Everyday writing in the graeco-roman east
- ISBN: 9780520275799
- Editorial: University of California Press
- Fecha de la edición: 2012
- Lugar de la edición: Berkeley. Estados Unidos de Norteamérica
- Encuadernación: Rústica
- Medidas: 22 cm
- Nº Pág.: 196
- Idiomas: Inglés
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.
