In his early studies and writings, Nietzsche understands rhythm as human beings’ aesthetic ability to give their finitude the structure of durability. He analyses cultural phenomena from both antiquity and the modern world with a view to their differing rhythmic-aesthetic abilities to assert themselves in and against the flow of time. The present philological study examines the aesthetic anthropology of rhythm in relation to the tension between Nietzsche’s interpretation of antiquity and his criticisms of modernity.