblical accounts of creation through divine Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Word, and Plan are also reconstructed and compared with Greek cosmological models. The analysis then turns to Heraclitus' ever-living cosmos, Aristotle's definition of time as the number of motion, the Stoic understanding of time as the extension of motion and of worlds as cyclically recurring, and Plato's distinction between immutable eternity and time as its moving numerical image. The comparison suggests that Greek thought predominantly organizes being in spatial terms and associates perfection with immobility, symmetry, and cyclical recurrence. The Hebrew tradition, by contrast, conceives the world as irreversible duration and history, extending from creation toward eschatological fulfilment and beyond it into infinity. A chariot wheel that simultaneously rotates and moves forward is proposed as a model for the relative cyclicity and absolute linearity of ancient Hebrew time. These contrasting temporal ontologies inform anthropology, ethics, historiography, and aesthetics: the contemplative and plastic orientation of Hellenic culture is set against the literary, ethical, and action-centred character of biblical culture. The article concludes that conceptions of universe, time, and eternity are not secondary abstractions but constitutive structures of civilizational self-understanding.

AB - This article offers a comparative analysis of conceptions of the universe, time, and eternity in ancient Jews and ancient Greek intellectual traditions, with particular attention to their role in shaping distinct forms of civilizational identity. The discussion begins with the semantic range of the Hebrew term 'ōlām, which may denote duration, a world-age, universal infinity, and, in later contexts, the world as a spatiotemporal whole. In the Hebrew Bible, God is presented as transcending both the spatial-material universe and the created duration of the world. Against this background, the article examines the Tetragrammaton, the Septuagint rendering of Exodus 3:14, and Philo of Alexandria's philosophical interpretation of the formula ἐγώ εἰμι ὅ ὄν. Special attention is given to Ecclesiastes 3:11: the possible meanings of hā-'ōlām are considered together with the anthropological semantics of lēb, "heart," understood as mind and consciousness, and with the possibility that the verse attributes to human beings a capacity to apprehend reality sub specie aeternitatis. Biblical accounts of creation through divine Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Word, and Plan are also reconstructed and compared with Greek cosmological models. The analysis then turns to Heraclitus' ever-living cosmos, Aristotle's definition of time as the number of motion, the Stoic understanding of time as the extension of motion and of worlds as cyclically recurring, and Plato's distinction between immutable eternity and time as its moving numerical image. The comparison suggests that Greek thought predominantly organizes being in spatial terms and associates perfection with immobility, symmetry, and cyclical recurrence. The Hebrew tradition, by contrast, conceives the world as irreversible duration and history, extending from creation toward eschatological fulfilment and beyond it into infinity. A chariot wheel that simultaneously rotates and moves forward is proposed as a model for the relative cyclicity and absolute linearity of ancient Hebrew time. These contrasting temporal ontologies inform anthropology, ethics, historiography, and aesthetics: the contemplative and plastic orientation of Hellenic culture is set against the literary, ethical, and action-centred character of biblical culture. The article concludes that conceptions of universe, time, and eternity are not secondary abstractions but constitutive structures of civilizational self-understanding.

KW - ʿōlām, космос, вечность, время, Древнееврейское Писание (Танах), Кохелет (Екклесиаст), Платон, Аристотель, стоицизм, цивилизационная идентичность, линейное и циклическое время

KW - ʿōlām; cosmos; eternity; time; Hebrew Bible; Qohelet; Plato; Aristotle; Stoicism; civilizational identity; linear and cyclical time

KW - 'ōlām

KW - Aristotle

KW - Hebrew Bible

KW - Plato

KW - Qohelet

KW - Stoicism

KW - civilizational identity

KW - cosmos

KW - eternity

KW - linear and cyclical time

KW - time

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/a8b75e65-fa98-3541-9b8d-bd96e1c838ef/

U2 - 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-2-851-884

DO - 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-2-851-884

M3 - статья

VL - 20

SP - 851

EP - 884

JO - SCHOLE. ФИЛОСОФСКОЕ АНТИКОВЕДЕНИЕ И КЛАССИЧЕСКАЯ ТРАДИЦИЯ

JF - SCHOLE. ФИЛОСОФСКОЕ АНТИКОВЕДЕНИЕ И КЛАССИЧЕСКАЯ ТРАДИЦИЯ

SN - 1995-4328

IS - 2

ER -