Everyday Writing in the Graeco-Roman East
Roger Bagnall
Abstract
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, the author, a leading papyrologist, 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, he presents an analysis of writing in different segments of society. His book offers a new picture o ... More
Keywords: everyday writing, papyrologist, Britain, Egypt, Afghanistan, Smyrna, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, international language
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2011 | Print ISBN-13: 9780520267022 |
| Published to California Scholarship Online: March 2012 | DOI:10.1525/california/9780520267022.001.0001 |
