Everyday writing in the graeco-roman east

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 Br...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author Bagnall, Roger S
Format eBook
LanguageEnglish
Published Berkeley University of California Press 2011
Edition1st ed.
SeriesJoan Palevsky imprint in classical literature
Sather classical lectures
Subjects
Aramaic language
Archaeology
Coptic inscriptions
Coptic inscriptions - Egypt
Egypt
Graffiti
History
Literacy
Manuscripts, Greek (Papyri)
Middle East
Ostraka
Printed ephemera
SOCIAL SCIENCE
Syriac language
Texts
Writing
Written communication
Middle East
Egypt
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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.
Bibliography:ACLS Humanities E-Book
Includes both TIFF files and keyword searchable text.
University of Michigan, Michigan Publishing
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Electronic text and image data.
Mode of access: Intranet.
2018.
ISBN:9780520267022
0520948521
0520267028
9780520948525
9780520275799
0520275799
DOI:10.1525/california/9780520267022.001.0001