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Ancient Literacy
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Book Synopsis Ancient Literacy by : William V. Harris
Download or read book Ancient Literacy written by William V. Harris and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1989 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The subject of this study is in any case the literacy of the Greeks and Romans from the time when the former were first provably able to write a non-syllabic script, in the eighth century B.C., until the fifth century A.D.
Book Synopsis Ancient Literacy by : William V. HARRIS
Download or read book Ancient Literacy written by William V. HARRIS and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How many people could read and write in the ancient world of the Greeks and Romans? No one has previously tried to give a systematic answer to this question. Most historians who have considered the problem at all have given optimistic assessments, since they have been impressed by large bodies of ancient written material such as the graffiti at Pompeii. They have also been influenced by a tendency to idealize the Greek and Roman world and its educational system. In Ancient Literacy W. V. Harris provides the first thorough exploration of the levels, types, and functions of literacy in the classical world, from the invention of the Greek alphabet about 800 B.C. down to the fifth century A.D. Investigations of other societies show that literacy ceases to be the accomplishment of a small elite only in specific circumstances. Harris argues that the social and technological conditions of the ancient world were such as to make mass literacy unthinkable. Noting that a society on the verge of mass literacy always possesses an elaborate school system, Harris stresses the limitations of Greek and Roman schooling, pointing out the meagerness of funding for elementary education. Neither the Greeks nor the Romans came anywhere near to completing the transition to a modern kind of written culture. They relied more heavily on oral communication than has generally been imagined. Harris examines the partial transition to written culture, taking into consideration the economic sphere and everyday life, as well as law, politics, administration, and religion. He has much to say also about the circulation of literary texts throughout classical antiquity. The limited spread of literacy in the classical world had diverse effects. It gave some stimulus to critical thought and assisted the accumulation of knowledge, and the minority that did learn to read and write was to some extent able to assert itself politically. The written word was also an instrument of power, and its use was indispensable for the construction and maintenance of empires. Most intriguing is the role of writing in the new religious culture of the late Roman Empire, in which it was more and more revered but less and less practiced. Harris explores these and related themes in this highly original work of social and cultural history. Ancient Literacy is important reading for anyone interested in the classical world, the problem of literacy, or the history of the written word.
Book Synopsis Ancient Literacies by : William A Johnson
Download or read book Ancient Literacies written by William A Johnson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-02-05 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Classicists have been slow to take advantage of the important advances in the way that literacy is viewed in other disciplines (including in particular cognitive psychology, socio-linguistics, and socio-anthropology). On the other hand, historians of literacy continue to rely on outdated work by classicists (mostly from the 1960's and 1970's) and have little access to the current reexamination of the ancient evidence. This timely volume attempts to formulate new interesting ways of talking about the entire concept of literacy in the ancient world--literacy not in the sense of whether 10% or 30% of people in the ancient world could read or write, but in the sense of text-oriented events embedded in a particular socio-cultural context. The volume is intended as a forum in which selected leading scholars rethink from the ground up how students of classical antiquity might best approach the question of literacy in the past, and how that investigation might materially intersect with changes in the way that literacy is now viewed in other disciplines. The result will give readers new ways of thinking about specific elements of "literacy" in antiquity, such as the nature of personal libraries, or what it means to be a bookseller in antiquity; new constructionist questions, such as what constitutes reading communities and how they fashion themselves; new takes on the public sphere, such as how literacy intersects with commercialism, or with the use of public spaces, or with the construction of civic identity; new essentialist questions, such as what "book" and "reading" signify in antiquity, why literate cultures develop, or why literate cultures matter. The book derives from a conference (a Semple Symposium held in Cincinnati in April 2006) and includes new work from the most outstanding scholars of literacy in antiquity (e.g., Simon Goldhill, Joseph Farrell, Peter White, and Rosalind Thomas).
Book Synopsis Literacy and Power in the Ancient World by : Alan K. Bowman
Download or read book Literacy and Power in the Ancient World written by Alan K. Bowman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1996-12-05 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection attempts to set the study of literacy in the ancient world in the wider contexts of the debates among anthropologists over the impact of writing on society.
Book Synopsis Literacy in Ancient Everyday Life by : Anne Kolb
Download or read book Literacy in Ancient Everyday Life written by Anne Kolb and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2018-08-21 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the significance of literacy for everyday life in the ancient world. It focuses on the use of writing and written materials, the circumstances of their use, and different types of users. The broad geographic and chronologic frame of reference includes many kinds of written materials, from Pharaonic Egypt and ancient China through the early middle ages, yet a focus is placed on the Roman Empire.
Book Synopsis Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel by : Christopher A. Rollston
Download or read book Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel written by Christopher A. Rollston and published by Society of Biblical Lit. This book was released on 2010 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Writing and Literacy in Early China by : Feng Li
Download or read book Writing and Literacy in Early China written by Feng Li and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The emergence and spread of literacy in ancient human society an important topic for all who study the ancient world, and the development of written Chinese is of particular interest, as modern Chinese orthography preserves logographic principles shared by its most ancient forms, making it unique among all present-day writing systems. In the past three decades, the discovery of previously unknown texts dating to the third century BCE and earlier, as well as older versions of known texts, has revolutionized the study of early Chinese writing. The long-term continuity and stability of the Chinese written language allow for this detailed study of the role literacy played in early civilization. The contributors to Writing and Literacy in Early China inquire into modes of manuscript production, the purposes for which texts were produced, and the ways in which they were actually used. By carefully evaluating current evidence and offering groundbreaking new interpretations, the book illuminates the nature of literacy for scribes and readers.
Book Synopsis Literacy and Orality in Ancient Greece by : Rosalind Thomas
Download or read book Literacy and Orality in Ancient Greece written by Rosalind Thomas and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1992-09-25 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the role of written and oral communication in Greece.
Book Synopsis Realms of Literacy by : David B. Lurie
Download or read book Realms of Literacy written by David B. Lurie and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In the world history of writing, Japan presents an unusually detailed record of transition to literacy. Extant materials attest to the social, cultural, and political contexts and consequences of the advent of writing and reading, from the earliest appearance of imported artifacts with Chinese inscriptions in the first century BCE, through the production of texts within the Japanese archipelago in the fifth century, to the widespread literacies and the simultaneous rise of a full-fledged state in the late seventh and eighth centuries. David B. Lurie explores the complex processes of adaptation and invention that defined the early Japanese transition from orality to textuality. Drawing on archaeological and archival sources varying in content, style, and medium, this book highlights the diverse modes and uses of writing that coexisted in a variety of configurations among different social groups. It offers new perspectives on the pragmatic contexts and varied natures of multiple simultaneous literacies, the relations between languages and systems of inscription, and the aesthetic dimensions of writing. Lurie’s investigation into the textual practices of early Japan illuminates not only the cultural history of East Asia but also the broader comparative history of writing and literacy in the ancient world."
Book Synopsis Literacy and Paideia in Ancient Greece by : Kevin Robb
Download or read book Literacy and Paideia in Ancient Greece written by Kevin Robb and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1994-08-11 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the progress of literacy in ancient Greece from its origins in the eighth century to the fourth century B.C.E., when the major cultural institutions of Athens became totally dependent on alphabetic literacy. By introducing new evidence and re-evaluating the older evidence, Robb demonstrates that early Greek literacy can be understood only in terms of the rich oral culture that immediately preceded it, one that was dominated by the oral performance of epical verse, or "Homer." Only gradually did literate practices supersede oral habits and the oral way of life, forging alliances which now seem both bizarre and fascinating, but which were eminently successful, contributing to the "miracle" of Greece. In this book new light is brought to early Greek ethics, the rise of written law, the emergence of philosophy, and the final dominance of the Athenian philosophical schools in higher education.
Book Synopsis Orality, Literacy and Performance in the Ancient World by : Elizabeth Minchin
Download or read book Orality, Literacy and Performance in the Ancient World written by Elizabeth Minchin and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2011-12-09 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This ninth Orality and Literacy volume considers oral composition, performance, reception, and the mutual interplay between oral performance and written text. Authors under consideration are Homer, Hesiod, Plato, Isocrates, orators of the Second Sophistic, and Proclus. Cross-cultural studies are included.
Book Synopsis Written Texts and the Rise of Literate Culture in Ancient Greece by : Harvey Yunis
Download or read book Written Texts and the Rise of Literate Culture in Ancient Greece written by Harvey Yunis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2003-02-06 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the sixth through the fourth centuries BCE, the landmark developments of Greek culture and the critical works of Greek thought and literature were accompanied by an explosive growth in the use of written texts. By the close of the classical period, a new culture of literacy and textuality had come into existence alongside the traditional practices of live oral discourse. New avenues for human activity and creativity arose in this period. The very creation of the 'classical' and the perennial use of Greece by later European civilizations as a source of knowledge and inspiration would not have taken place without the textual innovations of the classical period. This book considers how writing, reading and disseminating texts led to new ways of thinking and new forms of expression and behaviour. The individual chapters cover a range of phenomena, including poetry, science, religions, philosophy, history, law and learning.
Book Synopsis Orality and Literacy in Early Christianity by : Pieter Botha
Download or read book Orality and Literacy in Early Christianity written by Pieter Botha and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2012-11-01 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of the Jesus movement and earliest Christianity requires careful attention to the characteristics and peculiarities of oral and literate traditions. Understanding the distinctive elements of Greco-Roman literacy potentially has profound implications for the historical understanding of the documents and events involved. Concepts such as media criticism, orality, manuscript culture, scribal writing, and performative reading are explored in these chapters. The scene of Greco-Roman literacy is analyzed by investigating writing and reading practices. These aspects are then related to early Christian texts such as the Gospel of Mark and sections from Paul's letters.
Book Synopsis A History of Hittite Literacy by : Theo van den Hout
Download or read book A History of Hittite Literacy written by Theo van den Hout and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-01-07 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive overview of the development of literacy, script usage, and literature in Hittite Anatolia (1650-1200 BC).
Book Synopsis Reading, Writing, and Bookish Circles in the Ancient Mediterranean by : Jonathan D.H. Norton
Download or read book Reading, Writing, and Bookish Circles in the Ancient Mediterranean written by Jonathan D.H. Norton and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-06-30 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By integrating conversations across disciplines, especially focusing on classical studies and Jewish and Christian studies, this volume addresses several imbalances in scholarship on reading and textual activity in the ancient Mediterranean. Contributors intentionally place Jewish, Christian, Roman, Greek and other reading circles back into their encompassing historical context, avoiding subdivisions along modern subject lines, divisions still bearing marks of cultural and ideological interests. In their examination, contributors avoid dwelling upon traditional methodological debates over orality vs. literacy and social classifications of literacy, instead turning their attention to the social-historical: groups of people, circles and networks, strata and class, scribal culture, material culture, epigraphic and papyrological evidence, functions and types of literacy and the social relationships that all of these entail. Overall, the volume contributes to an emerging and important interdisciplinary collaboration between specialists in ancient literacy, encouraging future discussion between two currently divided fields.
Book Synopsis Jewish Literacy in Roman Palestine by : Catherine Hezser
Download or read book Jewish Literacy in Roman Palestine written by Catherine Hezser and published by Mohr Siebeck. This book was released on 2001 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since Judaism has always been seen as the quintessential 'religion of the book', a high literacy rate amongst ancient Jews has usually been taken for granted. Catherine Hezser presents the first critical analysis of the various aspects of ancient Jewish literacy on the basis of all of the literary, epigraphic, and papyrological material published so far. Thereby she takes into consideration the analogies in Graeco-Roman culture and models and theories developed in the social sciences. Rather than trying to determine the exact literacy rate amongst ancient Jews, she examines the various types, social contexts, and functions of writing and the relationship between writing and oral forms of discourse. Following recent social-anthropological approaches to literacy, the guiding question is: who used what type of writing for which purpose? First Catherine Hezser examines the conditions which would enable or prevent the spread of literacy, such as education and schools, the availability and costs of writing materials, religious interest in writing and books, the existence of archives and libraries, and the question of multilingualism. Afterwards she looks at the different types of writing, such as letters, documents, miscellaneous notes, inscriptions and graffiti, and literary and magical texts until she finally draws conclusions about the ways in which the various sectors of the populace were able to participate in a literate society.
Book Synopsis Ancient Literacy by : William Vernon Harris
Download or read book Ancient Literacy written by William Vernon Harris and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
