Everyday writing in the Graeco-Roman East / Roger S. Bagnall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bagnall, Roger S.

Series:

Sather classical lectures ; v. 69.

Sather classical lectures ; v. 69

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Coptic inscriptions--Egypt.

Coptic inscriptions.

Graffiti--History.

Graffiti.

Manuscripts, Greek (Papyri)--Egypt.

Manuscripts, Greek (Papyri).

Ostraka.

Printed ephemera--History.

Printed ephemera.

Syriac language--Texts.

Syriac language.

Written communication--Egypt--History.

Written communication.

Written communication--Middle East--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (179 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2011.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

Most of the everyday writing from the ancient world-that is, informal writing not intended for a long life or wide public distribution-has perished. Reinterpreting the silences and blanks of the historical record, leading papyrologist Roger S. Bagnall convincingly argues that ordinary people-from Britain to Egypt to Afghanistan-used writing in their daily lives far more extensively than has been recognized. Marshalling new and little-known evidence, including remarkable graffiti recently discovered in Smyrna, Bagnall presents a fascinating analysis of writing in different segments of society. His book offers a new picture of literacy in the ancient world in which Aramaic rivals Greek and Latin as a great international language, and in which many other local languages develop means of written expression alongside these metropolitan tongues.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Illustrations

Preface

Introduction

1. Informal Writing in a Public Place: The Graffiti of Smyrna

2. The Ubiquity of Documents in the Hellenistic East

3. Documenting Slavery in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt

4. Greek and Coptic in Late Antique Egypt

5. Greek and Syriac in the Roman Near East

6. Writing on Ostraca: A Culture of Potsherds?

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613277695

9781283277693

1283277697

9780520948525

0520948521

OCLC:

700701924